Turtle Talk

Kekek Jason Stark has [published “Indian Policing: Agents of Assimilation” in the Case Western Law Review. PDF

An excerpt:

In the wake of the protests calling for police reform, driven by the events surrounding the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, and so many others, including Cecil Lacy (Tulalip Tribes) and Rene Davis (Muckleshoot Indian Tribe), as well as the sexual assault at the hands of the police involving L.B. (Northern Cheyenne Tribe), I began to question the role and history that the police have played in Indian Country as agents of assimilation. While conducting research for this Article, it became apparent that following the enactment of the Indian Civil Rights Act, a lot of work and research was conducted on the status of tribal justice systems. Considering the recent events detailed above, this Article seeks to further that earlier analysis and ask the question: Where are we at with our efforts to re-indigenize Indian Country policing fifty years later? This Article attempts to begin to answer that question.