What should Indian Disenrollees do next? One thing is for sure. The Disenrollment issue is not going to go away soon. Did you know that disenrollment is not even a word in the English language? I guess it will have to be catalogued as an Indian word. What a proud legacy for native people across America. I guess since we are to be the proud creators of the word disenroll, disenrollment, disenrollees then we should also be responsible for its true definition.
Disenrollment - Inhumane terrorist act perpetrated upon Native Americans at the behest of the United States, Bureau of Indian Affairs with an undeclared goal of complete extermination of the aboriginal populations of the Americas. Synonyms - Genocide, Extermination and Ethnic Cleansing,
Disenrollee - (Proper Noun) - An Indian person who is the victim of disenrollment, genocide or ethnic cleansing.
Disenrollees - (Proper Noun -plural) - An Indian group, entity or tribe targeted by the United States for extermination, genocide or ethnic cleansing.
Disenrolling - (Verb) - The completely illegitimate and senseless act carried out by greedy tribal leaders to increase individual per capita and to cover up crimes against the tribe.
Given this new word and definition then we can ascertain that George Armstrong Custer was not engaged in senseless murder and genocide. He was just disenrolling Indians. The history books should be changed from this moment. No longer should we refer to the Sand Creek Massacre, the Bloody Island Massacre, the Pauba Massacre and Wounded Knee as massacres. The United States was just disenrolling Indians. The effect of depriving someone of their heritage is just as heinous and egregious as conducting a massacre at will. And that is the real tragedy. These senseless massacres/disenrollments are carried out at will with no conscious or sense of contrition.
The worst thing that the disenrollees have done is overreact, but that overreaction is done and over with now. The overreaction has cost many Disenrollees valuable time in obtaining restoration and restitution. There isn’t one of us that have not tried to climb that wall of sovereign immunity and in every instance without success. It is time to stop and think, reassess, determine and implement.
Sometimes the easiest way over a wall is to simply walk around it. So what works in Indian Country? Money, influence and numbers are the easiest factors forming a denominator for success in Indian Country.
The Disenrollees lack everything except numbers. So how do we bring these common denominators together and create that path around the wall of sovereignty? It is time for the Disenrollees to formally organize. It is time to form a statewide and nationwide organization dedicated to reversing disenrollment actions and preventing disenrollments in the future.
The organization would have significant representative numbers and therefore influence. The organization would have a board with elected officers and representatives and therefore access. As a non-profit tribal entity the organization can solicit donations and therefore develop necessary funding to carry out the objectives of the organization.
The initial meeting of this organization should be to identify and determine the goals of the organization. That in its self will be a predictable battle as there are so many of us have existing or planned strategies already in operation or planned operation. Here are some examples of the goals the organization should consider.
Disenrollments across the State of California have reached epidemic levels and are causing matters of unrest to include violence, indigence and destitution, homelessness and despair. All of these stated issues are the very same issues that caused the United States to take action to protect the rights of Indians in the 1800’s. There were several enactments of Congress: the Four Reservation Act, Homeless Indians Act, California Rancheria Act and more that were intended to establish lands, homes and resources for Indians. As a result of multiple disenrollment actions across the State of California many hundreds and thousands of Indians are now again “Homeless”.
It is therefore within the respected right of this organization as per the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the 18 Unratified Peace and Friendship Treaties of California to request: The United States and the State of California cease any and all actions causing or leading to the disenrollment of California Indians from any respective tribal entity.
The United States and the State of California take appropriate action to cause and effect the immediate negation and nullification of any and all disenrollments of Indian persons within the State of California.
In the event that the United States and the State of California determine that it does not have the authority to nullify, change or alter the decisions of tribes to disenroll and disenfranchise any Indian of California that the United States and the State of California shall declare that an Anthropological Event has occurred within the State of California and that the lands purchased and set aside for Indians within the State of California are now insufficient. The United States, with its responsibility to take no action so as to cause the aboriginal inhabitants of California to become homeless shall act to select and purchase lands for the now disenrolled Homeless Indians of California. The State of California, as the benefactor and recipient of stolen Indian lands shall cooperate at every level with the United States in determining appropriate sites and locations upon which to establish no less than five (5) Indian Reservations for the re-location and benefit of the disenrolled Indians of California.
