Continuing the story of Pechanga's Splinter Group as told by John Gomez Jr.
Splinter Group 4
When Hitler attacked the Jews I was not a Jew, therefore I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists, I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned.
Then Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church -- and there was nobody left to be concerned.
Martin Niemoller, Congressional Record, 14 October 1968, page 31636
I am sure most of you are asking yourself why this installment regarding the Splinter Group starts with a quote about Hitler and the Nazis. Well, if you have not noticed, there is a new era of genocide rolling through Indian Country. This genocide is not at the hands of the Spanish government, nor is it a policy of the US government. No, this new genocide is being carried out by Indian people against Indian people.
Most people believe the word "genocide" means the actual physical killing off of a group or race of people. Genocide also refers to actions which attack the culture, soul, and mind of the people. Disenrollment (Termination)is a pure example this.
The recent actions of the Splinter Group, and similar groups throughout Indian Country, are representative of those deeds of Hitler and the Nazis. Even before the Nazi Party rose to power, the Jewish people were blamed for the ills that had befallen a once mighty Germany. The Jews were characterized as all that was wrong with government and business, and through their destruction, through the purification of the German people, Germany would once again be strong.
The Splinter Group learned well the lessons of Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Through misinformation and propaganda, the Splinter Group asked members of the Tribe to rise up:
Through misinformation and propaganda, the Splinter Group asked members of the Tribe to rise up:
"people are plotting to take control of our government…"
"…the true Pechanga people are still a majority of this Tribe!!!"
The families the Splinter Group targeted for disenrollment were the reasons that their "…sons and daughters, will never get the opportunity and privilege to serve our government…"
The targeted families were responsible for stripping away their rights as the "TRUE Pechanga people".
By de-humanizing the Jewish people and those targeted for disenrollment, the Nazis and the Splinter Group succeeded in segregating their victims and justifying the acts of genocide as a purification of those less than the true people.
People who were once friends, acquaintances, business partners, and even family, turned their backs on those targeted. Fear reigned.
People who were once friends, acquaintances, business partners, and even family, turned their backs on those targeted. Fear reigned.
Don’t talk to them or be seen with them…you could be next.
Don’t attend their meetings or go to the Gathering. Those who attend may loose their jobs with the Tribe…or worse.
Don’t attend their meetings or go to the Gathering. Those who attend may loose their jobs with the Tribe…or worse.
Who is next on the Splinter Group’s list? Ask the Enrollment Committee. They got a copy of the list. Hopefully those who are not members of the Splinter Group aren’t afraid to talk.
Are places within Indian Country turning into neo-Nazi regimes? Is it really that bad?
Ask those who have been disenrolled or targeted for disenrollment.
Are places within Indian Country turning into neo-Nazi regimes? Is it really that bad?
Ask those who have been disenrolled or targeted for disenrollment.
Ask the Chairperson of the Pechanga Enrollment Committee why she thinks her house was shot at and who she thinks did the shooting?
What is it going to take? How many are going to be "killed off" before something is done to stop this genocide?
What is it going to take? How many are going to be "killed off" before something is done to stop this genocide?
Those who fail to help or stand up against these genocidal actions are as much to blame as those who carry them out. They say ignorance is bliss, but nobody can say they don’t know what is going on. They know. However, as long as they are not the targets, as long as they reap the financial benefits, they will continue to deny the truth.
All our brothers and sisters will be gone, and those who did nothing to help them will be left to fend for themselves. Look around, are you the person Martin Niemoller spoke about?
There is much to think about…there is even more to do. Our ancestors our crying out…we must heed their call.
There is much to think about…there is even more to do. Our ancestors our crying out…we must heed their call.
I will close with a quote by Benjamin Franklin:
"Look upon your hands! They are stained with the blood of your relations."
Benjamin Franklin spoke these words in response to the government’s policy towards the Native Americans. Unfortunately, they are as true today as the day on which they were spoken.
"Look upon your hands! They are stained with the blood of your relations."
Benjamin Franklin spoke these words in response to the government’s policy towards the Native Americans. Unfortunately, they are as true today as the day on which they were spoken.
The only difference is, the United States government has been replaced by the likes of the Pechanga Splinter Group and those who deny the truth.
12 comments:
We never tried to take over the government of Pechanga.
As the author points out, the assertion that we were somehow going to unlawfully overthrow the government was pure propaganda against our families.
We did what was lawful, we were starting to win elections.
What really scared the Splinter Group (CPP) was when in 2003 we placed a member of the Hunter family on the PDC board, the government body that oversees the casino for the tribe.
We did this in a fair election of the whole tribe, defeating the spokeswoman from the CPP who had been a long time member on the PDC board.
