I received this via email from a disenrolled member of the Pala Tribe. It's in open letter format to all who have been affected. What are your thoughts?
To all the Disenrolled Tribal Members of Pala Band of Mission Indians,
Now is the time to get band together and place blame of our disenrollment where it really belongs.
If it was not for these two people (King Freeman and Willie Pink) and their personal grudge of over 20 years we would still belong. No I do not support Robert Smith and his wrong doings.
Keeping these two people in our fight is bringing more harm and setbacks then it is does good.
Why are we fighting this fight?
Why are we stuck in the middle of a personal grudge, which has been going on for over 20 years, between three men?
Why are these men allowed to be the head of the families when this situation we are in is their fault?
If you want to get the support of the General Council then do what is best for everyone.
Get King Freeman and Willie Pink out of the loop. Ban them from any family meeting and show the tribe we have the tribes best interest. Freeman and Pink do not have the families best interest at heart but revenge against a man.
Next step should be to file a civil suit against Freeman and Pink for violating our civil rights and for harming our way of life.
33 comments:
It's probably the same person who been reporting meeting activity to RS.
Whoever wrote that post is a yellow belly. If it weren't for King Freeman standing up for the Tribe we wouldn't have any idea as Pala members, not in the RS clique,about all the contracts RS has entered the Tribe into without General Counsel knowledge or approval. As far as a lot of people in the Tribe are concerned King should get a lifetime achievement award.
Well said, King...
King is the reason the tribe has so much problems. Are you blind. I am glad someone had the guts to say the truth. Way to go.
I like the last line in the LA times article posted here. It seems very applicable to this situation....."But in politics as in poker, you often don't know how things will turn out until the last hand is dealt. That hasn't happened yet." I think Robert Smith and those with him are going to wish they had folded when they had the chance instead of calling our bluff.
Share the LA Times article link please.
No doubt in my mind that this misguided individual hasn't an iota of what it feels like to be wrongfully disenrolled by the tribe. This headline says it all: "Tribal Disenrollments Like Being RAPED, and Then Going to the Person that Raped YOU for Justice"
So, now our rapists are gloating in our faces telling us that those who've spent countless hours fighting for our rights are our enemy? Thank you, rapist of my rights for reinforcing to us all that all we know, your failure to see beyond your nose has made you not only a rapist of human rights, but completely and utterly blind.
KUPA 1~6~3
The notice that was posted for last nights meeting should have been posted as follows:
"A SPECIAL MEETING IS CALLED TO INTIMIDATE ALL PALA TRIBAL MEMBERS"
Armed security, really Howard Maxey, are you really that "CHICKENSHIT".
Pala needs a new chairman simple as that! In Nov please everyone vote Robert Smith out it's they only way to have change. The rest will have to follow suit if they remain in office.
Good luck voting RS out, it hasn't happened yet. His corruption goes deeper than most know, fixing votes and elections are child's play to him.
Rob Smith is no longer Chairman, he has been suspended, so has Howard, therefore they could not lead the meeting last night. So, we don't have to wait until Nov. If the new EC was present and were not allowed to lead the meeting, then it is not a valid meeting. But, nothing can be done until Tuesday.
You are out Gunned, you have nothing to defend yourself.
I'm sorry ,your medicine strong in your heart, no match for dirty people.
The power you have, is Force!
Quitting is NOT an option. Better to have all those police HAUL you off in front of the cameras....
BLOCK the CASINO>>>
The true coward is the victim who turns his hatred inward to blame his fellow victims, then crawls back in fealty to lap at the hand that dealt the wrongful blow.
It is bad enough that you blame your plight on those few among us who stand up to those who have cast you out for nothing. But what makes you the epitome of a coward is your willingness to ask the rest of us, the expatriated of Pala, to join you in sniveling surrender.
In what nations do the leaders openly enrich themselves by corruption and graft because the people are too afraid to object, lest they lose their ever-shrinking handouts? Third-world dictatorships – and the Pala Band of Mission Indians.
In what nations is dissent quashed by disenfranchisement of the dissenters and expulsion those whose only infraction is kinship to those who dissent? Rogue despotisms – and the Pala Band of Mission Indians.
And in what nations are people so cowed that they hang their heads and shrug as their own kinsmen and lifelong friends have their citizenship purged simply because they are born of a minority clan? Petty totalitarian states -- and the Pala Band of Mission Indians.
You are not the victim of your defenders. You are the victim of those whose vassals have been bullied, bribed and belittled into believing that the fruits of our tribe sprout from the leaders' largesse, instead of from the nation itself and all the people who comprise it.
