Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Reconciling Moral OUTRAGE at Pechanga with Self Determination

I posted this way back in June 2007 and it still does apply. I hope from what you read here, you do NOT get the impression that we are against tribal gaming. That is not true. The links tell the story of what's happening at Pechanga and other reservations. Feel free to comment, they are open.

Tribal gaming has helped many tribes in CA, come out of poverty, Pechanga included. Many of the Pechanga people are uneducated and I remember they were so excited when they qualified for a Target credit card. Unfortunately, with success, greed soon follows. They looked at who they could get rid of to increase their per capita. And, unfortunately, the money hasn't made everyone happy.

But the facts are clear, most tribes have not treated their people as abominably as Pechanga, Redding, Picayune Rancheria Snoqualmie and others have treated their people. I have expressed earlier that I am FOR expanded gaming, for those tribes that haven't gotten to the table yet.


This gives Paulina Hunters views after the authors.

This is Paulina's post from June

Reconciling MORAL OUTRAGE at Pechanga Tribe with Self Determination


Here is an excellent article by Sheryl Lightfoot about how to support sovereignty issues, while not supporting the actions when they are morally repugnant, such as Pechanga's disenrollment of 25% of their tribe in order to enrich the remaining members.


http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414629

In order to be sovereign nations, we must act like sovereign nations. But that does not mean that in order to support self-determination in principle, we need to agree with every decision of other sovereign nations. Nation-states in the international system do not always agree with the internal actions of other nation-states, yet they nearly always accept the principle of the equal sovereignty of all nation-states within the international system (with certain notable exceptions like the Iraq invasion or humanitarian interventions). When a nation-state, a group of nation-states, or private citizens of other nation-states disagree with the internal actions of another nation-state, there are a number of possible avenues of action.

First, sovereign nation-states can register a diplomatic complaint with the government of the offending nation-state. This is done all the time in the international system. The U.S. Department of State often drafts and delivers letters of protest to the diplomats and officials of other governments over areas of disagreement. Likewise, the executives of our indigenous nations have the right, if not the moral responsibility, to send letters and make phone calls of complaint directly to the executives of the Cherokee Nation, expressing their concern over the disenrollment decision. This can be done while supporting the inherent right of an indigenous nation to determine its own membership.

Another tactic which can be employed by other indigenous nations or the private citizens of other nations is the art of moral persuasion, or ''moral suasion,'' as it has also been termed. This involves a campaign of exposure and embarrassment. This tactic has most often been employed in international human rights campaigns, with the purpose being to expose the immoral government action in the media and open up international discussion in order to embarrass the target government into changing its policy to better conform to international norms. This was done in the early days of the campaign against apartheid in South Africa and has been used often by groups like Amnesty International to urge governments to stop human rights abuses.


My (PAULINA'S) view is this:

As mentioned on other sites, tribal sovereignty is something that should be nurtured and cherished. Many now believe that the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians from Temecula, CA will be responsible for the quick erosion of sovereignty, that tribes have fought for for centuries. The question was asked, "what could be done?".

Frankly, economic sanctions of another nation, plus public embarrassment may be the only course of action that is effective. For instance, in South Africa, it was their SOVEREIGN RIGHT as a free nation to impose apartheid on their country.
What recourse did civilized countries use to bring down this hateful policy? Economic sanctions and world ridicule of the policy. No trade, no travel, no money. Final result, end of apartheid and a welcome back to South Africa into the world community.
Similarly, citizens of the United States (OP: AND California especially) can impose their own economic sanctions on the Tribal Nation of Pechanga by boycotting their nation.

Stop patronizing their casino, 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, citizens of our country will NOT support their nation, but will patronize (OP: In other words, support tribal gaming elsewhere) their competitor nations.

Also, letting state and federal representatives know that we expect them not to support a nation that would treat its citizens this way, especially NOT to allow them increased monetary benefits by expanding their casino slot machines.
Readers, there are 250 members of the band that were disenrolled and 500 people who are caught in Pechanga's illegal moratorium (illegal in that SOVEREIGN nation, against the sovereign nation of Pechanga's own constitution) Pechanga and its chairman, Mark Macarro deserves no benefit from violations of their laws and against citizens of the United States. Please ask your friends to read my blog and friends, please let me know your opinion.

9 comments:

Creeper said...

O.P...I do agree with your statement that we are not against gambling{let's call it what it is GAMBLING, NOT GAMING} it's not a football or a basketball game.I myself go to a Casino once in a while and gamble, NOT GAME, BUT NEVER AT THE PECHANGA CASINO.However, expanded gambling is a totally different situation.If you take a good look at some of the PRO PROPOSITION ADS, and all the claims how this will benefit these Tribes and our State ,you could almost be moved to tears by it all. Super rich Tribes sharing all that money with US ,and the Governor and Legislators squandering it again. WHOA, if anyone believes this crap then I have a Bridge in Brookyn to sell. I have voted NO ON 94,95,96,97, and because Fabian Nunez and Dom Perata where wined and dined and bought with lots of Freebies to push these compacts thru, I voted NO ON 93 BECAUSE THESE 2 GUYS WOULD GET TO STAY IN POWER ANOTHER 4 TO 6 YEARs. They knew damn well what the Pechanga Tribe's Chairman and the Board did to their own members. They where informed thru e-mails and letters about the injustice being perpetraded at Pechanga. So,let's throw them out and let's show them that we will no longer accept that kind of corruption. We Voters have all the power right now, lets use it.

Anonymous said...

I have not been to Pechanga since I read about the last disenrollment.
I miss the steakhouse, but it's worth not giving money to a group that treats its member so shabbily.

OPechanga said...

The steakhouse was good. But, then, they fired the head chef when they eliminated the descendants of Manuela Miranda and yet, keeping other Apis family.

Anonymous said...

Creeper, I totally agree! We the voters have the power and we must enforce it!! It is our only means of control for now. We must spread the word about what current legislators know, what they are ignoring, and why. This is the time!! We must seize the moment!! Change forces and let them know why!

stand your ground said...

In the past 3 years I and many of my family members have not gone to the Pechanga Casino, their restraurants or any appearances of celebs there. I am not missing it
I GO TO PALA

Anonymous said...

People in CA pay lip service to caring about civil rights, but when push comes to shove, they look the other way.

Nobody cares about what tribes are doing to their people. Frankly it doesn't seem like many of the eliminated people care either.

Help yourselves by getting involved. Have you joined forces with the other people?

I don't go to Pechanga anymore because of how they treated their employees and their people, but I know so many who do. They aren't getting the message.

Anonymous said...

To be honest with you, I do miss going to Pechanga but I won't go there because of what they have done.

Until they right their wrongs, I will not even buy a pack of gum from the Pechanga resort and casino.

They will not get one penny out of me.

I hope that someday I will be able to go back there as, like I said, I do miss the place.

just do it said...

This Tribe, the Pechanga Tribe, has comitted so many human and civil rights violations , not to mention unethical behaviour that
no reasonable and moral person should ever patronize the Pechanga
Casino ever again.
The time has come for the leadership to stop the lying and acknowledge every descendant,or keep doing what you are doing and lose it all.

Anonymous said...

Moral outrage at people who have few morals?

Are we better than they are?

If we spend money at a place where they have harmed so many people, are we no better? Isn't that aiding and abetting?

Should good Christian people be counseling tribal members as to what their lack of morals and ethics could lead to?