Original Pechanga Blog's 4,000th Post: A Paper Genocide (Lament of the Disenrolled Indian) by Kent Appel

This is my 4,000th post since 2007 for Original Pechanga Blog, PROUD to have our cousin's song on tribal disenrollment here for you .  PLEASE click the youtube link to listen.  His words are below.

My cousin, Kent Appel, who contributes greatly to the comment section at Original Pechanga Blog, as 'AAMOKAT' , is also a songwriter and poet.  
His song on Disenrollment NAILS IT  The words are STRONG, you can hear Kent sing it on his YOUTUBE page.

"Casino people, Shameful Tribe, Betrayed Your Own, A Paper Genocide."

A PAPER GENOCIDE (LAMENT OF THE DISENROLLED INDIAN) 

BY KENT APPEL (‘AAMOKAT)

WE WERE ONE INDIAN NATION
WHEN THEY PUT US ON OUR RESERVATION
WE WERE AT ONE WITH THE LAND
BUILT OUR HOMES WHEN THERE WAS ONLY SAND

Winnemucca Indian Colony EVICTS and BANISHES ELDERS WITHOUT TRIAL

 NEWS from  Water Protectors Legal Collective (WPLC) & NEVADA LEGAL SERVICES:

Winnemucca Indian Colony, Paiute and Shoshone lands, Nevada, U.S.A — The Winnemucca Indian Colony is an Indian Colony created by the 1916 executive order of Woodrow Wilson and an act of 1928 Congress for homeless Paiute and Shoshone Indians to live and work nearby the developing railroad and town in far northwest Nevada. While the history of the Colony is complex, it is undisputed that Residents engaged in self-governance of their homelands until the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and others asserted involvement in the group’s affairs. The community has suffered from years of litigious disputes, harassment, and violence over who has authority over the Winnemucca Indian Colony. See generally Winnemucca Indian Colony v. United States of America Department of the Interior ex rel Ayers, (9th Cir. No. 18017121).

In November 2021, the disputed Interim “Rojo” Council filed the first case in the newly-created Winnemucca Tribal Court seeking the eviction of fourteen long-term Paiute and Shoshone Elders and Residents from their homelands. Attorneys from Nevada Legal Services and Water Protector Legal Collective have been representing these Elders and Residents. Attorneys, Elders, and Supporters alike believed that there would be a trial of the eviction claims in December 2022 wherein the Elders could present evidence of the history, relations, rights, and customs allowing them to remain on the land they have occupied and lived on, some for generations.

On Friday, December 2, 2022, a hearing was held wherein the Winnemucca Tribal Court summarily evicted the Elders and Residents without a trial, banished several people, and found for the Tribal Council without giving the Elders and Residents the benefit of a trial. As the proceedings were going on, some of the Elders and Residents were excluded from the zoom hearing when the decision was announced.

The official court order outlines many issues including: the denial of Defendant-Residents’ requests for dismissal, summary judgment granted allowing the disputed tribal council to evict and banish Elders and Residents, and evicted Elders and Residents will need to pay over $30,000 each in fines. The tribal court also ordered most Elders and Residents to leave the homes they have lived in for decades by Friday, December 9, 2022.

The conclusions and orders entered by the Court are incorrect and based on evidence not disclosed during the discovery or litigation process; the denial of a trial is an affront to legal fairness and due process, and many elements of the Court’s order are in contravention of international human rights standards and the rights and protections guaranteed by the Winnemucca Constitution, the Indian Civil Rights Act, and commonly understood notions of Due Process. The past year of litigation has involved intense, ongoing repression of the Elders, Residents, and the people who support them. WPLC and NLS continue to represent the Elders and Residents and are seeking an immediate stay of the decision and eviction order while the case continues on appeal.

Regarding the Court’s eviction order, Paiute Elder Resident JJ Ayer said “I am of seven generations of Native people that have lived on the Winnemucca Indian Colony. I was born and raised in Winnemucca, and my family alone outnumbers the whole list of eligible voters; when I was on the Tribal council we had 179 eligible voters, now none of the people who have lived here for over 40 years can even vote. This is wrong in every way, most of us are disabled and old with no other home but here and now we are banished from our land.”

Right The Wrongs on Tribal Disenrollment. MY Fight to Honor My Pechanga Ancestors.

From the dungeon of injustice, I fight for YOU.

FOR justice's sake, I will give my last breath and posts FOR ALL disenrolled and violated Native People.

