LESTER MARSTON, CHUKCHANSI LAWYER's LAWSUIT Dismissal REVERSED!

OUCH BABY, the LAWSUIT against one Chukchansi faction that raided the casino operations is BACK ON!

Two unwitting pawns in a bitter, protracted leadership dispute between rival factions of an Indian tribe, appellants Shawn Fernandez and Brian Auchenbach, took part in a paramilitary raid of the tribe’s casino offices in order to oust a competing tribal faction of possession. The two men believed they had been lawfully deputized as police officers for the tribe, had full legal authority to engage in the operation, and would not face any adverse legal consequences or criminal charges as a result. They believed this, because attorneys for the tribal faction that hired them as police officers assured them it was true.

It wasn’t. Contrary to counsel’s assurances, Fernandez and Auchenbach were arrested by the Madera County Sheriff’s Department, along with the others who participated in the raid, and were charged with 29 felony counts. The two men then brought this lawsuit against the attorneys involved, alleging causes of action for attorney malpractice, negligence and fraud, premised on the attorneys’ false assurances to them concerning the validity of the tribal police force that had hired them and the legality of the armed raid they took part in.

BOOM:!The trial court granted the attorneys’ motion to strike their complaint under the anti-SLAPP statute (Code Civ. Proc., § 425.161). We reverse, because this lawsuit does not arise from any activity protected by that statute.

During several private planning meetings with the new ostensible police force, attorneys Lester Marston and Mark Levitan advised the group that the planned operation was legal and authorized by all pertinent governmental agencies.

In particular, both lawyers repeatedly assured the police force that they had been deputized by “Special Law Enforcement Commission, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Justice Services” as tribal police officers and were therefore authorized to enforce federal law on tribal property, all relevant law enforcement agencies had accepted their appointment as tribal police officers (including the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Madera County Sheriff’s Department), as officers of the newly formed police department they were properly and legally authorized to takepossession of the casino office without interference from the Madera County Sheriff’s Department, and they would face no adverse legal consequences or charges as a result of
carrying out the eviction operation

NCAI Executive director Jackie Pata Sidelined Amid Concerns About #MeToo Investigation

Sad news this week.  I've met her, nice woman, dedicated.

Jackie Pata, the highest-ranking staffer at the National Congress of American Indians, has been placed on leave as questions mount about her handling of a #MeToo scandal and other long-standing employee complaints.

As they prepare for a milestone conference in Denver, Colorado, tribal leaders who serve on NCAI's executive committee made the decision to suspend Pata on Saturday. She will be sidelined pending the results of an investigation into allegations of staff misconduct, one of the issues that Indianz.Com has reported on over the last two months.

Read MORE HERE at INDIANZ.COM

BIA is Corrupt Including Delaying Recognition Says Guest Blogger Reinstatement Resolution

I've moved this comment from our friend known as Reinstatement_Restitution where he said in response to Dr. Ken Hansen's post from yesterday on BIA MALFEASANCE in stifling self determination to it's own post...


The problem is that the BIA is corrupt and BIA officials accept "contributions" in exchange for favoritism. The laws that govern recognition were fatally flawed because they allowed the BIA to delay or deny recognition so long that people would give up. The BIA recognized this and revised the Part 83 process so that it would operate to more quickly terminate tribes that apply for recognition. The political climate in America towards Indians is one of status quo. The tribes that currently exist can participate in federal programs and services, disenroll members, and reap the benefits of tribal gaming. New tribes had better have a treasure chest to buy influence or face termination.

Otherwise it is business as usual. Indians can commit crimes against other Indians without repercussion. The federal government's attitude is to let it be a free for all unless it goes outside the reservation. Investigations extend endlessly and never result in indictments. Federal Courts protect the sovereign immunity of corrupt tribal leaders. The BIA regularly colludes with tribal leaders to promote corrupt agendas. No one sees anything wrong with the status quo because those in power benefit from tribal leaders "contributions."