You are right in one respect: Your citizenship was used as a weapon. But it was a despicable weapon aimed at protecting a house of cards from the fresh breeze of transparency and honesty. Only a true coward – and a genuine fool -- would excuse those whose actions were so inhumane and antidemocratic that, if committed by a foreign nation, would be censured by the highest organizations of the world’s civilized souls.
Yet you ask us instead to blame our own cousins and kin, and cower at the heels of a petty monocrat in the vain hope that he might bestow his forgiveness upon us, when he surely will expand his destruction to our entire family’s identity and heritage?
I must respectfully decline your invitation.
Sign me, Palabanned.
Let me try to understand this person's logic. There is a personal grudge between King and Robert. King keeps asking questions of Pala's business dealings in meetings which pisses off Robert.
Then one day King makes a remark about Robert's mother and Robert says "that's it your kids are off the roles!". Robert follows through and disenrolls King's kids, nieces, and nephews.
Then 8 months later Robert directs the Executive Committee to disenroll 154 more people. Robert had to follow through or else it would have been discrimination. So he checked with the BIA and his dies enrollment attorneys to make sure he could get away with it under the guise of tribal sovereignty.
Who did the disenrolling? King or Robert? Is the person who wrote this blind?
It was Robert that decided to take out his revenge on the rest of us for the purpose of getting back at King.
Put the blame where it lies, on Robert and his Executive Committee puppets.
Why shouldn't tribal members be allowed to ask questions about tribal business at a tribal meeting?
It is no use arguing with irrational people. Blaming King Freeman and Willie Pink for Robert Smith's actions is quite twisted. We all know that Robert Smith is the criminal. There is reams of evidence. Pala people don't like evidence. They love rumors though. They say evidence is allegations. On the other hand rumor is useful. It causes distrust.
I set this challenge before all. Let's see the evidence of Robert Smith's innocence. Let's see the NIGC financial report that proves Robert Smith and Theresa Nieto have been giving the General Council the real information all along. Let's see the accounting of the private jets, the suite at Pala Casino, the tribal Fleet Service, the tribal vehicles, the tribal cell phones, the tribal properties, the Pala Raceway, and Pala Interactive. These are the points of contention within the tribe.
We want to know our tribal officers are honest and upstanding. We want to believe they are acting on behalf of the tribe. This information is what King Freeman and Willie Pink have been asking for. Tribal members are entitled to know about the financial performance of their investments. It is wrong of King and Willie to ask for it?
Was it right to kick out Willie and King's relatives to punish them for asking question that are the responsibility of the tribal officers to answer?
I have heard some of the most ridiculous explanation for the crime and corruption of the Pala EC. Their supporters are ready to blame anyone except the people that actually commit the crimes.
So now I tell every person reading this: Demand proof and evidence. Don't make up your mind until this brave anonymous person gives you some concrete evidence to support their claims.
Here is the best part. The Pala EC says it is all about the blood degree of a long dead ancestor. If it really is because King and Willie offended the power and majesty of Robert Smith then we have the evidence that will help us in our lawsuit against the Pala EC. So come on now. Let's see the evidence. I want proof!
I think all three need to go. None of them need to hold an office or have anything to do with Government. All of them are crocked all of them are after their own agenda and that is not for the people. Who knows what it is but they way I see it if no one is allowed to have an opinion. This letter just proved that you either have to be TEAM Jacob or TEAM Edward. So everyone in Pala is Brainwashed according to all of your guys rants. Joseph who enrolled you? Everyone knows how Willie treated his kids. His girls. That has never been a tribal secret. Just because it is not your opinion and it does not line up with your belief does not make that person stupid at all or blinded. What about the numerous affairs Willie had. Yes after this I will be ban from my own family for saying this. Willie was a bad mistake to make head and you guys know it. He never cared for a single one of his children to enroll them. His mother did it. Yes they brought out the truth on thing. Who still has their benefits not us. No they do. Why do I want a man who leaves his ex-wives to pick up the tab of his bills and back taxes. A man who hates women. Who only kisses up to his Children he did not raise. Why was Willie removed because he got caught in bed with another women well married to Patsy. So why doesn't Roberts followers pull up the evidence of the money he embezzled from this elder. Why because Robert was in on it also.
I guess no one is allowed an opinion in Pala because they are. all blind. I guess I rather be a white person where we have a democracy and be allowed to think for yourself then be from Pala where you are not allowed because if you do then you are dumb and blind.