I WILL NOT QUIT

                                                              Rick Cuevas

People ask me, WHY don't you quit?  Move on with your life.  Well, why should I?  Because it's hard?  Part of my life IS fighting for my rights to belong, per the Pechanga Tribal Constitution, the same constitution the then tribal council acted outside of, detailed in the link above. 

Tribes have a sovereign right to determine membership.  Just as South Africa had a sovereign right to be an apartheid nation, which, my Pechanga tribe certainly is.  Sovereign right doesn't make it right

My name is Rick Cuevas, my great great grandmother, pictured below was an ORIGINAL PECHANGA Temecula Person, PAULINA HUNTER.  How do we know?    Pechanga hired renowned expert, Dr. John Johnson to research her ancestry.   His  2006 statement on how wrong the Pechanga Enrollment Committee was to posthumously strip her tribal heritage is HERE.   The full letter here .  Pechanga Chairman Macarro stated that "tribes know their own history"  If that were true, why did the TRIBE hire Dr. Johnson?  I've been coming to the Temecula Indian Reservation since Chairman Macarro was in diapers, now I must come through a guard gate to visit family.

Paulina Hunter

Disappointing that we can get many to say disenrollment is wrong, or we were abused, but we can't get enough to actually do more to fight for themselves.  I've been asked, WHY WON'T SOMEONE DO SOMETHING?   Well, we have and we DID, where were they?

Me holding sign

I am 65 years old now, I was disenrolled when I was 49 (In fact, I got my notice on my birthday)  I AM STILL HERE.  Enterprise Rancheria, Robinson Rancheria, Grand Ronde HAVE ALL restored the rights of those they disenrolled.  THERE have been positive outcomes because THEY WORKED HARD to keep the pressure on. There are 11,000 of us, that should be plenty of weight behind our struggle.     PLEASE, honor your ancestors. 

SILENCE ISN'T GOLDEN, but akin to GIVING UP NEVER GIVE UP

Tribal Disenrollment; GRAND RONDE LIGHTS the Path on Ending Disenrollment

 We published story after story on the Grand Ronde when the tribe took the despicable and unlawful action to disenroll some of their members.  Tribal Courts ruled against the council.  And the descendants of Tumulth were restored to the tribe

Now, INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY has this story  up on the END to disenrollments

Being Indigenous and living in the homelands of her ancestors is the most important part of Erin Bernando’s identity.

It’s a history she can trace back to Ta-hon-nah Tumulth, a chief of a Chinook band of Cascade Indians who signed the Willamette Valley treaty in 1855 and lived near present-day Cascade Locks in the Columbia River Gorge. The treaty that Ta-hon-nah Tumulth signed led to the formation of a reservation for what would become the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

Yet, that connection to Chief Tumulth would be used against Bernando and dozens of her relatives during one of the most divisive periods of the tribe’s modern history. That painful period exposed broad disagreement over how the tribe determines its formal requirements for belonging that persist today.

Despite being part of negotiations for the 1855 treaty, the U.S. government executed Tumulth before he was able to move to the reservation. Residency there would eventually become an enrollment requirement — and the basis the tribe used in 2014 to revoke citizenship for Bernando and 85 of Tumulth’s other descendants.

READ the full story at the link above.  And learn more about the original disenrollment here  and here 

Gabrieleno Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians and UCLA Agree on Traditional Tribal Ways for Tending Campus

A new agreement between UCLA and members of the Gabrielino Tongva tribe ensures that the traditional tribal ways of tending to campus land will be practiced and that descendants of the original inhabitants of the land shall have access to it.

CBS NEWS ARTICLE HERE

In 2019 UCLA implemented an acknowledgement, now used during campus events and in official communications, that the campus is located on the traditional, ancestral lands of the Tongva. The new agreement is one of a series of recent developments at UCLA and across the University of California, that expand access to education for Native students.

The university has occupied the tribal land for nearly 100 years and not only will it be open to descendants of the original inhabitants for ceremonial events, workshops and educational opportunities, but will also be cared for and landscaped with planting, harvesting and gathering opportunities in accordance with tradition.

"It is with our deepest gratitude that we, the Gabrielino/Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, enter into a partnership with UCLA," said Anthony Morales, tribal chairman. "There are those that speak words and those that follow up with action. When action is taken, healing can begin. This is the first step of many that are needed to ensure our tribal members and ancestral home lands have a shared space where gathering can occur. We look forward to future endeavors and continued partnership with UCLA."

UCLA is one of a handful of colleges and universities across the country that are formalizing such agreements with tribal communities. The memorandum addresses several goals expressed during listening sessions with the community.

