Windbag Democrat LUIS ALEJO Demands Apology for Anti Sovereignty Comment

This came out earlier this week, or maybe last week, but it's getting play now, It a letter demanding an apology for a comment by a non-descript country supervisor on the Chumash issue:

I was disappointed to read your comments in a recent Lompoc Record article questioning the sovereign nation status of Native American tribes. It is unbelievable that such statements would be made in any context, but I am especially disappointed to see them come from an elected official. I appreciate and respect free speech and the freedoms that come with being citizens of this great nation of ours, but publically espousing such misinformed views only serve to minimize the very real and brutal history of repression that Native Americans have endured.

The ugly truth is that Native people were placed on reservations that look nothing like their original homelands. In regards to the Chumash Nation, I would remind you that their original land base spanned from Paso Robles to Malibu and inland to Bakersfield. But that is not the land they live on today. Instead, they were provided with 99 acres of land of which a large percentage was and remains a river bed.

California Democrat Luis Alejo

My response to him:  

Dear Luis,

I was disappointed to read where YOU gave an award to Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro, who practices APARTHEID and Segregation against terminated tribal members. http://www.originalpechanga.com/2011/09/assemblyman-luis-alejo-d-salinas-honors.html 

YOU HONOR a man who uses SOVEREIGNTY like a club to beat the weak and helpless, yet get your panties in a bunch against a statement my a guy who is NOT EVEN in your DISTRICT? I am especially disappointed, that an elected Democrat, who should be protecting the people, instead follows blindly the lead of a man who has harmed HUNDREDS by stripping their citizenship and heritage.

The UGLY TRUTH is that it's ELECTED OFFICIALS like YOU who turn a blind eye to the abuses of tribes who donated to your campaigns and pay lip service to words, while not standing up for those who need YOUR HELP.

1956 Pechanga Documents Show Hunter Family Indeed Pechanga Members and Mark Macarro LIES About OUR FAMILY

During the 2006 disenrollment (stripping of tribal citizenship) proceedings against my family, the PAULINA HUNTER Descendants, we were given 30 days to find all possible paperwork to "prove" we belonged to the tribe. Here's an example of what we had to look for.

The tribe ignored their own documents, including depositions and affidavits from people who knew Paulina Hunter as a Pechanga tribal member (depositions were taken in the Luiseno language via interpreter.)  We have a document from Mary Hunter Miller, Paulina's daughter in 1956, an application for a surplus house which recognizes her as a tribal member.   The "surplus demountable house" is still standing on the reservation, on our families allotment.

Notice the language on page 3, item 8: Describing the allotment.  Our family is one of the FEW remaining on their original Pechanga reservation land.   NO TRIBAL SIGNATURE was needed by the governing body, whose names are on the document, INCLUDING Pechanga's vaunted elder Antonio Ashman.   Mary Hunter Miller RELIED on Antonio Ashman, Armand Valencia and Frank Cantura to SUPPORT her request, but their approval was not necessary because the LAND was ALLOTTED, not assigned or purchased.

This document puts to lie the claim from Pechanga Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro that we came after the casino.    This application for my great grandmother was for a home where she could escape the smog of the San Gabriel Valley by coming back to the reservation, not for casino money to come 40 years later.  Our family was on their allotment before child molester Vince Ibanez wrote his letter from prison against our family and well before any Basquez or Masiel

Mary Hunter Miller/BIA document

BIA Will NOT Overturn Decision to Recognize 2010 Chukchansi Tribal Council

From a Facebook page of Chukchansi Member:

The meeting on Saturday will not overturn the BIAs decision to recognize the 2010 tribal council . 

It is too bad the people's referendum to have an immediate clean slate election was not presented to the people fairly. 

We talked with Dale Risling about what is the best way to resolve this matter. He tells us that our Clean Slate Election referendum that we tried to present on Saturday was a solution to our problem. 

Maybe it is time for all members to stop thinking of their favorite faction and get on board with the IMMEDIATE clean slate election. 

My family and I were able to get 200 signatures at the meeting. We need members to sign that referendum. Dale Risling tells us yesterday that we are on the right path with that referendum.

When will the Chukchansi Tribe tire of being the laughingstock of Native American Tribes?  They could LEAD on the issue by bringing ALL the people home and by doing the right thing for 800 Native people.  Then THEY could point and laugh and Pechanga, Pala, Enterprise and Redding to name a few.

Redding Rancheria -Win River Casino Tribe's ELEVEN YEARS of SHAME

Today is the 11th anniversary of the unjust disenrollment of the Foreman family from the Redding Rancheria  in 2004.  Bob Foreman was the first elected tribal chairman and frankly, there should be a statue on the reservation honoring him.  Instead, his family is no longer in the tribe.

Chairman Foreman passed away just over six year ago, before seeing justice done.  He was instrumental in establishing three Indian Health Clinics, in Shasta, Trinity and Siskiyou counties when there was NO healthcare for many American Indians.

The Foreman family, sold their land to the tribe so that the Win River Casino/Hotel could provide economic help for the tribe, improving their lives with employment, education and elder care.

