Wikipedia:Native American Tribes

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A Native American tribe is generally appropriate for inclusion in Wikipedia if the tribe is recognized as a sovereign entity by the Congress of the United States or registered with the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs or the Canadian Government for those tribes from the United States or Canada. Any other group of indigenous Native Americans outside of these jurisdictions may also have articles in compliance with this policy, however, any non-governmental recognized groups within United States or Canadian jurisdiction claiming to be a group of indigenous Native Americans may not be referred to as "Indian Tribes", "Indian Nations", or "Indian Bands" unless they meet the exemptions contained in this policy.

This guideline discusses some general criteria to help editors gauge whether a group claiming to be a Native American Tribe of American Indians may be listed as such and is worthy of inclusion. Failure to meet these policies and guidelines should be taken as a strong cautionary flag that the article needs to be submitted for deletion according to this policy.

Generally speaking, groups claiming to be Indian Tribes who are not Federally Recognized by the Congress of the United States may not meet the guidelines for verifiability, as the criteria under Federal Law for determining who is or is not Indian are those groups registered with the Bureau of Indian Affairs or recognized by the Congress of the United States. Groups who are not Federally recognized as Indian Tribes, Bands, or Nations may not meet the standards of verifiability for inclusion in Wikipedia under these classifications.

There are a large number of groups who do not have a direct relationship with the Government of the United States as Indians, and are therefore, not eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to American Indians because of their status as Indians. If a federally recognized native tribe or group or confederacy of native tribes who are federally recognized has an article on Wikipedia, non-federally recognized groups claiming to be Indians of the same general cultural or social group should not appear in the same article unless no government-to-government relationship exists between the United States and that particular cultural group or subgroup.

Allowing articles for groups who are not Federally recognized is not completely prohibited, however, other groups (groups not recognized as Indians by the United States who claim ancestry for a previously existing group of Native Americans with an article on Wikipedia) should not appear in the same articles as Federally recognized Native Groups. These groups do not meet the criteria for inclusion because they cannot be verified as being American Indians. Extinct tribes who no longer have a direct Government-to-Government relationship with the United States may have articles, as can indigenous peoples and groups outside of the United States. This policy refers to American Indians from the North American continent subject to United States or Canadian Jurisdiction, however, the same principles may apply to other indigenous groups in other areas of the world where direct government-to-government relationships exist between a national government and the government of an indigenous group or subgroup of people. An article may be appropriate for any indigenous groups where no governmental relationship exists, or is likely to exist, and where no other indigenous group or subgroup claiming the same cultural identity has such a relationship within the same geographical or demographic area.

State Recognized Indian Tribes

There is no such entity as a State Recognized Indian Tribe under Federal Law. The United States Constitution vests the power to establish direct government-to-government relationships with Indian Tribes solely within the Congress of the United States under Article 1, Section 8, "Congress shall have the power ... to regulate trade between the states, with foreign nations, and with the Indian Tribes."

Any group claiming to be a "State Recognized Indian Tribe" may not meet the criteria for verifiability because they are not recognized as Indians by the United States and have no direct Government-to-Government relationship with the Federal Government, and are therefore not eligible for the special programs and services afforded to Indians because of their status as Indians under United States Code 25 U.S.C.

Exemptions

The following exemptions may apply:

Extinct tribes who no longer have a direct relationship with the United States.

Tribes who have never had a direct relationship with the Federal Government or Government of Canada, but who have a verifiable history in other sources as existing in ancient times.

Indigineous Peoples outside of the Jurisdiction of the United States and Canada which do not have a direct government-to-government relationship with a National Government, and for which no other group with such a relationship exists within a given group of subgroup of indigineous peoples.

Fraternal or Religious Organizations comprised of indigineous peoples with a verifiable history, such as the Native American Church or the Ani-kutani.

inter-tribal organizations, such as the Gourd Society, or articles about inter-tribal activities, such as articles related to the pow wow.

Articles, when standing alone, that describe common cultural elements of Native American Customs and Culture, such as Green Corn Ceremony or Black Drink.

Why does Wikipedia have this Policy?

Wikipedia is the encyclopedia "anyone can edit". Not the encyclopedia "anyone can represent they are something they are not".

