Paulina Hunter's Disenrollment from PECHANGA: When ACCUSERS Are ALSO, Judge and Jury

Written in the comments section from our cousin, who comments by the nickname: Luiseno on our elder Paulina Hunter Disenrollment

What happens when people who are your accusers, people that have always hated your family, become not only your accusers, but are also your judge and jury?

It is a fact that our ancestor Paulina Hunter was an Indian that lived in the original Temecula Indian village. She was also recognized by members of that tribe as a member via witnessed and certified documents of that period. She was evicted along with the rest of the tribe from that village and moved to the area known as Pechanga to live with them. One of the most revered and respected members of the Tribe most recently wrote before his death in a signed and witnessed document stating that he knew her personally as a member of the tribe. Members who were alive at the time of the creation of the reservation said they knew her personally as a member of the Tribe, they also gave signed witnessed documents stating that they knew her as a member of the tribe. Tribal elders also gave signed and witnessed statements during our hearing that they have always recognized the Hunters as members of the tribe.



Now more than a hundred years after her death, people are trying to say that she was some other kind of Indian, who just happened to live with the tribe in the original village, and the people from that tribe mistakenly believed she was a member. They say that she just happened to be kicked out of the original village to move to Pechanga with the rest of the Tribe to live. They say that the government mistakenly gave her a allotment on the reservation as a Pechanga Indian. That she is listed on the original Pechanga Reservation records as a Temecula Pechanga Indian by mistake (that I might add happened year after year, every year until her death). That tribal members from the period were mistaken when they gave signed witnessed depositions stating that they knew her as a member of the tribe. The disenrollment committee also hired Dr John Johnson, curator of Anthropology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History to check on her. But much to their dismay he came back with a report saying that he was 90% sure (he now says he is 100% sure) that she was a Pechanga Indian

Then they say that the small group known as the CPP (who I might add had previously tried to take over the tribe earlier, but was shot down by the BIA) tell us that THEY know who are "real" members, and that documents mean NOTHING.

We were even told by one member of the disenrollment committee that we were going to be disenrolled no matter WHAT documents we provided. One member even slept throughout our hearing. We were told we could NOT take in writing tools or paper, and could NOT have legal representation, nor given a transcript of the hearings.

Just to let those who are unaware of the history, Pechanga was the name of a place not a tribe, our tribe moved to the area known as Pechanga and later established the reservation on that land known as The Pechanga Reservation.

According to Dr Johnson's report, Mateo Quasicac Paulina Hunter's father was born in Pechanga (this was before there was a reservation). In fact he is the only Indian listed in the mission records as being born at Pechanga. So it would seem that her father being born an Indian at Pechanga makes him a Pechanga Indian even before there was a reservation named Pechanga.

You might ask "if it is a small group, why hasn't the rest of the Tribe tried to put a stop it". Well they DID try a couple years back. In the largest gathering of our Tribe in recorded history, they voted to STOP ALL dissenrollments and remove the disenrollment process from Tribal law by a HUGE margin. Well this so shocked the group that has gained control that they stopped ALL tribal meetings for the next few months, and in secret behind closed doors, guarded by armed guards decided to overthrow the vote of the people and disenroll the Hunters any ways. With such a HUGE voting block now disenrolled they now have assured their control and take over of the tribe.