Wednesday, January 19, 2011

APARTHEID: Pechanga Tribe Segregates Temecula Indians

The Mark Macarro-led Pechanga Tribal Council practices APARTHEID on Indian people at the Temecula reservation.  Can we compare what Pechanga is doing to their own families to something as despicable as what South Africa practiced against their black citizens?   
APARTHEID at Pechanga Reservation

APARTHEID as described by the dictionary is:
a•part•heid
2. any system or practice that separates people according to race, caste, etc.

Pechanga is doing just that, determining that families with historical ties to the origins of the reservation are ‘no longer pure’ in their eyes. They may be Temecula Indian, but “they aren’t Pechanga.” Even though the expert hired BY Pechanga proved that we were using the facts presented by "real" Pechanga Indians.

Here are some similarities to the Apartheid system you are familiar with:

South Africa - Strategists in the National Party invented apartheid as a means to cement their control over the economic and social system.
Pechanga - Splinter Group invented disenrollment as a means to control membership during a time of new economic growth (Resort & Casino).

South Africa - Initially, aim of the apartheid was to maintain white domination while extending racial separation.
Pechanga - Initially, aim of the Splinter Group was to dominate the tribe while instilling fear in other members. Controlling votes means controlling the money.

South Africa - Africans living in the homelands needed passports to enter South Africa: aliens in their own country.
Pechanga - Descendants of original allottees that have been disenrolled have to verify their reasons for entering their own land. An entire family of Tosabols have been denied access to use the roads to go to their property because of their banishment. Their crime? Nothing, they were never charged, just banished.  Aliens on their own reservation.

The reservation and allotments were set aside for the Temecula Band and village of Indians not just Pechanga, the self described subset, which now includes people with NO Temecula Indian blood, much like the Boers of South Africa.

Pechanga now has a group living on the reservation that have:

• Lost the right to vote
• Lost their rights to healthcare provided by the government.
• Their children can no longer attend tribal schools
• They can no longer be buried in the reservation cemetery with their relatives.
• Have no access to tribal health center
• Are not protected by the Tribal Rangers.

41 comments:

Anonymous said...

VERY GOOD AT BRINGING OUT THE FACTS ,I GUESS LIAR IN CHEIF WILL HAV SOME SPLANIN TO DO,GOOD JOB OP,KEEP GOING AND GOING AND GOING LIKE THE ENERGIZER BUNNY, TIME TO FIGHT IS NOW

Anonymous said...

Amen, it's about time someone called it like it really is. Yes, this is what is happening right now.

Anonymous said...

This is an abuse of Sovereignty.

Anonymous said...

Pechaa'a (from pechaq = to drip).

Not Ironic that the Justice will revolve around water. Name place for spring of life. Pechanga was set aside by Executive order and put in trust for Temecula Pechanga people. Vote no! Bring the Temecula Pechanga families back home.

Anonymous said...

Mark, Jennie and Butch have had several years to correct this mistake. They have chosen to sacrifice everything to keep this corruption undercover. Mark you have blatantly lied to congress, and are making up history that never was. Wait till Congress asks all the historians and documentary that have found what Pechanga is all about. Is it worth it people?

Anonymous said...

When is Joe's next hearing?

Anonymous said...

So here's a question, everyone on here says Mark lied to congress, by telling him they had no plans to build anything on the great oak ranch property. So can anyone actually prove that he lied, because he only lied if there were plans at the time of the hearing? Plans can change and he only testified the tribe had no plans to develop the land at that time.

Anonymous said...

Yes there are meeting minutes and concepts that prove this facr.

Anonymous said...

The plans for the golf course came AFTER the purchase of Redhawk fell through. Golf courses take YEARS to design.

And John Macarro explained it away as a 'zoning change'.

Anonymous said...

I remember there were several General Membership meetings where they talked about creating the golf course. This was before he went to congress.

Now I understand why we were told to keep it secret.

'aamokat said...

