Christmas 14 WITHOUT A TRIBE for Pechanga Descendants of the Hunter and Manuela Miranda Clans

Christmas 2018 marks the 14th Christmas without a tribe for many Pechanga descendants, including young children, well now, not so young...and the newly born will only be able to hear about their heritage in oral history, since the Pechanga tribe erased their history.

Pechanga Flag Flown at
Standing Rock, Upside Down Under Distress

Mark Macarro, Andrew Masiel, Frances Miranda, Bobbi LeMere and the tribal council CAUSED our children and our elders to suffer for their greed and subterfuge.  

It's NEVER too late to open your hearts and for the  council to DO THE RIGHT thing for the Holidays...

Our elders are aging quickly, and sadly, many will walk on without receiving justice.   We must increase our efforts for THEIR sake.

As we move into the New Year, please look inward for what YOU can do to help.   Get on your computers, share letters, comment on news articles, join Twitter, so that you can share our blog posts, and others with those who should be working on our behalf, including our Senators and Congress.

TELL OUR STORIES of abuse and injustice with everyone.  Spread the news of their SHAME and why they shouldn't spend their dollars at some of these tribe's businesses.

One or two is too few...when there are THOUSANDS of us who have been harmed.  ADD YOUR VOICE, ADD YOUR STRENGTH and the strength of our ancestors.   Don't let THEM win, without a struggle.   We have proved that winning is possible, fighting off a theft of our water rights..with just TWO of us going to Washington.    Chukchansi Casino is CLOSED and that story may be #1 for the Fresno Bee. 

Believe me, the powers that be KNOW what is going on.....they just have little political will to do the right thing.  YOU can help give them back their backbone... if you USE YOURS.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Galanda Broadman WINS another BATTLE: Interior Department LOSES Motion to Dismiss Suit on 2017 NOOKSACK TRIBE's "special election"

BOOM!

U.S.D.C. Judge Thomas Zilly just denied @Interior's motion to dismiss our APA suit re: 2017 Nooksack special council election:

"Defendants’ contention that they now cannot compel a valid election is inconsistent with and undermined by Interior’s and BIA’s previous behavior"

BIA EXEC Wanted to Get His Subordinate NAKED and Show Her What It's Like to Be with a REAL MAN

A senior official at the Bureau of Indian Affairs was investigated for repeatedly harassing women, representing yet another incident of questionable behavior at the agency.

"All I wanna do is get you naked and show you what it’s like to be with a real man," the official reportedly told the woman, according to The Daily Mail.

The official worked at the BIA's Southwest regional office as far back as 2009. A woman who worked with him said he repeatedly hugged and touched her, made at least 50 inappropriate remarks and kissed her on the lips 15 times over the years, according to an internal investigation obtained by The Daily Mail.


At least two other women in the Southwest regional office experienced inappropriate physical contact and verbal remarks from the official. But even though higher-level management at the Department of the Interior was told about the behaviors, nothing was done about his status, according to the Office of Inspector General report obtained by The Daily Mail.

The official has since left the BIA. He name was redacted in the internal report obtained by The Daily Mail and a spokesperson told the media outlet, which is based in the United Kingdom, that the department doesn't comment on personnel matters.

According to a BIA press release, William Tandy Walker was formally appointed to the post in December 2009. But he had actually been assigned to the region since September 2008, following the removal of the prior regional director.

Walker is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and suddenly retired late last year, according to a second source who is close to the Albuquerque office. The internal investigation began in October 2017, The Daily Mail reported.

Walker's immediate management superior would have been the director of the BIA. But the person who held that post -- Bryan Rice, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation -- mysteriously departed in April after being accused of harassing a female subordinate.

Bryan Rice RESIGNED
after only 6 months on the job

"Supervisors who fail to take timely and appropriate action when warranted are subject to personnel action," Rice wrote in a memo he co-authored in January.

GOP Rep. Bob Goodlatte BLOCKING Savanna's Act WON'T SAY WHY

Business Insider UK 

A bill to combat the appallingly high rates of missing and murdered Native women has stalled in the House, despite sailing through the Senate, because a single Republican congressman from Virginia is mysteriously holding it up.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) is blocking the bill, Savanna’s Act, aimed at helping the federal government respond to the grim reality that 84 percent of Native women experience violence in their lifetime. They are murdered at 10 times the national average.  Goodlatte retires at the end of this term.  The bill will die when he leaves.

The bill would require the Department of Justice to train law enforcement agencies to record tribal enrollment information in crime information databases. It would also require the attorney general to seek recommendations from tribes to improve access to local, state and federal crime information databases, and it would create locally developed guidelines for responding to cases of missing and murdered Native Americans.