Another CPP leader was quoted as saying, "they (us) are starting to win elections and that is why I favor disenrollment."
Ironic in that it was the Splinter Group (CPP) who illegally formed their own government and who tried to take over the tribe in the 1980's but the BIA didn't recognized them as the legitimate Pechanga government.
This twaddle speaks more to the confusion and anger of its author. After all, the disenrollees lost their membership status simply because they did not have the facts on their side. Hence, their removal corrected an error in the membership roll. The so-called splinter group arose decades ago, and then dissolved along with the issue that engendered it, once all concerned had agreed on a proper course of action. Later, in 2002, a different group of tribal members, the Concerned Pechanga People, took on the issue of non-members wrongly enrolled at Pechanga. After a struggle, the CPP, with plenty of tribal support, succeeded in removing these non-members. These removed individuals, called disenrollees, now suffer from confusion, anger, and bitterness. They cannot accept their fate. Instead, they air their plight while bashing and lashing out at others. Further, the disenrollees show no scruples as they continue to claim or suggest a Pechanga tribal affiliation when the plain facts cannot support this view.
And readers, here you have it. A liar exposed. He wants you to believe that the CPP has no link to the Splinter group.
Question: What is Jennie Miranda and Butch Murphy's enrollment numbers?
Were the numerous people who gave a deposition in 1915, now 93 years ago, in the LUISENO language, less believable that someone born 40 years after Paulina Hunter died?
It is correct to say their is bitterness, as we were wronged. I certainly am not afraid to say that. But then, who wouldn't be?
And I'll put YOUR plain facts up against the Tribes hired expert any day.
To Anonymus, you are so frigging corrupt it shows, you cant hide it. Your explanation is so full of lies all you are doing is veryfing the ousted members claims.Not everyone is a fool like you.
I'm glad to see that Ed is still around.
Sorry Ed, we are not going to die anytime soon.
One thing is for sure. The Splinter Group AKA "CPP" has reincarnated, but their lies have not.
You choose to stand side by side with these people and your motive is plain and simple, GREED!
A few things that angers me is your blatent disregard for your elders, true Pechanga people who lived a very hard life and were the founders of Pechanga. The most blatent disregard for the written sworn deposition of tribal elders, alive and who only spoke Luiseno. They know we belong to Pechanga.
I really feel sorry for you. You have no custom like you say you do. Oral recognition means nothing to you.
You and and small faction masterminded a plan, and implemented it. You broke tribal law and stomped on my Ancestors name. That angers me.
For all my relations, you anger me!
Thanks for stopping by, it was good to read your regurgitation again.
You are right. Bitterness, not for Pechanga. Bitterness for small minded people like yourself.
We are glad you stop bye. It shows you have a little bitterness also. You hoped we would shrivel up and blow away. We did'nt, we are here to stay.
I hope you sleep well at night. Do the spirits visit you at night? I bet they do. Guess what, you will have to live with this after this life also. Have an after life conversation with the true Pechanga People like Ashman, Rodriguez, Tortuga, Stevenson.
I guess it would not be to late to correct a mistake? You could always do the right thing!
Maybe save your sole?
Good luck!
Dear Readers,
This anonomous poster talks of bitterness and confusion. Well the confusion is comming from him/her.
The Indian community needs to know the plain facts. The Pechanga enrollment committee hired a anthropoligy expert who said we were Pechanga.
Whom would you believe? People who have ties to a group/faction who has fought for control of the tribe for over 30yrs., or their own hired expert?
You see, the plain facts are just that. We are part of the tribe.
The bitterness he/she talks of is more frustration with small minded mouthpieces of the CPP.
Meanwhile, Johnson, the anthropologist hired by the tribe, reviewed baptism and marriage records, census data and BIA documents. He said he was 90% certain of Hunter’s background, but not 100% because a collection of birth, death and marriage records has been missing from Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside for 150 years. Many Indians were married and baptized there. Johnson said he filled in most gaps with information from other sources.
But in the end it was all useless.
According to records of the proceedings, the enrollment committee didn’t accept the evidence.
“They referenced my study but ignored the historical record entirely,” Johnson said. “Then they CONTRIVED several reasons to justify the disenrollment.”
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/sep/09/local/me-pechanga9
For those Pechanga kids who aren't going to school:
Contrived:
2. to bring about or effect by a plan, scheme, or the like; manage: He contrived to gain their votes.
3. to plot (evil, treachery, etc.).
Why would some that is so sure of their facts hide themselves as Anonymous? Does he/she think we are going to beat them up or something??
I know that the facts of our family prove themselves to anyone that doesn't have the agenda to kick out rightful members of the Pechanga tribe. You say the facts prove we do not belong. Just what "facts" are YOU talking about??