BLACK Muscogee Creek Freedmen Get Day In Court But NO RULING On Treaty Rights DO THE RIGHT THING Judge

MUSCOGEE CREEK TREATY 1866
 
 “Persons of African descent…shall have and enjoy all the rights and privileges of native citizens, including an equal interest in the soil and national funds, and the laws of the said nation shall be equally binding upon and give equal protection to all such persons, and all others, of whatsoever race or color, who may be adopted as citizens or members of said tribe.”

MUSCOGEE CREEK ATTORNEY GENERAL 2022

Not so fast there, you African descended people. We didn't really MEAN IT.

Geri Wisner
Muscogee Creek AG

The BLACK WALL STREET TIMES has a very complete story on the hearing into the treaty violations against the slave descendants of the Confederate supporting Creek Nation still performing discrimination against African Americans who rightfully belong.

Excerpts: 

As one of Five Tribes in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) who enslaved people of African descent, the Muscogee Creek Nation (MCN) signed a treaty in 1866 with the U.S. government. The treaty required the tribe to give full citizenship rights to their melanin-rich relatives, both free and enslaved Black Creeks, and their descendants.

Yet in 1979, the MCN rewrote its constitution, effectively eliminating Black Creeks and their descendants from being recognized as tribal members. Today, those descendants are considered Creek Freedmen without any rights or benefits, and Thursday’s court hearing represented a push to eliminate the racial apartheid. 

Mr. Allen Mitchell
Creek Freedman
2009 Protest at 
Pechanga in Temecula CA

For the last four decades, Black Creeks have fought for their rights. Attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons is a Black Creek descendant whose fourth great-grandfather helped negotiate the 1866 treaty. He argued on behalf of the plaintiffs.

“We were hoping that the discrimination would stop today with this hearing,” attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons told The Black Wall Street Times inside the courtroom shortly after the ruling. “Our judge said she’s not going to make that determination today. She’s going to take everything we studied under advisement, and she will issue a ruling.”

READ THE REST at the link above, to see RACISM in ACTION

It's time to #RightTheWrongs  but let's bet the farm that the MCN Judge will kick this can down the road and NOT do the right thing.
Read how/why

JONODEV CHAUDHURI AMBASSADOR OF THE MUSCOGEE (CREEK) NATION Testifies Against Honoring Treaty

Gavin Newsom Gives CA Tax Dollars To Rich Pala Band of Mission Indians Casino Tribe For:

HOMELESSNESS?  Why are ANY tribal people HOMELESS?

REMEMBER when casino Tribes PROMISED Californians they would help balance our budget, if we gave them expanded gaming?

Pala Casino Spa Resort

Why is Governor GAVIN NEWSOM giving the rich casino tribe The Pala Band of Mission Indians OUR money to help tribal HOMELESSNESS?     This is the same Pala tribe that EVICTED their own people.  They have a 500 room hotel with 84 suites, PERFECT for their own people to end their homelessness.  Last report is per capita for Pala is nearly $60,000 per year


This is the same Pala Tribe that stripped the citizenship of 150+ of their tribal people and stole their per capita. (read tribal disenrollment is bloodless genocide)

ICWA: Disenrollment Keeps Native Families From Fostering Native Children

 One more thing that tribes take away from Native Americans they disenroll from their tribes.  THE RIGHT TO FOSTER Native Children.  I had a discussion in the comments of Stephanie Benally who is on the Board of Directors at Utah Tribal Relief Foundation putting out a call for help under ICWA. 

Stephanie's post included this urgent message

There is an immediate need for a kinship/foster Native American home for a newborn baby. 

The potential Native American kinship parent needs to be an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe. The parent needs to be able to pass a background check and be a Utah resident.

NOT IN UTAH
you Disenrolled

DO not shoot the messenger here,  Stephanie was putting out a call for help.   Looks like Utah's Mixed Blood Uintah  can't help.  When Pechanga disenrolled us, they said, "we aren't saying you're not native"  well we were UNRECOGNIZED by the feds.

Kamala Harris Supports APARTHEID, SEGREGATION, Human Rights Abuses and ELDER ABUSE in Native America. Read How

 "There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day, that little girl was ME - Kamala Harris, victim of segregation.

Yet, Vice President Kamala Harris, who was well known to be worthless to Indian Country, proves that she hasn't learned much while in office.  Tribal Disenrollment is a human rights issue

In 2015, The Native American Caucus of CA had this to say:  “We believe they  display a lack of understanding and sensitivity to Native American tribal issues and individual Indian issues,” caucus Chairwoman Mary Ann Andreas, of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, along with Andrew Masiel of Pechanga  

While many of her party have said about the supporters of former President Trump, "Trump is Racist, and that makes his supporters Racist!" 



