RESPECT Act Overturns Discriminatory Laws Against Native Americans

On Tuesday, December 27, President Biden signed the Repealing Existing Substandard Provisions Encouraging Conciliation with Tribes (RESPECT) Act into law, which repeals 11 outdated federal laws that discriminated against Native Americans.

The new legislation, co-sponsored by Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Mike Rounds (R-SD), is supported by the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association and the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI).

Among the laws being struck down are those that led to the forced removal of Native children from their homes and their placement in Indian Boarding Schools. A report released last May by the Department of the Interior (DOI) as part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative found that the "federal Indian boarding school system deployed systematic militarized and identity-alteration methodologies in an attempt to assimilate American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children." The DOI report also cited over 500 student deaths at these schools, a figure that is expected to grow as research continues.

Although these laws are more than a century old and are no longer enforced, Senator Cramer stated, "I’m grateful the RESPECT Act is now law. While these outdated laws were not being enforced … it’s right to officially strike them. This bill recognizes a devastating period in our history — one never to be repeated — and my hope is it will help heal wounds inflicted in the past as we focus on cultivating cooperative government-to-government relationships for the future.”

NCAI President Fawn Sharp emphasized the act as a step toward repairing the relationship between the federal government and sovereign tribal nations.

In a statement, she said, “The National Congress of American Indians applauds the passage and signing into law of the Repealing Existing Substandard Provisions Encouraging Conciliation with Tribes Act. While our history books often ignore the facts, it is no secret that for far too long, the U.S. Congress has passed destructive and oppressive laws that by design diminished tribal sovereignty and our political standing of equity and parity with the federal government. This legislation is but one more step in a very long journey ahead toward achieving our vision for a real, just, and meaningful government-to-government relationship between sovereign Tribal Nations and the United States.”