Saturday, September 6, 2008
What Makes a Pechanga Indian a Pechanga Indian
MyNameis brings up these valid points at the forum of Pechanga.info
I wanted to bring this question up because I am sort of at a loss to answer it myself.
I thought I knew the answer, but it seems I am in error in my judgment. Let me start by first stating a few facts that both the enrollment committee and myself agree upon.
1). Both the enrollment committee and myself agree Paulina Hunter and all her decedents were/are of Indian blood (Paulnia being 100%).
2). It is not disputed that she was a Luiseno/Temecula Indian (they have pretty much gone so far as to agree this also).
3). She moved with her fellow Indians when they were kicked out of the Temecula village to the place known as Pechanga to live there with them.
4). She was given a land grant on that reservation as a Luiseno/Temecula Indian.
5). She is listed on every census record from the creation of the reservation until her death, sometimes as a Luiseno Indian, sometimes as a Temecula Indian, and even some list her as a Pechanga Indian. Ok, now the enrollment committee says that being a Luiseno Indian is not enough, nor is being a Temecula Indian enough, also living on the reservation and receiving a land grant as a Temecula/Luiseno Indian is not enough to make her a Pechanga Indian (or so the enrollment committee has told us).
6).Also lets just forget the fact that other Pechanga Indians gave written statements that they knew her as a Pechanga member (they say that the reference to living with them is not enough proof, disregarding the inclusive references in there statements.).
7).Also lets forget that Ashman also stated in a witnessed and signed statement that he knew her as a Pechanga member.
So PLEASE tell me....... WHAT does make a Pechanga Indian a Pechanga Indian (I really would like an answer to this one please, because I seem to be at a loss for an answer myself). Apparently my family has been mistaken for several hundred years, and we need to set the record straight.
OP: Maybe it's because we don't have the criminal records that the Masiel/Basquez crime family does? Did people really "wannabe" Indians in the late 1800's? Was Pechanga so fascinating that someone who wasn't one of the tribe, that they'd want to be in the tribe, in uh say 1860's California? (psst, that was way before Basquez/Masiels got there! I guess they weren't comfortable without a prison nearby)
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Have any of you thought about trying to speak at the United Nations? Sounds like Pechanga has gone full-on against what the U.N. stands for. Check out http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm for the human rights declaration. I hope this helps.
Here is the text from the U.N. Declaration. I'm sure you'll see it applies:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,
Now, therefore,
The General Assembly,
Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11
Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13
Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.
Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14
Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15
Everyone has the right to a nationality.
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16
Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17
Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20
Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21
Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.
The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23
Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26
Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27
Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29
Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
Everything above applies.... except in Indian country, where lawless Tribal Leaders, corrupt Tribal Boards, greedy Enrollment Committees's lie and steal from other Dsecendant's using the now very popular excuse of " THEY ARE NOT WHO THEY SAY THEY ARE, THEY DON'T BELONG HERE". So by way of moratoriums ,banishments, disenrollments etc.they enrich themselves.
One of the arguments against us was that our critics claim there were other kinds of Indians living on the Pechanga reservation who got allotments and this is true but it doesn't prove Paulina Hunter wasn't Pechanga.
In the allotment records any exceptions to being a Pechanga Indian were noted, for example Jose Antonio Sal, who got allotment number 68, is listed as a Pala Indian.
Paulina Hunter is called Head of Fmaily in the entry of her allotment number 62, the same as a lot of other Pechanga people.
If Paulina was another kind of Indian as the enrollment committee claims, the allotment records would have said so.
The enrollment committee claims Paulina was a San Luis Rey Indian and that means she is not Pechanga.
However, some of the census records from the late 1800's called the reservation, the "Temecula Reservation-San Luis Rey Tribe."
By the way, to those who don't know, the term Luiseno comes from the name San Luis Rey.
So I guess anyone who was on these Luiseno records should be disenrolled.
Wait, if that is the case, then the whole tribe should be disenrolled as ancestors of today's Pechanga tribal members are on these records.
The reason the for the two mass disenrollments is because the truth was comming out. Several families who claim to be Pechanga have no rights to it. They have no proof they belong there. When the disenrollments happened people hoped you would just go away.
Anonymous said...
They have no proof they belong there.
This is got to be a joke, right? NO PROOF!!! We provided MORE documents and proof than any other family including yours could provide.
I assume that the above statement by Anonymous was made just because he/she was told so. At one time people were told the world was flat, doesn't make it true though does it?
I would like to apologize to Anonymous if I came on a bit strong in the above statement. As I pondered a difficult or critical state of affairs I think that perhaps we might have an honest tribal member who happens to believe what information he/she has been told (I understand that and respect him for it).
But you must understand that ALL the preceding information in the main message that starts this thread is TRUE . The enrollment committee has agreed with us on it, and do not deny any of it.
So understanding that the preceding is TRUE, Please please tell me what makes a Pechanga a Pechanga Indian .
Article 15 applies to the disenrolled.
I believe that the post from anonymous is directed toward the families who do not have ties to Pechanga. They may have ties to some other reserves, may be Luiseno but should be enrolled with their families from Soboba, Pala, or other bands.