Read more about the Foreman family and the disinterment of their elder for a DNA test, the tribe required of them.  99.7% wasn't good enough for them...  TRIBAL CORRUPTION WEBSITE

VIDEO: CHAOS Erupts at "Unification" Meeting for Chukchansi

Let the GAMES BEGIN!   Here's a video of a tribal meeting that was supposed to UNIFY the "factions" of supposed groups who claim "leadership".    Doesn't look so unified does it?

The Chukchansi leaders are trying to keep the money flowing.  To the people...uh, no, that's just a smokescreen.  It belies the recent post we had with their press release, don't you think?




This being said...it's not a whole lot different than a LOT of tribal meetings elsewhere...passions erupt.  If the American people would show such passion, we may not have the "leaders" in Congress we do.

WATCH, ENJOY and SHARE....

State of Indian Nations Speech by NCAI's Cladoosby IGNORES Violations of Civil and Human Rights by Casino Tribes

I've listened twice to National Congress of American Indian's President Brian Cladoosby's speech hoping he would discuss the continued violations of the civil rights of Native Americans at the hands of their own tribal councils.    Good thing I wasn't  holding my breath.

My heart fluttered with anticipation as he mentioned the U.S. Governments honoring their trust responsibility.     Would he mention respecting Native People's rights to belong?   No, of course not.  Individual Indians have had to fight for their own rights, while the NCAI offers no help.

Trust responsibility is not only to chief's and leader's who donate to politicians, or to NCAI's museums. Our rights as citizens of tribal nations should be defended, while "fake" Indians usurp control of tribes.

As one who has gone to Washington DC to fight for my family's rights and the rights of other disenrolled Native Americans, I KNOW that many politicians can be persuaded that the right thing is to DO THE RIGHT THING.

One has to ask themselves, is the NCAI nothing more than a lobbying group, like AARP or UTA, or do they really have the rights of Natives in mind?   Based on their actions...or rather LACK  thereof, I'd say lip service might be better than NO SERVICE at all.

THOUSANDS of Native Americans are waiting in vain for organizations like the NCAI, or NARF to come to their aid, with expertise, legal resources and the bully pulpit to shape thinking.

THE "R" WORD

Cladoosby was able to find more than 5 1/2 minutes of his speech on the Redskin's nickname issue (the "R" word) but he didn't mention the "D" word (DISENROLLMENT).  You know, the term that signifies the actual HARM that tribes are doing to their people, in order to steal their per capita and benefits from their own people.  

He was able to mention the Redskins team sponsors, like FedEx and Coca Cola, but failed to mention that in his own executive board has the Tribal Chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, which has eliminated nearly 20% of his tribe, practices Apartheid on its reservation against Indian people.  Sponsorship is worse than partnership? We need NCAI to look at the 21st century's Indian Removal Acts and help save THOUSANDS of Native American lives...instead of worrying about a bad name. Priorities matter.

President Obama Says Right to Vote is SACRED, BUT.... Not if you are Native to some Tribes.

We caught this passage in President Obama's State of the Union speech this week and it made us sit up and take notice:

We may go at it in campaign season, but surely we can agree that the right to vote is sacred; that it's being denied to too many;  

As one who has lost the right to vote, in tribal elections, stripped of that right by Democratic Party operatives Mark Macarro and Andy Masiel , I sat up and took notice.   Yes, voting rights have been stripped from Native Americans...by their own tribe.  In fact, Macarro even tried to keep Californians from voting, REMEMBER?

Just this weekend, the Chukchansi tribe held "elections" to install an interim government, yet controlled the outcome by not allowing all members to vote. This tribe is so screwed up, that In 2013, Chukchansi had SEPARATE elections    which makes it a WTF moment.

On the Pechanga Reservation in Temecula, Original Pechanga allottee descendents have had their citizenship taken away, along with voting rights, the right to health care, the right to speak at meeting, even when the situation is directly relating to them, such as water rights. It's virtual apartheid allowed because Pechanga, headed by Mark Macarro, the subject of a recall attempt, controls the votes. Hetried to usurp the water rights of allottees, lied to congressional staffers about how many allottees were still on the reservation. 

Redding Rancheria even terminated 25% of their tribe, including their FIRST Tribal chairman. We have tribes like Snoqualmie in Washington, that have stripped citizenship simply for taking a position opposite of the tribal council. And the Picayune Rancheria already terminated 50% of their tribe and are looking at more.

How can this happen?  BY CONTROLLING VOTES!  Imagine stripping 8 million Californians of the right to vote.  That's EXACTLY the comparision you should use when thinking about tribes like Redding, Pala, Pechanga and Chukchansi.

THE REAL PROBLEM, Mr. President, is that you let these actions continue under YOUR watch, and don't care about the violatons of the civil rights of THOUSANDS, but make up an unreal issue when addressing the nation.   Get Eric Holder on the Job. 

Chukchansi Tribe has smoke screen Election

There was a meeting, where repotedly tribal members were paid to attend, to try to convince the Feds that all is better now at Chukchansistan.  These greedy bastards should have their recognition voided.