NOOKSACK TRIBE Coughs up over $90K in Attorney's Fees to GALANDA BROADMAN for RABANG v. Kelly

After coming out a big LOSER in Rabang v. Kelly 1, the Nooksack Tribe had to pay almost $91,000 in opposing attorney's fees to Galanda Broadman.

This cost to the tribe does NOT include their OWN attorney's fees in a losing effort, nor the actual costs associated with stripping the citizenship of the Nooksack 306.   But the poetic justice is karmic.

RYAN ZINKE is OUT at Department of Interior Amid Controversies

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will exit the administration amid growing controversy over allegations that he violated ethics rules, President Trump announced Saturday.

Trump tweeted early Saturday that Zinke "will be leaving the Administration at the end of the year after having served for a period of almost two years."

"Ryan has accomplished much during his tenure and I want to thank him for his service to our Nation," Trump wrote.

He did not specify whether Zinke resigned or was fired, and said he will announce a new secretary next week. Whoever Trump nominates will likely have to go through Senate confirmation.

David Bernhardt, the deputy Interior secretary, could take over as acting secretary in the interim.  He is widely expected to continue similar policies as Zinke, though perhaps with a different tone.

Interior’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) referred its probe into the deal to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution of conflict of interest laws. Zinke denied any wrongdoing.  Zinke is facing a handful of other investigations by the OIG, including probes into whether he improperly blocked an American Indian casino project after a competitor’s lobbying. Recently he was cleared of an investigation into whether he broke ethics rules by redrawing a Utah national monument in a way that benefited a state lawmaker.

Serial Liar, Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren Comes Clean

Elizabeth Warren is a lying liar who lies, today, she tries to change the course of her years long lies concerning her Cherokee Ancestry which Cherokee genealogist Twila Barnes thoroughly debunked here and you can find the full story on this new claim from my friend Ed Morrissey at HOT AIR

Acknowledging that she is “not a person of color,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sought Friday to make the case that her liberal policy prescriptions stand to benefit minority communities, which would be key to her fate in a 2020 presidential bid.

“As a country, we need to stop pretending that the same doors open for everyone, because they don’t,” Warren said in a commencement address at Morgan State University, a historically black institution. “I’m not a person of color. And I haven’t lived your life or experienced anything like the subtle prejudice, or more overt harm, that you may have experienced just because of the color of your skin.”

Her speech comes as Warren is mulling a White House bid and trying to regain her footing after stoking outrage on the left by releasing a DNA test in October intended to prove she has Native American ancestry. The test angered some minority leaders who found it offensive that she would use genetics to prove ethnicity.

Warren claimed her parents had to elope to avoid discrimination based on her mother’s Cherokee identity, a story that hasn’t stood up to scrutiny — and certainly doesn’t comport with the findings of Warren’s infamous DNA test.

NCAI Beclowns Itself Including The Organization with CIVIL RIGHTS Groups. They Work HARD to AVOID DISENROLLMENT

Amazing, the largest Native American Organization, the National Congress of American Indians, that Prof. David Wilkins says has been MISSING IN ACTION on Tribal Disenrollment, INCLUDES itself with other Civil Rights Organizations.  REALLY NCAI?

A recent tweet including the graphic above, sent me scrambling to post. Here's the text of the tweet (emphasis mine)

NCAI and 8 other leading national civil rights and racial justice organizations jointly condemn the ploy by the Washington NFL team trying to get a new stadium in DC through Congress.  

The previous DECADE of conferences by NCAI has included ZERO minutes donated the abuse of Native Americans...BY Native Americans.

SO STAND UP against THOSE civil and human rights violation... OR SHUT UP

Galanda Broadman Files Appeal to 9th Circuit Over RICO violations at NOOKSACK

This appeal from Galanda Broadman is arising from Nooksack corruption concerns the application of federal RICO statute to tribal bad actors:

"Affirming the District Court would inoculate racketeering conspiracies that infiltrate tribal governments from the force of RICO. While RICO would continue to deter individuals from conspiring to defraud federal, state, and local governments, tribal governments would be left uniquely exposed to mail fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy. The Court should apply RICO in the face of all pretend-governmental racketeering. This Court should not create a blanket affirmative defense to civil RICO activity in Indian Country where defendants can baldly proclaim 'intra-tribal dispute' and be free from prosecution."   

Natives deserve protection from Natives.....the opposition doesn't think so:

Chief Judge Dodge,
Ms. Rabang, Ms. Oshiro and the other Appellants (collectively “Rabang”) simply seek to collaterally attack Tribal Court eviction orders with which they disagree.
The District Court correctly set aside Rabang’s fantastic allegations of illegitimate actions and saw the case for what it is, dismissing all claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The decision of the District Court should be affirmed. 

