ICT has an editorial on how tribes like Pechanga, Picayune and Redding could cause issues for all Native American Nations. This is PRECISELY why nations should use their influence to get tribes that have exterminated Indians do the right thing. It has been well documented that Pechanga violated their OWN CONSTITUTION to destroy families and their children, even violently removing them from the tribal school.
Several serious issues concerning tribal citizenship threaten the future of American Indian nations. Few non-Indians understand the complex definition of citizenship for American Indians as U.S. citizens or the citizenship powers tribes have over their own members.
American Indians have an undefined dual citizenship in the United States and within their tribes. Since the 1970s, Indian tribes regained the power to make and enforce their own definitions of citizenship. For many decades, most Indian governments did not struggle with tribal citizenship issues. Many tribes simply adopted blood quantum requirements from BIA procedures.
Indian tribal citizenship more recently has garnered a considerable amount of negative attention among the American public. OP: AND MUCH MORE TO COME! One reason for this has been the issue of tribal disenrollment. Over the years, several gaming tribes have received plenty of bad publicity for excluding tribal members. The affected families have waged constant public campaigns to turn public opinion against the tribes. OP: And it's been effective, and more people are taking notice thanks to blogs such as this one and also social networking sites. The American public perceives tribal governments are disenrolling members to monopolize gaming revenues for themselves. OP: In Pechanga's case, perception IS reality. They DID EXACTLY that! This sort of interpretation fits very well with American worldviews, where material motivations are assumed. The bad publicity from the tribal citizen exclusions fosters support for anti-Indian legislation.
Read the rest of the editorial HERE
Thank you for reading this blog and for continuing to follow the plight of THOUSANDS of California Indians ripped from their tribes.
One has to just stroll down the streets of Temecula and its neighboring cities asking the general public what they think of Pechanga, to discover the negitive feelings and hostitily that they harbor over the goings on at the Reservation.
ReplyDeleteOriginal Pechanga- take a look at this. Mark Macarro is seen here complaining that the Pechanga Tribe has substandard health care, and they need federal dollars.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.senate.gov/fplayers/I2009/urlPlayer.cfm?fn=indian091809&st=990&dur=5313
I laughed. He's trying to pull the wool over our governments eyes. After reading about what Pechanga did to you, I chuckled to myself (sadly) when Macarro starts talking about how his ancestors were thrown off of their home land-- yet he basically did the same to you. What a jerk.
Also, I heard a rumor that lobbyists and a certain person from another tribe are trying to bring a nuclear waste dump to the Pechanga Rez. Doesn't Pechanga have enough money?
ReplyDeleteRumors.... and more rumors... seem to make your world go ROUND. how many years have went by? you all are wasting your time, more money and your energy. Get over it and get a new life! even you all deserve some peace...
ReplyDeleteNever ever ever, we will roll over for you!
ReplyDeleteThere is peace in the spirit even when the body and mind fight for the truth of a cause. The spirit would suffer unrest and turmoil if nothing was done about the corruption of a once proud people, so keep hiding behind sovereignty you have nothing but lies to stand up for you. My spirit grows stronger knowing the fight is just. So blow me dude
ReplyDeleteWith all your might you should be strong by NOW! Now, go on with your american (anglo) life and make something of yourself. SEEK the truth.
ReplyDeleteThe dis-enrolled DO NOT BELONG... if you came from Pablo... then your really mexican!
hunters.. well your family line is ANGLO and you all come from the EAST COAST... check and compare your DNA to the other hunters from there.. guess what you will find. The truth will set you all FREE!
Anonymous harasser, you are a liar but worst of all you know what you are saying is not true.
ReplyDeleteYou are just trying to get us to give up our cause and that is not going to happen.
There is no evidence of Paulina Hunter being from the east coast let alone that she wasn't an Indian.
All sides, who have reviewed the facts, agree that she was a Luiseno Indian from California.
Where they differ is whether she was Pechanga or not.
Don't you think that if there was any proof to our family not even being Indians that the enrollment committee would have used that to justify disenrolling us?
Some members of the CPP tried to claim that Paulina wasn't from here and not even an Indian so the committee was aware of this idea but they didn't use this bogus evidence against us as it is flat out not true.
Pechanga elder Antonio Ashman, called a vaunted (much praised) person on the Pechanga tribe's own official Web site, said in a notarized statement when asked, "do you remember Paulina Hunter as a member of the Band?" His reply was; "yes, I knew her as such."