The case against the Hunters?
Missing documents from the 1800's, that Dr. John Johnson, the tribe's own hired expert, said no Pechanga family could find and hearsay testimony from three current tribal elders all from the CPP faction.
One of those letters sent from the CPP to the enrollment committee listed deceased tribal elders from previous generations who alledgedly said we are not Pechanga but not only is there no proof these elders said we don't belong as it was just a current CPP member saying they said it, one of the elders from a previous generation who the CPP quoted as saying we aren't Pechanga, Salida Stevenson, actually gave testimony in some of Paulina Hunter's children's probate in 1937 during hearings for their share of our allotment!
We also have notarized depositions from seven current tribal elders not from the CPP faction who said they have always recognized us as being Pechanga people plus notarized testimony from elders from the generation when the reservation was created and from the Temecula village before the reseration saying we are Pechanga with census records and probate records backing all of this up.
So what facts backs up what our critic says?
Answer, NONE!
Our resident critic likes to say the BIA doesn't track Paulina Hunter as Pechanga if that is the case, then why have her descendants who recently passed away who's families have gone through probate, even after their disenollment, are their loved ones still listed as deceased
Pechanga Indians in their probate paperwork from the BIA?
Our critic says our disenrollment had plenty of tribal support but if that was the case, then why did the whole tribe vote in 2005 to stop all disenrollments, including ours?
Of course we were disenrolled in 2006 anyway contrary to the tribe's general membership's wishes.
I would also like to ask our resident critic why we we not allowed to take any notes at disenrollment hearings?
Why were not allowed to have copies of any official transcripts of any proceedings?
Why we were not allowed to have legal representation to attend any disenrollment hearings?
Why were not told at the hearing in front of the enrollment committee why our documentation didn't prove we are Pechanga?
By the way this last issue was a violation of the tribe's own disenrollment procedures!
We weren't even told why we were being disenrolled until the Record of Decision against us and even in that record their reasoning was vague and full of faulty interpretations of tribal history and policy.
We can answer any quesions reasonable people may have had about our qualification for tribal membership but our answers were either not allowed or they were ignored.
Truth be told, we never really had our day in court and the people who voted us out were all biased for the CPP's position and in some cases were related to those same people who submitted items against us.
In going through my paperwork regarding our disenrollment there were also other letters or statements, in addition to the three CPP letters turned in by the elders who claimed we were never recognized as Pechanga people, that the CPP submitted against us including a statement that claimed Paulina Hunter was not on any of the Pechanga census records during the 1800's, which is an outright falsehood as her name is on every Temecula/Pechanga census from 1893 to 1899, the year of her death!
Others included a letter from the CPP that said Oral Tradition in the only way to prove Pechanga membership that documents cannot show membership.
So the CPP said only word of mouth can show who are Pechanga people but the CPP heavy enrollment committee told us to turn in a list of certified documents, which a majority of the committee then ignored!
Ironic in that some of the documents they ignored were the notarized written statements by current elders not from the CPP who said they recognized us as Pechanga people as well as the notarized statements of elders from the historical period of the 1800's, both forms of Oral Tradition that directly contradicted the CPP's position.
There, as I stated in my above post, the whole case against us was based on heresay, and missing documents from the 1800's that have been missing for over 150 years that many families could not find either, not just us.
But the most absurd part of the case against us was the statement by the enrollment committee that our true tribal indenity is San Luis Rey, not Pechanga, which was based on one of our extended family having put San Luis Rey on a 1928 application as a California Indian.
What is ridiculous about this is some of the very members of the enrollment committee who voted us out also had relatives who put San Luis Rey, not Pechanga, on their 1928 applications!
The whole tribe was listed as the Temecula Reservation (San Luis Rey Tribe) in some of the early reservation census records so it is clear the names Pechanga, Temecula, and San Luis Rey were historically interchangable so the San Luis Rey referrence by one of our extended family doesn't show we are not Pechanga, which the tribe's own hired expert, Dr John Johnson, says in a letter to the tribe questioning the decision to kick us out of the tribe.
There is one other piece of garbage that the CPP tried to pass off as evidence that was submitted against us that I am waiting for our resident critic to bring up if he or she wants to talk specifics.
Buy I doubt he or she will talk about specifics because all he or she does is makes general statements that the facts (in his or her view) are not on our side.
THE REALITY IS THERE ARE NO FACTS THAT BACK UP THE CASE AGAINST US!
AS WE HAVE SAID MANY TIMES, SOME PEOPLE JUST SAY WE DON'T BELONG WITHOUT ANY PROOF!
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