The Red Lion Hotel in Kalispell was the site of a controversial group’s annual conference on federal Indian policy on Saturday, as well as a protest accusing the organization of bringing a campaign of racism to Northwest Montana.

The Citizens Equal Rights Alliance, which describes itself as aiming “to change federal Indian policies that threaten or restrict the individual rights of all citizens living on or near Indian reservations,” brought a line-up of eight speakers from around the country for the day-long event.

But despite the wonky topics, which included “How the United States owns water,” “Federal agency expansion of tribal governance” and “Integrating federal Indian policy with Agenda 21,” about 60 detractors outside insisted it was merely a front for a racist agenda.

Saturday afternoon, the protesters lined the sidewalk outside the south entrance to the hotel for about two hours, holding signs and wearing T-shirts with a photo of the newly renamed Salish and Kootenai Dam above the caption, “Dam Indians,” and took turns addressing the crowd about their own experiences with racism.

“Their lawsuits are wasting my tax dollars,” said Cheryl Wolfe, who drove up from Polson with her husband to protest the conference. “I’m waiting to see what legislators fall for this.”

Few public officials were in attendance, although one of the speakers was state Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, who made the case for a transfer of federal public lands within Montana to the state.

The alliance is a 25-year-old non-profit organization, which former chair Elaine Willman of Ronan described as having been started to assist Native Americans who lack the rights that other citizens of the country have. Willman is also working with the newly formed organization fighting the water compact, Regulatory Lawfare Relief.

Lawrence Kogan, an attorney representing the organization, gave a presentation on the compact and dam transfer, taking aim at the federal judge who recently dismissed an injunction he filed against the transfer of the dam to the tribes.

“He decided to cherry-pick the record,” Kogan said, referring to the judge’s refusal to take up allegations that the tribe was working with the Turkish government.

Kogan focused a majority of his presentation on connections between the tribal government and the White House, titling his talk, “Barack in Wonderland.” By pointing out what he called the connections between tribal leaders and corrupt federal policies, he said he’s helping tribes’ members, whose government he accused of corruption and a lack of transparency or accountability.

“They live in squalor — I’m shocked to see the conditions I see,” he said. “Where is all that money going? What Swiss bank accounts are they using?”

Willman also defended the alleged Turkish connection. She referred to a federal tribal housing bill called the HEARTH Act of 2012, which allows tribes to authorize their leasing regulations with the Department of the Interior, after which individual leases don’t require further approval for a term of 25 or 75 years, depending on the type of lease.

According to Willman, “It allows tribal governments to lease Indian trust lands without [Department of the Interior] approval or oversight, to Middle Eastern countries,” she said. “To come in to land where no one’s looking and nobody has any authority. That’s just chilling to me.”

While many of the protesters outside laughed at those claims as simple paranoia, several expressed fear that the group’s official, more nuanced, message belied the goal of eliminating the tribes.

“To have outsiders come in and get everybody riled up and not think about the people they’re affecting — that’s my children, my grandchildren,” said Francine Dupuis, a Pablo resident and member the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. “If you have an attorney out of New York that is coming here, and his lawsuit says we are teaming up with Turkey and aligning with the Muslim faith, how is that not racist?”

The conference speakers and attendees said they do not support racism, but did question the legality of tribal sovereignty under the treaties with the United States.

The alliance’s general council, Lana Marcussen, provided a detailed history lesson of the legal underpinnings of Indian treaties and federal policy toward the country’s tribes. Ultimately, she said, the federal government and the Bureau of Indian Affairs don’t care about the tribes, but only about maintaining and extending their power over the states, through actions like the water compact and the Salish Kootenai Dam transfer.

“The most screwed-over people in this whole situation are the Indians themselves, because they’ve never gotten their full rights as citizens,” Marcussen said.

And that’s why no Native American leaders were present at the conference, despite support from many of them, said Willman.

“They would be coming here at great risk and additional persecution,” she said. “Whenever we bring a conference anywhere, there is backlash and the backlash comes from federal operatives more than from local people.”

But protest organizer Dustin Monroe argued that the basic concept of eliminating tribal sovereignty was an affront to the price his ancestors paid for it.

“American history starts with Indian history, and I think a lot of people forget that,” Monroe said. “We paid for our rights in this country with our blood.”

Reporter Samuel Wilson may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.