Wednesday, March 8, 2017

The Right of Tribal Sovereignty Allows Abuse of Indians, But Sovereign ABUSE is NOT RIGHT

South Africa had the SOVEREIGN RIGHT to impose APARTHEID on their Black Citizens.  Did that make it RIGHT?   No?  

Words to live by for honorable tribes

Why does nobody care when tribes like my own, Pechanga, do it on their reservation?  The ACLU doesn't care about our civil liberties, NARF could care less about our Native American Rights, and the Justice Department doesn't give a hoot about justice.



Tribal gaming has helped many tribes in CA, come out of poverty, Pechanga included.

Unfortunately, with success, greed soon follows. Instead of helping all their people, including those they placed in a moratorium hold, who rightfully belonged to the tribe they looked at who they could get rid of to increase their per capita. The money hasn't made everyone happy.

The facts are clear, most tribes have not treated their people as abominably as Pechanga, Pala, Redding Rancheria, Picayune Rancheria, Nooksack and others have treated their people. It's more like Tribal Terrorism on the aforementioned tribal reservations.

I posted this in 2007 a great article that still applies:

Reconciling MORAL OUTRAGE at Pechanga Tribe with Self Determination

Here are excerpts from 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.

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.

...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 (Cherokee Freedmen) 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. (OP: This is what we've been pursuring for 8 years now)  OP: Now, tribes like Pechanga practice APARTHEID on their reservations.

OP: My view is this

Tribal sovereignty is something that should be nurtured and cherished.  The question was asked, "what could be done?".

Frankly, economic sanctions of another tribal 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 Nations of Pechanga, Pala, et.al  by boycotting their nation's business

Stop patronizing their 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, 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 200 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. Chukchansi has exterminated 60% of it's tribe, Redding 25%. Elders and children abused by unconstitutional acts under the BIA's eyes, with NO SANCTIONS.

Please ask your friends to read our blog and share it on social media and friends, please let me know your opinion by posting comments.

Reworked and Re-posted from 2007

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS
TITLE 25—INDIANS
CHAPTER I—BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
PART 62—ENROLLMENT APPEALS
Current as of April 1, 2012
Sec.
§ 62.1 Definitions.
As used in these regulations:
Assistant Secretary means the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs or an authorized representative acting under delegated authority.
Bureau means the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior.
Commissioner means the Commissioner of Indian Affairs or an authorized representative acting under delegated authority.
Department means the Department of the Interior.
Director means the Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs area office which has administrative jurisdiction over the local field office responsible for administering the affairs of a tribe, band, or group of Indians or an authorized representative acting under delegated authority.
Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior or an authorized representative acting under delegate authority.
Sponsor means any authorized person, including an attorney, who files an appeal on behalf of another person.
Superintendent means the official or other designated representative of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in charge of the field office which has immediate administrative responsibility with respect to the affairs of a tribe, band, or group of Indians or an authorized representative acting under delegated authority.2
Tribal committee means the body of a federally recognized tribal entity vested with final authority to act on enrollment matters.
Tribal governing document means the written organizational statement governing a tribe, band or group of Indians and/or any valid document, enrollment ordinance or resolution enacted thereunder.
Tribal member means a person who meets the requirements for enrollment in a tribal entity and has been duly enrolled.
§ 62.2 Purpose.
A. The regulations in this part are to provide procedures for the filing and processing of appeals from adverse enrollment actions by Bureau officials.
B. The regulations in this part are not applicable and do not provide procedures for the filing of appeals from adverse enrollment actions by tribal committees, unless:
1. The adverse enrollment action is incident to the preparation of a tribal roll subject to Secretarial approval; or
2. An appeal to the Secretary is provided for in the tribal governing document.
§ 62.3 Information collection.
In accordance with the Office of Management and Budget regulations contained in 5 CFR 1320.3, approval of the information collection requirements contained in this part is not required.
§ 62.4 Who may appeal.
A. A person who is the subject of an adverse enrollment action may file or have filed on his/her behalf an appeal. An adverse enrollment action is:
1. The rejection of an application for enrollment by a Bureau official incident to the preparation of a roll for Secretarial approval;
2. The removal of a name from a tribal roll by a Bureau official incident to review of the roll for Secretarial approval;
3. The rejection of an application for enrollment or the disenrollment of a tribal member by a tribal committee when the tribal governing document provides for an appeal of the action to the Secretary;
4 The change in degree of Indian blood by a tribal committee which affects a tribal member when the tribal governing document provides for an appeal of the action to the Secretary;
5. The change in degree of Indian blood by a Bureau official which affects an individual; and
6. The certification of degree of Indian blood by a Bureau official which affects an individual.
B. A tribal committee may file an appeal as provided for in § 61.11 of this chapter.
C. A sponsor may file an appeal on behalf of another person who is subject to an adverse enrollment action.3

WeRone said...

If a Band has custom and tradition, follows it and honors ALL members rights. A band is honored by the Feds during reservation creation, and speaks to elders if they need guidance of the Band in making decisions. Tribal elders may not speak English and custom and tradition has to be translated and members are recognized by Luiseno elders only. ALL this documentation is in certified documents held in trust by the Federal government. Why would some current members ignore custom and tradition, recorded documents with ALL the truth be ignored and entire clans be herded out of the band who belonged over 100 yrs? Why would others be allowed to have more rights than ALL members? Why would the band be told committees have more rights to determine membership even after a individual is adopted by the Band not the committees? Why is the band told to hold a vote on and issue and then the council ignores the bands vote and goes against the bands voted decision? Our rights need to be brought back, and the band needs to follow our Ancestors paper trail in determining membership. That's why we were ALL members in the first place!