Muscogee Creek Freedmen Lawsuit DROPPED by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly

A federal judge has rejected a lawsuit from the descendants of black slaves who were once owned by members of the Muscogee Creek Nation and who are seeking citizenship in the tribe, saying that they should go through the tribe’s own legal process first.

The Tulsa World reports that U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, D.C., dismissed the Muscogee Creek freedmen descendants’ lawsuit this week seeking citizenship in the Creek Nation.

The Okmulgee-based tribe is the fourth largest in the country, with over 86,000 enrolled citizens.

The descendants filed a lawsuit last July against the Creek Nation and the U.S. Department of the Interior seeking full tribal citizenship and to have the tribe’s constitution declared in violation of the Treaty of 1866.

The Cherokee Nation faced a similar lawsuit that was resolved (OP: With a RESOUNDING victory in COURT) last year.

Cherokee Freedmen Attorney Jon Velie had this to say on his Facebook page:

The Cherokee Freedmen and Seminole Freedmen cases were resounding decisions with very strong language affirming Freedmen citizens equality in their respective Tribes. This case was dismissed on a technicality.

National Park Service Gives HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS to Tribes for BONES, but IGNORE What they DID TO THE LIVING.

The National Park Service announces grants in the millions to preserve their history. But they give money to tribes that abuse the LIVING, and have disrespected their own dead via Tribal Disenrollment

ELEM, PALA, PECHANGA, PICAYUNE, PINOLEVILLE, SAN PASQUAL and SHINGLE SPRINGS among the recipients of grants of $50,000 or more in order to "locate and preserve artifacts".  We just wrote about Pechanga usurping the Gabrieleno Tongva people's ancestor's remains.    Perhaps these disenrolling tribes should worry about preserving their most valuable resource--their Indian PEOPLE--first. It wouldn't take much time, energy, or money to locate the thousands of living indian people, from whom their corrupt tribal governments have stolen their very birthright through disenrollment and moratoriums.  BONES shouldn't be more important than people

Here is a list of disenrolling tribes at the amounts our government granted:

Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney Names Darryl LaCounte Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs

Darryl LaCounte

Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Mac Lean Sweeney today announced that she has appointed Darryl LaCounte to the position of director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in the U.S. Department of the Interior. LaCounte, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota, has served as acting director since 2018. His appointment is effective April 28, 2019.

Assistant Secretary Sweeney is committed to providing consistent and focused leadership for the BIA, as well as to actively collaborate with the Department’s senior managers. Among her top priorities is to fill all of the bureau’s leadership positions with highly qualified managers who will provide continuity and expertise in trust management in accordance with its mission.

“Ensuring that key leadership positions are filled is important for Indian Affairs’ success and the Department’s relationship with Indian Country,” Sweeney said. “Mr. LaCounte has done a superior job over this past year as the acting director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He is clearly committed to the trust responsibility and the further development of our vital workforce, which is the foundation for our ability to deliver services to the tribes.”

“When I was asked to step in to be the BIA’s acting director, I felt a strong responsibility to the people behind the work – the Indian Affairs employees, the tribes, and the Indian and Alaska Native people we serve,” LaCounte said. “In accepting this appointment as BIA director, I want to thank Assistant Secretary Sweeney for her confidence and support. Because I believe in our mission, I am committed to improving the way we accomplish it and to upholding the federal trust responsibility now and for future generations.

NARF, NCAI and NIGA ALL Missing In Action on Dismemberment Of Native Americans #StopDisenrollment

Professor David Wilkins, who has written extensively on disenrollment, calls out Native American organizations that we've written about who've buried their heads in the sand to avoid the topic of Indians abused by their own tribes.

NARF, NCAI and NIGA

Here is an open letter to the leaders of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), Native American Rights Fund (NARF), and National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA):

Dear Native Leaders,

Each of your organizations, founded at critical moments in native history–NCAI in 1944, NARF in 1970, and NIGA in 1985– have and continue to play vital roles in the political, legal, and economic development of Native nations. I write you all now to request that you continue to remain vital and relevant by taking an unequivocal stand against spurious disenrollment practices that destroy the human and civil rights of individual native citizens and threaten the sovereign powers of all Native nations.

Jonodev Chaudhuri RESIGNS as Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission

 WASHINGTON, April 24, 2019 – The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) today announced the resignation of Jonodev Osceola Chaudhuri as the Chairman of National Indian Gaming Commission, effective Wednesday, May 15, 2019.