Here is the full press release: 

A quorum of all voting members the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians came together Saturday in the largest turnout in the Tribe's history to affirm the six Tribal leaders of the “Unification Council” to execute the reopening agreement with the NIGC and to administer elections for all seven Tribal Council seats. This was only the fourth time since the Tribe adopted its Constitution in 1988 that a General Council meeting reached quorum and was able to conduct business on behalf of the Tribe. The turnout was the largest in the Tribe's history and the outpouring of support from members to reopen the casino and have an election was evident throughout the meeting.

All adult members of the Tribe were invited to attend and many hundreds of Tribal members recognized the need to reopen the casino in order to keep the tribal government functioning and to repay holders of bonds issued by the Tribe to pay for the construction of its casino resort. Tribal members affirmed that the six tribal leaders who make up of the “Unification Council” – Chance Alberta, Nancy Ayala, Nokomis Hernandez, Tracey Hopkins, Reggie Lewis and Karen Wynn – have the Tribe's constitutional authority to act as the Tribe's interim governing body until elections for all seven Tribal Council seats are contested in an election to be held no later than May 2, 2015. The Tribal members also voted to use the membership list as it was in place for the December 2012 Tribal Council elections.

“This was a historic moment for our Tribe in charting a path to reopen our casino, to restore order to our government, to provide services to our members and to silence any group attempting to sew confusion and discord,” stated Reggie Lewis, Co-Chairman of the Unification Council, a body created by quorums of the elected and recognized Tribal Councils from 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Co-Chairwoman, Nancy Ayala stated, “As a proud people, the Chukchansi have had to endure hardship and harsh conditions in order to survive and the overwhelming support that the General Council bestowed upon us as tribal leaders is an honor which we take seriously.”

With the support and recognition of the adult members of the Tribe, the six members of the Unification Council will continue in its efforts to reopen the casino, restore community confidence and resume honoring its obligations to the community.

The General Council loudly confirmed that only members who were listed on the Tribe's Base Membership Roll on February 21, 2013 are members of the Tribe. A neutral third-party election service company, True Ballot, Inc. oversaw the voting on the resolution adopted by the General Council which was the same procedure used on March 10, 2012 when the Tribe was confronted with a dissident group claiming to be the governing body of the Tribe

Corrupt Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro DOESN'T LIKE Proposed Poker Bill

The Chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians , Mark Macarro who lied to Congress to gain land by saying it was "culturally significant" then put a golf course on it doesn't like much like the new online poker bill.

 Macarro's STATEMENT

“There is much for tribes to dislike about this bill. [AB 167]

“We are disappointed that the bill disregards important principles from a broad coalition of respected tribes and card rooms that help prevent corporations and entities that previously violated federal law from profiting from tainted software, brands, and databases derived from illegal activity.

“Tribes have been steadfast in the principle that online poker be consistent with California's longstanding public policy of limited gaming, and that means keeping it to just tribes and card rooms.  California voters have always had the final say on gaming expansion and they have already rejected expansion of gaming for horse racing.” 

Make you wonder how he includeds Pechanga in group of "respected tribes" doesn't it?   When Macarro himself was the subject of a recall attempt for hiring his wife's lobbying firm without the tribe's approval.  

Pechanga’s Apartheid Reservation    keeps original tribal allottees from using the facilities on the reservation, such as playgrounds and water fountains without a member present.   

NOW, who is the bad actor?

Chukchansi Casino Tribe's Gaming Per Capitas to END as ANOTHER LEADERSHIP Faction Emerges That Wants a SMALLER TRIBE

Can you believe it?  The Chukchansi Tribe wants to become SMALLER? Getting rid of 70% of the tribe wasn't ENOUGH?   TIME to PULL THEIR FEDERAL RECOGNITION.  The Fresno Bee Reports...

The new faction is made up of the tribe’s original descendants — 43 total voting members — who the federal government at one time recognized after restoring the Chukchansi and 16 other previously terminated California tribes. The new faction wants to gain control of the tribe and could remove members of the other three factions.

As the new faction meets, the three existing factions continue to wrestle for control of the tribe as they seek to reopen the Chukchansi casino — the tribe’s main source of revenue.

A group previously headed by Tex McDonald continues to maintain a tribal council. Meanwhile, the council led by Reggie Lewis and Nancy Ayala is arranging a tribal members’ meeting in Fresno on Saturday that could lead to new elections. A fourth group led by Morris Reid last month sued the Lewis/Ayala faction for failing to pay monthly stipends in accordance with a federal judge’s order

Read MORE: Shrinking the Tribe  

EPIC FAIL by ERIC HOLDER's JUSTICE Department To Find Civil Rights Violations In Indian Country

As word came out yesterday, that there will be NO Civil Rights case in the shooting death of the cop attacker Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, we remind the American people that we have been asking the Holder Justice Department and the Civil Rights Division to look into civil and human rights violations in Indian Country for years.

Read about those instances:One Death in Missouri.. and here in Eric Holder to Resign.. we included a letter to the Attorney General.

What is it about Holder?  Is he all flash and no substance?   He got America all riled up thinking he would get a civil rights case against George Zimmerman too, after he won his self defense case in the death of his attacker Trayvon Martin.   Another EPIC FAIL, ERIC.   The failure was not in NOT finding civil rights abuses...but in trying to pull the wool over our eyes in saying that there were.