Then you have to believe that if Kamala Harris takes the support from an Apartheid Tribe's Leader, that means she's okay with Apartheid, right? Today, at the WHITE HOUSE Tribal Nations Summit, she was introduced by "her friend" Mark Macarro. The Chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians. Pechanga runs an apartheid system and some living on the reservation live under segregation.   (Read: APARTHEID on Pechanga Reservation )

YES, she KNOWS.  We have written to her about the issues, when she became California's junior Senator. But for our new readers, stripping of tribal citizenship means members have

• Lost the right to vote
• Lost their rights to healthcare provided by the Pechanga government.
• Their children can no longer attend tribal schools, in fact some kids were RIPPED from the school by Tribal Rangers.
• They can no longer be buried in the reservation cemetery with their relatives.
• Have no access to tribal facilities
• Are not protected by the Tribal Rangers. Or in some cases FROM the tribal Rangers

Markamala

THAT is what Mark Macarro has done to me, my family, 150 others not related and to our ancestors.  That is the man Kamala Harris calls "my friend".    Apartheid, human rights, segregation, dispossession, elder abuse are NO BIG DEAL to Kamala Harris, when it's only 11,000 Native Americans.

Muscogee Creek Nation Hearing For Summary Judgement in Treaty Violations Case

 "The Creak Treaty of 1866 is still the supreme law of the land, within the Muscogee Creek Nation and the United States of America—therefore the Muscogee Creek Nation cannot, under the guise of sovereignty, renege on their own promise."

A Motion for Judgment Summary is set for Thursday, December 1, 2022, at 10:00AM., in the Muscogee Creek Nation District Court, mounds building, 2501 Lvmhvlke (Eagle) Street, Okmulgee, OK 74447. 

From attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons

An estimated 100,000 Black so-called #CreekFreedmen descendants are completely disenfranchised & cheated out of their citizenship rights and benefits. The MCN’s discrimination has destroyed thousands of Black families, devastated innocent Black hopes and dreams, prevented Black Creeks descendants from sharing in the many benefits of being a citizen of a federally recognized tribe like the MCN, such as #housing, cashstipends, college #scholarships, free #healthcare, clothing for school children, and access to gaming revenues

GOOD LUCK to the Creek Freedmen

Pechanga Councilman, Russell "Butch" Murphy Retires After 30 years of Service

 

We wish councilman Butch Murphy well on his retirement.  30 years of service to the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians is a noteworthy accomplishment.  Especially so for one who was adopted into our tribe.

We from the Hunter family wished we could do the same, offer our services to our tribe.  Alas, after 18 years, we've been kept from that opportunity.   

May the Creator bless Butch, with a good retirement, and to help rightful people come back to Pechanga, where we belong.

California Indian Tribes LOSE BIG on Prop. 26

 It was a RESOUNDING NO, for expanded gaming on California Indian lands.

Voters have rejected Proposition 26, according to a race call from the Associated Press. Of the 4,719,819 ballots counted, 70% were against and 30% were in favor of the measure, which would have legalized in-person sports gambling at California’s racetracks and tribal casinos.  There was HUGE spending on this initiative by both sides.  The tribes could have helped a LOT of native people with the lobbying money.

Since the tribes didn't follow through on their last promises with Prop. 5 expansion, why give them another chance to lie and cheat Californians.
 

The initiative was being promoted for the funding it promised to funnel through tax revenues to help the homeless, the mentally ill and and poorer tribes that haven't been enriched by casinos.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office found both initiatives would increase state revenues but it was unclear by how much. Proposition 26 could bring in tens of millions of dollars while Proposition 27 could bring in hundreds of millions, the office said.  

Gavin Newsom couldn't support bringing in hundreds of millions??

Confronting Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro at NCAI Marketplace Sacramento on Disenrollment of the Hunter Family

Pechanga Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro is the 1st Vice President of the National Congress of American Indians.  He has overseen and approved of the disenrollment (the stripping of citizenship from tribal members) of two large families, my own, the Paulina Hunter descendants and the first family to be disenrolled en masse, the Manuela Miranda descendants.

We had a protest of disenrollment at the NCAI Marketplace in Sacramento.  Security and police were on hand to protect the attendees from 40 elders of many tribes.   

I was able to get inside the meeting, and confronted Chairman Macarro at a break.