“It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve Indian country and the general public in my capacity as Chairman, a role I have had the pleasure of fulfilling since 2013. During my time as Chairman, the Commission worked hard at every turn to stress strong partnerships and consistent communication with tribal gaming operations to achieve compliance with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The Commission works with tribes to ensure they have the tools necessary to effectively regulate their operations and meet IGRA’s requirements,” said NIGC Chairman Jonodev Chaudhuri. “As I reflect on the initiatives of NIGC during my time at NIGC, we have been able to protect the integrity of Indian gaming, expand outreach, and develop new services that support gaming operations and its staff.”

Pechanga Absconds with Cultural Remains of Tongva People

We've written on Pechanga inserting themselves into Gabrieleno Tongva business, the have NO Cultural Affiliation  with San Nicolas, yet they worked to keep the tribes that DO have it, from their rightful repatriation of the remains.


Many archaeologists who are knowledgeable about the earliest inhabitants of the Channel Islands say a preponderance of skeletal and DNA data affiliates the island with Gabrielino Tongva Indians, who occupied the greater Los Angeles Basin and the southern three islands: Santa Catalina, San Clemente and San Nicolas. The Navy DEEMED them Luiseno??

The VCSTAR reports

After years of consultation and trips to museums, hundreds of human remains and burial objects removed from San Nicolas Island soon will be returned to California tribes.

For decades, those remains have been kept in museums and collections throughout the state after excavations that date back to the late 1800s. Over the past several years, the Navy, and tribal leaders have worked to bring them to one spot. 

The goal: a final trip to San Nicolas and reburial.

Pechanga Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro described the repatriation process as allowing tribal communities to reclaim their ancestors and finally put them to rest.

“To us, they are our relations that deserve the dignity of being reinterred and cared for under tribal custom and tradition,” said Macarro, in a letter to then-Gov. Jerry Brown last year about the issue.

In 2015, the federal government published notice of a determination that the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians were culturally affiliated with San Nicolas Island, now Navy-owned. The island is about 65 miles off Ventura County.

Pechanga should BUTT out, give way to the rightful descendants of San Nicolas...

Visual Aid for The Number of DISENROLLED in Indian Country, You'd need a Train 3 miles long to hold JUST the LIVING

We use the number 11,000 for the disenrolled in Indian Country.  In trying to make the impression with math, I used this metric:  An Amtrak rail car can hold roughly 65 passengers and is 85 feet long.

To hold all disenrolled, the train would have to have 169 passenger cars that are 85 feet long and with the needed engines, it would be THREE MILES LONG.  And, that would NOT include our deceased ancestors that were ALSO stripped of their citizenship...some a CENTURY after they died.

THE 6 cars here must be multiplied x 28 to get the true visual

Six cars times 28 = 168 cars, STILL SHORT for 11,000

GET THE PICTURE NOW?

Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band Meeting To Discuss Federal Lawsuit To Restore Citizenship

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band                                                                                                                                                P.O. Box 6366                                                                                                                                                    Moore, OK 73153                                                                                                                                     www.1866creekfreedmen.com                      

The Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band will host its next meeting at Ralph Ellison Library on April 27, 2019, at 1:00 pm.  Topics of discussions will include the federal lawsuit filed by attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons of Riggs Abney law firm on behalf of the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band to restore citizenship to thousands of Creek Freedmen within the Muscogee Creek Nation.  

Carmen Tageant, Former Nooksack Tribal Council, WINS Suit Against STALKER, a Nooksack Heath Care Official

Galanda Broadman Atty Bree Blackhorse (L) Carmen Tageant (R)
photo courtesy Galanda Broadman

A good outcome for a good person.  Justice against a horrible regime and their offspring.


News Release

Carmen Tageant

Carmen Tageant, a former Nooksack Tribal Councilperson and mother of seven, has reached a confidential settlement of her Whatcom County Superior Court lawsuit against Nooksack health care official LeAndra Smith, who cyberstalked Tageant from a fake Facebook account for two years.

We are pleased that Carmen was able to achieve justice for herself,” said Bree Black Horse, Tageant's counsel with Galanda Broadman, PLLC. “We hope her case has brought needed attention to the disproportionate stalking and harassment that Native women experience, and shown both victims and perpetrators in Indian Country that they are not beyond the reach of justice.” 