This has been going on for a long time. Congress does not care. Courts do not care. Federal agencies do not care. American citizens do not care. Indians do not care about what happens to other Indians. I don't want to sound pessimistic because there are other options to explore. Maybe there will be a break in the near future that will open the door to change. Look to the future...

Kenneth Hansen: BIA Stifling Tribal Self-Determination, Leads To Disenrollment

Kenneth Hansen Ph.D

Our friend and Native American scholar from California State University Fresno Kenneth Hansen Ph.D,  is a guest blogger today, with this article on the Bureau of Indian Affairs and it's role in Tribal Disenrollment.
I URGE you to read and share the link on social Media

BIA stifles tribal self-determination, leads to disenrollment

Many of us have been trying to determine the root causes of tribal disenrollment for many years. Our online friend Emilio Reyes is on to something when he says that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is greatly responsible for the lack of recognition (of both tribes and individuals). Federal acknowledgement processes are as byzantine as one can possibly imagine. Renee Cramer (2007) discusses how there are no less than 30 different standards for recognizing who is Indian in the eyes of the US federal government. The acknowledgement process, despite recent attempts at reform, still takes over 30 years.

Why is it that the BIA is unable to resolve intra-tribal conflicts that might eventually lead to disenrollment or banishment of rival factions? One possible explanation is bureaucratic rigidity. In the field of Public Administration, we regularly discuss Merton’s (1957) bureaucratic pathologies, which include such scary-sounding things as the rigidity cycle, trained incapacity, and goal displacement. What seems to have happened to the BIA (from the outside looking in) is that as an organization, they have no sense of their place in history.

NCAI: Will They FINALLY Stand UP AGAINST Tribal Disenrollment ANSWER: NOPE

For years, we have reported that the National Congress of American Indians has stood by in silence, while over 10,000 American Indians have had their civil and human rights abused by Tribes who have disenrolled their people.  

Related Links:   NCAI Silent over a Decade  and NCAI, NIGC and NARF MIA on Dismemberment

September 28th is the deadline for submitting resolutions to the NCAI for the 2019 year and THERE IS NOTHING ON THEIR AGENDA on TRIBAL DISENROLLMENT of NATIVE AMERICANS
They found some time for

ALLEN LAWSON, White Descendant, WILL BE OUT as San Pasqual Tribal Chairman

Descended from FRANK TRASK, white man who benefitted from BIA's abuse of Native Americans of the San Pasqual reservation will NOT be on the ballot for the upcoming January election.

ALASKA FEDERATION of NATIVES Has Resolution OPPOSING BIA's Ending of CDIB PROGRAM Ready for VOTE

Good News coming from Alaska: There will be a vote to oppose the termination of BIA's degree of Indian Blood program the NCAI also came out against after Emilio Reyes has brought these issues to light

The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) is pleased to share the 2018 Draft Convention Resolutions that will be considered by AFN delegates on Saturday, October 20th at the Dena’ina Center.

Each year, members of the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) submit proposed resolutions, which are reviewed by AFN’s Resolutions Committee and the AFN board of directors, and then introduced for consideration at AFN’s annual Convention.


Draft Resolution 18-23

A RESOLUTION OPPOSING THE TERMINATION, AND SUPPORTING CONTINUATION, OF THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS’ CERTIFICATE OF DEGREE OF INDIAN BLOOD PROGRAM

5,000 Natives voting on the issue...

NCAI Takes A STAND on BIA's CDIB FOIBLES & Failures

Looks like the NCAI has found a spine on the Certified Degree of Indian Blood issue we've discussed before, when rising indigenous activist Emilio Reyes brought it to our attention...and we published this story from noted Native Rights Attorney Gabriel Galanda  BIA's BLOOD TROUBLE

They are asking for a consultation, check that A MEANINGFUL CONSULTATION on the ramifications of the decision to drop the practice of issuing CDIB as manadated by law...They've screwed it up many times, including using Mexican Indians for some tribal affiliations  and allowing the PAPER GENOCIDE via tribal disenrollment.   

GOOD on the NCAI, now get into the #STOPDISENROLLMENT fight..