NCAI Must CONDEMN Disenrollment, Not Sacrifice 11,000 on the Altar of Sovereignty

 Rob Capriccioso, of the estimable Indigenous Wire website, has a story up on the National Congress of American Indians Marketplace AND our protest of tribal disenrollment.

Read that Article HERE  

Disenrollment is a HATE crime

We must continue to push our Native Advocacy groups to support Natives who have been harmed by their tribes.  Some by their own relatives.   

Cam Foreman Redding Rancheria Disenrolled
Santana Rabang  Nooksack 306

Cam Foreman:  “The NCAI needs to condemn disenrollment and that it does not align with the beliefs and values of the organization, nor history of any nation since time immemorial until tribal gaming.”

National Congress of American Indians Marketplace Protest Highlights Sovereign Rights Abuses

 We  had a protest and many tribes were represented at NCAI’ Marketplace. Attendees were well protected by area security and at least five Sacramento PD.  We vocal, we’re made contact with lot of attendees and Native media.  I will have a few posts up this, please share on your social media.

Cam Foreman, Redding Rancheria
Rick Cuevas (far right) Pechanga

George Adams and Santana Rabang
Nooksack 306

Remy, Jackie Madariaga and Santana

 Cam Foreman on the event:  “To say that you support tribal sovereignty while you won’t condemn the desecration of ancestors, the banishment and abuse of elders who are sacred, that’s what NCAI says, to protect the Indian Child Welfare Act, yet children are being denied their right to belong, banished from their tribal communities.

It’s not a membership issue it’s a civil and human rights matter and it needs to be condemned. It’s gone on for too long. This is just a small percentage, a tiny bit of the 11,000 that have been disenrolled from their tribes, homes and communities.”

Stop Disenrollment RALLY at NCAI Marketplace in Sacramento. WE ARE STILL HERE fighting for Restoration of OUR NATIVE RIGHTS

The National Congress of American Indians have been ABSENT in the struggle for the restoration of tribal citizenship of 11,000 Native American, since the turn of the 21st century.   Therefore, we will rally at their vaunted Marketplace to draw attention to the decades old fight.   Here is a flyer for you to share 

PLEASE, if you are local to the Sacramento area, STAND WITH US.   SOVEREIGNTY is being wielded as a CLUB, to beat the powerless.  Do they care about non casino Indians?  NOT BY their actions of hiring a TYRANT, Mark Macarro as their Vice President

PECHANGA EXCORIATES Dr. Joely Proudfit IN Blistering Statement Devoid of FACTS. Gavin Newsom Has a Decision To Make

Pechanga descendant Dr. Joely Proudfit, a GAVIN NEWSOM appointee, has NEVER claimed Pechanga Membership.  WHAT has this woman done to piss Pechanga off?  Read this statement.  Notice that they offer NO PROOF she doesn't belong.    Can we trust the untrustworthy?

On the other hand, is this KARMA for standing with our oppressors, like Ray Halbritter of Oneida?

NOOKSACK 306: U.S. Settles Judicial Misconduct Claim against NOOKSACK's RAY DODGE and Police Jack-booted Thugs

 The United States has agreed to pay $35,000 to settle judicial and police misconduct claims brought by two Native Americans against a Nooksack judge and several members of the Nooksack police force.

In July 2019, Nooksack elder George Adams, 72, was assaulted and battered by three Nooksack officers at his home in Everson after they arrived one morning to arrest his daughter. With the family’s lawyer on speakerphone, George Adams asked the officers under what pretense they were there to arrest Elile Adams, 36.

ORIGINAL PECHANGA BLOG Back in Business 10/3 THANK YOU for Staying With Me

 Some of my followers may know that we've moved to the east.  It's been a fun transition out of California.   

As we've moved into a new house, we've spent a lot of time converting it to our HOME.    Alas, my blogging has been sporadic.   After a great family meeting this week, I pledged to get back into the fight.

THANK YOU ALL for your support and encouragement.

#STOP DISENROLLMENT  is the hashtag, and if you could share the many posts I've got up here, please search through the archives.    Share on all your social media, please.

And for those of you in California,  SAVE the DATES for NOVEMBER 1     TIME for a ROAD TRIP.

The FREEDMEN: JONODEV CHAUDHURI AMBASSADOR OF THE MUSCOGEE (CREEK) NATION Testifies Against Honoring Treaty

 Damn it!  Sovereignty allows us to dishonor treaties and ancestors!