But at the meetings when they discussed the golf course project I don't remember them saying anything about it being on land the was culturally significant or ecologically sensitive.

They would just show aireal photographs on where it would go and talk economics, cost etc.

And I am a lo of the people didn't know that Macarro promised not to do any changes to the land.

We (and they are still) were used to Macarro running to Washington for one thing or another.

I for one didn't know he promised not to develop it until after I was kicked out of the tribe.

Too bad but a lot of the people don't know the history of their land and they are just in effect rubber stamps for those in power's plans.

I know I didn't vote on the golf course project.

Does anyone know when it was approved?

'aamokat said...

Darn typos, I am sure you know what I mean.

I can type pretty fast but I still make a lot of errors though.

Anonymous said...

maybe they went before darrell issa congressman who checked in with the tribe to let them know about the property was going up for sale.

PHunter said...

It's SHAMEFUL that Pechanga can get away with practicing APARTHEID in California

Anonymous said...

The non-members cannot accept their status as such. They had an opportunity to submit facts and information to support a claim to tribal membership. The material the non-members produced did not meet the criteria for membership. The non-members mislead others when they ask others to presume the John Johnson report covered all the points necessary to support membership. This report fell short. For example, it failed to address the matter of the Bureau of Indian affairs having no Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood for Paulina Walla Hunter, meaning the BIA never tracked PWH as an Indian. Please know, Dear Reader, the non-members lack scruples, have no shame, and hurl dirt. In addition, the non-members suffer from bitterness, anger, and disappointment. Reactively, the non-members blame others for their fate and the supposed cosmic injustice visited on them. The preposterous assertions and false claims of the non-members will never advance their project a single nano-inch toward a reversal of their removal from the tribal roll. Hence, the non-members should turn their consciousness to an enjoyment of their existence as ordinary Americans. Then, the sun will shine to warm and softern their faces, and cheer their day.

Anonymous said...

WHAT???????? NO degree of indian blood by bia for paulina hunter?

Ammokatt,do you have a degree of indian of indian blood from the bia? or do the hunters or is this poster lying?

Anonymous said...

Does manuela miranda have a degree of indian blood thru the Bia?

Anonymous said...

Does mark macarro or jenny have a degree of indian blood stating their pechanga indian?

Anonymous said...

I don,t like what your doing cosmic poet,are you part of my blood? You made your point,I made my point,some of these people are my friends now,and they deserve to be treated as people.

Take your sunshine off this site(or your over kill)

'aamokat said...

"This report fell short. For example, it failed to address the matter of the Bureau of Indian affairs having no Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood for Paulina Walla Hunter, meaning the BIA never tracked PWH as an Indian."

The Johnson report simply clarified some issues and we should have been cleared even without it.

Yes, the Hunters do have CDIBs and also, as I said on several other threads, my grandmother, whose probate for her share of the Hunter family allotment went through after our disenrollment, is referred to as a Mission Indian Pechanga Band in official U.S. Department of Interior probate documents.

So clearly we are still considered Pechanga by the U.S. government.

'aamokat said...

As I also said in the other thread, great get the BIA involved in our disenrollment case and reopen it.

You better believe that the tribal hack would scream sovereignty if that happened.

"The preposterous assertions and false claims of the non-members will never advance their project a single nano-inch toward a reversal of their removal from the tribal roll."

Once again, one of our so called preposterous claims that we are legitimate tribal members is based on the fact that tribal elders such as the vaunted (much praised) elder, called that on the tribe's own official Web site, said when he was asked in a notarized statement if he knew our ancestor Paulina Hunter as a member of the Band, he replied, "yes, I knew her as such."

He also recalled in his testimony that tribal member Martin Berdugo called Paulina his aunt.

'aamokat said...

"The preposterous assertions and false claims of the non-members will never advance their project a single nano-inch toward a reversal of their removal from the tribal roll."

