Ed Sifuentes reports of the continuing battles at San Pasqual over membership. Does their chairman Allen Lawson even HAVE San Pasqual blood?
More than 100 people who say they’ve unfairly been denied membership in the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians are planning a protest Sunday on the Valley Center reservation, challenging the tribe’s enrollment policies.
The group will be joined by some San Pasqual members who support their claim and are pushing back against the tribe’s chairman, Allen Lawson, claiming he’s not a true San Pasqual descendant.
Membership holds deep significance in Native American communities and, in some tribes, comes with huge financial perks. Members of the San Pasqual band receive nearly $10,000 a month in stipends from the tribe’s gaming revenues.
San Pasqual — which has roughly 280 members — owns and operates the Valley View Casino & Hotel, one of the largest gaming centers in San Diego County.
Huumaay Quisquis, a tribal member helping organize Sunday’s protest, said the enrollment fight isn’t about money but about identity.
“When you’re here in Indian Country, knowing who you are is all that your ancestors left you,” Quisquis said.
Still, many of the protestors are working people, barely making enough money to get by, said Alexandra McIntosh, an attorney hired by the group two years ago. Having access to tribal benefits would make a big difference in their lives, she said.
Many in the group plan to gather about 9:30 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Canal Road and North Lake Wohlford Road for a short march to the tribal hall, where they will protest outside during the tribal council’s quarterly meeting.
McIntosh represents most of the 150 people seeking enrollment in the tribe. Known as “lineals,” they were born to San Pasqual members but have been prevented from enrolling because of questions about their blood lines or because of a moratorium enacted in 2009 on new membership and disenrollment proceedings.
Some of the lineals have been pursuing membership for years but had little access to records tracing their ancestral lines, Quiquis said. Many of them were briefly enrolled in 2005, but their membership was quickly rescinded when the tribe’s enrollment committee was disbanded and replaced by new committee members, Quisquis said.
Under San Pasqual rules, people must prove that they have at least one-eighth San Pasqual Indian blood to be enrolled. The lineals say that errors in the records have caused their blood status to be calculated incorrectly.
Joe Villalobos, 55, a San Pasqual descendant, said he has lived on the reservation most of his life, believing he didn’t qualify to be a member, even though his father was one. He has been trying to enroll for 16 years — about three years before the casino opened — after learning there was an error in calculating his bloodline.
“We believed that we weren’t supposed to be enrolled,” Villalobos said. “And it feels really degrading to have no say (in tribal affairs) and to be told, you’re just lucky to be here, you are guest on the reservation.”
McIntosh said the lineals share a common ancestor — Modesta Martinez Contreras — who was mistakenly listed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as having a lower San Pasqual blood quantum when she was actually a full blooded member of the tribe.
13 comments:
pulling a Pechanga,..
My shouts of approval go out to the brave people who protest discrimination and racism within their tribe. The moratorium is a ploy used by tribal leadership to keep tribal membership numbers low. Fewer members mean higher payouts per member, but all who meet the membership requirements should be enrolled and allowed to share in the benefits.
Shame on those greedy members who wish to keep qualifying Indians out of their tribe so they can get a larger per-capita check.
Just have somebody change the records like the Basquez family did.
Even falsifying records won't help if the tribal leaders have imposed a moratorium. You could turn yourself into a full blood of Pechanga and they would still keep you out unless you were a close buddy of the chairman.
Right the BIA with their head up their ass again ( another group being raped by tribal terrorists).
above and beyond that it's a way to control power especially when you're holding up office with only a 13 vote counts the last election.
what about altos they still need 2 b back in.lawson still needs 2 pay them.there still members per echohawk
I still think maybe the wrong family was disenrolled and it should have been the Trask family....
what if the BIA sides with the Alto family & they are allowed back in. What is allen lawson going to do then? hopefully they pay them.
The B.I.A.In Riverside and Sacramento are in Deep Trouble..The San Pasquales are not going to go Away....they are joining forces with other discrimination groups and out of state natives advocates..along with the Anonymous group...and its going.and headed to Washington DC with very important Shamans.
Stop being greedy bastards karma is a mother fucker
We were ALL Kuumeyay before reservations were established. Who you are related to has no bearing on anything. There may be issues with blood quantum, you may be pissed at who is in charge at San Pasqual, but they are as kuumeyay as you are.
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