TOPPENISH, Wash. -- A sign on display in the museum at the Yakama Nation Cultural Center says:
"We are a sovereign nation within the sovereign United States. Washington state was created in 1889, 34 years after our treaty with the U.S. government in 1855. Our treaty takes precedence over the state."
Indians have a right to self-determination, and tribal sovereignty is a means to achieve that, several Yakama Indians said Tuesday.
"It is very important for us," said Norman Robinson Jr., 33, of Toppenish, a first descendant of the Yakamas, meaning his mother is an enrolled member of the tribe but he is not. "It gives us a chance to run our reservation as we see fit."
On Monday, the state Republican Party apologized for adopting a resolution against tribal sovereignty at the state GOP convention in Spokane last month.
The national Republican Party has also repudiated the Washington state GOP resolution.
Faced with widespread condemnation inside and outside the state, the state party also adopted a new resolution "clarifying" its position in support of sovereignty.
The GOP's latest actions didn't do much for Tracy Ough, 22, a Yakama Nation member from Toppenish.
"It shows how much trust they have in us," he said. "We're just trying to get respect, and let them know we can do our own stuff our own way."
The GOP's original resolution was sponsored by John Fleming, a non-Indian living on the Swinomish Reservation in Skagit County. He did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday.
The resolution called for the federal government to "take whatever steps necessary to terminate all such non-republican forms of government on Indian reservations." Fleming also suggested he'd like to have the resolution introduced at the national GOP convention in Philadelphia at the end of this month.
On Monday, Republican state Chairman Don Benton said that Fleming's frustration with the lack of representation for non-tribal members on reservations was the reason he introduced the resolution, and that he was seeking equal representation for all reservation residents.
The Republican National Committee took its unusual action to head off a threat to presidential candidate George W. Bush's message of racial inclusiveness.
"We are writing to assure you we reject this resolution and everything it stands for. ... The elimination of tribal governments is not an option," the RNC said in a letter to tribal leaders dated Monday.
Here in Toppenish, non-Indians living on the Yakama Nation reservation have organized recently in opposition to the tribe's reservation-wide ban on alcohol, scheduled to take effect in September. The group, called Stand-Up, also has spoken out against the tribe's plans to start its own utility.
"The more sovereign we get, the more jealousies ... the whites feel," Robinson said.
"It's like this alcohol ban. They live on our land. They have to realize they have to live by our laws. We are a nation within a nation."
Jolena Umtuch, 29, of Wapato, a member of the Yakama Nation, said she believes the Republicans and the tribes need to communicate better.
"The GOP and the tribal government need to sit down and talk with each other."
A tribal leader on the other side of the Cascade Mountains agreed.
Herman Dillon, chairman of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, said the GOP's apology Monday rang hollow since the party continues to blame the media, tribes and other critics for misrepresenting the original resolution.
"A simple apology would have gone further than this. Stop blaming the media and just take responsibility for what has passed in your convention," Dillon said through a spokeswoman.