Thank you for stopping by. We share some information on the Cherokee here, but we are mainly Pechanga-centric, spreading the word of how Pechanga has terminated 25% of the tribe with their Indian Removal Act.
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6 comments:
Many of the Cherokee stand with those who have been terminated by their tribes.
These types of actions will hurt all tribes' sovereignty in the long run.
They need to do what is right for ALL their people.
We need to help each other, not hurt ourselves.
The Cherokee are getting a lot of negative publicity, unfortunately.
Can you imagine how good it could be? If Chad Smith came to his senses?
Is losing the housing funds worth all this? More importantly, Cherokee Tribe, is all the OTHER tribes losing THEIR housing funds worth it?
All other tribes, YOU are going to be hurt because the Cherokee Nation took this stand.
The CBC and Barney Frank are standing firm.
Congress has Plenary Power over all tribes. Correcting errors in membership is one thing. Terminating life long members and entire extended families by corrupt factions of ones own people is sick. Why would real indians want to terminate other members of a band anyway? The only true answer is control over political power, and in most cases casino profits or GREED!
The Cherokee Freedmen stance is a line in the sand for Native Nation dis-enrollees .Unfortunately the Pechanga dis-enrollees hit the perennial brick wall of federal courts and tribal jurisdiction, something that has a completely different meaning with Congress as a legislative body and the BIA as an arm of the executive branch of the U.S. government. ( Dept of the Interior)
Perhaps Pechanga dis-enrollees could sponsor a pro-Freedmen conference in Banning, Temecula, or Los Angeles and invite Congressperson Watson to be a keynote speaker. I would think that to be an ideal opportunity to present speakers who would show the shared struggles between the Cherokee dis-enrollees and the Pechanga dis-enrollees.
Now is the time to make the dis-enrollments a congressional issue rather than a courts issue. The CBC can not be seen as doing this alone. Until the Congressional Native American Caucus and the National Congress of the American Indian can be made to understand by dis-enrolled Native Americans that they are standing on the wrong side of sovereign rights by not supporting the Congressional Black Caucus, those Cherokee voters who removed their fellow citizens from their nation will continue to succeed in making the Cherokee issue appear to be a racial “us against them “ issue rather than a broader concern of a human rights violation. They must be lobbied to come on board and stand with the Congressional Black Caucus in crafting legislation that will allow the U.S to sanction any federally recognized Native Nation that commits overt human rights violations against its members/citizens as understood by both international and federal definition. In both the Cherokee Freedmen and Pechanga dis-enrollee case that human rights violation was one of depriving a recognized citizens of the inherit legal right to be a citizen because of their genetic heritage, something the citizen has no power to affect a qualification for.
Now is the time for the Pechanga dis-enrollees and all Native Nation dis-enrollees to contact a congressperson and tell them to support the CBC with broader and more comprehensive legislation that will remedy the current Human rights dis-enrollments in all Native Nations and prevent and discourage future Human rights violations under federal jurisdiction.
Allen
Thanks Allen,
You hit some very important issues.
Some people have been faxing, emailing, and writing letters to congress for some time now.
We are asking for your support and do the same. It takes everyone to make a difference.
Thank you for your time.
AHO
I lived in Rubidoux, Ca. for nearly 25yrs. I knew Mark Maccarro personally when I was employed at the University of California, Riverside and he was a student before the first So. Cal casino was built.
Another similar thing between the Pechanga issue and the Cherokee issue is how largely Pechanga racial attitudes, and attitudes for many Native Americans in California are a result of the Americanization of the state. Inland Empire has a distinct American racial line history with Blacks living on the Perris side of the Valley, Whites living on the Hemet side, and Indians contained to their reservation islands. When I hear about Maccaro or Salgado making challenging statement to White complainants, it has to be taken in with an understanding of the racial history of California, which is fairly disastrous for Native Americans.
On the other hand, ones personal sentiments must sometimes be separated from public policy or functions of the state, which must be allowed to serve and protect itself(sovereign immunity for example)without bias to individuals or groups with vested rights in the state. It's also prudent as an officer of the state to represent it's citizens to other states with an accomplished degree of diplomacy, separating ones personal biases from the states greater interests.
At some point, Soboba, Pechanga and all the other sovereign native nations are going to have to engage in political relationships with non-native governments. Soboba could put a sign in front of their casino advising the White patrons to go back to Plymouth Rock, but I don't think that would be good for business. it would be like the Democratic Party, (which used to be the party of the KKK, by the way) putting up a sign telling all Blacks to go back to Africa. Obama would be out and a sure bet they would lose the election in November. Poor diplomatic skills can hurt a public officer and it can hurt a nation.
Allen L. Lee
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