Does The BIA have to Support FAKE INDIANS to Maintain Its OWN Credibility? Is Supporting FAKES a Feature of the BIA, or a BUG?

We've posted before about fake Indians, from the famous  Iron Eyes Cody to the recently exposed academic Andrea Smith also a fake.  These masquerades, harm Native people who struggle with their heritage being marginalized.    Fakes get news media attention, that attention promotes fakery and it begets more fakery.    NOW, we have our own federal government, in the form of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in the position of supporting fakes, and keeping real Natives from their rightful heritage.

Does the fact that the BIA stands by while Native Americans have their citizenship terminated absolve them of their responsibility to natives?  .........  OR is the NEW MOTTO of the BIA:

The ONLY GOOD INDIAN, is a DISENROLLED INDIAN?

In the case of the San Pasqual Tribe in San Diego County, a casino tribe, which operates Valley View Casino, it's curious that the BIA is helping the tribal council, most of whom descend from a white man who took over a reservation, keep true blood members OUT of the tribe.

Before you say, hey, the BIA can't get involved, know that the San Pasqual CONSTITUTION, allows them to be involved in membership.  That's why the TRIBE went to the BIA to help them get rid of the ALTO family.  In that case, a FAKE Indian tribal council got rid of another family...because they weren't INDIAN?  Rich isn't it?

And it's NOT like this is an isolated case, but it will be the most egregious.  The BIA, as evidence will show, screwed this tribe up SO badly, they don't thing FIXING the situation is the right thing to do. When is doing the right thing....a wrong thing?  When it interferes with MONEY coming in?



We posted the details in the story:"BIA called out..."  and the supporting letter is incriminating..of the BIA and Regional Director Amy Dutschke.  Please take a look.

Can we expect justice from a group that was suspected of shady dealings with membership, using the BIA as cover?  Read this on the IONE MIWOKS:

Amid the rolling hills of vineyards in what is becoming one of California's fast-growing wine regions, a once-tiny, nearly destitute tribe is pushing hard to build a $100 million casino. It is doing so only because regional Bureau of Indian Affairs officials opened the tribe's membership rolls against the wishes of its traditional leadership, then oversaw an election that swapped the old leadership for a pro-casino group including some BIA officials themselves. One congressman called it an apparent "coup d'etat" that should make other tribes "tremble with fear."
What sets apart the Ione Band of Miwok Indians, however, is the intimate involvement of federal officials charged with overseeing tribal affairs, and what federal and local officials call their stunning conflict of interest. Before the BIA's involvement, about 70 traditional members of the Ione Band of Miwok Indians lived in trailers and manufactured homes on 40 acres near Ione. Now, those BIA officials and their relatives are officially among the tribe's approximately 535 official members. Amy Dutschke, whose family has roots in the Ione area, was the BIA's acting regional director in June 2002 when she authorized the tribe's latest leadership election, BIA and tribal documents show. Dutschke and 68 of her relatives now are on the tribe's official list of registered voters.

Pechanga has a council member, who was adopted into the tribe, along with his entire family, who worked to take over the tribe, and sat in JUDGEMENT of REAL Pechanga people, and got them removed from the tribe.  Russell "Butch Murphy" and his entire family don't have the decency to be ashamed of their actions.

Graton Rancheria's Chairman has been accused, or outed by his own family saying they were not Indian.

Navarro first met Sarris in the late 1980s when he contacted the family saying he was the illegitimate son of Navarro’s cousin. She describes her family’s ancestry as a mix of Filipino, Spanish and French and said that she grew concerned after hearing Sarris’s stories about the family, many of which she says are wrong.

What is boils down to is that for a tribe to receive federal recognition, members must be proven native American. Once a tribe is federally recognized, tribal membership is determined by corrupted tribal officials, who can then use unscrupulous tribal attorneys and politicians to maintain their status.  One to help them terminate opposition, the other to idly watch and provide cover.

There is NO way for a FAKE INDIAN, to feel the loss of heritage, that REAL INDIANS do.