Native American activist, Carla Maslin, (Disenrollment like being RAPED and going to RAPIST for Justice.... ) who is the daughter of the first Chairman of the Redding Rancheria after they regained recognition, disenrolled for over a decade speaks on the need for help from The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and our U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and well, Barbara Boxer.
Here's her comment on our recent blog post about Senator Feinstein looking into the activities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is complicit in unethical, and tribally unconstitutional actions.
Maybe the timing is right (for our Senators to help).
When a group of us attended a scheduled meeting with her office in San Francisco, she wasn't there of course, we met with her Aide. He was a young man who took the time to listen to each of our stories.
...It was hard not to be in tears when my Father spoke. As it was my Father who was a champion/activist during a time when not too many Indians were traveling to speak with officials in Sacramento &D.C. to regain their rights.
I was just a little girl then, who did not realize the importance of my Father traveling to get funding for health care for Indians who were dying of neglect. That was his calling. It was not easy for him. He struggled with racism & some were envious of him, for taking the lead...
Willard & Mildred Rhoades, Lehman L. Brightman, Billy Mills, Billy Franks, and others were there at a time when Indians were feeling the pain of ongoing injustices. When you are living with generations of your family who know that there is a problem, then it is when you start asking "WHY?!" Why is it our people are treated so terrible? And then you ask yourself, What can I do about it?!.
That is what they did. They stepped up to the plate. I miss my Father so much. And I am angry that he did not live to see the justice he so deserved. To die like he did, being kicked out of his own tribe, where he had a vision for the people he wanted to help is unacceptable and an outrage!
I am appalled that the federal officials who were there to create this mess is not doing their part to fix it. Federal law give Congress the power to protect Natives, but they turn a blind eye. They should be sued for their part in this abuse of power, sued for their now hands off neglect only to stand by and watch the ongoing suffering of this injustice!
This is deeply personal, it is also affecting many more of our people and thousands of Natives.
Thank you, my sister, for speaking so eloquently on an issue that's exploded in Indian Country.
2 comments:
Great words, and 100% right. These so called "leaders that are suppose to be there for all citizens" are not listening to us. Is it because they get their money and healthcare for the rest of their lives, so we do not matter? Is it because they have a different reality than we do and they really think that we are not harmed by this? Is it because the Evil Leaders call us savages and troublemakers that just want money? Newsflash to all of those who have not been disenrolled or who have not been excluded, disenrollment is emotionally painful, a lasting hurt,a depression,a loss of self worth, a stripping of one's dignity, and to be told to go to the people who disenrolled you and ask them if they will re-enroll you is the most ludicrous notion that I have ever heard.
People in this country illegally have more rights than an Indian on their own Reservation.
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