Free Range Indian: NO HOPE ON THE HORIZON From Obama Administration

Guest Blogger Free Range Indian has a new posts on the hopelessness in seeking justice for disenrolled under Kevin Washburn.

Kevin Washburn
Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs

A reliable source has stated that Indian disenrollees cannot expect the AS-IA Kevin Washburn to take any type of action in solving the problem of disenrollment of mass numbers of Indians across the United States. Instead, he and other department heads, cabinet members and staff of the Obama administration have been ordered to review all of their ongoing cases and focus on the ones that will ensure a positive legacy for President Obama.  The disenrollment issues are not viewed as a positive legacy.  OP:  Seems to me, that ensuring that the civil and human rights of thousands of Native Americans, restored, would be a very positive legacy.

So we can expect no action on the part of the Obama administration.

Has anyone thought to ask the People of Santa Clara Pueblo if this is what they envisioned when they took their case to the Supreme Court? Is this what they wanted for Indian Country? Did they want the responsibility of destroying thousands upon thousands of Indian lives across the nation? Most of all, did the People of Santa Clara Pueblo envision their case Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez to become the ultimate influence for the BIA to allow widespread corruption, deceit and terrorism of tribes and individual Indians across the nation?

The Santa Clara Pueblo case was decided wholly on a longstanding traditional practice of the Pueblo People. There was no argument to preserve the malpractice of the BIA.
There was no argument to preserve the use of blood degree in determining the rights of tribal and individual Indians. But the BIA chooses to use the Santa Clara Pueblo decision to shirk every responsibility they have to tribes. Now BIA loyalty rests primarily with casino tribes, their corrupt leaders and corrupting attorneys.

The BIA has issued letter after letter stating that the BIA cannot get involved in Intra-Tribal or Inter-Tribal matters. Yet every time they issue one of these letters preserving the illegal rights of a corrupt tribal leader they are doing exactly that. They are getting involved. They refuse to listen to the Tribe. They only listen to the words of a few who are willing to back those words with the right amount of money deposited into the proper hands at the decision making level. One BIA officer once told me, “There is no problem in Indian Country that cannot be fixed with the right amount of money in a plain brown envelope.”

It is all about access. So what is access? It is the ability to get the attention of politicos who can effect Indian policy or affect issues related to Indian problems.

So how does one gain access? Congressional leaders insist that they only meet with tribal leaders. They do not want to hear about plights of the individual tribal members. Mostly, they do not want to hear about the corruption in Indian Country. Usually access is granted by attending fundraising campaigns which can cost $25,000 per person to attend. Of course an individual tribal member cannot afford to attend these events so the result is they are denied access.

So what does happen if you do defy gravity and miraculously gain access to a congressional or cabinet official? They take your concerns and run back to the corrupt tribal leader for confirmation (confirmation - code for they rat you out). You find yourself the next victim of disenrollment or being deprived of your tribal rights. You are worth nothing to congressional leaders and cabinet members. So why would they want to lose that cash flow coming from corrupt tribal leaders?   They don’t.

Is there a true irony to this? Yes there is. The irony is that it is the money of the Tribe that is used to gain access to these government officials but it is the Tribe that is ignored by these officials. Corrupt tribal leaders love to impress government officials with our money. Yes it is our money but you would think it is the money of some of these worthless spit tribal leaders.

The real problem is that it works. It works to prevent FBI investigations, congressional inquiries, Public Law 638 enforcement, and to prevent the exercise of tribal rights.

None of this would be possible without that immovable object called Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez. It is the pillar of corruption within the BIA and throughout Indian Country. The BIA claims their hands are tied and they cannot do anything to help the members of the Tribe. They can only listen to tribal leaders.

If Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez is so profound then how come the BIA did not hold meetings nationwide to inform tribes not only of their rights governing tribal enrollment but also a tribe’s right to self-governance. Where are the policies and regulations clarifying the scope and impact of Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez? Where are the records of all the meetings with tribes, recognized or un-recognized, detailing their rights under the now notorious ruling under Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez? There are none. The BIA failed in the very beginning to really do what was required of them as a result of this court decision. Now the BIA uses the decision to justify the BIA not doing anything. It truly is the most vicious circle within Indian Country.

Every single tribe across the United States should have been given a whoops card from the BIA after Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez was decided. The BIA should have notified each tribe that the BIA (the agency that represents the United States not Indians) that the BIA had no right in determining tribal membership. The tribes should have been informed that they needed to develop their own criteria for membership that satisfied the requirement of a government-to-government relationship with the United States. Every single tribal roll in the United States should have been established as per the determination of the tribe and not the blood degree genocide procedures established and promulgated by the United States.

In reality it was and still is a monumental task ordered by the United States Supreme Court. It is an order of the Supreme Court that the BIA still chooses to ignore. I forgot. The BIA does not ignore the Court’s decision when it allows dirty money, gifts or favors to flow in to their pockets. Oh but wait a minute. How can we say that about the BIA? The majority of people working for the BIA are Indians. Those BIA employees would not do or engage in such serious and heinous acts across Indian Country. The answer is simple. BIA employees represent the United States. They are Kit Carson Scouts. They are there implementing the final and calculated genocide plan of the United States.

The key word in the Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez is “Tribe”. If you are an Indian person you are a member or entitled to membership in a Tribe recognized or unrecognized. Please show me an Indian that did not come from a tribe. The problem comes when the BIA tries to define a tribe by reservation boundary. To the BIA a tribe is everyone within the boundaries of a reservation or entitled to live within the boundaries of that reservation. The new disenrollment definition of a tribe is - “Only those people we like and don’t ask questions.”

The problem is both definitions are incorrect. Each has had major consequences. Each comes with a cost and the eventual genocide of all Indians. We are losing the patience game in this one. California has already calculated when their Indian Problem will go away. It is much sooner than most Indians think.

Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez really requires that we start the game all over again. We start the genocide game all over only this time Indians will decide when we become extinct to the world, not the corrupt BIA officials representing the United States. We are the ones that need to become the immovable object in the room not the BIA and its corrupted and foul use of Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez.