[comments-gtlds] I support Position Paper E

[Lisa Nelmida <lisa@numa.niti.org>]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to voice my support for an Indian top-level domain (TLD).
I am the development director for the National Indian Telecommunications
Institute (NITI).  In my position I work with Tribes throughout the
United States on telecommunications issues.  Sovereignty and cultural
appropriation are major  backdrops to all Indian issues including the
deployment and use of advanced technology.

Indian Peoples have resided in what is now the United States for
thousands of years.  The languages, cultures, religions and life ways of
Tribal People thrived prior to contact with the west.  Contact with its
attendant political, cultural, and physical genocide has resulted in the
wholesale destruction of many Tribes and an overall decline in the
Indian population.

Tribes today endure a "domestic dependent" or "nation within a nation
status" with the United States government.  Prohibitions against the use
of their language and practice of their religion was the policy norm for
generations of Indian People.  Ironically, the Internet is being used
nowadays to sell Indian culture and  religion.  These purveyors of
Indian culture (a.k.a. "PretIndians") are for the most part non-Indian
and not interested in authentic Indian culture or religion.

An Indian top-level domain would mitigate cultural appropriation and
support sovereignty for Indian People.  An Indian TLD would distinguish
authentic Indian sites from PretIndians and recognize Indian Nations as
sovereign entities that bypass geopolitical concerns.

Indian TLDs have been discussed since 1992.  I think 2000 should be the
time for Indian TLDs to become a reality.

Sincerely,
Lisa A. Nelmida
Development Director
National Indian Telecommunications Institute