UNLEASHING WHITE STUPIDITY: Fallout from Elizabeth Warren's DNA Debacle is Lindsey Graham's Disrespect of Native Americans

Just when you think it can't get worse than Elizabeth Warren's shameful attempt to exploit Native Americans, while doing NOTHING to help, we get this:

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) has weighed in the Senator Elizabeth Warren’s DNA test results that showed she has "native American ancestry"

Acting like GOMER PYLE
Shazam, the stupidity

On Tuesday morning, he showed up on “Fox and Friends,” to say he would take his own DNA test and would “beat” Warren in having more American Indian ancestry.  OP:  The new parlor game:  How much Indian am I?" 

“I’ve been told that my grandmother was part Cherokee Indian,” Graham said. “It may all be just talk, but you’re going to find out in a couple of weeks because I’m going to take this test. … I’m taking it, and the results are going to be revealed here. This is my Trump moment. This is reality TV.”

FOX ASKED GRAHAM IF HE TOO WOULD ASK FOR $1 MILLION IF HE “BEAT” WARREN IN A DNA TEST, AND GRAHAM RESPONDED, “NO, I WANT A CASINO AND A MILLION BUCKS.”

Graham  thinks all American Indians have casinos?   He can't be this stupid, and he's not.  He's simply being disrespectful to an entire culture across the Americas, dismissing us as worthless. 

Maybe his staff will start doing the tomahawk chop??

11,000 Disenrolled REAL INDIANS Get No Media, FAKE ELIZABETH WARREN Get SUPPORT from LIBERAL MEDIA

There are over 11,000 Native Americans whose citizenship has been stripped by their tribes, with little exposure from the mainstream media. It's dismaying to many of us who have been on the front lines of the fight, to see a FAKE Native American Senator, get so much media attention for her cultural appropriation.    GIVE Tribal DISENROLLMENT the attention MEDIA, NOT a FAKE INDIAN.

As my friend Michelle Hammock wrote about the disenrolled:

We have the blood, we have the named ancestors on government rolls and censuses, we have kinship, friendships, hands on, involved-ness, etc. But what disenrollees don't have, is an honest tribal government to protect their identities, their status, their homes, their ancestral rights to be who and what they are.

Elizabeth Warren of Massachussetts: WANNABE in CHIEF BECLOWNS HERSELF MORE.

It's going to be tough to beat the exercise in futility that Sen. Elizabeth Warren spent so much time and energy on this week.  She allegedly took a DNA test and had a researcher who DOES NOT DO DNA TESTS, give the results:   She is whiter than most Americans, but might have Native ancestry 10 generations ago.

Cherokee Nation SECRETARY OF STATE issued a statement on Warren's claims here

Cherokee genealogist TWILA BARNES' statement on PHONY Elizabeth Warren, Democrat Senator from Massachussetts sums it up nicely

If you missed the documentation of Elizabeth Warren's FALSE family claims to CHEROKEE ancestry that Twila did it's on her blog THOUGHTS FROM POLLY's GRANDDAUGHTER  in six parts representing many weeks of research...

Indianz.com EXPOSES SEXUAL HARRASSMENT at the NCAI SHAMEFUL

John Dossett
Photo from: NCAI

In an earlier post, we were hoping that the NCAI will FINALLY stand up for the over 10,000 disenrolled in Indian Country today.  But, if they take so long to stand up for THEIR OWN EMPLOYEES in the #MeToo era, can we REALLY expect them to do anything? 
(h/t to Johnnie Jae for pointing me here)





You're a pretty young Native woman, beware
Women come forward at National Congress of American Indians
An Investigation by Kevin Abourezk and Acee Agoyo

The highest-ranking attorney at the National Congress of American Indians has been reassigned in the wake of sexual harassment allegations, an investigation by Indianz.Com has found.
John Dossett has been employed by the nation’s oldest and largest inter-tribal organization since 1995. And up until last month, he was serving as general counsel, NCAI’s senior-most legal position and one with widespread influence in Indian Country, from policy matters in the executive branch and legislation on Capitol Hill to high-profile U.S. Supreme Court cases.