Just GO Mr. Holder, anyone is better than you.  But again, here is a letter for your successor, since you are incapable.

The Honorable Eric Holder
United States Attorney General
Department of Justice Building
950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Attorney General Who Succeeds Eric Holder:

I respectfully submit this letter urging the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to commence a full-scale investigation into the gross civil and human rights violations which have infected Indian Country.

Throughout Indian Country, tribal officials have taken actions which have denied and/or stripped thousands of individual Indians of their rights and privileges as tribal members and denied them access to federal benefits and programs in the areas of housing, education, health, voting and public works assistance.  Pechanga, Pala, Redding, Snoqualmie, Nooksack, Chukchansi, Enterprise, San Pascual are just a few who have terminated the rights of their people.

In some instances, the illegal actions occurred decades ago, however, there has been a marked increase since Indian Gaming has evolved into a multi-billion dollar business. Tribal leaders justify their right to systematically deny and/or strip basic rights and privilegesfrom their citizens under the guise of tribal sovereignty.   The time is right for your department to use it's full force on the corruption that has spread throughout Indian Country.

Tribal leaders have routinely committed acts to deny Indian individuals due process; equal protection of tribal, state, and federal laws; property interest rights; and voting rights. Theses actions have been carried out in gross violation of tribal and federal laws, such as the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, which were specifically enacted to guarantee and protect the rights of the individual Indian.

Using sovereignty as a club to beat the weak and render them helpless is abhorrent.The federal government can no longer allow the offending tribes and tribal officials to claim that this is a sovereignty issue that rests solely within the domain of tribal courts and tribal law. Few Tribes actually have tribal courts.And, in most cases, the tribal government officials responsiblefor the violations of law are the very same people who pass judgment as to whether or not lawshave been violated - they are the judge, jury and alleged criminal all rolled into one
.
The United States has a trust responsibility to the thousands of individual Indians whose basic rights have been infringed upon. Unfortunately, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has determined that their trust responsibility extends only to the tribal government and government officials and not to the thousands of individual Indian victims. Therefore, I believe that the DOJ has the legal and moral responsibility
to investigate and prosecute such violations of basic rights.

I urge you to direct the DOJ Civil Rights Division to initiate an investigation into the growing number of human and civil rights violations described above. In addition, I hope that any investigation would not be short-circuited by those who would claim tribal sovereignty as a justification for inaction.

Nor should justice be denied as a result of political wrangling by politicians fighting to protect their tribal “clients” who funnel millions of dollars into their campaign coffers.

How Pechanga Tribe Acted OUTSIDE Their Tribal Constitution

 Yes, the Mark Macarro led tribal council of Pechanga did not follow the constititution.  Why should they?  They new with few voters, their power would grow and they could protect their positions.  There would be NO checks or balances.... power corrupts.

In the Pechanga Tribal Council's Memo to the General Membership Re: the Petition Dated June 19, 2005,

The memo to the tribal members cites the Constitution as providing the Council with the "duty to uphold the Constitution, Bylaws and ordinances", but the memo failed to quote the Constitution and Bylaws, Article III which states: "The simple majority (of the general membership)...shall rule and decide in all matters of government and business of the Band." It's clear that Article III recognizes the General Membership's ultimate authority to make decisions regarding all government matters- including enrollment and disenrollment issues. The General Membership's authority and powers trumps those of the Enrollment Committee and the Council in all matters.

The Enrollment Committee was NEVER granted ultimate authority to trump actions of the General Membership regarding enrollment and disenrollment. By custom and tradition, the Enrollment Committee has always taken its directives from the General Membership, and the General Membership has always enjoyed and exercised its authority as the ultimate decision maker on such matters . \

Here are several major issues that illustrate this point:

A. The General Membership approved 2 Enrollment Applications (the first in 1979 and the 2nd in 1996). Although the Enrollment Committees drafted each, changes were made by the General Membership and the ultimate approval of each was via votes of the General Membership. The Enrollment Committee did not then nor do they now have sole discretion or authority in enrollment and disenrollment issues.

B. The General Membership, not the Enrollment Committee, adopted the Murphys into the tribe. In fact, the Enrollment Committee recognized that it did not have the authority to "adopt" the Murphys as members. Therefore, the issue was presented to the General Membership which was and is the ultimate decider on enrollment and disenrollment issues.

C. The moratoriums on processing enrollment applications were approved by the General Membership. The processing of enrollment applications is the basic duty of the Enrollment Committee. Even though this is so, the Enrollment Committee could not institute a moratorium on its own. The moratoriums had to be discussed, voted on and passed by the ultimate decision-maker in enrollment and disenrollment issues- the General Membership.
Staying with the moratorium issue for a bit, if you apply the reasoning expressed by the Tribal Council in the March 14, 2006 letter, the moratoriums would be in conflict with the Constitution's membership requirements (just as they claim portions of the Petition dated June 19, 2005 are), were/are illegal, and should be subject to the same fate as those provisions of the Petition, i.e. the moratorium should be lifted.

