White People Taking Over Alturas Indian Tribe, While Native's Everywhere are Losing their Tribal Citizenship via Disenrollment.

Steve Maganini of the Sacramento Bee has the story of the 7-member Alturas Rancheria.  They are adopting white people into the tribe, to benefit from federal dollars.  This flies in the face of Native Americans that have had their citizenship terminated.    

These adopted whites, will have all the benefits of Native Americans, while disenrolled Natives, lose theirs.

The tribe has just three to seven members, depending on who is counting. Perhaps the smallest of California’s 68 casino tribes, Alturas Rancheria in recent years has adopted five members as a way to make money. Two of them, including Phelps, are white.   

A tangled web is weaved:
The newcomers have divided the tribe and stoked a conflict over tribal revenues that has consumed an outsized amount of time and money in state and federal courts. The U.S. Postal Service even had to decide recently which of the feuding members was entitled to receive the tribe’s mail.

When even HOWARD DICKSTEIN thinks it's fishy, you KNOW it's fishy:

Howard Dickstein, one of the nation’s foremost tribal lawyers, said the adoption of people with no connection to the tribe and little or no Indian blood “doesn’t pass the smell test.”

“It’s not necessarily against the law to adopt a white person, but if there’s no historical connection to the tribe, it sounds like a scam to take advantage of their membership for business reasons and manipulate the tribal government,” Dickstein said.

WORD:

Looking back, Wendy said she and Phillip made a mistake pinning their hopes for increased wealth on outsiders. The tribe has spent more than $2 million on legal fees. “When Phillip and I took over, we didn’t know what we were doing,” she said. “We should never have adopted anybody into the tribe.”

Read the rest of the SacBee Story