TURTLE TALK blog has the filings

Apartheid Nation Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians Bests SYCUAN in Naming Rights Deal: Backroom Shenanigans?

The APARTHEID NATION of Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, which has cheated it's own people out of over $700 MILLION, has landed a naming rights deal this week in hopes of driving more traffic to its gaming facility in southern California.  Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay was BLINDSIDED.

Signs for the "Pechanga Arena San Diego" already went up after the city council in San Diego approved the deal on Tuesday, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The Pechanga Development Corp., is paying $400,000 a year for the rights.

"It's something we've been wanting to do for a while -- to have a little more exposure in the San Diego area," Jared Munoa, the president of the corporation, told the paper before the deal was approved. "We trust this will be a win/win for the sports arena, for Pechanga and, of course, for San Diego."

The deal -- which only runs for two years -- came together in just three weeks, KPBS News reported. It was presented to the full city council without going through the usual committee process, a move that came as a surprise to some members.

"I just feel like this one is like not a great deal," council member David Alvarez said at the meeting on Tuesday, KPBS reported. "I don’t know if anyone else feels this way and I feel like there could be more for the city."

The agreement wasn't just news to the council.

The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, which previously had the naming rights deal, wasn't aware of Pechanga's interest until this week, The Union-Tribune reported, and was prepared to make a better offer, the paper said.

FAKE Cherokee Elizabeth Warren Stands by DNA Test.

ELIZABETH WARREN, FAKE Cherokee and DNA TEST dumbell, MIGHT apologize for her trickery.  Emphasis on MIGHT.
You will FIND ALL of Elizabeth Warren's Ancestry, NONE of which includes CHEROKEE ..at Twila Barnes' website THOUGHTS FROM POLLY'S Granddaughter

THE REDSKINS CURSE? The Racially Slurring Washington NFL team, HURTING

 Their had been speculation that the Washington NFL team might choose COLIN KAEPERNICK but alas (for them) NO.  Word was out that CK might not play for a team with a racially ugly nickname.

So with CK looking to stand on principal...Washington signs  Josh Johnson, seemingly scraping the bottom of the barrel.  Johnson, 32, has not thrown a pass in an NFL game since 2011, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is 0-5 lifetime in the NFL as a starter with five career touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He’s spent time with eight other NFL clubs and was recently selected as the top pick in the new Alliance of American Football League.

The use of the nickname REDSKINS  in MORE than a nickname, it's racist.  Though many sports outlets don't see it that way... and this years long flap and really low hanging fruit of an issue, makes us wonder why it gets so much press, but the issues of DISENROLLMENT, Civil and Human Rights Abuses get ...NONE

Pala Band of Mission Indians BLAMES BIG PHARMA For it's TROUBLES?

The Pala Band of Mission Indians, which exterminated Indians via tribal disenrollment, cheated and evicted their own people and whose chairman's daughter was arrested for illegal weapons,  announced the filing of a federal lawsuit Monday against companies who manufacture and distribute opioids.

ROBERT SMITH - TYRANT

In a press release, Pala Tribal Chairman Robert Smith, who oversaw the stripping of citizenship of many of his own tribe,  said, “The opioid epidemic has had devastating impacts on our tribe. Big Pharma’s aggressive promotion of OxyContin and other prescription opiates have caused increasing incidences of addiction, disability and family dysfunction.     YEAH, blame it on the drugs
Pala Band officials said they have “experienced direct effects from the opioid epidemic, including the health effects on its members and their families, increased instances of child welfare and foster care cases, homelessness, and crime. The tribe has undertaken various efforts to combat the epidemic, ranging from strategies to combat opioids falling into the hands of youth or those without prescriptions, and community education on opioid dangers and how to address them.”

Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians' ANTONIO ASHMAN: Custom and Oral tradition

Antonio Ashman
Pechanga's "vaunted" Elder

I was looking through my cousin's old blog T'EETILAWUNCHA BLOG  here he discusses some oral history in 2009. 

Most recently before his death, Antonio Ashman in a sworn affidavit said he knew Paulina Hunter as a member of the Band. He also swore that Paulina stayed at the home of Michelle and Salvador Quiliq and heard they were related. He also stated Paulina was called Aunt by Martin Berdugo, another recognized member of Pechanga. This is recorded oral recognition that the CPP faction says Paulina Hunter did not have.

