The Mark Macarro-led Pechanga Tribal Council is practicing APARTHEID on Indian people at the reservation in Temecula, CA. YES THEY ARE.
How can we compare what Pechanga is doing to their own families as something as despicable as what South Africa practiced against their black citizens? Let's see where they are similar
APARTHEID as described by the dictionary is:
a•part•heid
2. any system or practice that separates people according to race, caste, etc.
Pechanga is doing just that, determining that families with historical ties to the origins of the reservation are ‘no longer pure’ in their eyes. They may be Temecula Indian, but “they aren’t Pechanga.” Even though the expert hired BY Pechanga proved that we were.
Here are some similarities to the Apartheid system you are familiar with:
South Africa - Strategists in the National Party invented apartheid as a means to cement their control over the economic and social system.
Pechanga - Splinter Group invented disenrollment as a means to control membership during a time of new economic growth (Casino).
South Africa - Initially, aim of the apartheid was to maintain white domination while extending racial separation.
Pechanga - Initially, aim of the Splinter Group was to dominate the tribe while instilling fear in other members.
South Africa - Africans living in the homelands needed passports to enter South Africa: aliens in their own country.
Pechanga - Descendants of original allottees that have been disenrolled have to verify their reasons for entering their own land. An entire family of Tosabols have been denied access to use the roads to go to their property because of their banishment. Their crime? Nothing, they were never charged, just banished.
The reservation and its allotments were set aside for the Temecula Band and village of Indians not just Pechanga, the self described subset, which includes people with NO Temecula Indian blood, much like the Boers of South Africa.
Pechanga now has a group living on the reservation that have:
Lost the right to vote
Lost their rights to healthcare provided by the government.
Their children can no longer attend tribal schools
They can no longer be buried in the reservation cemetery with their relatives.
Have no access to tribal health center
Are not protected by the Tribal Rangers.
Been disallowed the use of reservation facilities. YES, bathrooms and drinking fountains, too
Have a separate entrance to their homeland. Tribal Citizens have another.
The Federal Government with it's Bureau of Indian Affairs ALLOWS APARTHEID on Tribal Reservations and has FAILED it's TRUST RESPONSIBILITY to Native Americans.
8 comments:
Kevin Washburn says not to look to the U.S. Government to end this Apartheid but instead tells us to contact international human rights groups. Is he really serious?
Of course he is serious. Kevin Washburn is changing the way the BIA treats sovereignty. He refers to interference as trampling on sovereignty. In his mind tribes must make their own decisions and live with them good or bad and he said as much in his decision on the Pala disenrollment appeal. He seems to believe that the US government only undermines tribal independence and right to self-determination when it imposes its own laws and regulations on tribes.
Anyone see the flaw with this reasoning?
For those who are having a problem seeing the flaw let me give you a hand. This reasoning mixes up the tribe with the tribal leaders. To the BIA and Kevin Washburn, the tribal leaders are the "Band". Even in General Council tribes where the tribal leaders derive their power and authority from majority vote among tribal members, the BIA has no relationship with tribal members, only with tribal leaders.
If tribal leaders truly represent their people, then the principle of self-determination on the tribal level can operate. When tribal leaders violate their vows of office and use their positions for personal gain and to subordinate tribal members then the principle of self-determination becomes inoperative.
At that point the policy of non-intervention works to help tribal leaders get rich and harm their own people.
This is a complete betrayal of the BIA's fiduciary trust, and Kevin Washburn is taking great care to be obtuse and oblivious regarding the harm his policy is causing. We keep trying to inform him of the damage that is being done, and he keeps pretending that he is promoting the self-determination of the tribes.
He has made no statement regarding the seriousness of loss of tribal membership, and how it is comparable to the loss of US Citizenship. To put it in context, you pretty much have to commit an act of treachery to lose US Citizenship. Instead he is always careful to frame disenrollment in terms of the right of tribes to determine their own membership.
And there we go with that same flaw in reasoning. It only works if it is the tribe making the determinations. If tribal leaders enact rulings without consulting the tribe, or even in violation of the tribe's wishes as occurred in Pala and Pechanga, then they have no right to represent themselves as the Band, and the BIA should no longer view them as leaders.
If tribal leaders manipulate the laws to give themselves powers that the tribe never intended them to have, and discriminate against legitimate tribal members to extend their power over the tribe, then the BIA has a fiduciary duty to prevent rogue leaders from harming the majority of the tribe.
There is a term that describes the performance of Kevin Washburn as Assistant Secretary. It is dereliction of duty.
Time to take hostages.Lets start with Smith & Nieto.If we do on the rez we can claim sovereigty.They do it, so why can't we.
Great idea 4:30pm. We keep being told it's an internal matter. When the outside tries to get involved we'll tell them were sovereign and your government told us to handle it as a tribe so that's what we're doing.
Im ready, 4:30PM & 10:52 PM.
Anyone else???????
Really good idea 4:30 PM.
I mean after all isn't Smith and Nieto holding Tribal Members hostage by threats of dis-enrollment,banishment,loss of per-capita, loss of healthcare.I think this would be a good idea if there were enough people that wanted to help and stay true to the cause.
Just have a General Council Vote to remove them from office. First line up a good number people who agree. It only needs to be 25 to make a quorum. Make a motion to remove them for crimes against the tribe. Get a second to the motion. Have them removed from the meeting and held in another room. Get a vote, elect a temporary committee of elders, and contact So-Cal BIA and let them know that Robert Smith and Teresa Nieto have been removed from office and there is a transition government. Transfer check signing authority and Pala won't be the home of the most corrupt tribal officers in Indian Country any longer.
No one should be above the law. Every leader should be held accountable for the very laws written and agreed upon by them; this includes Tribal Chairs, Councils, and all of the tribal citizens or members. All of the powers of the President of the United States are spelled out in the Constitution and even he/she knows that they are not above the law and will be checked by other branches and will be impeached if needed. Of course our current President, and fellow leaders/Representatives believe that these principles do not adhere to them, but that is an argument for a different day. Unlike The United States Constitution there is no checks and balance system to hold these corrupt tribal leaders accountable for their actions. And, since the Federal Government has limited our or Tribal Sovereignty to that of statial status, we do have to follow their rules, i.e. the bill of rights. This is why the BIA needs to step in and help hold the corrupt tribal leaders accountable to the laws in their own constitutions; the very ones tribes had to write to be ratified, which should include an anti-disenrollment clause, like our tribe was the first to do. However, even though there is a checks and balance system set in place, Congress is who holds the trial for impeachment, with representatives from every state. Tribes need to form a type of court or congress with a representative from every nation or at least have the say on who is appointed to this higher council to watch over these leaders, hold them accountable and really protect the people as a group again. Tribes helping one another because this is the only way we are going to save ourselves from the eoudemic called power and greed. The one our ancestors always warned us about.
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