Wikipedia has had bad experiences with users and groups claiming credentials and expertise and/or misrepresenting themselves or their identity with no reliable methods to verify the accuracy of content or affiliations. This can be particularly difficult when dealing with topics related to indigineous peoples.

Wikipedia has experienced a large volume of adverse public scrutiny and publicity in difficult areas of expertise, making it difficult to ascertain whether specific content is accurate or the results of "Wikiality" by well meaning and sincere, but misguided editors.

Determining accurate cultural and historical content with indigineous groups where oral traditions may have been the only means of transfer of cultural information between members of a particular group or society is extremely difficult to verify, and in some cases, impossible, making it necessary for administrators and reviewers of content to rely on personal trust and relationships with certain editors as the only reliable method for ascertaining the accuracy or quality of materials related to indigineous peoples.

Verifiability is key to Wikipedia's credibility. Groups claiming to be Native American Tribes who are not Federally recognized provide no avenues or reliable methods for verifying accuracy of content or identity, and therefore fail Wikipedia's standards of Verifiability.

Many groups claiming to be Native American Tribes do so in order to obtain the benefits granted to legitimate Native American Tribes, and may be misusing Wikipedia to misrepresent themselves for the purposes of violating Federal Law or State Law in for-profit schemes such as illegal casinos or for distribution of controlled substances (peyote) in a for profit CCE (Continuing Criminal Enterpise) by masquerading as American Indians, or other activities which bring Wikipedia and its content under scrutiny and expose the project to adverse publicity or a loss of public trust and confidence by legitimate Native American Tribes and the Federal Government.

In some cases, impersonating an American Indian or representing a Group of Indians as Federally or State Recognized when they are not for improper purposes violates Federal Law and exposes Wikipedia to liability and undesirable and unnecessary public scrutiny.

Wikipedia is not a "link farm" or link repository for plastic shamans.

Wikipedia Conflict of Interest

Generally speaking, Native American Editors and their editing of articles related to Native American Culture and in particular their own Native Cultures do not violate WP:COI. The reasoning here is that the necessary expertise to verify various cultural elements such as the language and culture of a particular tribe may exist only within these editors due to the practice of oral traditions or familiarity within a given culture as it pertains to their ability to accurately identify and validate reliable sources. Non-native editors may have difficulty doing so due to unfamiliarity with the culture or language. Additionally, the WP:COI policy is preempted by Wikimedia Foundation Non-Discrimination Policies which bar race and national origin as prohibitive categories for determining who can or cannot edit a particular article.

General standards for Articles Pertaining to Native American Tribes

Material in Wikipedia should be properly referenced as described in the verifiability policy. Properly referencing information is a high priority, and articles which remain unreferenced for long periods of time (i.e. a few months or more) should either be improved or stand a risk of deletion. Articles related to Native American Groups claiming to be "Indian Tribes, Bands, or Nations" should be listed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs or Canadian government or recognized by these governments unless they meet the exemptions defined above. Articles or content which does not meet this criteria cannot be verified, and is subject to deletion.
Articles should follow Wikipedia policies and guidelines. Even if an article meets the criteria above, it still might fail to meet other policies such as neutral point of view or what Wikipedia is not. For example, an otherwise well-referenced and topical article whose subject is inherently based in a point of view, or is intended to "fork" an existing article to spotlight a single viewpoint, is likely to be unacceptable according to policy on point of view forks.

As with any rule of thumb, some articles may be kept despite not meeting the above, but there should be a practical, compelling reason for such exceptions, and the articles should be annotated to indicate these groups are not classified as "Indian Tribes, Bands, or Nations" by the United States.

Dealing with articles that do not meet this standard

Articles that do not meet the above standards are handled in a variety of ways.

Articles or content that fail to meet this policy may be removed from the Wikipedia article space via deletion.

Articles or content that fail to meet this policy may be reviewed and/or forked provided they are not identified as "Indian Tribes, Bands, or Nations".

Footnotes

The Congress of the United States, The Federal Courts, and State Courts have repeatedly upheld this sovereignty of Native Tribes and define their relationship in political rather than racial terms, and have stated such as a compelling interest of the United States. ^[1] Federal prosecutors have asserted that fraudulently claiming to be a member of an American Indian tribe violates Federal law.^[2]