Another of our so called preposterous claims is that enrollment committee members Irhene Scearce, Ruth Masiel, and Francis Miranda served disenrollment papers against our family before even one piece of evidence was submitted to warrant opening up a disenrollment investigation after other committee members, including a Hunter family member, had accused them of not doing their of duty.

As I said, this first challenge was disallowed but after this their close relatives and friends submitted and/or signed statments against our tribal membership.

That we asked that they be recused from sitting in judgement and ruling on our disernollment case for the above and other reasons is documented in at least six letters to the enrollment committee and/or the tribal council.

The tribal hack says we should get on with our lives as ordinary American citizens.

Great, that means we get the same rights as all other American citizens so reopen our case and enforce the ICRA that says we have the same rights on reservations and within our tribes and give us real due process of law and not some kangaroo court, which is what we got.

'aamokat said...

"IT SHALL BE THE DUTY OF ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS OF THE BAND TO UPHOLD AND ENFORCE THE CONSTITUTION, BYLAWS, AND ORDINANCES OF THE TEMECULA BAND OF LUISENO MISSION INDIANS; AND ALSO, TO UPHOLD THE INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS OF EACH MEMBER WITHOUT MALICE OR PREJUDICE."

Can I bet a million dollars that the tribal hack will not explain how this equal protection clause in the Temecula Band's constitution and bylaws under Article V, sometimes referred to as the Pechanga Band, was not violated during our disenrollment proceedings?

Gentle Readers, he never will, bet on it.

So we are making preposterous claims? No Way!

Anonymous said...

Well ammokat it appears that you welcome that tribal hack to come to this site?

So I tell the Cosmic Poet to come back and defend yourself?

As far the United States telling you that your Pechanga Indian we all know thats a loaded (question)they don't determine nothing.

By the way is everybody an offspring from paulina hunter ? The miller family ,hunters ,what year was she born? How old would she be today and did she have a degree of indian blood and how much was she? Lawerence said he was her great grandson right?
Well if she was full but no degree from the BIA, lawerence would be an 1/8 and his sons and daughters would be a 1/16 pechanga I did the math.Where do the rest fit in?Are they lawerences sisters or brothers?

'aamokat said...

So we are in the same boat as everyone else as the tribe goes by lineal descent so there is no blood quantum. The difference is that some of the people who signed statements against us have less of a claim then we do as are they even descendants of an original tribal member, who knows?

The Hunter clan of today are descendants of three of Paulina's children, Mary Ann (Hunter) Miller, Matilda (Hunter) Whitten, and Thomas A Hunter.

Lawrence is the grandson of Thomas while I am a descendant of Matilda.

The Hunter descendants also are descendants of another tribe(s) but that doesn't count for anything regarding Pechanga.

People bring up things that have nothing to do with our case as most of the people, as I said, don't have more blood than we do and Macarro himself probably is 1/8 Pechanga at best himself.

Anonymous said...

Well juan macarro is from pauma so not sure where mark gets his pechanga if he has any at all.

But lets take mark,trace him back to where ever,just like the cosmic poet said,does juan macarro have a degree of indian blood card stating pechanga? does mark? was marks dad a member,marks grandpa a member? well? I got the 1979 rolls and know the answer.

Anonymous said...