The enrollment committee also finds that Paulina was given a land allotment on the Pechanga reservation as a Temecula Indian. This confirms Paulina’s status as a Temecula Indian.  (OP: WE STILL LIVE ON THAT Allotment)

The record of decision regarding the descendants of Paulina Hunter says that because John Miller under the Act of May 18, 1928 (45 Stat. L 602), a direct descendant of Paulina Hunter states that his Grandmother “was allotted as a Pechanga Mission Indian, but his Grandmother and Great Grandparents were of the San Luis Rey Mission Indians.”

This statement somehow outweighs hundreds of other documents the enrollment committee has possession of detailing the Hunters as recognized members of the Pechanga band by tribal elders who were alive at the time the reservation was established.

Cherokee Freedman Champion MARILYN VANN to Be HONORED by STATE OF OKLAHOMA

CONGRATULATIONS to Cherokee Warrior Marilyn Vann who is one of the honorees  recognized for making a significant contribution to human rights.  The event is held in conjunction with International Human Rights Day which is recognized on Dec. 10 each year.




Marilyn Vann is president and a director of the nonprofit Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes Association, which educates the public on the history, culture, and political rights of the African Indian peoples of the 5 Nations (Five Civilized Tribes).

A citizen of the Cherokee nation of Oklahoma, Vann is president of the African Indians Foundation. She is a litigant in two Federal lawsuits that recently upheld enforcement of the 1866 treaty rights of the Cherokee Indian Freedmen Peoples tribal membership rights. 

Vann received a Statesman Award from the Cherokee Nation for her volunteerism as a Cherokee tribal member.

OSAGE DISENROLLMENT CASE: DNA Evidence to be Introduced

Interesting development in Osage Nation disenrollment case:

Citing a lack of cooperation from potential DNA test subjects, the Osage Nation is moving forward with plans for a jury trial in a disenrollment lawsuit.

At a status conference Nov. 28, Assistant Attorney General Clint Patterson and defense attorney Audra Drybread confirmed that neither had made any progress in efforts to obtain additional testing samples from descendants of original allottee Paschal Canville.

Hopland Tribe: Speak Out Against the Narrative, LOSE YOUR JOB

The Hopland Tribe, which disenrolled 74 of their members a few years back, is now wielding their power to silence dissent.  On her FB page, enrollment committee member Carla Antone stated that she was REMOVED from the committee without DUE PROCESS, for requesting an investigation into disenrollment.   That seems like a reasonable request for an enrollment committee member, yes?  

Is removal the right course of action?  Why didn't they just say NO?

Seems the Hopland Tribe's CONSTITUTION, doesn't allow verbal removal:

Do laws even matter at Hopland?  Or just the ones the chairman likes?  Does the entire council agree with the action to remove?  Is Hall of Shame member Iyesha Miller still pulling strings? 

From their public website, here are the tribal council's emails where you can ask them

Sonny J. Elliott Sr. – Chair –             sjelliott@hoplandtribe.com 
Diana Billy-Elliott – Vice Chair –       delliott@hoplandtribe.com 
Suzanne T. Romero – Secretary –   sromero@hoplandtribe.com 
Brian Yepez – Treasurer –                byepez@hoplandtribe.com 
David Steele – Member at Large –   dsteele@hoplandtribe.com
Joe San Diego – Member at Large  jsandiego@hoplandtribe.com
Steven Elliott – Member at Large –   selliott@hoplandtribe.com

The Hopland Tribe doesn't care much for laws, remember when their Marijuana Patch got raided just 2 years ago?

Michelle Hammock, one of the Hopland 74, wrote a piece on the immorality of Tribal disenrollment for our protest in Sacramento.  Destroying the lives of so many and disrespecting the ancestors is shameful.

Should Freedom of Speech be protected on Tribal reservations?  Do tribal councils like those of Hopland dishonor themselves or their people by infringing on civil rights?

CLINT EASTWOOD'S film, INDIAN HORSE on RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS Screened at Pechanga Tribe, which RIPPED Native Children from their OWN SCHOOL

Clint Eastwood
Executive Producer of Indian Horse

Sad bit of irony, yes? A film by Clint Eastwood on the trauma of Native American children screened on a reservation that ABUSED their own children.

At the Pechanga Casino Resort in Temecula, Calif. a mostly Native American audience filed into the resort’s theater to attend the California Indigenous and Native American Film Festival’s screening of “Indian Horse,” a film about an indigenous residential school in Canada.

Pechanga has an Apartheid system of segregation and descendants of the HUNTER family were escorted OFF Tribal school property after disenrolling their parents.  Here is my cousin Akeva McKeaver explaining how Pechanga Tribal Rangers forcefully removed her children from school.

