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Meskwakis order man to leave settlement
Posted: 11.13.2008 at 11:48 AM
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TAMA, IOWA (AP) -- Meskwaki tribal officials are trying to ban a man from the tribe's settlement near Tama because he's not Meswkaki.
Tribal officials claim that James Ironshell, who is Rosebud Sioux, has violated a Meskwaki law that prohibits a non-Meskwaki man from sharing a settlement home with a Meswkaki woman.
Ironshell and his wife, Eloise, who is Meskwaki, say the ban amounts to racial discrimination.
Ironshell's attorney, Darrell Meyer, says the case raises the question of whether the U.S. Constitution provides the same equal rights protections to American Indians as it does other citizens.
Meyer says it does, but tribal officials disagree.
Meskwaki officials issued an order to leave the settlement last week to Ironshell.
Attorneys for both sides were in negotiations this week.
(Copyright ©2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)