Monday, March 27, 2023

The Painful Legacy of Tribal Disenrollment: How Pechanga's Ancestors Are Crying Out for Justice

 

Dishonors our Ancestors who
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TIME IMMEMORIAL

It is deeply disheartening to witness current council members disregard over three decades of the Pechanga band's history between 1970 and 2000.  It is equally dismaying that they seek to erase the oral depositions recorded by several Ancestors of the Pechanga band in 1915.  BRING ALL our PEOPLE HOME.

We owe it to our shared Ancestry, including those we ADOPTED INTO THE TRIBE, to uphold the honor and dignity of ALL band members, from our predecessors to the present day.

The fact that Allotted Indians at Pechanga can be stripped of their voting rights, water rights, and their rightful share in casino profits is a travesty. It is a dishonor to our Ancestors and their federal and band recognition. Are they the same tribe that was federally recognized?    We cannot remain silent in the face of such injustice.

Our Ancestors deserve the truth, and it is our duty to honor it, ALL OF US. Let us stand together in solidarity and fight against any faction that seeks to undermine our shared heritage and dishonor the legacy of our forebears.

The time has come to demand that our rights be respected and our voices heard.  We will not rest until justice is served, and the truth prevails.  Our ancestors DEMAND it.

READ:  Mark Macarro's Legacy: Harming Indians, Lying to Congress and APARTHEID at Pechanga

The reason why the truth about Pechanga's disenrollment remains unchanged is that the tribe refuses to allow it to be openly discussed in an unbiased forum such as a court of law (The Pechanga General Council, THE PEOPLE) where both sides could present their case. Despite what Pechanga claims about courts, this has never happened.

If you think that our appeal, and that of the Manuela Miranda descendants were fair and unbiased, consider this: the people who ruled and voted against us during our disenrollment were also on the tribal council, and our appeal was heard by the same council. This is a clear conflict of interest and would never be allowed in any court of law or other impartial panel.

When we asked that those who ruled against us from the enrollment committee recuse themselves from participating in our appeal, it was met with ridicule and a refusal to step aside. Can we honestly say that we received a fair hearing? It is akin to asking a thief to sit on the jury of their own case.

This is just one example of the unfairness that the enrollment and tribal council engaged in. There are several by-laws that were not considered and were outright broken. Pechanga is clearly afraid of the truth and is unwilling to face the consequences of their actions

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How cowardly Pechanga acts like they are in the right to disenroll without any documentary and especially original allottees. Pechanga could settle this now and prove there in the right to the world and set aside the sovereignty on this disenrollment and settle it in federal court and show it was done right. Instead of hiding behind sovereignty and abusing its purpose to illegally disenroll members for money and political power. and I say illegally disenroll because they are breaking their tribal sovereign law to disenroll.