Pechanga elder Dolores Tortuga in the 1915 probate hearings for Paulina's Pechanga Indian allotment responded to the court examiner's question of, "were you acquainted with the deseased Pechanga Indian allottee Paulina Hunter?" By saying; "yes, I knew her as a neighbor when WE PECHANGA INDIANS lived on the Pauba Ranch near Temecula, Ca."
Also, all sides agree, including those who voted to disenroll us, that Paulina was given a land patent as a Temecula Indian from the U.S. government in the 1890s.
So I have presented legal evidence in our support so Anonymous, present some evidence that can prove what you are saying and don't try that Ohio nonsense again as that has been refuted already and, as I said, was not even used by a biased enrollment committee who wanted us out of the tribe.
P.S. and don't try to say that the Pechanga elders such as Dolores Tortuga were just saying Paulina was their neighbor as it is clear that Paulina was included in the inclusive "WE PECHANGA INDIANS."
One more thing, everything I have stated would stand up in a fair court setting and the only way anything you have stated would stand up in court would be against you for libel and slander against our family.
Also our resident Anonymous Fool seems to be unaware of the fact that some Hunters DID turn in DNA evidence that completely refutes his statements.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteYour words show a deliberate racist motivation for keeping out the dis-enrolled.
If the dis-enrolled and their ancestors were known to live the Pechanga way, it should matter little about which side of the hill their ancestors came from. They lived the Pechanga way and were embraced by the Pechanga people.
I realize I have some differences with some of the Pechanga dis-enrolled, but my stance is still one of "no dis-enrollments based on an ancestor profile," be it place of origin or genetics.
If tribes and nations choose to keep people out who have never been recognized based on their ancestry, then that is another subject for another table, but removing recognized members/citizens of tribes/nations
based on ancestry is unacceptable.
Any genealogist or anthropologist who knows that their work is to be used for such a rights violation should challenge the ethics of its use before they make their research available.
Mr. Lee, what do you think about this anonymous person coming here to harras us with lies and innuendo?
ReplyDeleteNone of his libel and slander is true so you and the other readers of this blog can see what we are dealing with.
Our opponents are arrgogant to a fault and even if they cannot see it or believe it is possible, it will be their downfall.
MARK MY WORDS!
They may be laughing at us now but I am laughing at them because when the time comes, they will never see it coming.
Dear readers,
ReplyDeleteas you can read,the resident critic tilts at windmills and trys to mislead you. Indians were from triblets or clans and shared last names to discribe thier clans or triblets. Apish, Guavish, Subish ect... all Luiseno in the native tongue. Many indian clans were torn apart by anglo settlers, indian women were raped, beaten and traded. Only the clans or triblets knew eachother. Pechanga accepted this custom when the reservation was established. Depositions "recorded oral tradition" were taken from tribal elders who knew tribal history for probate information with the department of interior. In the late 1700's and early 1800's surnames and first names were experimented with by the missions and early settlers to try and control the native people. Anytime this critic wants proof we are happy to support it.
Well'aamokat,
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is it that it is a shame that people who know the culture are outcasts, as you and t'eetilawuncha have so aptly demonstrated, while those left to perpetuate the culture are flagrantly ignorant of what the culture is.
An analogy is the Obama birth certificate issue. Anyone who knows citizenship law knows that it doesn't matter where Obama was born or who his father was. The only thing that mattered was that one parent, his mother, was an American citizens for more than five years.
It a shame when immigrants are forced to know our own citizenship laws while the natural born citizens demonstrate such ignorance.
Facts should prevail over ignorance, but ignorance is a willfull avoidance of facts. If you give a lost person a good map and they say the map is all wrong, what can you do? The forum for facts is to those who choose not to avoid them. Can't do much about willful ignorance except run around in circles.
God job on the "clan-triblet" lesson.
I thought I better make this shorter for the anonymous that thinks I'm a forked tongued White man
ReplyDelete'aamokat and t'eetilawuncha know their culture but are powerless to preserve it for the tribe.
Anonymous accuser knows less than 'aamokat and t'eetilawuncha but is carrying the torch of Pechanga heritage as a tribal member.
The tribes heritage health is at risk.