TESTIMONY OF JONODEV OSCEOLA CHAUDHURI AMBASSADOR OF THE MUSCOGEE (CREEK) NATION

BEFORE THE UNITED STATES SENATE COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS HEARING ON THE FREEDMAN ISSUE AND TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY

WEDNESDAY, July 27, 2022

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Jonodev Osceola Chaudhuri, and I am proud to serve as Ambassador of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the fourth largest tribe in the United States.

The Freedmen issue traces its roots to injustices against both Native Americans and African Americans. (OP: Read Jim Crow...)

It goes without saying that slavery is and always was wrong. And just as the United States fought a civil war over slavery, the Creek Nation fought its own civil war over slavery and other trappings of America. On one side were the traditionalist “Upper Creeks” who opposed the imposition of colonial American life in our Nation, including the legalization of slavery. I am a descendant of Fish Pond and other Upper Creek towns. My mom used to explain family oral history, stating that when our family and other Upper Creeks would raid slaveowners, “we would give freed slaves three options: (1) receive our assistance for passage to the North; (2) live among us and with us; or (3) join an autonomous black community within the larger Mvskoke world.

However, these practices conflicted directly with the goals and desires of the Lower Creeks, who sought to fully assimilate every aspect of white American culture into the fabric of our nation, including slavery, cotton, and Christianity.

Instead of allowing the conflict at Creek Nation to play out through our own internal democratic processes, the United States intervened and dispatched General Andrew Jackson to exterminate the Upper Creeks. The United States’ goal was nothing less than complete annihilation. In eight months of massacres, the United States burned nearly ever Upper Creek home and murdered thousands of men, women, and children. My ancestors from Fish Pond sought refuge at Tohopeka, or what became known as the Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River in Alabama, and they were slaughtered by Jackson and the slave-owning Cherokee leaders, John Ross and Major Ridge, who volunteered to fight with him. At Tallaushatchee, Jackson locked fifty men, women, and children in a cabin and burned them alive.

Horseshoe Bend and the scores of massacres that preceded it silenced the strong anti-slavery faction within Creek Nation. Jackson’s extermination policies against the Upper Creeks created Alabama and resulted in the Indian Removal Act and ultimately the Trail of Tears.

Even so, thousands of Creeks fought on the side of the Union in the American Civil War. Once again we were targeted, our homes burned and hundreds died. In exchange for our loyalty, the United States promised that once the war ended, our Nation would not lose any land and, all of the Loyal Creeks would be financially compensated. Both promises turned out to be lies.

The treaty of 1866 has often been characterized as a reconstruction treaty. For us it was not. It was a land grab unilaterally forced upon us that stripped us of half of our reservation. And my great-grandpa Elmer Hill, who fought for the Union in Kansas, said the final payment from the United States wasn’t enough to buy a Stetson hat.

It is important to note that we are not Cherokee Nation. We are not Chickasaw Nation. We are the Muscogee Creek Nation, our treaty with the United States contains different language than the treaties the United States signed with other tribal nations. Our current constitution was reviewed and approved by the Department of Interior. However, the interpretation of this treaty is currently the subject of ongoing litigation.

Let me be clear that the Muscogee Creek Nation is proud of our diverse citizenry. We have citizens who have mixed ancestry and are also white, African American, Irish, Hispanic, Mexican American, and many other heritages. I myself am Creek and Asian. But whatever else we may be, we are all Creek Indians by blood.

And as a Nation that has endured policies intended to exterminate us because we are Creek Indians by blood, the idea of granting citizenship to any non-Creek person is one that engenders deep, conflicting emotions. Quite frankly, our citizens stand on both sides of this issue. But the solution to this is not another colonial intervention by the United States.

MCN leadership is committed to ensuring that our citizens are offered more than shallow political rhetoric and the yes/no binaries that rhetoric supports. To that end, we have begun a process of developing historical, cultural, and legal research that will help our citizens engage ina thoughtful, informed exploration of this issue as they exercise their sovereign right to determine the future of the Muscogee Creek Nation.

Even as I sit here before you today, the sovereignty of our tribal nations remains under attack.

Two years ago, the Supreme Court upheld our nation’s sovereignty in McGirt v. Oklahoma. Just this past month, the Court chose to abdicate it in order to placate Oklahoma politicians. Congress has a trust duty to protect the sovereignty of our tribal nations. We respectfully ask that you act to protect the sovereignty of our nations, not undermine it. 