Wow...just WOW....  Please share on social media

Pechanga Tribal Member Calls for Disenrollment of REMAINING APIS DESCENDANTS

The Pechanga Tribe is in Distress

Are more Tribal Disenrollments back on tap at the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in Temecula?

I wrote an opinion piece for the Temecula Patch (Pechanga Ended Birthright ... )about tribes that disenroll their members, such a Pechanga and the Pala Band of Mission Indians a couple of weeks ago. The tribe's mouthpiece, who goes by the nom de plume of Another View responded, in a subsequent Temecula Patch piece .  Which proves he's either hilariously misinformed, or deliberately misleading

The opinion piece about "birthright citizenship" at Pechanga has no merit. The families removed from the Pechanga tribal roll simply lacked the proof needed to establish tribal membership. One family, the Mirandas, traces its ancestry to Pablo Apis.

Barbara Boxer’s Son and CA Powerbroker Found Bilking Graton Rancheria

No wonder we could never get support from former CA Senator Barbara Boxer in our quest for JUSTICE on our disenrollment.  Her son was too busy ENRICHING himself.

Senator Ma'am

For decades Darius Anderson has advised and raised campaign funds for prominent state Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Jerry Brown, governor of California.

James Ramos, First Native American elected to the California Assembly says THANK YOU

127 years after the establishment of the San Manuel Reservation, we can say congratulations to former San Manuel tribal chairman JAMES RAMOS for being the FIRST Native American to be elected to CA Assembly

November is the time of the year when holidays draw near, and we take time to reflect on those things for which we are thankful.   This year my family and I have much more to be thankful for with the opportunities I have had and those, which I have recently been granted.

I would first thank the constituents of the Third District for allowing me to serve them over the past six years.  Your trust and faith in me to serve as your supervisor is appreciated and was never taken for granted.   It has truly been an honor to serve you.

Are YOU Active ENOUGH on Social Media? How to Get Involved on NATIVE ISSUES

We know that MORE politicians from both sided of the aisle are turning to TWITTER for information.  Feel free to FOLLOW me @opechanga , fair warning, you may not like all my tweets...

Here are Twitter addresses to which to share stories of injustice in Indian Country.  This blog, as well as Palawatch.com have buttons to tweet out each story.  GOOGLE + each story too, please.  Using this method as well as email to keep the issues out front.

@USIndianAffairs =   BIA
@Interior    = Dept. of the Interior
@IndianCommittee = Senate Indian Affairs Committee (SIAC)
@NatResources   = Natural Resources Committee

Remembrance: ROBERT FOREMAN 1st Chairman of Redding Rancheria; Disenrolled AFTER False Rumors Disproved

Edward Robert "Bob"  Foreman, the first Chairman of the Redding Rancheria, passed away TEN YEARS ago,  on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008.  Here is a remembrance of a post we wrote then  Please, read and share on social media.   And AVOID the WIN-RIVER Casino.

Here's how the first Chairman was treated by the Redding Tribal Council:

LUMBEE TRIBE's VOTER Disenfranchisment, FRAUD, or Deliberate?

Vote Fraud, disenfranchisement or disenrollment at Lumbee Tribe? Or All of the above?

The Tribal Council speaker questioned Thursday why some people found out they were no longer on the Lumbee Tribe’s membership rolls when they tried to vote Tuesday.

Anita Hammonds Blanks said that two tribe members, possessing tribal enrollment cards, tried to cast their votes only to be told their cards, and thus their membership, had expired. Blanks spoke of others who voted in 2012, 2015 and 2016.

“In 2018, on Tuesday, they were not on the rolls,” Blanks said.

Senate Indian Affairs Committee APPROVES SAVANNA'S ACT #MMIW Gains Support

Savanna LaFonataine-Greywind
Murdered at 22

A U.S. Senate committee has approved a bill aimed at addressing the high number of missing and murdered Native American women.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs approved Savanna's Act on Wednesday, sending it to the full Senate for consideration.

The measure would expand tribal access to federal crime databases and establish protocols for handling cases of missing and murdered Native Americans.

It also would require annual reports on the number of missing and murdered Native American women amid concerns that inadequate data collection has stifled efforts to measure the full scope of the problem.

The bill is named for 22-year-old Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, who was slain in 2017 while eight months pregnant.

Its sponsor Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakota Democrat, lost her bid for re-election last week.

A study released by a Native American nonprofit says numerous police departments in cities nationwide are not adequately identifying or reporting cases of missing and murdered indigenous women.

Grand Ronde Tribal Council REINSTATES 19 Chief Tumulth Descendants

DOING THE RIGHT THING, honors the Grand Ronde tribe and the ancestors.  What can be a better choice??