I'm sure that is what he is saying. When the truth was being presented these families got scared and disenrolled two large voting blocks out of self preservation. They hoped you would just go away.
You did not!
Let's get one thing straight here WE WILL NEVER RUN
OR GO AWAY....
why should we
we are not Adopted or Soboba,Paula or any other papers that you can forge
We are the real deal.
The hunter clan are not the only clan that can provide alot of documents and proof that they belong!There are other families with just as much, were just not as loud! Give others a chance we get your message already!
Anonymous, maybe we are, as you say, loud because we were unfairly kicked out of the tribe.
You would be doing the same thing we are doing if you were kicked out of the tribe.
Until we are back where we belong we will continue to present our message to those who haven't heard it.
You always will have a chance to present your views here.
I hope you will do something to help not only us, but the hundreds of legitimate fellow Pechanga people who are being kept out in an illegal moratorium.
NOBODY HAS EVER EXPLAINED TO US HOW THE MORATORIUM CAN BE LEGAL WHEN THE CONSTITUTION SAYS, "THE ENROLLEMENT COMMITTEE SHALL OPEN THE BAND'S ENROLLMENT THE FIRST MONTH OF EACH YEAR."
To the people stuck in the moatorium: I hadn't read the fine print of the constitution about enrollment before I was disenrolled so I didn't know the tribal council should have ruled the moratorium unconstitutional.
I HOPE SOMEONE STILL IN THE TRIBE HELPS THOSE IN THE MORATOTORUM BY RESCINDING THE MORATORIUM.
TRIBAL MEMBERS, READ YOUR CONSTITUTION.
Why don't we ever hear from the people in the moratorium? Do they REALLY want to be in the tribe?
Is the blog owner silencing them via censorship? Why would they do that? What have the moratorium people done to get the word out about their situation lately?
Why don't they work with each of the disenrolled families? In fact, in reading this blog over the past few months, it doesn't look like very many of the disenrolled people care about their own situation.
"anonymous said...
in reading this blog over the past few months, it doesn't look like very many of the disenrolled people care about their own situation."
Does it really matter how many people are being voical? In my opinion as long as one person has been disenrolled wrongly or been put locked out with an illegal moratorium, there should be a outcry to the high heavens from all good people to correct such a wrong.
Where are the Hundreds of Moritorium people? I'd love to hear from you. Send a blog request in. I'm sure OP would post it. Lets hear your thoughts.
Concerning the moratorium, how can the general assembly vote in the moratorium if only the enrollment committee can decide enrollment issues?
Also, how could the general membership have voted to take in Butch Murphy and his family after the enrollment committee had turned down their applications if only the enrollment committee can make enrollment decisions?
Yet the tribal council said in allowing the disenrollment of us, the Hunters, to go forward after the petition to stop all disenrollments was passed into law we could be disenrolled anyway because, according to the council, only the enrollment committee can make enrollment decisions.
CAN WE SAY CONTRADICTION AND SELECTIVE INTERPRETATION OF TRIBAL LAW?
To Anonymus who posted
on Sept.7 @ 3:16pm
and Anonymus who posted
on Sept.8 @ 7.35am
to answer your questions
" why do the people in the moratorium never speak up?"
They do speak up, they write here
on this blog and other blogs,
they speak up in public, they travel to Sacramento and many other places, write to their Representatives,join demonstrations,join organizations like "ARRO", we have been fighting for our rights for many years.
The Pechanga moratorium people together with the Pechanga disenrolled and ousted tribal members from other corrupt Tribes like
Picayune,ReddingRancheria,
Enterpriser Rancheria and so many
others are in this together.
To the Anonymus who said
Hunters are not the only ones etc
you are absolutely correct.
Besides the Hunter's, the Apish and the Tosobol there are many others in the moratorium who for some reason cannot or will not speak up right now.
However i hope that in the future we will all be united in our fight.
I am a Real Pechanga descendant
from the Temecula Band of the
Luiseno Mission Indians and a
great-great grandson of
Paulina Hunter, I have been denied membership since the Tribe voted for the moratorium and I experienced the denials of our heritage.
That's easy. A Pechanga Indian is identified as someone who is a direct (lineal) decendent of an original allottee. Period. That's it.
I agree it may not be fair at all. But if a person was Luiseno, and was known to be from Temecula, but never was alloted land on Pechanga, then their decendents would have no valid claim to membership according to the Tribes rules. These are not new rules. Enforcing them was new. I personally don't like it. I would take less so you could have some of what I get.
anonymous said "That's easy. A Pechanga Indian is identified as someone who is a direct (lineal) decendent of an original allottee. Period. That's it.
I agree it may not be fair at all. But if a person was Luiseno, and was known to be from Temecula, but never was alloted land on Pechanga, then their decendents would have no valid claim to membership according to the Tribes rules. These are not new rules. Enforcing them was new. I personally don't like it. I would take less so you could have some of what I get."
We all agree on that point..... So, how is it the council and committee can continue to ignore the will of the general membership?
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