Any time things go wrong, there's always blame on both sides and this is no exception. I remember what happened. These Hunter decedents have experienced a true injustice. I don't care if they are, or if they are not in fact direct lineal decedents of original Pechanga allottees, it was wrong to do that to people. And by the way, that is the ONLY qualifier- DIRECT DECENDENTS OF ORIGINAL PECHANGA ALLOTTEE'S. A Temecula Valley Indian who happened to live on Pechanga but was not an original allottee is not an ancestor that qualifies a decedent to be a Pechanga Band member. This is not new or recent policy, the first articles of by-laws stated this. But it wasn't strictly enforced in the past, which is true. However it is certain that the ancestors of the Hunters were at the very least adopted in the Indian way, which is good enough for me and would have been good enough for the rest of the Tribe had these disenrolled families not tried to take control of their situation through political means. This put fear into the rest of the Tribe, and the Enrollment Committee was instructed by the General Membership and the Council to proceed with disenrollment of anyone who could not establish that they were a DIRECT DECENDENT OF AN ORIGINAL PECHANGA ALOTTEE. We all had to prove it. This is not a difficult thing to prove at all, unless you don't actually qualify. Who a man called "Auntie," or who anybody referred to as his Grandparent amounts to anecdotal evidence, or here-say. Mark Macarro didn’t do this. He was just sitting in the middle seat at the front when it happened. Neither could he have stopped it, because like it or not, wrong or not, it was the will of the People or it would not have happened.
Every year on Pechanga Indian Day, the enlarged copies of many original letters and documents submitted to and archived with the US Congress when Pechanga was established are on display at the Pechanga Government Center. Among these historical documents is the actual hand written list of the ORIGINAL PECHANGA ALOTTEE'S. This is THE LIST! There is no secrets, or opportunity to do something dishonest with these documentations. You are either a direct lineal decedent of AN ORIGINAL ALOTTEE, or you are not. There is no “grey area” here, this is a matter of empirical documented proof.

Anonymous said...

Any time things go wrong, there's always blame on both sides and this is no exception. I remember what happened. These Hunter decedents have experienced a true injustice. I don't care if they are, or if they are not in fact direct lineal decedents of original Pechanga allottees, it was wrong to do that to people. And by the way, that is the ONLY qualifier- DIRECT DECENDENTS OF ORIGINAL PECHANGA ALLOTTEE'S. A Temecula Valley Indian who happened to live on Pechanga but was not an original allottee is not an ancestor that qualifies a decedent to be a Pechanga Band member. This is not new or recent policy, the first articles of by-laws stated this. But it wasn't strictly enforced in the past, which is true. However it is certain that the ancestors of the Hunters were at the very least adopted in the Indian way, which is good enough for me and would have been good enough for the rest of the Tribe had these disenrolled families not tried to take control of their situation through political means. This put fear into the rest of the Tribe, and the Enrollment Committee was instructed by the General Membership and the Council to proceed with disenrollment of anyone who could not establish that they were a DIRECT DECENDENT OF AN ORIGINAL PECHANGA ALOTTEE. We all had to prove it. This is not a difficult thing to prove at all, unless you don't actually qualify. Who a man called "Auntie," or who anybody referred to as his Grandparent amounts to anecdotal evidence, or here-say. Mark Macarro didn’t do this. He was just sitting in the middle seat at the front when it happened. Neither could he have stopped it, because like it or not, wrong or not, it was the will of the People or it would not have happened.
Every year on Pechanga Indian Day, the enlarged copies of many original letters and documents submitted to and archived with the US Congress when Pechanga was established are on display at the Pechanga Government Center. Among these historical documents is the actual hand written list of the ORIGINAL PECHANGA ALOTTEE'S. This is THE LIST! There is no secrets, or opportunity to do something dishonest with these documentations. You are either a direct lineal decedent of AN ORIGINAL ALOTTEE, or you are not. There is no “grey area” here, this is a matter of empirical documented proof.

Anonymous said...

CONTINUED...