D. The General Membership, not the Enrollment Committee, voted on and enacted the Disenrollment Procedures contrary to the position stated in the Tribal Council's memo, the examples provided above clearly illustrate that the Enrollment Committee does not enjoy ultimate decision making authority or sole discretion in issues concerning enrollment or disenrollment. The Enrollment Committee's authority is clearly derived from the General Membership and the Enrollment Committee exists and serves at the pleasure of the General Membership. The General Membership can, through the authority cited in Article III, and in accordance with custom and tradition, take actions to interrupt, halt, or even disband the Enrollment Committee.

Finally, IF the Tribal Council's action was such a righteous one and was indeed intended to protect the integrity of the Constitution, why did they wait 4 1/2 months to notify the General Membership? Shouldn't they have made the decision right away? Does the Tribal Council IN FACT have the ability to overrule the will of the people?

Santa Ynez Tribe Wins Right to Reduce Indian Population In Their Tribe, WITH BIA's assistance

From the attorney for Santa Ynez people that were denied citizenship in their own tribe, Jon Velie.  Velie is well known for fighting for the civil and human rights of Native Americans, against those tribes who would strip them from their brothers and sisters.

For those who followed our case about the Santa Ynez Indian people that were denied citizenship in their Tribe because the BIA confirmed a decision of the temporary election committee officials to analyze and utilize documents outside of the historical document adopted by the people in its Constitutional document, we lost.

The Federal Court was able to hear this case because of a rare clause in the Tribe's Constitutional document that granted the BIA the duty to hear appeals on membership issues.

In our opinion the BIA shirked its fiduciary duty to ensure the officials followed the laws passed by the people.

Unfortunately, the Court agreed with the BIA that it was reasonable for the officials to ask the Plaintiffs to prove that not only was their ancestor listed on the 1940 historical document a full blood, but that her father was too.

We cited federal and tribal court cases that say whatever facts are listed on the historical document are not open to interpretation.

Yet we lost and so did all Indians who have Constitutions that adopted historical documents to prove membership, because this ruling means an appointed officials can now determine whether the rolls may be accurate instead of requiring them to take the data on them as facts. With this additional power, nobody is safe from the whim of analysis.

Today my client's authorized me to appeal. I do so on their behalf and for all who are now exposed.

The fight for Native peoples who's identity is being stripped by their Tribal and Federal governments goes forward.

While physical genocide of Indian people may have passed into the ugly past, native identicide continues as the U.S. policy to reduce numbers of people who can claim the benefits of being an Indian increased its toll by dozens.

The saddest part is the partnership some tribes have taken to assist the Feds in terminating their numbers.

There is strength in numbers. Reducing tribal population based on Disenrollment, moratoriums on enrollment, purging of rolls, utilization of excessive or extra requirements and implementation of blood quantum all have to the same effect, reducing the number of Indians.

Vallejo Says NO to OFF Reservation Casino for Elem Colony/Koi Nation

The city council in Vallejo, California, voted 6-1 on Thursday to focus solely on "industrial" uses for Mare Island, a decision that appears to lock tribes out of the development process.

The Elem Colony and the Koi Nation submitted bids to put an off-reservation casino on the island. But most council members weren't thrilled about the potentially controversial nature of such a development.

“I don’t think it’s the use we want for our city and I don’t think it’s the image we want for our city," Mayor Osby Davis said during a public meeting, The Vallejo Times-Herald reported.

Despite the vote, Chairman Agustin Garcia of the Elem Colony doesn't believe the "industrial" focus excludes a casino. The tribe was reportedly going to ask Congress to place the gaming site in trust.
“As far as I’m concerned, just saying the usage should be industrial doesn’t eliminate gaming altogether,” Garcia told The San Francisco Chronicle.

On MLK DAY, A Reminder that the Indian Civil Rights Act Needs Enforcement from Congress. Barbara Boxer; Dianne Feinstein Have Been NO Help

Abuse of individual Indians at the hands of tribal governments and/or tribal officials- led to the introduction and enactment of the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 (ICRA).  Unfortunately the ICRA did not contain an effective enforcement mechanism to deter tribal governments from violating the rights of the individual.   To reprise an older post, here is a portion of the information AIRRO put together on why we need enforcement of ICRA.    

The American Indian Rights and Resources Organization (AIRRO) is a Native American rights organization which is dedicated to the protection, preservation, and enforcement of the human rights of individual Indians through-out United States Indian Country.  OP:  PLEASE consider supporting AIRRO with your membership, details at the link above.


Earlier this year, the AIRRO submitted information to the OHCHR for use in the Universal Periodic Review of the United States human rights record. AIRRO’s submission highlighted the trend of civil and human rights abuses indigenous people are being subjected to and the United State’s role in creating an environment for such injustices to occur. The AIRRO believes that both the UN and the United States should address the growing number of human and civil rights abuses in Indian Country and work towards the enforcement of previously enacted laws governing Indian civil and human rights.

The most egregious human rights issues that have gripped Indian Country over the last decade include the taking of ones citizenship; the denial of basic rights and freedoms; and the severing of spiritual and cultural ties to ones people and land. In place of actual physical genocide, acts such as disenrollment, banishment and the denial of citizenship are “killing off” generations of Indian people. 