To Anonymous@1:33pm
If you say an individual's personal life is an indicator of how they will lead their professional life then you are offering an opinion shared by many people. That is why scandal brings down political figures. So we expose Robert Smith's scandal and you pick on Willie Pink.
I listen to your opinion and argue it. If your opinion holds water then it will stand. If I point out flaws then it fails. If you want to be white there is skin dye. If you have evidence of Robert Smith's crimes, turn it in to the General Council and the FBI.
Now in no uncertain terms I tell you don't blame Willie Pink for Robert Smith's crimes. If you say they were involved together, you had better show some real evidence. I know both of them, and they have a deep enmity.
Opinion is useful when substantiated by the facts. Far too many people think they are entitled to an opinion, even though that opinion is based on fantasy. So who are you arguing against? Me, or Willie, or Robert, and why? Get you facts and opinion straight. Tell the truth and present evidence to support it.
You don't like my arguments? Shoot them down with superior reasoning. You don't like my evidence? Tear it up with better evidence. You don't like my facts? Well that is a hard one. They aren't really my facts, they are just the truth, and there really is only one truth.
@ 1:33 PM, I understand where you are coming from, and it is obvious that you know some stuff about Willie that has affected your opinion of him. There was a post from him last year apologizing for the things that he has done and for believing Robert's lies about some guy at the campground and Mel Lavato. He did send out a letter a while ago of the crap that he went through in the war, and how it affected his mind. Now maybe he did mess around, but many, many people do that everyday without guilt. Maybe he had his reasons for his view of his children being enrolled, but that would be something that he has to deal with. I have my sins that I have to deal with, and I am sure you do too, but are you destroying your whole tribe, and stealing everything you can from them without guilt, without sorrow? No. Robert shows no sorrow, instead he is quite the opposite. Willie is taking a stance against this, and he seems to be one of the brave ones. Maybe he is doing it to make up for his mistakes in the past, after all everyone deserves a second chance if they are truly sorry, which he is showing himself to be. This could be his reckoning, and I am one who is willing to forgive. Even if Robert was to stand up and say he was wrong, confess his corruption, I would be willing to forgive, I might not forget like you have not forgotten, but I would forgive. I do not think Robert would say he is sorry, he is going to continue his evil path, and he needs to be stopped. I hope you don't get in trouble and I appreciate your boldness to state your case. Is there really anyone who is without wrongdoings and is trustworthy and willing to stand up as a leader and a rival to Robert? It seems everyone has something that they have done wrong.
How is it that your only choices are those who SUCK LESS?
@ 10:16 PM, I think it is more that the people are so scared to stand up to Robert Smith and Theresa Nieto, and let's face it, Indians are a much tougher breed of people because on a Reservation most are related and your relatives are more easily prone to fight and forgive than outsiders are. Only a few will stand up and refuse to be under Roberts corruption, and that deserves some support. I have heard the differences they want to make and they seem to be good for the tribe, they will make it so every family has a representative, term limits would be put back in place, and there would be complete reports for the tribe to see and the General Council will have to approve or deny projects, and much more, so as to make it practically impossible to have such corruption again. It should have never gotten to this point, but it is hard when you trust the people who are lying right to your face about everything.
12:44 pm
I applaud you and your wisdom. There are good people that want to do good for the tribe. No one is perfect, and everyone has a history. Look around and see how defeated Pala is. There is fear and division.
I know for a fact that the whole idea was to make change because things are not going well. The revenue is way down, per capita has been slashed, online gaming was started without approval, and so on. If Pala wants to get better, then it needs new leadership because the current leaders are not working on behalf of the tribe.
Hello My name is Heather and I am one of Willies kids. Yes the one he could not allow the step father to adopt or deny all my life even though he had tried to. So I have to agree with what some of this people say about him. If he apologized for his wrong doings them don't you think he should of started with his daughters? The ones who know about growing up on a rez? The ones who know what it is to be a Native? My personal opinion is Do I forgive Willie for all the hurt he has put so many families through? Do I forgive a man who planed me with my mother who did not want me then he abandons her for another women. I keep my opinion to myself about it a lot because I have seen the power of William James Pink. No one here can say they have ever seen their own blood father do his children the way he has done. If it was not for Grandma Polly love and her making sure Chamise, Nolina and I knew the Pink side and her love and enrolling us herself we would of never got it. King Freeman, LeRoy Miranda and Robert Smith can just all be banned from Pala. King yes shed the proof Thank you very much. Maybe people monitor and keep their mouth shut for a reason. What proof do you have of him being the loving father devoted Leader? What Proof do you have of King. Pala needs a change and it need to be new blood to do that. Unfortunately some of the elders are corrupt and can not be trusted in office. I hope everything gets resolved but as for me I work and live my life pass all the hurt. i found my life happy now that I am being a productive person. Maybe just maybe some of you need to find peace and happiness in your life and finger pointing just need to stop. Stop posting the rumors. Stop posting what is going to happen. Just stop the negativity. We are looking bad already on here. I want my children to be Proud of who they are. I do not want them to Research Pala and see all this hate by tribal members.