Yes, they DO

They voted 4-3 to reinstate the membership of 19 Chief Tumulth descendants during its Wednesday, Nov. 14, meeting, concluding a more than four-year process.

The descendants, including some who are now deceased, were identified for disenrollment in 2014 when the Tribe’s Enrollment Committee ruled that they and other Chief Tumulth descendants did not meet the Tribal Constitution’s lineal descent requirements at the time of their enrollment.

Should CORRUPT BIA Get OUT of The CDIB business

Based on documents obtained by Emilio Reyes, Tongva, through a Freedom of Information Act request, the BIA has struggled with how to issue CDIBs for decades.

Our friend Emilio getting recognized for his hard work exposing the BIA's corruption in Indian Country Today. 

“It’s unclear what [the BIA] is trying to do,” said Paul Spruhan during a recent lecture at Arizona State University’s Indian Legal Program. “The CDIB has become a thing of mystical quality without an origin story.”

Tribal Disenrollment is also on the minds of other Indian legal experts. Gabriel S. Galanda, a citizen of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Northern California and a frequent critic of tribal disenrollment, wrote in a recent blog: “The Bureau’s proposed withdrawal will—not may, will— ‘feed into the ongoing controversies over tribal recognition, membership, and disenrollment.’“ Galanda further agreed with Spruhan’s writings: “Spruhan correctly analyzes CDIBs in ‘the current environment surrounding disenrollment,’

READ MORE HERE

Muskogee Creek Freedmen vs ZINKE lawsuit JURISDICTION questions

The estimable TURTLE TALK BLOG has the latest documents on the Muskogee Freedmen lawsuit against Ryan Zink.


From MCFreedmen MOTION to DISMISS:

Defendant’s tribal exhaustion arguments are not relevant here. Tribal exhaustion is not required where an action in tribal court violates express jurisdictional prohibitions, as here. Even if tribal exhaustion were required, the futility exception applies.

North Dakota Law Threatened Native American Votes. They Responded By Turning Out in Historic Numbers

Keep in mind, that TRIBES have stifled voters via tribal disenrollment for a DECADE....

A controversial new voter ID law in North Dakota made casting a ballot more difficult for thousands of Native Americans living on reservations in the state this year. But in the face of a law critics called “plainly unconstitutional,” Native Americans in parts of North Dakota appeared to turn out to vote in record numbers in Tuesday’s 2018 midterm elections.

REAL NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN WIN! Fake Wannabe Indian Elizabeth Warren Did too..

Sharice Davids, Deb Haaland
BIG VICTORIES for REAL Natives

  

And i n New Mexico, Democrat Deb Haaland sailed to victory in her bid for U.S. Congress. She hails from the Pueblo of Laguna. With votes still being counted, Republican Yvette Herrell (Cherokee) is slightly ahead in her Congressional race.
News from Kansas, Sharice Davids, a Democrat, has won her race for U.S. Congress. She is a citizen of the Ho-Chunk Nation.

In Minnesota, Democrat Peggy Flanagan won election as lieutenant governor. She is a citizen of the White Earth Nation.

The FAKE INDIAN, Elizabeth Warren also won

Democrats Have Always Been Our Oppressors on Indian Civil Rights & Disenrollment

Friends, family and people who know me, know that I lean to the right politically.  One Reason...

MY OPPRESSORS HAVE BEEN DEMOCRATS

The Chairman of my tribe, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, Mark Macarro is married to high powered lobbyist Holly Cook Macarro, who was on Hillary Clinton's short list for Native American advisers.   And, for those of you who will say, WHAT ABOUT TRUMP?   Uh, I WARNED you all in 2016 in Never Trump, Never Hillary...'remember?    Hillary was so bad, even her own people supported Obama.

Pechanga Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro, and Democrat darling is a strongman and a thug whose authoritarian regime rigs elections, has control of tribal media outlets,  regularly stamps out dissent, invades private property, lies to congress, disappears the opposition, abuses human rights, stinks of corruption and meddles in other nation's sovereignty-- including tribal casino opportunities, where he was the state SPOKESPERSON in pro-tribal casino referendums. Oh, and Macarro is anti union too.

NATIONAL REVIEW Discovers DISENROLLMENT

The National Review discovers tribal disenrollment.  A decade late, but better late than never..

Over the weekend, Gabriel Rossman, a sociologist at UCLA with a nose for interesting social phenomena, pointed to a

NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH: Quick History on the TONGVA PEOPLE

If you live in or near Los Angeles here is a quick history lesson on the Tongva people from my friend Emilio Reyes.