The United States shall enact necessary legislation to identify the disenrolled Indians of California as Indian Entities enjoying the right of sovereignty and listed in the Federal Register as having a government to government relationship with the United States and eligible to receive services from the United States.
This is just an example of demands, proposals and suggestions that an organized group of disenrollees could, can and should do. Moreover and most important is the pooling of resources. The organization could develop enough resources to hire competent attorneys and lobbyists to accomplish the agreed upon goals.
It is time to walk around the wall of sovereignty and claim your rights as per the guarantee of the Lands Claims settlements, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the 18 Unratified Treaties.
Do not let the United States walk away from its responsibility to Indians.
7 comments:
Yes, we've always known it was "made up".
However, what most individuals don't know, is that illegal removal (disenrolling) of Native people, is really the process of removing the ancestors from the original rolls.
Tribes lead you to believe these people are angry about loss of money. But the seriousness of the issue is they are dishonoring the dead. By illegally removing the original tribal members, their descendants are also illegally removed.
This is how tribes purge their rolls, by illegally removing the ancestors that tribes and reservations were created for. Without these ancestors there would be no tribe today.
Tribes practicing colonialism are attempting to rewrite history.
How would you guys define enrollment? Enrolled, and enrolling? This post does some serious, dangerous re-imagining of California history, federal Indian Law, federal legislation, and the true interworkings of Indian Country. I suggest you re-think your approach and read up extensively on the politicsl-legal history of the US/tribal relationship and the anthropological record concerning the historical changing of the socio-cultural societies in Indian Country and understand that sovereignty is not something created, granted, nor declared by the federal government and/or state apparstus. Sovereignty is organic, fluid, natural, and more importantly inherent. Moreover, tribal sovereignty is an essential component of the existence and future survival of tribal communities, and within this country is defined, determined, discussed, and understood from a largely Western, non-Indian, legal-political perspective, that is regulated within the US/tribal relationship. Opposition to that "defined" scope of how tribal sovereignty exists within this country has a legacy that most of us understand as genocidal, and it is that resistance, opposition, and re-definition of sovereignty that Indian Country activism must stay true. Organic grassroots, Indigenously defined notions of sovereignty that extend from Creation stories, from religious understandings of the world and existence, from culture traditions and worldviews and from an understanding of Indianness free from the bounded, categotically, enslaved legal-politically definitions that continue to regulate, assimilate, and colonize everything that has been fought for, lost, re-formed, brought back from oblivion, and re-affirmed up unto this point. My point, understand that sovereignty is something that should not be attacked, nor should it be altered from within, it needs to be protected, because it is sacred. Your struggle is internsl, but it can become nationsl, and will be more embraced if you preserve that sacredness and expose abuses of the power thst stems from thst sacred legacy. Attack individuals, not sovereignty, fight internally for change and disruption, and try to preserve the essence of what makes Indian Country alive.
Yes sovereignty is as sacred as the land, and we must protect it. However, we must also prevent it from becoming a shield for corrupt tribal leaders. The defintion of membership in tribes have been damaged by the corruption, and if that is not an attack on sovereignty, I don't know what it.
I have no argument about what sovereignty should be, yet it should be mentioned that we are a concurred people who were defeated in all manner of self reliance and stripped of our independence. We were made to conform to the dominate European culture and we were put on worthless pieces of land. I know you are aware of the attempted genocide that started in earnest in the 1600s and still is occurring today. We were granted the right of self governance more commonly known as sovereignty by the very government and people who invaded our land. We do not have any real power when we are dependent on the invaders for they allow us this right. Do not forget that congress can legislate our rights of self government away. They have proven to be uncaring when it comes to the violation of tribal citizens rights by the governments of our tribes. It is simple to survive we have adapted and worked within the system that we were given. this is not true self reliance nor is it independent and equal to the government of this country. Last if we were truly sovereign we would not be citizens of the United States of America we would be wholly citizens of our tribe.
Bands not following custom and tradition, not honoring ALL ancestors who created ALL people here today. No one today is more than ALL, our story is bigger than me . Tell the truth always, it's why we are ALL here.
You guys are pathetic...
You can't even get your own people to fight for themselves. Why should tribal people care if you don't care enough?
GIVE IT UP. You aren't worth saving...
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