Mark Macarro Attacks Kizh Nation, After Pechanga Tribe Took Kizh Ancestor's Bones

 Isn't this RICH?  Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro, a noted civil rights violator, after discussing the tribe's name change, which is NOT historical, blasts the the state for giving the Kizh Nation's  MLD status over bones of ancestors at a recent Native American Heritage.  Pechanga did the same thing to the Kizh Nation, remember?

Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro is a lout, a tyrant, and a liar.  Why should the Native American Heritage committee trust him?  Because the tribe makes a lot of money with their casino?

JIM THORPE'S OLYMPIC GOLDS WiLL BE RESTORED on Thursday

JIM THORPE
Olympic Great

Looks like the International Olympic Committee has already corrected the record books to reflect Thorpe's Olympic victories for the decathlon and pentathlon events in Stockholm’s 1912 Olympic Games.

The Olympics website shows that Thorpe, Sac and Fox and Potawatomi, is the sole gold medal winner for the decathlon and pentathlon for the 1912 games Thursday afternoon.

He was the greatest athlete of his generation and the pride of Native America.   Good for the Olympic committee to right an injustice

Supreme Court GUTS McGirt, Neil Gorsuch in Dissent on Tribal Sovereignty

 The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Oklahoma can prosecute non-Native Americans for crimes committed on tribal land when the victim is Native American. 

The 5-4 decision cut back on the high court’s ruling from 2020 that said a large chunk of eastern Oklahoma remains an American Indian reservation. The first decision left the state unable to prosecute Native Americans accused of crimes on tribal lands that include most of Tulsa, the state’s second-largest city with a population of about 413,000.

Gorsuch’s lengthy dissent — 42 pages, 17 pages longer than the opinion — makes it clear that he feels that the court just gutted it. And in doing so, Gorsuch accuses the majority of intellectual dishonesty

A state court later ruled that the Supreme Court decision also stripped the state of its ability to prosecute anyone for crimes committed on tribal land if either the victim or perpetrator is Native American.

That would have left the federal government with sole authority to prosecute such cases, and federal officials had acknowledged that they lack the resources to prosecute all the crimes that have fallen to them.

But the high court's new ruling said the state also can step in when only the victims are tribal members.

“The State’s interest in protecting crime victims includes both Indian and non-Indian victims," Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the court.

After the 2020 decision, about 43% of Oklahoma is now considered Indian Country, and the issue of the state's ability to prosecute those crimes “has suddenly assumed immense importance," Kavanaugh wrote.

In a dissent joined by the court’s three liberal members, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the decision “allows Oklahoma to intrude on a feature of tribal sovereignty recognized since the founding.”

The case highlighted the already strained relationship between Native tribes in Oklahoma and Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has fought to return legal jurisdiction over tribal lands to the state.

NOOKSACK 306 EVICTIONS Three Cases Continued until August 16

 The Tribal Court  granted 86 year-old Auntie Ollie Oshiro and 22 others a continuance until August 16, citing the State Supreme Court’s injunction (but saying isn’t bound thereby) & questioning whether Nooksack is “owner” of the home for unlawful detainer purposes.

From KING 5 NEWS

Saturnino Javier is among the so-called Nooksack 306 – a group that Tribal Council voted to disenroll claiming a fraudulent ancestral link to the tribe that dates back to the 19th century. The 306 has fought this decision for more than a decade.

Over the winter, dozens of members living on tribal managed land were served eviction notices.

“It’s beyond stressful. You have 86- and 74-year-old elders that are not sure where they will live in a matter of days weeks or months,” said Gabe Galanda, an Indigenous rights lawyer who represents the 306.

It's an eviction process that has gained global attention. Back in February, the United Nations issued a statement calling for the US to “halt” what they called “imminent forced evictions” of former Nooksack Indigenous Tribe members.

“They are at risk of losing those homes and having those homes taken without any form of compensation recompense,” Galanda said.

Just two weeks ago, the Washington Supreme Court intervened, calling for a stop to evictions until the court has time to consider the case. But on Wednesday, via zoom, proceedings continued.

“I’m Native American, and that’s what I am. Want to see my pedigree like a dog or what?” Javier told the court via zoom. “I’m waiting to see the legal document that says I am not Nooksack, I’ve never seen it yet."

Ultimately, no decision was reached by Tribal Court on Wednesday.
For the Nooksack 306, the hearing marked the next step in a procedural saga that spanned a decade.

In a written statement, the Nooksack Tribe said Wednesday's hearing concerned three people who no longer qualify for low-income housing because they have no tribal lineage. 