Disenrollment is the stripping of one’s citizenship in his or her tribe. Banishment is an act taken against individuals or groups whereby they are barred from entering and/or staying within their tribal reservation or other tribal lands. Denial of membership is an act to keep those eligible for tribal citizenship off the tribal rolls.
Disenrollment (described here, liked being RAPED and having the RAPIST judge you) has been characterized as an act committed by tribal officials “without any concern for human rights, tribal traditions or due process… as a means to solidify their own economic and political bases and to winnow out opposition families who disapprove of the direction the tribal leadership is headed…(It) has tragically become almost commonplace in Indian country, leaving thousands of bona fide Native individuals without the benefits and protections of the nations they are biologically, culturally, and spiritually related to.”
The State is in large part responsible for the growing problem of human rights abuses in Indian Country. Its responsibility lies with the laws it has enacted and the failures of its agencies to carry out the trust responsibility due the individual Indian. 

Of note, in 1968, after an investigation by the Constitutional Rights Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the Indian Civil Rights Act (ICRA) was passed. 
The ICRA was adopted to ensure that tribal governments respect the basic human and civil rights of individual Indians and non-Indians. The ICRA was intended to extend constitutional rights to individual Indians and thereby “protect individual Indians from arbitrary and unjust actions of tribal governments.” Under the ICRA tribal governments were prohibited from enacting or enforcing laws that violate certain individual rights. 

Unfortunately, the ICRA failed to include an effective enforcement mechanism: save for a writ of habeas corpus, aggrieved individual(s) were barred from holding the offending tribal government or tribal official(s) accountable for violations of tribal and/or federal law. 


The ICRA was further neutered in Martinez v. Santa Clara Pueblo which held that the ICRA, although a federal statute, was not enforceable in federal court. While the Martinez decision did allow for State intervention in limited instances, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), an agency within the Department of the Interior, has routinely declined to intervene.

The failures of the United States in regards to enforcement of the ICRA led William B. Allen, at the time, a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, to point out that no federal money had been spent on the enforcement of fundamental civil rights of American citizens (including the indigenous population) domiciled on reservations since the Martinez decision. 



The United States’ failure to address the inherent problems in the ICRA and the additional problems created by Martinez has created an environment whereby tribal officials are allowed to violate the rights of their citizens by ignoring Federal, State and Tribal laws. 

The United States can change the environment by providing an efficient enforcement mechanism for the redress of alleged violations of the ICRA and other tribal and/or federal laws enacted to protect and preserve the rights of the individual Indian. 

Enforcement could include de novo review of tribal court actions by federal courts of issues involving alleged rights violations. And, in instances where there is no tribal court, individual(s) alleging violations of their human and civil rights could be allowed to file an action in federal court and the federal court shall have jurisdiction to hear the dispute. 

Additionally and equally important, tribal and federal officials should not be allowed to invoke immunity from prosecution for alleged rights violations nor shall a tribe’s sovereignty shield its officers, employees, or agents.

The United States must be proactive in addressing the growing number of abuses committed against American Indians. The United States needs to address the policies, programs, and laws governing the rights of its indigenous people. The United States must also take action to change the current environment, an environment it created, which allows for and fosters the wholesale denial and abolishment of basic rights.

BY BLOOD FREEDMEN STORY Chosen as San Diego Black Film Festival's Opening Day Selection

Great News for those who think fighting for JUSTICE is a good thing.  The San Diego Black Film Festival will be showing a documentary on BLACK Native Americans, descendants of slaves and including those the CHEROKEE dragged on the TRAIL OF TEARS.... as PROPERTY.

Our Opening Day Film: "By Blood," the story of the Freedmen (Native Americans of African descent) struggle for acceptance and membership into the Cherokee, Seminole, Creek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations, accompanied by the short "Hate From A Distance." Thursday January 29 (7:30PM). T

Documenting the Struggle of the FREEDMEN

Read more about the Cherokee Freedmen  and help in the search for justice for all tribal people that have been harmed by their own people.

Cutcha Risling Baldy: Father Junipero Serra was NOT a Saint, Pope Francis..

Blogger Cutcha Risling Baldy has a very serious takedown of the news the everyone's new favorite Pope, Francis will name Father Junipero Serra a Saint.   Well done!

MONEY QUOTES:

 Junipero Serra is not a saint. You can’t credit him with all the good stuff that happened in the missions and then say “all that other stuff, he’s not responsible for, that was OTHER people not him. 

He knew what was going on. He was okay with what was going on. He was the leader of what was going on. He set up the system. I’ll bet he even knew it was wrong. He just didn’t care. That’s not a saint, that’s an arrogant jerk with no morals.

Forcing Native people into slavery and working them to death. They were required to build the missions. If they died while building the mission, they would be buried in mass graves (yup, this process required MASS graves) and the building would go on.

Beating Native people with (sometimes) over one hundred lashes. Sometimes with a wooden club. Sometimes with a “Cat-o-nine tails” or a wooden club with ropes and knots tied at the end of it. 

Starvation of Native people. Feeding them as little as 400 calories a day, rationing their water intake and forcing them to work. 

