Last week, we gave props to Netflix series, "House of Cards" for adding a storyline about tribal disenrollment to the story plot.
Again, "disenrollment" is when a tribe decides to boot out their own members. This has happened for hundreds of years when members of a tribe commit an offense of some sort, but it usually wasn't permanent. These days it's happening more and more for a different reason. And the decisions aren't being reversed.
As the New York Times has reported, "In recent years, experts say, [tribes have] begun routinely disenrolling Indians deemed inauthentic members of a group. And California, with dozens of tiny tribes that were decimated, scattered and then reconstituted, often out of ethnically mixed Indians, is the national hotbed of the trend."
But, it's not just happening in California. It's happening all over Indian Country.
Imagine having your citizenship taken away from you. That's what happens when a member of a tribe is kicked out by their tribal government for no other reason than they decided to redefine what constitutes a member of their tribe.
To paint a clearer picture of what this means, here are four possible consequences of tribal disenrollment: Click Here for the REST of the Article
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Chumash Or Luiseno Liars?
When I was 7 years old I was introduced to the 12-person band of Chumash Indians that lived on the small mesa near Santa Ynez,California, the mesa that now has a small county owned airport on it. The mesa had been bought and subdivided with one small parcel for each of the Cumash band, with a few extra parcels- by a wealthy indian from Oklahoma. He paid the taxes and charged each of the 12 Chumash $2 per month. Real nice guy with his old squaw on one arm and a beautiful girl on the other and a great Cadillac. Her being almost toothless but having a great personality I liked the old squaw better. If anybody reading this gets upset by me using the word squaw I say her personality comes before you forever in my heart.
I visited these Chumash about once a week, listening to their stories and me telling them my stories. The chief, Tarre Feather, had one bad experience one day when his son declared that he was no longer a member of the Santa Ynez Cumash band and had been accepted be the Pechanga band of Luiseno indians. Tarre Feather called a meeting of the band and put up to vote to put his son out of their band- the vote was 100% yes. Remember this series of incidents because this now-Luiseno indian would pretend to be his father as a false head of the supposed Chumash band of indians of the Santa Ynez Valley.
A week later I was visiting the real Tarre Feather when he pointed to a cloud of dust coming towards him- he told me to hide in the next hut because there may be trouble. I watched as his was-son(they had disowned each other) and an older man got out of a car, the older man introducing himself as the Pechanga band of Luisenoindians. He said to Tarre Feather that he wanted him to do as he said to pretend that it was the Chumash band that would be operating a casino that would be really operated by the Pechanga band. Tarre Feather said no, saying that he would not lie to the white man who had been good to his people. His was-son said that he should do as he is told because he(the was-son) would take his place if he refused. The chief of the Pechanga band of Luiseno Indians then said to Tarre Feather: "I if you do not do as we will say we will kill you". At this point he motioned to the driver of the car. The driver came forward and opened his coat, revealing a chrome-plated and pearl-handled pistol under each arm. Tarre Feather said that he would obey-but, he left the area that night with the other members of the tribe-each knowing that they would be given a threat of death by the Pechanga band of Luiseno Indians sooner or later. I would meet each later in my life, each saying they loved white people so much they would not lie to them and each said they would not be slaves to the Pechanga band of Luiseno Indians.
About 2 weeks the owner of the property on which the Chumash Casino is located in the Santa Ynez Valley is now located asked me to go with him to the property to be with him when he met some people. The same car as in the previous came, the difference now is that there was a lawyer and not the was-son of Tarre Feather. The driver remained in the car. When the chief approached the property owner he said: "I am the chief of the Pechanga band of Luiseno Indians". The property owner, considering that I had told him of the sign near the casino,in Temecula, that said that the casino was under construction by the Pechanga band of Luiseno Indians, he asked the chief if they were going to build a casino on the property he was selling them, he adding "If I sell the property". The chief said: "We are not going to build a casino in Santa Ynez Valley". The owner then said: "Then I will sell my land to you". The owner handed me a piece of paper, saying to read it and then pass it to the lawyer. It was a bill of sale stating that the property was going to Pechanga Tribe Of Luiseno Indians.
Ever since then the Pechanga band of Luiseno Indians have been lying about the Santa Ynez Valley being operated by Chuash Indians. Also another lie in a form of a Luiseno indian carving on a rock above Pirate's Cove near Avila Beach. I saw him carving it and called the San Luis Obispo County's sheriff's department who came with the property's owner and arrested him for vandalism, the vandal spending two years in prison. Also- the I watched two UCSB student-teachers, being paid by the Pechanga band of Luiseno Indians, dig out a small hillside cave(they made it) and paint indian-type symbols on the wall. They were fired and their department head was fired and the State of California Park Ranger who was paid,by the Pechanga band of Luiseno Indians, to ask me to make the area around the cave look like it had been lived by indians was also fired- that is the now closed so-called Painted Cave near Santa Barbara. Recently some people were caught painting on a cave wall on one of the Channel Islands near Santa Barbara- arrested for trespassing and vandalism. Also, somebody in the government of the City of Thousand Oaks is lying that the building in Long Ranch Park is there for displaying Chumash stuff- the place is closed and was put there,by me, for displaying art of other than Chumash- never any Chumash in the area. A whole lot of lying to attract gamblers to the Santa Ynez Valley, so that the Pechanga band of Luiseno Indians get rich. I say they are thieves.
Nice "story's", although I have no love for the guy, and know first hand that he a liar. I find it hard to believe even he would do such a thing. But I do love the tale. Maybe one of the reasons I am having a hard time with the story, is because I was "tricked" by him into voting him into office several times....
When my elder mother once came to him (Mark Macarro), saying that the enrollment committee was lying. He laughed in her face and told her "if you don't like lying, why don't you take up a petition making lying against the law".
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