American Indian Culture and Research Journal

The cultural commonplaces concerning Native Americans evoke images of the Cigar Store Indian, a passive figure immersed in an enervating quietism. Recent events, however, have shattered this debilitating stereotype. The "Trail of Broken Treaties" destroyed the image of the passive, drunken Indian while the "Longest Walk" demonstrated an increased sophistication in the manipulation of mass media. The "Red backlash" seems to preoccupy Indians as well as their supporters. Fueled largely by their recent successes in the courts, the report of the American Indian Policy Review Commission as well as the dispute over water rights in the western states, the drive to deny Indians the spoils of their victories has be enmounting in intensity. A significant portion of the dispute has become centered on the meaning of the term trib. As is well known, various Indian groups are bringing suit to recover lands that they allege were illegally taken from them. Unlike the cases before the Indian Claims Commission, these groups are not seeking compensation, but title to the land itself. The Mashpee case, the first to come to triaL was decided on the grounds of tribal identity. Basically, the jury found that the group was not really a tribe as defined by the Supreme Court in Montoya v. U.S. (circa 1901).