Confrontation with the Law: The Case of the American Indians in Seattle

Abstract

T HE 1970 CENSUS revealed that nearly half of the Indian Americans in this country reside in urban centers. Many of these Indian urbanites are newcomers to the city and their migration has been accompanied by problems associated with the adjustment from rural or reservation living to the very different urban life style. One of the most serious adjustments faced by Indian Americans migrating to the city is learning how to conform to the metropolitan legal norms. The Uniform Crime Reports compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation consistently reveal that for the nation as a whole Indians are arrested at a rate three times higher than blacks and ten times higher than Whites.' Graves studied the adjustment of Navaho migrants in Denver, including the frequency of arrest for alcohol related offenses.2 He concluded that racial discrimination had not contributed to the high arrest of Navahos. Instead he contended that the marginal economic condition of the Navahos, their education, their personal goals and future expectations, their parental role models and the social pressure exerted by their friends were responsible for the high rate of arrests for alcohol related offenses. On the other hand, Bahr, Chadwick, and Stauss found that nearly 20 percent of a sample of Indians living in Seattle felt that they had been arrested primarily because they were Indian.3 Also the urban Indians, especially the new migrants, are extremely vulnerable to exploitation by merchants, landlords, and employers. This type of exploitation, which is seldom investigated, is the primary focus of this paper. Not only are Indians arrested and exploited more frequently than the general population, but their right to legal due process is frequently denied because they lack access to the services of helping agencies. For example, in Seattle there are many agencies designed to assist citizens with civil or criminal legal problems. Yet in most cases the Indian people have failed to take advantage of their services. It has been suggested that many do not seek aid because they are only dimly aware of the agencies and their services. This problem is particularly acute for Indians who migrate from reservations operating under tribal law,