Remembrance: ROBERT FOREMAN 1st Chairman of Redding Rancheria; Disenrolled AFTER False Rumors Disproved

Edward Robert "Bob"  Foreman, the first Chairman of the Redding Rancheria, passed away TEN YEARS ago,  on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008.  Here is a remembrance of a post we wrote then  Please, read and share on social media.   And AVOID the WIN-RIVER Casino.

Here's how the first Chairman was treated by the Redding Tribal Council:

On January 27, 2004, all 76 members of my family the “Foremans” were removed from the Redding Rancheria tribal rolls based on nothing more than a conjured up rumor alleging my mother Lorena Foreman-Butler was not the daughter of her mother Virginia Timmons, one of Redding Rancheria’s 17 Original Distributees.
Tribal Officials never produced a single piece of evidence to dispute my mother's maternal lineage and my family provided reams of legal and contemporary documents proving her mother was Virginia Timmons. Tribal Council still required my family to provide genomic DNA from my deceased mother and grandmother to retain our tribal citizenship

Despite my family providing Tribal Council with DNA test results from two separate labs of 99.987% and 99.890%, proving by the legal standards established by the American Bar Association and the American Medical Associations that Lorena Butler and Virginia Timmons were mother and daughter, Tribal Council still stripped my family of our tribal citizenship. 

Bob Foreman has been fighting to regain his family's civil rights and the rights of disenfranchised Native Americans since.

A decade after his death, one of his daughters, Carla Foreman Maslin says:
It is very difficult I know. We all have to face this very sad reality in our lives. The only thing that I have a hard time with my Father's death is that he died with injustice. I still struggle with this. 

How can I move forward in my life when this still feels like a knife in my heart? And my family's heart? They say to not stay in the past. But the truth is, the past is the key to the future.

Especially when it comes to our heritage & where we come from. The origin of each of us. It reaches back to the roots of our ancestors & continues through the trunk & extends out to the branches of the future of our family. To some people that is one of the most important & sacred things in our lives. It is an organic law above all other written laws. 

I grew up knowing my family & my history. The stories that have been shared & passed down are also very much apart of what makes us who we are & our identity. There is a lot of pain, tragedy, humor, & love in those stories. And DNA is the scientific proof & the glue that forever binds us. Anyways, my heart is aching today because I miss my Dad. And to all the broken hearts out there, there is no glue that that repair it. My broken heart goes out to you during this difficult time.




Here's a link to his story: BOB FOREMAN Rest in Peace Details on the celebration of his life to follow

From his Obituary:

Bob Foreman, Redding Rancheria's first tribal chairman and a pioneer in north state American Indian health clinics, died Wednesday after a long illness. He was 72.
An Achumawi Pit River Indian, Foreman was remembered Thursday by friends and family as a tireless advocate for Indian rights, skilled communicator and loyal patriarch.
He was born June 12, 1936, in Lake County. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, he worked in construction as did his father, said daughter Carla Maslin of Redding. In the late 1960s, he began his campaign to get Indians health care in the north state.
His efforts paid off in 1971, with the opening of the federally financed Shasta-Trinity-Siskiyou Rural Indian Health Center in Anderson.

"Bobby was a real devoted guy to his tribe," said Everett Freeman, tribal chairman of the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians near Corning. "He almost single-handedly got Indian health to where it is today."

Larry McClanahan, a Navajo Indian who moved to Cottonwood from Arizona in 1972, said Foreman was one of the first people he met in the north state. He and his family were glad to receive clinic services.
"He took me as I was," McClanahan recalled. "He was a man that was concerned for people."
Rod Lindsay, a Shasta Lake city councilman who works with the Office of Indian Education for the Anderson Union High School District, also met Foreman through the clinic. Lindsay said Foreman was a mentor for many, sharing his knowledge of culture and history with the young.

Foreman also was instrumental in organizing the Redding Rancheria Indian Health Clinic on Churn Creek Road and served as director, later retiring as self-governance coordinator for the rancheria, Maslin said.

In 1985, when the rancheria regained its tribal status, Foreman was elected as its first chairman and subsequently served on the tribal council.

But in 2004, he and all his family members were disenrolled after a bitter dispute over his mother's maternal lineage. The struggle took a toll on his health, Maslin said.
Foreman suffered from heart and kidney problems, she said.

Leah Harper, a family friend of more than 20 years who does native medicine work in Redding, said she wanted to stand out in front of the Churn Creek clinic with a "thank you" banner in Foreman's honor

.
"I believe that Bob had the heart of the native people and he wanted to make a difference for them," she said. "Bob was loving and the children are loving and they work very hard."
In addition to Maslin, Foreman is survived by three daughters and three sons, as well as 15 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Funeral services are pending.
For her part, Maslin is grateful her father last year was able to do something he'd always wanted - to see the Grand Canyon.

