Reconnecting After The Trauma Of Pechanga Disenrollment Cassie Whitten

My young cousin, Cassie Whitten, who still resides on our family’s allotment on the Pechanga reservation in Temecula CA, gives her perspective on reconnecting with her heritage and her native spirit. So many of us who are older like me, feel the sting and injustice differently.  

Cassie suffered trauma after our disenrollment, after Pechanga chairman Mark Macarro sent his jackbooted tribal rangers to physically remove Cassie and her other young cousins from the tribal school.  PLEASE READ HER EXPERIENCE detailed here.

It’s been crazy and something I never thought I could or would do again to tell you the truth. I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the journey to reconnecting after disenrollment in hopes other native people who have been affected want to also. 

The healing journey is the hardest because some wounds are still open. A few years ago I started really reconnecting to my people and my culture. When I did I realized how strong and resilient I am and have been. 

Disenrollment is traumatizing and makes it hard to connect or reconnect to your people when you’ve been told you do not belong for so long. The affects after disenrollment can take an emotional and physical toll on you. I have been blessed not only to meet amazing mentors and community members but people who support me and the work I do. Doing the work to stop tribal disenrollments is also traumatizing and I’ve seen my own elders, family, and cousins be traumatized by the work and see how it affects them as native people. Native people need to heal also in their own communities and then work on bigger issues. 

Lateral oppression is real even in native communities, disenrollment is lateral oppression. 

The one reason I decided to reconnect and I hope this makes others want to also was for the future generations. 

I love passing on knowledge to our young ones now and to the future generations that are not even here yet. I knew to do that I had to want to reconnect even if it’s traumatizing to heal. I’ve always wanted to be a foster parent in ICWA and then eventually adopt and still have those dreams in the future. But to do that I had to learn and take the time to dive into my culture and people. When I did I met some amazing people along my journey who made me feel like I could do the work in my communities or make change. From their Wisdom and their teachings I started feeling more empowered and motivated to do the work and  realized there’s so much work to be done. So many people sit on these injustices and do not care. I truly believe culture can heal and we need to start teaching and empowering each other more in our own communities to do the work. 

The journey is not over and never will be but I pray if you have been affected by disenrollment you feel empowered to speak up and get more involved in your community. 

Do not let people push you out or tell you you’re unworthy or do not belong. If you’re passionate about your people and want to see change do not stop. 

I believe there will be change to stop tribal disenrollments one day but until that day comes we will keep learning, teaching, and fighting for the ones who came before us and fought for us to be here to continue the work.

Hey LeBron, Atlanta’s Got NOTHING on Your Tribal Tribal Sponsor IN The Voting Rights Abuse Category

 James praised the move and said he was "proud to call myself a part of the MLB family today." The Los Angeles Lakers star often speaks out on domestic issues but has been reticent to comment on repression in China, where the NBA has a significant business interest.

He doesn’t rock the boat on one of the Laker’ sponsors The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in Temecula, CA EITHER.

PECHANGA has stripped voting rights, made tribal ID’sworthless, practices APARTHEID and  the self titled KING JAMES is okatwith those abuses.  Be consistent Mr.James.  Look into all the issues if you want people to take you seriously.

Pechanga Tribe To Bring Back Disenrolled And Repay Lost (Stolen) Per Capital

 Finally! After 17 years!

The Pechanga Tribal Council, led by Marl Macarro will restore citizenship to 435 surviving  members of their 2004 and 2006 disenrollment purge of legitimate tribal members by adoptees and frauds.

“We finally realized that in order to be grouped with the major tribes, we had to do the honorable thing” said one council member who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Disenrollment was wrong, we knew it, but stealing that per capita felt so right”

The Pechanga Council’s position was that enough disenrolled elders have died, to save on healthcare costs. And hey, after stealing over $3 MILLION from those they kicked out in violation of the tribe’s wishes, the council’s wallets were getting weighed down leading to back problems.

When asked how the tribe would finance the reparations, they would only say, “the crime family will be gone”. Cryptic, but, they are known to the tribal community.

APRIL FOOLS!  The Pechanga Council will only do the honorable thing when public shaming gets strong enough. That will happen when more who were affected get off the sidelines.

Seminole Nation OKAY with Their Black Citizens DYING OF COVID due to Denial of Vaccine

No need to give rights to descendants of the black slaves they dragged with them, right.  Separate but UNequal is very apartheid-like. They were counted for Covid Relief Funds, but not for...well, relief via vaccine.

“It’s a terrible day to find out that your own people will let you die,” said Osborne-Sampson, who sits on the Seminole Nation’s tribal council.

While tribal leaders and the Indian Health Service have been hailed for successfully rolling out COVID vaccines across the country, Osborne-Sampson is one of six Freedmen who told BuzzFeed News that the Seminole Nation has denied them vaccines, health services, and COVID financial relief based on the ancestry listed on their tribal ID cards. Freedmen make up roughly one-eighth of the Seminole Nation’s nearly 20,000 citizens and are counted in the tribal census — which the federal government used to allocate over $16 million in CARES Act funds to the tribe.