The first people to inhabit the area of LA were known as the Gabrielinos. This name was given by the Spaniards to the Indians living around the area of Mission San Gabriel. Today most Gabrielinos identify themselves as Tongva, which means People of the Earth in the traditional Tongva language.

In 1851 the Gabrielino treaty was signed at the Tejon Pass. In 1853, 50,000 acres were promised on the San Sebastian Reserve at the Tejon Pass as a temporary reservation. Instead this piece of land ended up as the private property of BIA Superintendent, Edward Beale, leaving Gabrielinos without any land or Indian reservation.

During the Indian Claims Commission Act (1946-1970’s), the Gabrielino claimed the largest amount of land than any other California Indian Tribe. It is documented and recognized that the Tongva claimed 1,553,773 acres of land.

The Tongva lived in Los Angeles, including parts of Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside (Prado) and Santa Barbara.

The history books, the newspapers and at the times the Federal Government thru the Bureau of Indian Affairs have declared the Tongva extinct.

Approximately 5,000-10,000 individuals who claim Tongva ancestry live today.

Even though the Gabrielino people are now recognized by the City of Los Angeles and by the State of California, the federal government and the Bureau of Indian Affairs fails to acknowledge the first people of Los Angeles.

Recognition and identity is critically important to the Tongva, especially when it comes to important Native issues such as protecting our ancestral lands and sacred sites.

Due to the lack of federal recognition, other near by tribes such as Pechanga and Santa Ynez are entitled to make decisions on behalf of the Tongva, even though the LA Area is not part of their ancestral lands.

The struggle for federal recognition continues...

Disenrollments at Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, Certainly NOT EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW

We are learning more about the recent tribal disenrollments at the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska.  It's about dual citizenship and it's not unusual for tribes to have rules against that.  Our tribe, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians also has that rule in the constitution.

I wanted to learn more about these because you have wonder what the motives were in this case of Taylor Keen and  Marisa Miakonda Cummings have been disenrolled because of dual citizenship, in Keen's case and because of a change of blood quantum for Marisa's great grandfather.  In what must be an AMAZING coincidence, the tribe made the blood quantum adjustment AFTER she worked with the FBI, under subpoena, providing financial documents that lead to 7 council members and employees pleading guilty to misusing federal money to provide themselves bonuses.    

I'm thinking coincidence could happen right, right?

Northern Cheyenne Proposes DENYING MOTHER'S BLOODLINE in Membership Requirement Shift.

OH no....disenollment rearing it's ugly head in Jon Tester's Montana Indian Country.   WHY do they disrespect their women?

 A proposed resolution which would dramatically change requirements for enrollment in the Northern Cheyenne Tribe: From the current system of lineal descendants (tracing your heritage or blood line to an original enrolled person in 1884) to being at least 50% Northern Cheyenne on the paternal side.

That would drastically reduce the number of people eligible for enrollment, presently about 13,000. For example, it would eliminate me as my Cheyenne blood goes to my mother. It would, however include my children who trace the majority of their blood to their father. But if they marry non-Indians or non-Cheyenne, their children would then be ineligible.

READ MORE AT INDIANZ.COM

LESTER MARSTON, CHUKCHANSI LAWYER's LAWSUIT Dismissal REVERSED!

OUCH BABY, the LAWSUIT against one Chukchansi faction that raided the casino operations is BACK ON!

Two unwitting pawns in a bitter, protracted leadership dispute between rival factions of an Indian tribe, appellants Shawn Fernandez and Brian Auchenbach, took part in a paramilitary raid of the tribe’s casino offices in order to oust a competing tribal faction of possession. The two men believed they had been lawfully deputized as police officers for the tribe, had full legal authority to engage in the operation, and would not face any adverse legal consequences or criminal charges as a result. They believed this, because attorneys for the tribal faction that hired them as police officers assured them it was true.

It wasn’t. Contrary to counsel’s assurances, Fernandez and Auchenbach were arrested by the Madera County Sheriff’s Department, along with the others who participated in the raid, and were charged with 29 felony counts. The two men then brought this lawsuit against the attorneys involved, alleging causes of action for attorney malpractice, negligence and fraud, premised on the attorneys’ false assurances to them concerning the validity of the tribal police force that had hired them and the legality of the armed raid they took part in.

BOOM:!The trial court granted the attorneys’ motion to strike their complaint under the anti-SLAPP statute (Code Civ. Proc., § 425.161). We reverse, because this lawsuit does not arise from any activity protected by that statute.

During several private planning meetings with the new ostensible police force, attorneys Lester Marston and Mark Levitan advised the group that the planned operation was legal and authorized by all pertinent governmental agencies.