"He actually got emotional just looking at it," she said. "He was in awe of its beauty and couldn't believe the world had such a beautiful place."

Congratulations to the Redding Rancheria for their despicable acts of DISHONOR in what they did to this man and his family.

Tribal Disenrollments: "Like Being Raped, and Then Going to the RAPIST for Justice"

 A news story on tribal disenrollments and moratoriums had the perfect quote as a post title, from Carla Maslin, from the Redding Rancheria of Northern California. 400 Pechanga People know exactly what she means, having been "raped" of their citizenship, benefits and security by Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro, the enrollment committee led by Bobbi LeMere and certain members of the Tribal Council, Russell "Butch" Murphy and Andrew Masiel among them.

From that article:

Tribal membership disputes are also a problem across the country, with as many as 4,000 tribe members fighting for enrollment, said Carla Maslin, a disenrolled member of the Redding Rancheria in Northern California and an advocate for disenfranchised tribe members.
Maslin's case has gone nowhere in tribal court, she said. "It's like being raped and going to the person who raped you for justice," Maslin said.

These enrollment issues don't just strip away income from a potential casino, they limit access to education, health care and the cultural benefits of belonging to a tribe, she said."Someone is trying to steal away something that doesn't belong to them," Maslin said. "They're trying to steal their identity and heritage."

Here was how "those who raped us" administered J U S T I C E

• The Pechanga Tribe said they'd give us a fair hearing, but consoldidated our cases so that we couldn't individually bring our case forward. (to keep the rapists from having to listen to 95 of my family)
• We had a limit of to any written statement.
• We were not allowed to send attachments or records (such as Dr. Johnson's report that determined our family was indeed Pechanga)
• We must treat our rapists with respect, disrepectful conduct was "not to be tolerated" (lie back and enjoy it)
• You MAY NOT ask questions, or call witnesses or present additional evidence or documents (we rape, therefore we will hear no evil)
• You will be subject to a PAT DOWN SEARCH, even if you are elderly and infirm.
• NO note taking instruments of any kind permitted. (and we won't wear a condom)
• Grouping will be 15 people and you have 30 minutes (2 minutes per person and we aren't listening anyway, so who cares?)
• We, the Tribal Council don't have to be on time for your appeal. (Masiel was late, but no matter, his mind was made up)
• The enrollment committee commands you to use certified documents, however, the EC will accept hearsay from child molester in prison (Megan's Law website: Ibanez, Vincent)
• Rapist PROHIBIT the presence of legal representatives. (ACLU anyone?)

As you can see, the "rapist" in our case, had their own brand of justice. NO CIVIL RIGHTS for us. And this is who Congressman Darrell Issa and Sen. Jim Battin stand with.  OP: And who Rep. Luis Alejo gives awards to.

From Nov 2008

LUMBEE TRIBE's VOTER Disenfranchisment, FRAUD, or Deliberate?

Vote Fraud, disenfranchisement or disenrollment at Lumbee Tribe? Or All of the above?

The Tribal Council speaker questioned Thursday why some people found out they were no longer on the Lumbee Tribe’s membership rolls when they tried to vote Tuesday.

Anita Hammonds Blanks said that two tribe members, possessing tribal enrollment cards, tried to cast their votes only to be told their cards, and thus their membership, had expired. Blanks spoke of others who voted in 2012, 2015 and 2016.

“In 2018, on Tuesday, they were not on the rolls,” Blanks said.

Barbara Boxer’s Son and CA Powerbroker Found Bilking Graton Rancheria

No wonder we could never get support from former CA Senator Barbara Boxer in our quest for JUSTICE on our disenrollment.  Her son was too busy ENRICHING himself.

Senator Ma'am

For decades Darius Anderson has advised and raised campaign funds for prominent state Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Jerry Brown, governor of California.

Three retired state judges in the arbitration process declared in April that Anderson and his partners in “Kenwood No. 2” defrauded the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria of millions of dollars between 2002–03 and committed many acts of deception. They ordered Anderson’s investment firm to pay three quarters of a million dollars to the tribe to cover its lawyer’s fees and arbitration costs.

Senate Indian Affairs Committee APPROVES SAVANNA'S ACT #MMIW Gains Support

Savanna LaFonataine-Greywind
Murdered at 22

A U.S. Senate committee has approved a bill aimed at addressing the high number of missing and murdered Native American women.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs approved Savanna's Act on Wednesday, sending it to the full Senate for consideration.

The measure would expand tribal access to federal crime databases and establish protocols for handling cases of missing and murdered Native Americans.

It also would require annual reports on the number of missing and murdered Native American women amid concerns that inadequate data collection has stifled efforts to measure the full scope of the problem.

The bill is named for 22-year-old Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, who was slain in 2017 while eight months pregnant.

Its sponsor Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakota Democrat, lost her bid for re-election last week.

A study released by a Native American nonprofit says numerous police departments in cities nationwide are not adequately identifying or reporting cases of missing and murdered indigenous women.

