MOSCOW, Idaho
Angelique
She was 8 years old and watching the television in her family’s living room in 1978 when news broke that her uncle, a Black man who had married into a Native American family and was beaten by five deputies when he went to pay a speeding ticket, was awarded $75,000 in punitive damages.
“I knew I wanted to make my life about justice,” said
Roughly 30 years later,
“There are over 35 states that have sovereign, independent tribal nations within their boundaries, if you’re practicing in any one of those states you have to understand the basics of Indian law,” said Heather Dawn Thompson, president of the National Native American Bar Association.
“It’s a little bit crazy,” Thompson said. “Alaska has over 200 tribes and it’s not on their bar exam.”
It’s also not on the exam in California, where there are more than 100 tribes, and also not on the one in Oklahoma, where there are more than 40, said Thompson, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux.
Since the 1970s, only a handful of lawyers who specialize in Native American law have been available to help tribal members navigate through legal matters.
