Chase Iron Eyes: When is it Right to DISENROLL Indians?

EXCELLENT piece in Indian Country Today by Chase Iron Eyes, who runs Last Real Indians website.   He is promoting the hashtag #StopDisenrollment  which directs readers to the disenrollment issue.  Please SHARE:



Our D/Lakota ancestors Vine Deloria, Jr., and Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman warned us of culture vultures. As Westerman sang:

And the anthros keep on digging our sacred ceremonial sites
As if there was nothing wrong, as if education gives them the right
The more they keep on digging the less they really see
Cause they got no respect for you or for me

They were talking about non-Indian anthropologists and archaeologists. But today the same may be said of auditors, lawyers, educators and other consultants who are preying on Indians by shilling for disenrollment work. And with some “professionals” counseling tribal officials to exhume ancestral Indian remains for things like DNA and other scientific testing in order to disenroll the ancestors’ living descendants, the culture vulture tag seems apropos.

This column reacts to a recent piece by James Mills titled, “Tribes Have Absolute Right to Determine Their Membership.” I had no idea who Mr. Mills was so I looked and asked around and saw Mr. Mills advertises himself as a “master parliamentarian,” former “hospital administrator” and “music producer,” and “one of Indian Country's leading experts in tribal enrollment policy” What did this mean? More to the point, what are enrollment audits and what is enrollment software?

Even more to the point, when is it ever right to disenroll? What is more presumptuous than forcing your people to undergo an enrollment audit? I know of white people who ended up on Tribal enrollment rolls who I wouldn't disenroll if I could. They are part of community.