I am a direct decedent of an original Pechanga allottee. This lineage is easily established through records such as Mission School and BIA Boarding School records, as well as later Riverside County Birth records, and older BIA census records when the BIA did that. If anyone who is here reading & writing in this blog and is not aware of such paper work, well there's probably a good reason for that. You don't have it and you cannot produce what you don’t have. Still, I was against disenrollment and I voted against it despite not being directly affected because I felt that it was a despicable thing to do to people from a humanitarian perspective.
But let’s be honest here. What was the disenrolled family’s part in this? I remember. I remember this large and growing voting block that a year or 18 months before the first disenrollment letters went out, they began to try to change the Tribes by-laws through the petition process. Why? Did they have something to fear? Were their asses hanging out and they knew it? It was obvious which families were doing these things, but what wasn't so obvious was why? But the effect with other families who were not of that family lineage who became disenrolled was fear. Uncertainty produces fear. Why were these families trying to change by-laws? Why were these families trying to get multiple members on the enrollment committee? Why did these families eventually petition to entirely disband the enrollment committee? What were they afraid of?
At that point, this large and growing voting block numbered some 400+ people. Their political activity was seen as a threat to the rest of the Tribe. Perhaps unjustified, but that is what happened. The "writing was on the wall" that within several more years, this 400+ member voting block would grow to dominate the Tribe. The rest of the Tribe didn't like the changes these families were trying to push through. It was blatant that they were just trying to protect their status as Tribe members by political means. Honestly, I do not believe disenrollment would have happened if not for the attempts at grabbing power and through the political process. There was enough $ for everyone.
In the end, I know I am very, very, fortunate to have been born into the family I was. I am not proud to be a member of a Tribe who has disenrolled so many wonderful people who though they may not have the right piece of paper, THEY KNOW WHERE THEY BELONG, and in my heart I agree with them. It was wrong what happened.
But I remember the stuff that nobody wants to see talked about in here. I was there. There is never a political solution to a human problem, there are only spiritual solutions.

Luiseno said...

"I am a direct decedent of an original Pechanga allottee. This lineage is easily established through records such as Mission School and BIA Boarding School records, as well as later Riverside County Birth records, and older BIA census records when the BIA did that "

We also had the records and paper work to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that we were direct decedents of an original Pechanga allottee. This was NOT disputed by the enrollment committee, for they also agreed that we were a direct decedent of an original Pechanga allottee.

They said that being a direct decedent of an original Pechanga allottee was not good enough (although the constitution says otherwise).

I dont know where you heard that we couldn't prove that we were a direct decedent of an original Pechanga allottee. Because this is not true, the enrollment committee agreed that we were a direct decedent of an original Pechanga allottee.

Anonymous said...

Your day will come and all those lies that you stand behind will be a rude awakening for you and your ignorant family that base everything on Power. Sorry but you stand and trust a false security. You had your chance to stand for the Tribe or the Money, it is obvious that you and your family took the blood money.

creeper said...

Anonymus above...

what the fu..are you talking about?

What family what blood money?

make some sense.

Anonymous said...

YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW

creeper said...

In other words, you are just a rambling ding dong, making up sh.. as you go along.
That only works for a little while.
So again, what the f... are you talking about.

Anonymous said...

The real question is, Why does this blog bother you and your family so much,are you afraid of something. Why does this site bother you. If you and your family are soooo Righteous in "Your Claims" then leave this site....And live a good life...I know you can not. You Know and we Know the truth so who is playing stupid...Your response is the same as alway.

stand your ground said...

Anonymus above...
stupid is as stupid does and says..
if you can't name names, dates etc, then you are just rambling...
but, keep posting, I like a good laugh now and then.
On the other hand, you can't back up what you are saying, making yourself look foolish has to be ingrained.
By the way, and this may susprise you, my life is good.

stand your ground said...

My post above is addressed to Anonymus on Jan.20 @12:37pm

stand your ground said...

With CORRUPT Mark Macarro in the lead, Pechanga's Tribal Council is absolutely committing APARTHEID IN AMERICA.

MY questions to Congress and our President Obama are:

Why is this tolerated only when it happens to Native Americans?

You would not allow this to go on if this where any other Race.

Do you, Congress, Senate and President Obama, think that our First Citizens, our First Americans do not deserve the same protection and civil rights as all others do in our Country?

Why are YOU allowing this injustice to go on, when All of you clearly know and have knowledge of this?

How much longer will you wait before you actually acknowlidge these facts?

Anonymous said...