Mr. Lee the state of the tribe is more than clear and as for heritage. I think that this is a misuse of a proud word. If I am not mistaken the word heritage means "the status, conditions, or character acquired by being born into a particular family or social class or something that passes from one generation to the next in a social group, e.g. a way of life or traditional culture". Unless you mean that corruption and greed as well as hedonistic beliefs of self-importance can be classified as heritage. If this is so then the counter might be best explained as a new heritage of a people without a past that is doing quite well. The heritage of my family and the Hunters and those who are caught in an illegal moratorium is one of pride and historical accountability. This new heritage is as you say built on personal gain the people who are Luiseño. I am not picking on you per-se I just wanted to give my interpolation of what heritage meant to me
ReplyDeleteI figured someone would get it wrong, so I'll say it one more time. People that don't know what they are talking about regarding matters of culture and heritage of their own tribe are the ones who are still enfranchised, while those who do know what they are talking about are dis-enfranchised.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a mis-use of the word "heritage" if "anonymous accuser" as a tribal member doesn't even know the tribes clan-triblet designations.
I do not believe I am wrong with my assessment. I know my culture and history as well as my family name and what has been done to it. It appears that my comment means nothing to you and that it is your opinion is the only one that matters. If there is any understanding of the word heritage then those that govern today at Pechanga have no heritage so to speak. I am not an aristocrat nor do I have a fancy manor in which I speak yet I know what they have done and what they are doing is wrong, and the only fault that my family has for being disenrolled is that we would not sink to the level of evil corruption as them to keep our place in the tribe. I will admit that sometimes I do get things wrong so I mean you no ill.
ReplyDeleteNo problem, White Buffalo.
ReplyDeleteI think we are on the same page now.
What White Buffalo says is true, we the disenrolled would not sink to the level of our opponents and we are called weak for trying to abide by tribal law.
ReplyDeleteHello 'aamokat,
ReplyDeleteI'm not calling White Buffalo a liar regarding the dis-enrolled knowledge, in fact I was supporting it. However,I do think White Buffalo absolutely intended ill will because I made a statement about an anonymous person who doesn't know who I am, probably a friend of White Buffalo, even after I explained fully who I am in a previous blog. Makes me think there is a pre-disposed prejudice on White Buffalo and anonymous friends part against me. Never said it was the dis-enrolled persons fault for being dis-enrolled, but that's how White Buffalo chose to read my words. I think it was intentional.
At any rate, a group of Lakota women have a domestic violence action group with the term White Buffalo as part of their title. Perhaps this Luiseno person as they describe themself is part of the organization, which I would support. Other than that, I'm having some difficulty understanding the connection between White Buffalo and Luiseno
people. I understand Bird Songs, but not White Buffalo, Maybe White Buffalo can help me understand the heritage connection? My opinion isn't the only one that matters White Buffalo, but 'aamokat asked me for my opinion, and I gave it.
If you don't like it, dont ask, don't read it, or ask the moderator to block my words, though if the moderator asked me not to post here I would simply respect the request and move on.
Most of you should know by now what my opinion is. When I read positions on here that I don't agree with I don't automatically junp up and start launching fireballs. My plate is full as it is and I dont need to waste my time with nit-picking. I'm not interested in getting stabbed in the back by people that I believe I am standing with. Even if I didn't like you, I still need to respect and protect your rights in order to preserve my own.
Opinions aren't graded on rightness or wrongness, they are personal assessments and biases. I wasn't asked to prove anything and no attempt was made to.
It's one thing to have your own opinion and share it with others, it's quite another to mis-represent another persons words or deeds.
I am pretty confident this anonymous person who has been posting negative things about us the disenrolled from Pechanga is not a friend of White Buffalo at all but that being said I also believe that although there may be some disagreement between us and you about certain items, I do believe you are a friend of us the disenrolled and that any differences between you and us, including White Buffalo, are not significant.
ReplyDeleteMr. Lee, the connection between White Buffalo and the Luiseno people is the person who posts here under that name is a Luiseno person who has been disenrolled from Pechanga and while I don't claim to speak for this person, I will say to both you and him, we can disagree about certain issues from time to time but still agree on most of the issues.
ReplyDeleteI thought I should bring attention to this. A lot of dis-enrolling Nation will probabaly be there.
ReplyDelete"White House Announces Nov. Tribal Nations Conference
By Anne E. Kornblut
...With much of the District shut down in honor of Columbus Day, the Obama administration on Monday gave a nod to Native Americans, announcing plans for a White House Tribal Nations Conference to be held on November 5.
"I look forward to hearing directly from the leaders in Indian Country about what my Administration can do to not only meet their needs, but help improve their lives and the lives of their peoples," Obama said in a statement. "This conference will serve as part of the ongoing and important consultation process that I value, and further strengthen the Nation-to-Nation relationship...
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/10/12/white_house_announces_nov_trib.html
Thanks for the update!
ReplyDelete