Forcing Native people to procreate. There is one story about a woman who was not getting pregnant. The padres brought her in and demanded to know why she wasn’t with child. They forcibly did a vaginal exam of her.

Read the full story at the link above...  Well done

California Losing MILLIONS Because BROWN and AG HARRIS Can't Run Gaming Compliance

Blogger Dave Palermo has a story up at the Sacramento Bee revealing that:  

Million-dollar gambling investigation in California reveals need for better regulation

YA THINK?  Hey, Pechanga's former chairwoman, Jennie Miranda has been disenfranchised for absconding slot machines from the tribe.   Have you seen the indictment?  NO, of course not.  Jerry Brown's people ain't going that deep.

Here's Palermo:
The nation’s gambling industry was stunned last month when California Attorney General Kamala Harris accused the state’s former casino enforcement chief of engaging in a conflict of interest on behalf of a San Jose card club targeted in a $119 million skimming investigation.

Bob Lytle, who resigned from the Bureau of Gambling Control in 2007 to work as a compliance officer for Casino M8trix, received confidential information on the Casino M8trix investigation from a bureau agent in 2013, according to the complaint filed by Harris.

“(Lytle’s) receipt of such information and documents potentially compromised the effectiveness, and undermined the integrity, of the bureau’s investigations,” Harris said in the complaint filed Dec. 23 with the state Gambling Control Commission.

The formal accusation against the onetime top casino enforcement officer is a rarity in gambling regulatory history.

Read MORE:  Palermo Article

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article6688959.html#storylink=cpy

Disenrollment Bankruptcy and Tribal Per Capita Poverty. THEFT Under BIA's Watchful Eye and Greased Palms

As the theft of Tribal per capita payments, via disenrollment nears the $1 BILLION mark, the estimable  Gabe Galanda of Galanda Broadman law firm has post up as to how Tribal Per Capita is CREATING Poverty.

Yes, it's a form of elder abuse, to rob our elders of their rightful share of what the tribe offers to all members.   This includes health care, elder benefits, and the respect they deserve as lifelong members.

To have a Non Indian/Non Blood council keep or steal per capita, is the height of irony.


“In November, a [Las Vegas] Review-Journal reporter and photographer encountered one of the disenrolled, 52-year-old Darla Hatcher, sleeping with her meager belongings in front of an upholstery shop in the homeless corridor.

By way of introduction, she gestured toward nearby tribal land and said: “I am a disenrolled Paiute.’”

Thanks to some wonderful scholarship by Seattle lawyer Greg Guedel about the socioeconomic impacts of tribal per capita monies, The Economist has cast a bright light on the topic. Guedel’s research found that:

From 2000-2010, gaming Tribes in the Pacific Northwest that did not issue per capita payments to their members did better in reducing poverty rates than the gaming Tribes that issued per capita payments.

In other words, tribal per capita monies are not alleviating Indian poverty; they are exacerbating it.

Indeed, the apportionment of tribal communal assets and distribution of those assets to individual tribal members is, by the United States’ design, a mode of tribal termination and Indian assimilation. See Tribal Per Capitas and Self-Termination (“Tribal per capita payments are a creature of the United States and its Indian termination policies.”). This dynamic dates back to the mid-1800s, although we as American indigenous people act oblivious to that genocidal reality.To be sure, tribal per capita distributions are presently catalyzing the most severe form of Indian poverty: Disenrollment and exile from one’s tribal community–and at epidemic levels.

As Professor David Wilkins explains:

Disenrollment takes an obvious financial toll . . . But it also can psychologically devastate former members.

“’It leaves them in a tenuous place of being betwixt and between,’ he says. ’They know they still are what they are claimed not to be. I just feel for them.’”

Surely other Indians feel for their brothers and sisters who have been spiritually, financially and otherwise bankrupt through disenrollment. Right?

Read about the ACCOUNTING for Tribal Per Capita Theft

Tyme Maidu Tribal Takeover Defendants Plead No Contest to Berry Creek Rancheria Trespass

A third set of defendants have changed their pleas to charges related to the 2013 takeover of an Oroville tribe’s offices.

As with two previous sets of defendants, Donald Hedrick, Emanuel Lee, Teresa Lee, Robertha Timmons and Robert Wagner pleaded no contest to an added count of misdemeanor trespass of a structure or land not open to the general public.

Co-defendant Kathy Ann Frazier had been scheduled to be with the others Wednesday, but it was announced that she died Dec. 23.

The defendants had been charged in Butte County Superior Court with felony vandalism for the May 16, 2013, incident at the Tyme Maidu Tribal Offices near Gold Country Casino.

The incident was reportedly over a tribal disenrollment vote for four individuals who were subsequently disenrolled. During the standoff, 19 people locked themselves inside the office, causing what officials estimated to be $20,000 in damage to property including walls, windows and computers.

In court, Hedrick told Judge Tamara Mosbarger that the defendants had been standing for those who couldn’t speak for themselves in the Berry Creek Rancheria tribal membership issue, including those that were too young or feared repercussions.

Outside of court, he said the defendants would come together as a family and hope that what happened to them didn’t happen with other tribes. Many of the tribal membership issues around the country are happening because of money, Hedrick said.

