Be Honest, Native Advocates (NARF, NCAI, ACLU, NIGA) YOU DON'T CARE About Disenrolled Native Americans

All advocates talk a good game on civil rights, actions to take, protesting mascotry, but the deafening silence on tribal disenrollment stand out to over 11,000 of us, who have been stripped of our tribal rights to belong.

You aren’t a bad person for not being consumed by the tribal disenrollment, but you kind of are if you pretend to be and do nothing about it beyond hoping we acknowledge you care
                                paraphrased from the article linked below

#StopDisenrollment

An article about the UYGURS of China, an oppressed group by every standard of human decency by Derek Hunter in Townhall got me thinking of the comparisons to the disenrolled of 90 Tribal Nations which have over 11,000 Natives stripped of citizenship. Alice Langton Sloan had kept a diary of the tribes, I don't have a current update, but here's the breakdown of disenrolling tribes from 2016

Inaction speaks louder than words.  The NCAI has studiously avoided the issue for decades, here at Original Pechanga Blog, we have called them out through at least 3 Presidents (of the U.S. and the NCAI) READ those   Here  or HERE  or here   That silence and inaction favors the oppressors.  Even worse, they bring in disenrollment chieftains as honored leaders.  Any abuses of Native people are okay, just don't use a Native mascot?

John Gomez Jr. former head of the American Indian Rights and Resources Organization published 10 Things You Can Do To Help Stop the Lawlessness in Indian Country   That got some movement from politicians like Rep. Mike Thompson from N. California. He wrote to Nick Rahall then head of the House Natural Resources committee asking for oversight hearings  but this was an exception.

We've written to Attorneys General Barr,  Sessions , Eric Holder, Lynch  Governors, Senators.  Mostly to crickets, although Barbara Boxer responded with a campaign letter.

Let's circle back to our Native advocates.  We have called for boycotts of offending tribes' enterprises, each of the TOP TEN INDIAN CASINOS To AVOID because THEY CHEAT Their OWN People have violated one or all of the rights on this list:

•Stripped tribal members of their citizenship
•Denied voting rights to members
•Taken away rightful healthcare to seniors
•Blocked access to land on the reservation
•Denied members due process of law, including legal representation, even writing tools.
•Prohibition of practicing religion, including the right to pray at their ancestor's graves.
•Threatened others if they speak out
•Subjected some to ex post facto laws.

Since President Biden's Voting Rights Act is the talk of the present, be reminded that all 11,000 of us have lost the right to vote in our tribes elections. 

What can YOU DO?  Without much effort, YOU can  Stop patronizing disenrolling tribe's casinos, hotel, restaurants and their powwows. Let them know that we do not agree with their system of denying civil rights to their people and until they follow their own tribal law, you, as a proud citizen will NOT support their nation, but will patronize their competitor nations.   If you don't tell them why you aren't coming, they could just think, business is bad.  Mabuhay Radio joined in a boycott of Pechanga

I understand we can't all STAND UP FOR ALL RIGHTS ALL THE TIME, but a couple of small actions, including sharing the stories we've put here for 15 year, is a step in the right direction.  It just takes a little effort, from a lot of us.   And there is GOOD NEWS on restoration of some to their tribes:
ENTERPRISE RANCHERIA   Robinson Rancheria  The Cherokee Freedmen won their treaty rights, and the Grand Ronde followed the tribal courts decision bringing back Chief Tumulth's descendants 

Read here on SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING  That somebody is in the mirror.

  

Historic Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland Has Had Nearly A YEAR to UNDERSTAND Tribal Disenrollment Abuse

Deb Haaland
Secretary of the Interior

         

It has been nearly ONE year, since that HISTORIC DAY when Deb Haaland from New Mexico was approved as Interior Secretary.  I wrote the open letter linked here, but I was advised in February 2021 to "give her time.  Well is NOW a good time?  Click here for the letter:   

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.  The knee-jerk response is always  sovereignty, but sovereign right doesn't make their actions right.

The huge bully pulpit the Secretary has, should be used to call out tribal chieftains and expose the dirty family secret of tribal disenrollment.

If We Don't PUSH ADVOCACY Groups Like NCAI and NARF to Help Wrongfully Disenrolled WHO WILL?

 

Stop Disenrollment
by SPEAKING OUT

I write this blog on behalf of all disenrolled Native Americans.  Fawn Sharp of the National Congress of American Indians WON'T.  Neither did her predecessor Brian Cladoosby.  They are okay with letting 11,000 Native Americans roam the wilderness, without a tribe.

We can't even get our first Native American Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to do more than give lip service.  She may care, or sympathize with our ancestors abuse, but she hasn't been strong, vocally.  The disenrolled are sacrificed at the altar of sovereignty.

I'm POSITIVE that I am doing the right thing, as I'm speaking for the thousands of Native Americans that have been harmed by negative speech, including baseless claims against their ancestors. their elders and historical documents.

