Thursday, December 8, 2022

Winnemucca Indian Colony EVICTS and BANISHES ELDERS WITHOUT TRIAL

 NEWS from  Water Protectors Legal Collective (WPLC) & NEVADA LEGAL SERVICES:

Winnemucca Indian Colony, Paiute and Shoshone lands, Nevada, U.S.A — The Winnemucca Indian Colony is an Indian Colony created by the 1916 executive order of Woodrow Wilson and an act of 1928 Congress for homeless Paiute and Shoshone Indians to live and work nearby the developing railroad and town in far northwest Nevada. While the history of the Colony is complex, it is undisputed that Residents engaged in self-governance of their homelands until the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and others asserted involvement in the group’s affairs. The community has suffered from years of litigious disputes, harassment, and violence over who has authority over the Winnemucca Indian Colony. See generally Winnemucca Indian Colony v. United States of America Department of the Interior ex rel Ayers, (9th Cir. No. 18017121).


In November 2021, the disputed Interim “Rojo” Council filed the first case in the newly-created Winnemucca Tribal Court seeking the eviction of fourteen long-term Paiute and Shoshone Elders and Residents from their homelands. Attorneys from Nevada Legal Services and Water Protector Legal Collective have been representing these Elders and Residents. Attorneys, Elders, and Supporters alike believed that there would be a trial of the eviction claims in December 2022 wherein the Elders could present evidence of the history, relations, rights, and customs allowing them to remain on the land they have occupied and lived on, some for generations.


On Friday, December 2, 2022, a hearing was held wherein the Winnemucca Tribal Court summarily evicted the Elders and Residents without a trial, banished several people, and found for the Tribal Council without giving the Elders and Residents the benefit of a trial. As the proceedings were going on, some of the Elders and Residents were excluded from the zoom hearing when the decision was announced.


The official court order outlines many issues including: the denial of Defendant-Residents’ requests for dismissal, summary judgment granted allowing the disputed tribal council to evict and banish Elders and Residents, and evicted Elders and Residents will need to pay over $30,000 each in fines. The tribal court also ordered most Elders and Residents to leave the homes they have lived in for decades by Friday, December 9, 2022.


The conclusions and orders entered by the Court are incorrect and based on evidence not disclosed during the discovery or litigation process; the denial of a trial is an affront to legal fairness and due process, and many elements of the Court’s order are in contravention of international human rights standards and the rights and protections guaranteed by the Winnemucca Constitution, the Indian Civil Rights Act, and commonly understood notions of Due Process. The past year of litigation has involved intense, ongoing repression of the Elders, Residents, and the people who support them. WPLC and NLS continue to represent the Elders and Residents and are seeking an immediate stay of the decision and eviction order while the case continues on appeal.


Regarding the Court’s eviction order, Paiute Elder Resident JJ Ayer said “I am of seven generations of Native people that have lived on the Winnemucca Indian Colony. I was born and raised in Winnemucca, and my family alone outnumbers the whole list of eligible voters; when I was on the Tribal council we had 179 eligible voters, now none of the people who have lived here for over 40 years can even vote. This is wrong in every way, most of us are disabled and old with no other home but here and now we are banished from our land.”

5 comments:

Untouchables said...

Nope we don’t have to bounce it around in our bought and paid for kangaroo court anymore.Kamala Harris sent the message when she was seen rubbing elbows w/Mark Macarro!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan, tribal members medical appointments were canceled at the Nimkee Clinic due to the members being disenrolled but those members had yet to receive any notification of Disenrollment.
Elderly dementia members were removed immediately from the Andahwood Senior Care Facility, a place they were safe, cared for, a place they knew as home, packed up and told to leave, you are not welcome here, ELDERS OF THE COMMUNITY, GET OUT NOW!!

How can this happen, how do Tribal Chairmen, tribal councils live with them selves??
How do these people live a life knowing they have destroyed other lives, DESTROYED a persons life!

Mark Maccarro, Frank Cloutier and all other Tribal Chairman and Councils who disenroll, look in the mirror at the soulless, greedy bastards you are and know Karma is a mother fucking BITCH!

AS A TRUE NATIVE YOU WILL KNOW WHAT IS WAITING FOR YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE!



Anonymous said...

They treat us like we are in prison no rights.They put up fence and trying to lock us in i can't even have my mom come over for dinner and no visitors BIA cops will hassle them and run them off...Dang

D.N.R. said...

We hear you loud and clear our friend.Like in Russia people are in fear to speak up.Rick and his fellow warriors will do everything we can to help!

Thunderbird said...

How many others are out there afraid to speak please we need to hear from you or it will never change!