Timmons said the situation was crazy. “Our family started it and our family is kicked out,” she said.

Judge Presiding Over Chukchansi Casino Raid Case DISQUALIFIED by Peremptory Challenge: Casino Remains Closed

A Madera County Superior Court judge presiding over the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino raid case was disqualified Wednesday morning following a defendant's challenge, reports Marc Benjamin of the Fresno Bee.

A defendant is allowed to use a "peremptory challenge" to disqualify a judge. Defendant Eric Suniga made the challenge through his attorney, Mark Coleman.

The judge, Mitchell Rigby, permitted the challenge and moved the case to another courtroom. Rigby made no other comment.

The case is now being heard in Judge Dale Blea's courtroom.

There are 15 defendants being prosecuted for their alleged involvement in the Oct. 9 raid of the casino office by representatives of one of the competing leadership groups of the tribe that runs the Coarsegold casino and hotel. Both were closed the next day by the state and federal government and have not been reopened.

Cases for all 15 defendants are in various stages and all were scheduled to be heard Wednesday.

In another defendant’s case, a security guard who had been in Madera County Jail more than two months for his involvement in the Chukchansi gaining office raid was released on his own recognizance.

Miguel Ramos, 23, previously had his bail set at $500,000. His lawyer, Craig Collins, said Ramos was a military veteran who had no involvement in violent acts during the takeover. Judge Dale Blea ordered him not to have any weapons, and Ramos agreed to the requirement.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/01/14/4329962_judge-disqualified-in-chukchansi.html?sp=%2F99%2F217%2F&rh=1#storylink=cpy

Complete List of Senate Indian Affairs Committee Members

These are the people we will need to be contacting this year:

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee (@indiancommittee) is in Republican hands for the 114th Congress.

As expected, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming @senjohnbarrasso ) is serving as chairman. He is one of eight Republicans on the committee, a list that includes two newcomers: Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) and Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana), who are newly-elected members of the Senate.

Also joining the committee for the first time is Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas). He sponsored a bill to fix the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar in the 113th session of Congress.

Returning to the committee are Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).

On the Democratic side, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana  @jontester  ) will serve as vice chair. There are no newcomers so the remaining list of members should look familiar to Indian Country: Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota  @don'tgiveacrapaboutyouifyou'renotfromMN). Sen Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota).

The committee has not yet announced any business meetings or hearings, meaning there is time to get your letters in to the Chairman, which is up on an earlier post....

Judge in Santa Ynez Membership Dispute Rules before Arguments; But heard Arguments ...

In a Riverside courtroom, Native Americans who trace their ancestry to full blood Santa Ynez were fighting for their right to belong.

Attorney Jon Velie, who has argued before the Supreme Court in the Cherokee Freedmen issue, was representing the group.

She ruled the BIA was reasonable in its determination that relied on evidence outside the Census that listed the clients Grandmother was a full blood and the clients were not going to be allowed in the Tribe. Fortunately, while she was reasoned in her decision she did not address the cases that were cited where a Tribal and Federal Court held it was improper to contradict the historical documents adopted by Tribes to determine members.'

The tentative ruling was very precise, but attorney Velie was able to point to discussion points and lead her back to the cases that disagreed with the tentative ruling's conclusion.  The judge took the arguments under advisement

The Court will rule in a week. Please keep the Santa Ynez people in your thoughts they deserve their identity and no temporarily appointed government should be able to take it from them.

Tribal Membership Issues, Disenrollments, Moratoriums, Banishments are a Generational Issue That Needs ALL Generations to Work Together

This has been a week for building relationships among the many Native people who have been harmed by their own tribe via civil and human rights abuses.

We posted of the two recent protests at the San Pasqual Reservation in Valley Center, CA, where a dedicated group of nearly 100 stood together in the rain to protest membership issues with San Pasqual, a tribal leader, with no blood of the band, keeping blood San Pasqual out of the tribe.  One young woman, plaintively imploring her own grandfather to help her...through a six foot fence and guards keeping her from her rightful place.

Youngest and Eldest Protesters at the BIA, 60 years separating generations

The Indian Civil Rights Act is being trampled with impunity and when tribal leaders have no fear of retribution, their moral compass goes askew.

That's why I'm asking my readers to get back in the game, there's a thousand children that have lost their heritage and as we've seen only last week, some elders that walk on without receiving either justice, or their just do.  

Our young people are working to improve out social networking skills, the twitterstorm was developed by Emilio Reyes, who helped us get a thousand tweets going yesterday to the Senate, the Indian Committees and other important people.    WE have to learn to use the technology, and enhance our tactics to find justice.   As shown yesterday and today, there are many willing to do just that.

We need those of you who have been sitting on the sidelines hoping "somebody  does something" to be one of the somebodies that DOES do something.  My own family has way too many doing nothing, even when others stood up yesterday and today.    Don't GIVE up....don't EVER give up.  That's all the corruptors, like Robert Smith of Pala, Mark Macarro of Pechanga, Allen Lawson of San Pasqual are waiting for, us to either give up or die.   I choose to do neither, how about you?