Oh and the War thing is not and excuse. They have counseling to deal with that and Indian Health Clinic has offered it for years. I took advantage and went myself. So go ahead post all the bad comments about he is An Angel and a Saint. Tell me how his Atheist self is a Blessing to our people.
I am just going to sit back and keep on reading all the hate that the disenrollee and the tribal members post. All the bad rumors everyone post to make Pala look like bad people. Stop posting our drama for the world to read and work on in from the inside like it was done in the past. Keep it in the families only.
Well there is probably too much hate being tossed around, and I apologize to the good Pala members for the part I have played in that. Our tribal membership should not have been stripped from us, and we did nothing to deserve the kind of treatment we have gotten.
All the rumors do make some people look bad. Then the facts make them look worse. We have tried working from the inside and have had the door completely shut. No hearing, no chance to see the evidence against us, no chance to talk with the Enrollment Committee. They don't take phone calls, or letters and refuse to meet us, and at this point we wouldn't trust them even if they did. Too many lies have been told.
You didn't like feeling outside of your family and neither do we. Some people lost their homes and were forced to live off rez, others have endured terrible hardships, and now none of us can be buried near our ancestors. Telling us to just stop, or to get over it, or to get a job and a life is not really a useful suggestion.
We aren't going to quit because then the people who have hurt us for no reason will find someone else to hurt. We want it to end now, and we are going to keep working toward it. Getting public attention and perhaps sympathy has worked in other situations so please forgive us for trying it also.
@6:47 regardless of your past you are a good strong loving mother to your own children. Don't change that. Look forward not back. And Theresa Nieto, Leroy Miranda and Dion Perez and Kilma Lattin voted for you to be disenrolled No one else.
Change is good, but acts being allowed inside that our ancestors went through from outsiders is not our way I believe (apartheid, dis enrollment, lies, greed ect.). Criminal acts (unwanted sexual acts, drug use, stealing ect.) on others is different. Disagreements & unsettled questions is a different thing and should be handled together inside. Misusing customs and traditions to hold power, telling lies to outsiders to justify your actions is not our way either. These acts are running through because $$ is blinding, and people are forgetting these acts could be used against them. They would feel uncomfortable too, feeling their children watch the bad mistakes. No one is going anywhere.
Hey 6:47 "stop posting our drama for the world to read and work on in from the inside like it was done in the past"
Idiot
Hey 6:47 "stop posting our drama for the world to read and work on in from the inside like it was done in the past"
Idiot
First off, I don't hate. I don't give a shit for the percapa that was stolen from us.... It's having your heritage taken from you at the stroke of a pen that really hurts.
It is impossible to keep this fight with-in the Tribe when you have been removed from it, you can no longer attend meetings, and can't even step foot on the reservation any more.
F#$k the money, they can keep the dam money! I don't mind being poor.
There it is, no one hates, it's hurting others and expecting they will accept it. Generation after generation getting pushed around from others. Then the corrupt leaks in after $$$ is brought in and the pushing comes from within the band. If they got the pushing instead of delivering it, they would get the feeling. MM went to a couple outside committee's and asked some sharp questions over what has happened while he was on the committee that allowed it to happen. Maybe he learned what it was like to say, you don't deserve water right settlements until you know what its like to return what others deserve? You don't deserve more than anyone else in the band. Dis enrolled members loose everything? Corrupt bands don't get treated well outside when the truth is exposed. Maybe the bands could get treated well outside, if they treated everyone the way they wanted to be treated?
Maybe individuals deserve sovereignty shields also? Maybe individuals sharing "ALL" deserve shares also? Sharing rights or wrongs, what is more important?
@6:47 shouldn't your rant been against Rob Smith.?
Whats really hard for the Public to understand is why does Pala have a dirty low life liar,corrupt,asshole,thieving bastard,child molester,with the nose of a pig, and very short legs, as the Tribal Chairman. The dude gets drunk and pisses all over himself, and any plants that happen to be near the Bar in the Casino. Now thats what i call shameful.
Post a Comment