Our Nation’s American Indian and Alaska Native Citizens

The Snyder Act of 1921 authorizes Indian Affairs to operate programs for the benefit and assistance of American Indians and Alaska Natives throughout the United States. The Act is one of several legislative reforms that was designed to improve the living conditions for American Indians on reservations and in government boarding schools.

Yes.  American Indians and Alaska Natives have a long and distinguished history of serving in our nation’s Armed Forces.

No.  American Indians and Alaska Natives live and work anywhere in the United States (and the world) just as other citizens do.  Many leave their reservations, communities or villages for the same reasons as do other Americans who move to urban centers:  to seek education and employment.  Over one-half of the total U.S.

No.  American Indians and Alaska Natives come from a multitude of different cultures with diverse languages, and for thousands of years used oral tradition to pass down familial and cultural information among generations of tribal members.

Yes.  As U.S. citizens, American Indians and Alaska Natives are generally subject to federal, state, and local laws.  On federal Indian reservations, however, only federal and tribal laws apply to members of the tribe, unless Congress provides otherwise.  In federal law, the Assimilative Crimes Act makes any violation of state criminal law a federal offense on reservations.  Most tribes now maintain tribal court systems and facilities to detain tribal members convicted of certain offenses within the boundaries of the reservation.

Yes. They pay the same taxes as other citizens with the following exceptions:

• Federal income taxes are not levied on income from trust lands held for them by the U.S.
• State income taxes are not paid on income earned on a federal Indian reservation.
• State sales taxes are not paid by Indians on transactions made on a federal Indian reservation.
• Local property taxes are not paid on reservation or trust land.

Any “special” rights held by federally recognized tribes and their members are generally based on treaties or other agreements between the tribes and the United States.  The heavy price American Indians and Alaska Natives paid to retain certain rights of self-government was to relinquish much of their land and resources to the United States.  U.S. law protects the inherent rights they did not relinquish.  Among those may be hunting and fishing rights and access to sacred sites.

Yes.  American Indians and Alaska Natives have the same rights as other citizens to hold public office.

Yes.  American Indians and Alaska Natives have the right to vote just as all other U.S. citizens do. They can vote in presidential, congressional, state and local, and tribal elections, if eligible. And, just as the federal government and state and local governments have the sovereign right to establish voter eligibility criteria, so do tribal governments.

Yes.  As early as 1817, U.S.