Grand Ronde Tribal Council REINSTATES 19 Chief Tumulth Descendants

DOING THE RIGHT THING, honors the Grand Ronde tribe and the ancestors.  What can be a better choice??

Yes, they DO

They voted 4-3 to reinstate the membership of 19 Chief Tumulth descendants during its Wednesday, Nov. 14, meeting, concluding a more than four-year process.

The descendants, including some who are now deceased, were identified for disenrollment in 2014 when the Tribe’s Enrollment Committee ruled that they and other Chief Tumulth descendants did not meet the Tribal Constitution’s lineal descent requirements at the time of their enrollment.

Should CORRUPT BIA Get OUT of The CDIB business

Based on documents obtained by Emilio Reyes, Tongva, through a Freedom of Information Act request, the BIA has struggled with how to issue CDIBs for decades.

Our friend Emilio getting recognized for his hard work exposing the BIA's corruption in Indian Country Today. 

“It’s unclear what [the BIA] is trying to do,” said Paul Spruhan during a recent lecture at Arizona State University’s Indian Legal Program. “The CDIB has become a thing of mystical quality without an origin story.”

Tribal Disenrollment is also on the minds of other Indian legal experts. Gabriel S. Galanda, a citizen of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Northern California and a frequent critic of tribal disenrollment, wrote in a recent blog: “The Bureau’s proposed withdrawal will—not may, will— ‘feed into the ongoing controversies over tribal recognition, membership, and disenrollment.’“ Galanda further agreed with Spruhan’s writings: “Spruhan correctly analyzes CDIBs in ‘the current environment surrounding disenrollment,’

READ MORE HERE

Pechanga Tribal Member Calls for Disenrollment of REMAINING APIS DESCENDANTS

The Pechanga Tribe is in Distress

Are more Tribal Disenrollments back on tap at the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in Temecula?

I wrote an opinion piece for the Temecula Patch (Pechanga Ended Birthright ... )about tribes that disenroll their members, such a Pechanga and the Pala Band of Mission Indians a couple of weeks ago. The tribe's mouthpiece, who goes by the nom de plume of Another View responded, in a subsequent Temecula Patch piece .  Which proves he's either hilariously misinformed, or deliberately misleading

The opinion piece about "birthright citizenship" at Pechanga has no merit. The families removed from the Pechanga tribal roll simply lacked the proof needed to establish tribal membership. One family, the Mirandas, traces its ancestry to Pablo Apis.

One scholarly source describes his origin thus: "Pablo Apis, a Luiseño Indian, was born about 1792 at Guajome near Mission San Luis Rey," now within Oceanside, California. [See here: http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/1991/october/temecula-3/] The Catholic Church granted Pablo Apis land in the vicinity of Temecula, for his services to the Church, and he resided there.

He died in the 1850s, before the formation of the Pechanga Indian Reservation in 1882. This land the Pechanga Band of Indians occupied. He had no association with this group of Indians which split off from the Temecula Indians.


Shamelessly, the descendants of Pablo Apis claim a status for him false in fact.  (OP:  So, can we intimate that he believe the OTHER APIS descendants are to be disenrolled?  If not, WHY? Why are some okay, but not others? 

This is strange to those of us, including the Apis descendants of Manuela Miranda. Why? Because there are STILL descendants of Apis IN THE TRIBE, as members. So is Another View saying that SOME descendants, such as Francis Miranda who was one of the leaders of the disenrollment movement (including her OWN FAMILY), and who voted to KICK out her own family, has outlived their usefulness? WHY would the tribe accept SOME Apis descendants but not others if they had NO VALID CLAIM as tribal members?


Should all of them FEAR for their per capita... er, their tribal citizenship? WILL MORE DISENROLLMENTS HAPPEN AT PECHANGA. Is the casino doing that badly after expansion, they need more money?  

WATCH YOUR BACKS APIS Descendants remaining in the tribe, they are COMING FOR YOU.

Muskogee Creek Freedmen vs ZINKE lawsuit JURISDICTION questions

The estimable TURTLE TALK BLOG has the latest documents on the Muskogee Freedmen lawsuit against Ryan Zink.


From MCFreedmen MOTION to DISMISS:

Defendant’s tribal exhaustion arguments are not relevant here. Tribal exhaustion is not required where an action in tribal court violates express jurisdictional prohibitions, as here. Even if tribal exhaustion were required, the futility exception applies.

North Dakota Law Threatened Native American Votes. They Responded By Turning Out in Historic Numbers

Keep in mind, that TRIBES have stifled voters via tribal disenrollment for a DECADE....

A controversial new voter ID law in North Dakota made casting a ballot more difficult for thousands of Native Americans living on reservations in the state this year. But in the face of a law critics called “plainly unconstitutional,” Native Americans in parts of North Dakota appeared to turn out to vote in record numbers in Tuesday’s 2018 midterm elections.