In particular, both lawyers repeatedly assured the police force that they had been deputized by “Special Law Enforcement Commission, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Justice Services” as tribal police officers and were therefore authorized to enforce federal law on tribal property, all relevant law enforcement agencies had accepted their appointment as tribal police officers (including the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Madera County Sheriff’s Department), as officers of the newly formed police department they were properly and legally authorized to takepossession of the casino office without interference from the Madera County Sheriff’s Department, and they would face no adverse legal consequences or charges as a result of
carrying out the eviction operation

NCAI Executive director Jackie Pata Sidelined Amid Concerns About #MeToo Investigation

Sad news this week.  I've met her, nice woman, dedicated.

Jackie Pata, the highest-ranking staffer at the National Congress of American Indians, has been placed on leave as questions mount about her handling of a #MeToo scandal and other long-standing employee complaints.

As they prepare for a milestone conference in Denver, Colorado, tribal leaders who serve on NCAI's executive committee made the decision to suspend Pata on Saturday. She will be sidelined pending the results of an investigation into allegations of staff misconduct, one of the issues that Indianz.Com has reported on over the last two months.

Read MORE HERE at INDIANZ.COM

BIA is Corrupt Including Delaying Recognition Says Guest Blogger Reinstatement Resolution

I've moved this comment from our friend known as Reinstatement_Restitution where he said in response to Dr. Ken Hansen's post from yesterday on BIA MALFEASANCE in stifling self determination to it's own post...


The problem is that the BIA is corrupt and BIA officials accept "contributions" in exchange for favoritism. The laws that govern recognition were fatally flawed because they allowed the BIA to delay or deny recognition so long that people would give up. The BIA recognized this and revised the Part 83 process so that it would operate to more quickly terminate tribes that apply for recognition. The political climate in America towards Indians is one of status quo. The tribes that currently exist can participate in federal programs and services, disenroll members, and reap the benefits of tribal gaming. New tribes had better have a treasure chest to buy influence or face termination.

Otherwise it is business as usual. Indians can commit crimes against other Indians without repercussion. The federal government's attitude is to let it be a free for all unless it goes outside the reservation. Investigations extend endlessly and never result in indictments. Federal Courts protect the sovereign immunity of corrupt tribal leaders. The BIA regularly colludes with tribal leaders to promote corrupt agendas. No one sees anything wrong with the status quo because those in power benefit from tribal leaders "contributions."

This has been going on for a long time. Congress does not care. Courts do not care. Federal agencies do not care. American citizens do not care. Indians do not care about what happens to other Indians. I don't want to sound pessimistic because there are other options to explore. Maybe there will be a break in the near future that will open the door to change. Look to the future...

Kenneth Hansen: BIA Stifling Tribal Self-Determination, Leads To Disenrollment

Kenneth Hansen Ph.D

Our friend and Native American scholar from California State University Fresno Kenneth Hansen Ph.D,  is a guest blogger today, with this article on the Bureau of Indian Affairs and it's role in Tribal Disenrollment.
I URGE you to read and share the link on social Media

BIA stifles tribal self-determination, leads to disenrollment

Many of us have been trying to determine the root causes of tribal disenrollment for many years. Our online friend Emilio Reyes is on to something when he says that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is greatly responsible for the lack of recognition (of both tribes and individuals). Federal acknowledgement processes are as byzantine as one can possibly imagine. Renee Cramer (2007) discusses how there are no less than 30 different standards for recognizing who is Indian in the eyes of the US federal government. The acknowledgement process, despite recent attempts at reform, still takes over 30 years.

Why is it that the BIA is unable to resolve intra-tribal conflicts that might eventually lead to disenrollment or banishment of rival factions? One possible explanation is bureaucratic rigidity. In the field of Public Administration, we regularly discuss Merton’s (1957) bureaucratic pathologies, which include such scary-sounding things as the rigidity cycle, trained incapacity, and goal displacement. What seems to have happened to the BIA (from the outside looking in) is that as an organization, they have no sense of their place in history.

NCAI: Will They FINALLY Stand UP AGAINST Tribal Disenrollment ANSWER: NOPE

For years, we have reported that the National Congress of American Indians has stood by in silence, while over 10,000 American Indians have had their civil and human rights abused by Tribes who have disenrolled their people.  

Related Links:   NCAI Silent over a Decade  and NCAI, NIGC and NARF MIA on Dismemberment

September 28th is the deadline for submitting resolutions to the NCAI for the 2019 year and THERE IS NOTHING ON THEIR AGENDA on TRIBAL DISENROLLMENT of NATIVE AMERICANS
They found some time for