Beginning in January 2016, LeAndra Smith used federally funded Nooksack Indian Tribal information technology to post a stolen photo of Tageant in lingerie, as well as misogynistic comments about her, in an effort to recall Tageant from the Nooksack Tribal Council. LeAndra Smith, the daughter of Nooksack Tribal Councilwoman Agripina Smith, targeted Tageant on behalf of a Tribal Council faction after she spoke out against the faction’s efforts to persecute and disenroll over 300 Nooksack Indians. 

 Soon after LeAndra Smith posted and disseminated the intimate photograph, Tageant became a target for sexual predators. Numerous predators sent her sexually explicit Facebook messages.

Pechanga Tribal Chairman Macarro, Citizenship Stripper, LAMENTS Lack of Listening to Natives, Recognizing Existence

Gaming writer Buck Wargo has an incomplete piece in CDC Gaming Reports on how Native Americans  are reacting to negative comments, sovereignty, and acknowledgement. He's not there to make a complete story, but report on gaming. I'll clap back in blue..

There’s frustration among Native Americans that people aren’t listening to them, not taking their sovereignty seriously or recognizing that they exist.  Tribal leaders said they want politicians and the public to condemn what they consider a slur to Native Americans as if someone makes a comment deemed anti-Semitic or other negative racial or religious connotations. 
We've written about the Pocahontas issue and the Redskins issue numerous times.  This is the FIRST time we've heard Macarro mention it.

Mark Macarro, tribal chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians in Southern California, once the subject of a RECALL ATTEMPT  said there was pushback from politicians and others when Congresswoman Iihan Omar, D-Minnesota, made controversial comments about Israel and Jews.  They weren't controversial, they were racist, anti semitic and hateful.

“A lot of people came down on her and there was pushback because she denigrated Jewish people and politicians,” Macarro said. “Donald Trump talks about Pocahontas, and people laugh and snicker, and nobody says anything. Our Indian Country community (did) but is anybody listening?”  We feel the same about YOU, Mark and your cohorts who stripped us of our heritage, denigrated our ancestors, ruined our children's futures, threaten us with banishment.  And nobody says anything.

Macarro expressed frustration about a 2018 survey that said 40 percent of people didn’t think Native Americans still exist.  This from a man who disenrolled 25% of his tribe out of existence, pals with other who did the same like Pala's Robert Smith, and who skirted poltical donation rules we saw in Wikileaks.

“We are invisible largely to American society, and that’s a problem,” Macarro said. “When we try to articulate argument of government parity and tribal sovereignty (SOVEREIGNTY DOESN'T mean RIGHT) who is listening other than a very small segment of Congress. You SHRINK your tribes and then cry about being invisible.  What is you disenrollers had 11,000 MORE to rally to the cause? And, politician only listen to your casino money.  The GOOD ones, listened to us, Mark, and kept you from your water bill even after you paid your lobbyist wife HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Dollars.  We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

Macarro: We have a lot of work to do to turn that around. We talk to ourselves in our own echo chamber and listen to ourselves but outside of these walls nobody is hearing us. That’s a problem we need to make sure they do because our future is ahead of us.”  Our future is ahead too, imagine the great publicity should disenrolling tribes bring their people home like Enterprise Rancheria and Robinson Rancheria did.   BRING the Pechanga disenrolled HOME Mark.  Let those caught up in a DECADES long Moratorium INTO the Tribe where they BELONG, just like their relatives.  Show REAL leadership, real concern for your OWN family, your own TRIBE......

The Indian Civil Rights Act was PASSED on this DAy in 1968. It's a TOOTHLESS LAW Lacking Enforcement

Today is INDIAN CIVIL RIGHTS ACT day... well, really the anniversary of it's passing in 1968. I wrote about it when it was...40 the last 11 years haven't changed a thing..  Abuse of individual Indians at the hands of tribal governments and/or tribal officials- led to the introduction and enactment of the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 (ICRA).  Unfortunately the ICRA did not contain an effective enforcement mechanism to deter tribal governments from violating the rights of the individual.   Here is a portion of the information AIRRO put together on why we need enforcement of ICRA.    There was a petition on this back in the day..

A quick review of the book  The Indian Civil Rights Act at Forty by Kristen A. Carpenter, Matthew L.M. Fletcher, and Angela R. Riley (eds.).  Because there was no enforcement placed into this act, Native American citizens have been abused by their tribes, stripped of citizenship, banished without cause.   We simply need to add enforcement.