Joanne Shenandoah Selected for Native American Hall of Fame

 

A proper honor, for one of the most accomplished Native Americans.  From the Wolf Clan of the Oneida Nation.  Joanne's husband, Doug George-Kanentiio lets it be known:

Joanne Tekaliwahkwah Shenandoah has been selected for the Native American (American Indian) Hall of Fame.

She will be formally inducted this coming November at a gala event in Oklahoma City. She joins our great friends Vine Deloria and Wilma Mankiller along with Tecumseh, Osceola and Hiawatha.

It is a wonderful honour for a woman I had the amazing fortune to be married to for over 30 years.

And yes, charismatic as she was in public she was loving, kind, generous and beautiful each day

Secretary Deb Haaland Releases Investigative Report on Indian Boarding Schools TRAUMA

 

Department of the Interior Releases Investigative Report, Outlines Next Steps in Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative

WASHINGTON — Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland today released Volume 1 of the investigative report called for as part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, a comprehensive effort to address the troubled legacy of federal Indian boarding school policies. This report lays the groundwork for the continued work of the Interior Department to address the intergenerational trauma created by historical federal Indian boarding school policies.

This investigative report is a significant step by the federal government to comprehensively address the facts and consequences of its federal Indian boarding school policies—implemented for more than a century and a half—resulting in the twin goals of cultural assimilation and territorial dispossession of Indigenous peoples through the forced removal and relocation of their children. It reflects an extensive and first-ever inventory of federally operated schools, including profiles and maps.

The investigation found that from 1819 to 1969, the federal Indian boarding school system consisted of 408 federal schools across 37 states or then territories, including 21 schools in Alaska and 7 schools in Hawaii. The investigation identified marked or unmarked burial sites at approximately 53 different schools across the school system. As the investigation continues, the Department expects the number of identified burial sites to increase.

“The consequences of federal Indian boarding school policies—including the intergenerational trauma caused by the family separation and cultural eradication inflicted upon generations of children as young as 4 years old—are heartbreaking and undeniable,” said Secretary Haaland. (OP:  NOW do Disenrollment) “We continue to see the evidence of this attempt to forcibly assimilate Indigenous people in the disparities that communities face. It is my priority to not only give voice to the survivors and descendants of federal Indian boarding school policies, but also to address the lasting legacies of these policies so Indigenous peoples can continue to grow and heal.”

“This report presents the opportunity for us to reorient federal policies to support the revitalization of Tribal languages and cultural practices to counteract nearly two centuries of federal policies aimed at their destruction,” said Assistant Secretary Newland. “Together, we can help begin a healing process for Indian Country, the Native Hawaiian Community and across the United States, from the Alaskan tundra to the Florida everglades, and everywhere in between.”

As part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative and in response to recommendations from the report, Secretary Haaland today announced the launch of “The Road to Healing.” This year-long tour will include travel across the country to allow American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian survivors of the federal Indian boarding school system the opportunity to share their stories, help connect communities with trauma-informed support, and facilitate collection of a permanent oral history.

“The Department’s work thus far shows that an all-of-government approach is necessary to strengthen and rebuild the bonds within Native communities that federal Indian boarding school policies set out to break,” added Secretary Haaland. “With the President’s direction, we have begun working through the White House Council of Native American Affairs on the path ahead to preserve Tribal languages, invest in survivor-focused services, and honor our obligations to Indigenous communities. We also appreciate the ongoing engagement and support for this effort from Members of Congress and look forward to continued collaboration.”

Volume 1 of the report highlights some of the conditions children endured at these schools and raises important questions about the short- and long-term consequences of the federal Indian boarding school system on American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities.

The investigation found that the federal Indian boarding school system deployed systematic militarized and identity-alteration methodologies in an attempt to assimilate American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children through education, including but not limited to renaming Indian children from Indian to English names; cutting the hair of Indian children; discouraging or preventing the use of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian languages, religions and cultural practices; and organizing Indian and Native Hawaiian children into units to perform military drills.

Despite assertions to the contrary, the investigation found that the school system largely focused on manual labor and vocational skills that left American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian graduates with employment options often irrelevant to the industrial U.S. economy, further disrupting Tribal economies.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting closures of federal facilities reflect the need for further investigation. The report identifies next steps that will be taken in a second volume, aided by a new $7 million investment from Congress through fiscal year 2022. Recommendations by Assistant Secretary Newland include producing a list of marked and unmarked burial sites at federal Indian boarding schools and an approximation of the total amount of federal funding used to support the federal Indian boarding school system, and further investigation to determine the legacy impacts of the school system on American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities today.