As I asked Congress staffers of my own two Senator's, when I lived in California, if YOU won't look out for us, who will?

I am shining a spotlight on the corruption of some tribes and organizations who are using sovereignty as a club, to beat the weak and helpless, including elders and children.  I allow others to guest blog to get both their issues and those topics that will benefit all of us to more people.  

NCAI and Fawn Sharp won't help, even in the smallest amount, which would include speaking out against the tribal leaders who are harming ..ACTUALLY harming Native Americans, rather than using a nickname they don't like (that is a racist one) and mascotry. 

Native American Rights Fund won't do "Indian vs. Indian" and have had on their board, a tribal chairman that runs an apartheid reservation, one who overturned the will of the people by refusing to follow the law and customs.

I do this blog, so that it may NOT BE SAID, "I didn't know".  If all who read this share my posts on their social media, there can be a learning, an enlightening.   

DIRTY LAUNDRY needs to be aired.  We can't be silent and HOPE the issue fades.  We must be active, as that is the only way to combat the deep pockets and political friendships that tribal money creates. 

The elected leaders, both tribal and federal, respect money more than rights.  The only way to change that, is to add YOUR voice, to expose the corruption    

Yulu Ewis Brings ORAL HISTORY TO YOU. OPE Is Available for Order on Amazon NOW

Proud and happy to promote my friend Yulu Ewis' book which is available on AMAZON    Bring ORAL TRADITION that springs from her Miwok and Pomo ancestry.  Here are some excellent reviews.  Help my friend bring oral history to YOU

"Yulu Ewis powerfully recreates tribal myth from the ashes of colonial history; myth that simultaneously remakes the poet and colonial history itself." Dr. Greg Sarris, Graton Rancheria Endowed Chair in Creative Writing, Sonoma State University; author of Grand Avenue and Watermelon Nights

"Poems that should be read and reread---and very likely will be---of ever-vital Native presences of the Northern California mountain." Dr. Geary Hobson, Professor Emeritus, University of Oklahoma; executive Director, Native Writers Circle of the Americas

"In 'Ope (More), Yulu Ewis opens the world of oral tradition-the same, timeless, pre-Columbian world of our Indigenous ancestors that is still present, but unseen by most-to all of her readers. Grounded in the language and world views of her Miwok and Pomo ancestors, Ewis definitely gives us 'more' as it grapples with cultural perseverance, along with the 'sovereignty' and 'civil rights' the US has 'given' to her people in the aftermath of its genocidal and assimilative tactics that attempted to destroy them." Dr. Kimberly G. Wieser, Associate Professor, University of Oklahoma, author of Texas...to Get Horses and Back to the Blanket

What Abuses Are Tribal Nations OKAY WITH, To Protect Sovereignty. Sovereignty Is Wielded as a Weapon

 

Quote by Rick Cuevas
Original Pechanga

I follow Pumunkey descendant @KirosAuld on Twitter, so should you.   This morning he asked a great question. 

“What level of federal intervention do you feel comfortable leaving things at?”   And really, what are we willing to overlook in the name of SOVEREIGNTY?   Our advocacy groups, like NARF, NCAI, Interior/BIA are all overlooking civil and human rights abuses, elder abuse, unethical disenrollments, lack of due process, disbarment of defendant's attorneys.  The Nooksack Tribe got rid of a JUDGE for ruling against them

Sovereignty as a WEAPON

Saginaw Chippewa Disenrolled Have Letter for President Biden Urging ACTION on HIS PART

 Our relations from the Saginaw Chippewa disenrolled have put together a letter for President Biden.  You should be able to increase the size.  Here is how to contact the WH by email:

Saginaw Chippewa Disenrollment Case Sent BACK to Interior Dept.

 

The Saginaw Chippewa disenrolled having difficulty getting justice from our justice system.

DOI Must Rethink Staying Out Of Tribal Disenrollment Fight

"A D.C. federal judge said the U.S. Department of the Interior "determined the right outcome –– for mostly the right reasons" in deciding not to intervene in the disenrolling of Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe members, but the judge still sent claims by former members back to the agency for reconsideration." IS It Poor Record Keeping? The plaintiffs say they are direct descendants of the Saginaw Chippewa, which encompasses the Saginaw, Swan Creek and Black River bands, and were properly enrolled in the tribe before being kicked out in 2016 and 2017. The tribe came into legal existence in 1937 after it enacted a new constitution that incorporated all descendants of the bands, the 24-page complaint says. But that was undermined, the disenfranchised tribal members say, when the commissioner of Indian Affairs unlawfully forced revisions to the constitution, including a residency requirement that restricted membership to those with specific ancestry tied to a particular reservation. (OP: The disenrolling leader's are okay with this intrusion?) That excluded 85 percent of the bands’ descendants from membership, the complaint says, which led to vast under enrollment prior to enactment of the Judgment Funds Act.