The distinction between a “Native American” and a “Freedman” relies on what Freedmen call a racist and outdated ideology of “citizenship by blood.” All Seminole Freedmen receive tribal ID cards that read “Freedman citizen, 0/0 Indian blood” on the front and “Voting benefits only” on the back. Other tribal citizens receive cards that list their blood quantum (their fraction of “Indian blood”) with no restrictions. Documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News show that the Seminole tribe has used these ID cards to deny Freedmen access to COVID health and financial services.

READ THE WHOLD STORY at BUZZFEED

COGRATULATIONS DEB HAALAND on Becoming INTERIOR SECRETARY in Historic Day

 A HISTORIC DAY as Deb Haaland from New Mexico is approved as Interior Secretary!   

WE'VE QUESTIONS on DISENROLLMENT IN THIS OPEN LETTER 

PLEASE .. make more history by calling out the Tribal abusers of over 11,000 Native Americans.  You might  say sovereignty, but sovereign right doesn't make their actions right.

Three Men Who ALLEGEDLY MURDERED Pechanga Chairman's Nephew ARRESTED and Charged

 JUSTICE soon after the horrible ending of a young Pechanga Life. 

Police were called to the parking lot of an apartment complex in Seattle’s Bitter Lake neighborhood on Feb. 19, where they discovered the body of a 19-year-old Island County man buried in a snowbank with only his toes, nose and part of his chest visible, according to King County prosecutors.

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the victim as Mikah Macarro and determined he died from a close-range gunshot wound to the head. His death was ruled a homicide.

A winter storm dumped snow on the Seattle area the weekend before Macarro’s body was found.

Tribal Disenrollment As 21st Century Historical Trauma Explained by Young Pechanga Descendant

 My young cousin, Cassie Whitten, who we highlighted when she posted her TikTok video on tribal disenrollment, further explains how she was affected on her Facebook Page. She resides on the Hunter Family allotment #62 given to our mutual ancestor Paulina Hunter in the 19th century

The one thing that has been really hard for me is continuing the work I want to do in my communities since tribal disenrollment. Lately I’ve been pretty sad about it.  (OP: Cassie worked for Indian Health)

It continually feels like you don’t matter or your voice by your own people. Lateral oppression can be real amongst native people too. 

I’m still on my healing journey. I’m only 22 years old and it’s saddening how my own tribe could kick a 7 year old out of their tribe to this day. (Watch this video that details the day Mark Macarro sent his jackbooted thugs to remove CHILDREN FROM SCHOOL)

Original Pechanga Has Returned. Back to the Challenge of Exposing the Corruption Behind Tribal Disenrollment

 Thanks to my regular readers for continuing to bring traffic to my blog.  I've been moving from CA to Las Vegas NV as my wife has retired after nearly 42 years.

Rep. Deb Haaland nears confirmation to Interior Secretary as so far 4 GOP Senator say they will vote for her confirmation.

Merrick Garland, who was instrumental in the Cherokee Freedmen's challenge to the Cherokee Nation in their appeal was confirmed.  Read up on him, his work on the case which belied weak responses he brought to his confirmation hearing. 

Please, keep supporting Original Pechanga Blog, NOT with your money, but with your readership, your sharing the blog on ALL your social Media

Former Pechanga Attorney, John Macarro, Loses his Son. Rest in Peace Mikah

 Rest in Peace Mikah  May the Creator watch over you.

John Macarro, has lost his young son, short of his 20th birthday.

So few know the  pain of losing a child.  While the Macarro's John and Mark, have harmed so many of my family and others.  Nobody wishes for this to happen to any of our Pechanga brothers and sisters. The sins of the father shouldn't be laid upon the children

Pechanga Forever

Judge BLOCKS Sale of National Archives in Washington State

 

We wrote about the potential sale and closure of the Seattle WA area archives in February 2020

Yesterday, the early good news broke in the Seattle Times

U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour granted a preliminary injunction Friday morning to stop the sale of the National Archives property in Seattle.

He pointedly asked Brian Kipnis, an assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle, if anybody on the five-person Public Buildings Reform Board was from the Pacific Northwest.

That’s the little-known entity that in January 2020recommended the Archives be shuttered in Seattle. The board was created in 2016 to find what it deems excess federal property.

Kipnis said he didn’t know.

Coughenour said the feds could have avoided a “public relations disaster” if they had “displayed some sensitivity” to how the closure affected the Northwest.

Cherokee Freedmen Fought FOR DECADES For THIS to HAPPEN. The Call for Equality for All It's Citizens

From the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation... EQUALITY. 

From a tribe that worked SO HARD to keep the Freedmen from becoming citizens. #StopDisenrollment can have positive effects, if YOU continue to fight for YOUR RIGHTS to belong.

Open Letter To Rep. Deb Haaland Candidate for Secretary of the Interior

 

Rep. Deb Haaland New Mexico

Dear Rep. Haaland

I stand with most of Indian Country, as we rejoice in your nomination to be the first Native American Secretary of the Interior for President-Elect Joe Biden.  I congratulate you on your consideration for such an important position.