I am a direct descendant of an original allottee, Michaela Guavish #33 on the original allotment list (this is the same Guavish family line as Mr. James Fletcher although he is from Michaela's sisters side and she is also listed on the original allotment list). I have all the required documents that show I am a direct descendant (I am 1/16th Pechanga Luiseno as printed on my CDIB from the BIA) but unfortunately I am stuck in the moritorium for two reason; first, I was to young to enrol as an adultl and second, when I was old enough to enroll, I was over sees serving as a proud member of the United States Air Force in 1995 and 1996. When I get back it was too late for my application to be processed and I've been in the moritorium ever since. For a culture that honors their people who served honorably in the U.S. Military, I don't feel as though I have been treated fairly. I even submitted copies of my orders showing I was out of the country. So do you think that is fair? I wasn't disenrolled, I was just forgotten about while I served oversees then left out since I came back. Do you think anyone cares....nope. Since then, I have gone on to work as a Social Services Administrator for a local So. Cal Tribe, helped this Tribe set up its own Tribal Court to ensure ICWA laws were being enforced for Tribal Youth, assisted with writting TANF guidelines to ensure that the Tribe offered Tribal TANF to their descendants. I've continued to do what I can to be of some assistance in the native community but because I was gone during the last open enrollment at Pechanga, I'm stuck in the morritorium??? I won't hide behind any annonomous (sp?) Name here, my name is Duke Steppe, 1/16th Pechanga-Luiseno and a Direct Descendant of Michaela Guavish, original Pechanga allottee #33. Here's my phone number 951 415 9178. If someone from the enrollment committe wants to correct a real injustice, there's my name and number. I know I've ranted but I know who I am, proud of what I've done for my country and for Indian Country...I respect ALL tribes soveriegn rights to determine who their members are. I am from Pechanga, but bad timing and an unfair moritorium have kept me from finaly returning home.

Anonymous said...

From Wikipedia CDIB:

Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood or Certificate of Degree of Alaska Native Blood (both abbreviated CDIB) is an official U.S. document that certifies an individual possesses a specific degree of Native American blood of a federally recognized Indian tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or community.[1] They are issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs after the applicant supplies a completed genealogy with supporting legal documents such as birth certificates, showing their descent, through one or both birth parents, from an enrolled Indian or an Indian listed in a base roll such as the Dawes Rolls. Blood degree cannot be obtained through adoptive parents.[1] The blood degree on previously issued CDIBs or on the base rolls in the filer's ancestry are used to determine the filer's blood degree (unless they challenge them as inaccurate). Information collected for the filing is held confidential by privacy laws, except if the CDIB is related to assigned duties.[1]

A CDIB can show only the blood degree of one tribe or the total blood degree from all tribes in the filer's ancestry. Some tribes require a specific minimum degree of tribal ancestry for membership, which might require the first type of certificate, while some federal benefits programs require a minimum total Indian blood degree so an individual might require the second type of certificate to qualify. For example, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians requires at least 1/16 degree of Eastern Cherokee blood for tribal membership, the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Higher Education Grant for college expenses requires a 1/4 degree minimum.[2]

A Certificate Degree of Indian Blood does not establish membership in a tribe. Tribal membership is determined by tribal laws and may or may not require a CDIB or may require a separate tribal determination of ancestry or blood degree.[3]

The CDIB is controversial, both from a race politics perspective, in general, and in particular, because non-federally recognized tribes are not eligible for the card nor for the benefits which require one. Some groups such as the Freedman, descendants of black slaves who may be eligible for tribal membership are often not eligible for a CDIB because they are not Indian by blood or their degree of blood was not recorded in the base rolls (where Freedman was used instead of stating a degree).[4]

What year did this start because Paulina Hunter was listed on Census Records from the before the inception of the Temecula Indian Reservation aka Pechanga as Head of Household=100% Temecula Indian.

Just so happens that Mateo, Paulina’s father, was born at Pechanga... Ironic because he was the only one recorded at this place of birth in the surviving Pardons from the San Luis Rey Mission.

CrazyHorseRincon said...

why is trying to post a blog on here so damn diffcult? secuity reasons?