Disenrollment MATTERS, Why YOU Should Care About the Theft of Tribal Heritage and the Crimes Against Indian People

Why YOU Should Care About Disenrollment...

Disenrollment is the purposeful stripping of citizenship and heritage of Native Americans BY Native Americans to steal money, benefits and power.   

Why should we care about disenrollment?

• If one persons rights are violated, any persons rights are violated.  How many does it take to be wrong?   In this case it's 10,000 who have been harmed.
• Tribes promised to take care of their people if voters approved gaming. Disenrollments, Banishments, Moratoriums and levels of membership fly in the face of that promise to make the lives of all Indians better.
• Those tribes also threaten tribal self-governance, giving Indian sovereignty skeptics good reason to believe that tribal governments cannot properly handle membership without outside involvement.

·        It's simply wrong. Sovereignty has become a smokescreen for illegitimate, sometimes unlawful behavior  

·        Shouldn't a Tribal Casino customer think: If Tribes will cheat their own people, won't they cheat me?

Disenrollment untethers a tribal member from his or her ancestral connections. Members are cut off from their cultural identities, religious ceremonies, activities, politics, burials, education and customs. He or she no longer belong to the tribe they were born into. This is the most basic form of isolation and separation  imaginable. It is a life time sentence of imprisonment.

It's been said if good people do nothing, evil people will keep doing it until stopped.  We expect nation leaders to be virtuous, with moral and ethical principles.  These actions of disenrollment, including banishment and moratoriums go against those expectations.

Disenrollment is not the Indian way. It was rarely used by our ancestors, and ONLY in extreme cases. It is being called the new genocide. The destruction of families which is being perpetrated by tribal officials who are elected to protect the rights of their tribal citizens.  Moral & ethical integrity in regards to human rights & the law MATTERS.

American citizens are losing constitutional rights without due process. The fact that they're also Indian shouldn't matter.

Losing constitutional rights inside their tribes or outside of their tribes is wrong.

ICRA was formulated for a reason and should be followed and amended. because what your bringing in is crystal clear. Constitutional rights are being squashed everywhere and that is giving the corrupt band members the feeling no one will say anything to them for breaking internal laws

When we quit fighting for the rights of others, turn the other cheek, refuse to get involved we allow these atrocities to continue. Native Americans have fought hard to obtain and keep what little rights they were given.  Fear is a major contributing factor to why people don't get involved, but what most fail to recognize is that once it has started, it will continue to destroy little by little.

Disenrollment matters,  Council leaders lied to the BIA, lied to the Justice Department.   We have the right and the obligation to hold them accountable for their harmful actions.

People ask what can be done.  As we've written in other posts,  Stop patronizing offending tribe's casinos, hotels, restaurants and their powwows and clubs. Let them know that we do not agree with their system of denying civil rights to their people and until they follow their own tribal law, citizens of our country will NOT support their nation, but will patronize their competitor nations.  Disenrollment matters.

Disenrollment matters, because tribes should NOT benefit from harming their people.  If tribes disenroll en masse, tribes should lose the Federal funding and benefits, including land trusts. The American people are essentially paying tribes who violate the civil and human rights of their people.   Our representatives should shun these tribes.  No attending functions, meetings or concerts.  Use their bully pulpit to fight for the rights of the people that have been beaten by the club of sovereignty.

The Dept. of Interior and the Congress have an obligation and responsibility to uphold and amend the protection our civil rights and to protect tribal members from rogue government's that break tribal laws and constitution's only to fill their pockets with money and political power.

Congress trust responsibility does not end with Chiefs and Chairman, it extends to all native people   Have you ever wondered why Congress only provided ten civil rights and those were based on criminality, yet they made American Indians citizens of the United States, limiting their protection?