A nice piece on Seattle Native American attorney who has done a great job in bringing the disgraceful actions of disenrollment forward. Please read, and share on social media:
In his big gray truck, Gabriel Galanda makes a notable entrance into a Nooksack tribal-housing development of a couple dozen modest homes, set on a winding road about a half-hour east of Bellingham. Many of the residents, members of a sprawling clan who move easily in and out of each other’s homes, appear with platters of fry bread, chicken adobo, baked halibut, salads, cupcakes and pies.
It’s a feast befitting their biggest defender, one who has made their small tribe of a couple thousand members well-known throughout Indian country, and not in a good way. The Nooksack tribal government for the past three years has been trying to disenroll the clan in this housing development and its extended family — which would strip all 306 of tribal membership.
And for the past three years, Galanda, a Seattle-based Native American lawyer, has been fighting it. The cause has taken the 39-year-old Galanda on a journey, personal and professional, that taps into the heart of what it means to be Native American.
It has led him to challenge what he calls an “epidemic” of disenrollment among not only the Nooksack, but tribes across the country, afflicted with factional fighting and questions of how to divide casino riches. They include the Snoqualmie Tribe, where a controversy over disenrollment and banishment erupted seven years ago; the Cherokee Nation, embroiled in a long-running court battle after trying to kick out descendants of slaves owned by the tribe, and dozens of California tribes.
Read the rest of the article and for MORE on Disenrollment please:
Read the Rest of the ICT article here
Learn More on Disenrollment, Ethnic Cleansing in Indian Gaming Country at these Links:
Gaming Revenue Blamed for Disenrollment
disenrollment is paper Genocide
CA Tribal Cleansing
Tribal terrorism
TRIBAL TERRORISM includes Banishment
Nooksack Disenrollment
Thank you Gabe Galanda, the unjust disenrollments do need to stop and we all deserve due process. It is nice to have true warriors out there fighting for the disenrolled, I know one day, if just one group can beat this it gives hope to others and they will defeat their evil leaders too, and maybe Indian Country can heal and go back to traditions of respecting family.
ReplyDeleteThank you Gabe Galonda! You have helped us immeasurably with your poignant and penetrating analysis of the laws that assist tribes to disenroll. Our position is much stronger now because you have discovered the flaws in the laws that we can now exploit. You may be surprised to see in the coming year how we have leveraged your analysis of attorney's ethics, the IGRA provision for appeal of revenue allocations, and the NIGC's serious lack of enforcement of IGRA requirements.
ReplyDeleteMay our efforts be successful and may the tribal leaders live through interesting times as they say in the Chinese curse.
The disenrolled should go after the NIGC for dereliction of duties, maybe then they would act upon the duties of their office.
ReplyDeletekeep dreaming it would take a act of congress you can not force tribes to enroll anyone it is a tribal matter and most of the disnrollments were happing way before casino's were built so keep on dreaming this indian lawyer is gonna take all their money just to be in business he found a way to exploit the disenrollees even more by telling them to have hope a false profit has come to your rescue disenrollees..most of these cases do hold weight by the truths that have been discovered over the years…how are you gonna force a tribe to enroll some one…
ReplyDeleteto get congress to act on this is like trying to lobby back all of the indian lands that have been stolen don't ya see congress will be letting the past history into their new world of order agenda's they don't want to revisit the past and correct the issues from indian country ..they will have to return land that was stolen from these tribes whom been infiltrated by non indians …most cases not all of them ..
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure he isn't doing this work for free…
ReplyDeleteAnd why shouldn't Gabe Galanda get paid for his work? He is very proactive in helping disenrollees, and has written several papers and performed legal analysis that has been extremely provacative. Instead of questioning his motives, you should be assessing his actions, and then comparing your own efforts and see if they measure up.
ReplyDeleteHere is a guy doing all he can to help disenfranchised people. Let's encourage him, and maybe others will want to help too. Since most disenrollees don't have a lot of money to fund such efforts, the least we can offer is our gratitude. Just saying...