It is sad to see so many readers responding to the issues of tax collection on reservation sales, without ever taking the time to examine or understand the realities of sovereignty or treaty rights.

The idea that the government can just rewrite treaties to bring anything more into line with non-Indian viewpoints neglects the very concept of what a treaty is —an agreement between two or more sovereign nations. It cannot be nullified or abdicated by one party without the consent of the others.

The idea that the state can refuse passage on public highways to Indian people because they claim their U. S. government acknowledged sovereignty is foolish and dangerous. American Indian people in this country have been guaranteed the rights of free passage, they traded away the rights to a whole lot of land in return for these rights.

Some readers claim to have read most of the treaties and found nothing of the sort within them. Apparently, they have only read as far as they need to form their unfinished opinions. I suggest they reread the whole of the treaties and then ask themselves where they gained the right to the very land they stand upon while they rail away at people who gave them the right, through these same treaties, to stand there in the first place.

Mark H. Vosburgh

Albion