Can FAWN SHARP, NCAI President Speak Out on Disenrollment When She Has Disenrolling Chieftain Mark Macarro As Vice President?

Secure our traditional laws, cultures, and ways of life for our descendants.  

       MISSION STATEMENT of the NCAI

 
We thought we had a coup, when Redding Rancheria disenrolled Cam Foreman got National Congress of American Indians President Fawn Sharp to release a statement on disenrollment, after Cam got Secretary Deb Haaland to mention that in a public forum.

I was pushing hard to get more, so hard, that President Fawn Sharp BLOCKED me on Twitter (@opechanga).

Stifling discussion by blocking
those who expect Fawn to LEAD?

Kawhi Leonard's Sister Kimesha Williams STILL in Jail for 2019 Pechanga Murder. Why So long for JUSTICE?

 Bringing this story forward from September 2019.  WHY is this case taking so long?  Afaf Anis Assad deserves JUSTICE.

ANOTHER MURDER   at Pechanga Resort & Casino.   UPDATE, according to Riverside Sheriff's records, Kimesha Williams has a court date today:  

LA Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is the brother of one of the women accused of the BRUTAL MURDER of a Long Beach woman at Pechanga Resort Casino, his aunt confirmed Saturday, the PE has reported.

Kimesha Monae Williams, Leonard's sister, is being held without bail at Indio Correction Facility.

An elderly woman visiting Pechanga Resort and Casino, a tribal gaming venue know for cheating their own people via tribal disenrollment, located in Temecula, CA

BOYCOTT SOVEREIGN TRIBAL ENTITIES LIKE NOOKSACK THAT ABUSE THEIR PEOPLE VIA DISENROLLMENT

The Nooksack 306 are beginning to put together a boycott of Nooksack businesses.  Actually, it's in response to the Nooksack's treatment of their elders, whom the tribe has stripped of their free meals. Recently the tribe has refused service to some N306 people, even placing then on a do not serve list.

I wrote this piece quite a while back, and I think it's time to resurrect the idea of a BOYCOTT for all tribal entities that have violated the civil and human rights of their people.  The State of CA was working to boycott neighboring state AZ businesses a decade ago, because of the tough immigration laws that hadn't even take affect. Yet, these same entities won't stand up for tribal people that have actually been HARMED by their tribes.

WHAT DO YOU THINK, shouldn't WE take a stand against the abuses of civil and human rights by these tribes?  Please share on social media

Sen Dianne Feinstein OPPOSES Win River Casino Move by Redding Rancheria

The Redding Rancheria has renewed its federal application to build a 69,000 square-foot casino, a 250 room hotel, and a retail center in South Redding.

Opponents of the proposed Win-River Casino and Event Center move say they are pleased with Sen. Dianne Feinstein's doubling down on her opposition to the move.

In a letter dated Tuesday, citing opposition to the move by the City of Redding, Shasta County, and the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians, Senator Feinstein urges Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Bryan Newland to use a two-part process to review the proposal. That includes broad public input.

Feinstein says that a "restored lands" exception is not applicable and would set a precedent.   The tribe was restored and later disenrolled their first tribal chairman Bob Foreman and the entire Lorena Butler descendants, including LELAND, LEON, LORENA and their children, the family which provided the land for the current casino. This was after they forced exhumation of their beloved ancestor for DNA which proved their belonging.

Redding Rancheria Tribal Council Chairman Jack Potter told KRCR's Mike Mangas that he's not surprised by the letter.

"The tribe isn't shocked that we received opposition from Dianne Feinstein, Dianne Feinstein opposes all casino relocation projects," said Potter. "She has personal issues against casinos that affected her personally in her life so we know that she opposes them."

In MY VIEW, the Redding Rancheria can't be trusted, based on their actions in harming their own people.  If they will cheat their own, won't they cheat the people of California?

FOLLOW NEW Website Indigenous Wire, Focused on Indigenous policy, Politics, Economics and Sovereignty.

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Rob Capriccioso by Marty Two Bulls Sr.

An award-winning D.C.-based journalist and writer with over two decades of reporting and editing experience, Rob was previously the longtime D.C. Bureau Chief at Indian Country Today, the Senior Editor at Tribal Business News, a Contributing Writer at American Indian Report and News from Indian Country, and he’s reported for numerous other Native-focused publications. His mainstream media contributions include reporting, analysis and special projects for PBS, NPR, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, The New York Post, The Guardian, TMZ, Campaigns & Elections, Forbes, Politico, Inside Higher Ed and more.

Rob is an enrolled citizen of the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians who grew up in the Bahweting region of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. His mother worked for the tribe in various health-related positions, and his father was an economic and legal advisor for the tribe. He interned at the tribe’s court while pursuing dual political science and psychology undergraduate degrees at the University of Michigan, and he previously worked at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium in federal relations and has served on the board of the Native American Journalists Association.