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BUDGET FOR NACI FUND'S OPERATION CONSTITUTION

[[3 columned table]]
|Field Director|$10,000.00|   |
|Clerk-Typist (three)|$12,600.00|   |
|   |$22,600.00|$22,600.00|
|Attorney Retainer Fees|$17,400.00|   |
|Fund for case prosecution|$95,000.00|   |
|   |$112,400.00|$112,400.00|
|Per diem fund (for 10 area assistant field directors|$25,000.00|   |
|Printing & distribution of education materials|$30,000.00|   |
|Travel expenses|20,000.00|   |
|Miscellaneous|$10,000.00|   |
|   |$85,000.00|$85,000.00|
Grand Total.......$220,000.00
[[table]]

The per diem fund will be expended at the rate of $12.00 per day and covers the 10 areas that are set up by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The travel expenses will cover the actual travel expenses of the entire staff and the travel of the Executive Director when necessary, plus the travel expenses of expert volunteers from educational institutions.

JUSTIFICATION FOR OPERATION CONSTITUTION

The American Indians have been placed in a highly complex, unique legal status.  This situation was created by a series of Acts of Congress and Executive Orders.  Without delving too deeply into the past history of this country's treatment of the American Indians, one can say that the general public recognizes the many "wrongs" and have taken steps to correct the situations through Congress and due process of law.
After all the tribes were safely confined to the reservations, the Government began to think in terms of educating the Indian to take his place in modern society.  Down through the years the Office of the Secretary of the Interior reported to Congress that the educational process of the Indian people was for the purpose of making the Indian into a "whiteman."  The education applied to Indians was first administered through force and Indians were hauled away bound hand and foot to schools far away from home.  As the years passed this policy was done away with but the educational curriculum was subject to the whims of the ever changing administrations.  Indian education was some times carried out by well-meaning people who unknowingly were hurting the Indian people through misguided efforts.  Those who had the responsibility of setting the standard of education have always felt that because they were educating Indians a different level of education was necessary, in fact, these educators felt that they were dealing with savages who had a low level of intelligence.  This caused them to create the existing opinion that Indians should receive trades training plus the standard 3 R's level of academic training.  This they felt was sufficient to turn the Indian loose in modern society and he would become a "whiteman."
Having established this background we wish to state that we do not desire to dwell on the negative but would rather proceed with positive actions.
The Senate Sub-Committee on Constitutional Rights have held field hearing in seven states and have definitely established the fact that Indians in general do not understand what their Constitutional Rights are.  They have established the fact that there are hundreds of causes of "police brutality" against Indians, miscarriage of Justice is taking place in the courts of several states and Public Law 83-280 is misunderstood by everyone involved.  Public Law 83-280 has created great areas of discrimination against the Indian people of our land.
Public Law 83-280 was passed by Congress in 1953 and signed into law by President Eisenhower during the height of the period when many special interest groups were desperately attempting to have all Indian tribes "terminated" from their Federal status.  The purpose of the special interest group was to terminate the tribes so that they could obtain the property of the helpless Indians.  This law, P.L. 83-280, gave all the states the right to assume civil and criminal jurisdiction over Indian reservations.
During the hearing on Public Law 83-280, the leadership of the tribes stated that this law would create discrimination against Indians and their official resolutions are a matter of record in Congress.  The Indian leadership also stated that their people were prepared at this time for the passage of Public Law 83-280, socially, educationally, or politically.  The sequence of events that have since taken place has proven that the Indian leaders were right.  The Indian population of our country now stands completely unprepared to defend their constitutional rights as citizens of our country, much less their treaty rights that are supposed to be the supreme law of the land.  All of this derives from the fact that our Indian people have not had the basic education needed to an informed citizen.
It is the feeling of the present national American Indian leadership that this nation cannot afford to allow its Indian population to remain ignorance of their rights and that steps must be taken so in an all-out effort to educate the Indian people in this vital field.  In doing so there will be many by-products of great value forth coming.  Operation Constitution will lead to helping the American Indian become a useful productive citizen of our great nation.
Attached are many exhibits to show the need for Operation Constitution.