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Tribes enriched by Indian Gaming have stripped many of their tribal members of citizenship in the tribe. The most egregious, The Picayune tribe has eliminated 70% of their tribe. The Pechanga Tribe has eliminated 25%. What does this mean? They control the votes, they control the money, they can keep the rest of the tribe in line with FEAR.
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Indian Gaming Tribes Are Guilty of Civil and Human Rights Abuses.
Native American tribes have betrayed their cultural heritage and have violated basic human and civil rights of their fellow tribal members. They use sovereignty as a club to beat the weak and helpless.
Spending millions to curry favor with politicians at the local, state and national level to ensure a blind eye is turned to their abuses.
The Redding Rancheria, The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, The Enterprise Rancheria, The Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians, The Mooretown Rancheria, The Pala Band of Mission Indians, some of our richest gaming tribes have stripped the citizenship from tribal members to ensure power and money are controlled.
Promising to lift all Native American’s from poverty, tribes have sent thousands away from their tribes. This is NOT what we thought self-reliance meant. Can you name ONE American that has lost their citizenship in the last 50 years? Tribes have cut their membership rolls by a percentage equal to 28 million Californians! The theft of per capita and benefits have reached the $500 MILLION level.
It’s a story that MUST BE LOOKED INTO. This is News.
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Tribal Disenrollment is Paper Genocide
It has been discussed that tribal disenrollments in Indian Country is nothing short of genocide of families. It's nothing compared to the horrors in Rwanda or Armenia of last century, however, tribes are eliminating large percentages of their people.
The Picayune Rancheria, near Fresno, eliminated almost 50% of their tribe. Pechanga eliminated 25%. The Redding Rancheria even terminated the family of their FIRST Tribal Chairman, Robert Foreman. Tribes are small, so when you phrase it as 400 people, it doesn't sound so bad, if you equate that to say, 8 MILLION Californians or 78 MILLION Americans, you'd get a truer picture. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has done the same with their Freedmen population, and I'm sure many readers would be surprised to know the Cherokee took their SLAVES on the infamous Trail of Tears.
We've taken an article from Genocide Watch that details the stages of genocide and used them to illustrate what went on at the Pechanga Reservation in Temecula California; the tribe is led by Mark Macarro. There is an urgent need for the enforcement of the Indian Civil Rights Act.
Please check out the links as they provide additional information.
From GenocideWatch.org: Genocide is a process that develops in eight stages that are predictable but not inexorable (unalterable). At each stage, preventive measures can stop it. The process is not linear. Logically, later stages must be preceded by earlier stages. But all stages continue to operate throughout the process.
1.Classification: The Pechanga Enrollment committee claimed that Hunter Family was from a different set of Temecula Indians, not Pechanga. Pechanga claimed the Manuela Miranda (Manuelas) descendents had broken ties to the reservation, even though they served on tribal government committees. They are not us; they are "them" or "those people". They similarly marked people in the moratorium.
2. Symbolization: Rather than calling Hunters and Manuela’s Pechanga, they claimed Hunter’s were “San Luis Rey” because one relation put that on a census form, disregarding the fact that so many other families did the same thing. San Luis Rey and Luiseno meant the same thing. The separatists claimed that Manuela Miranda wasn’t Pechanga anymore, as she cut her ties to the tribe as a FIVE YEAR OLD CHILD. Her mother died and she had to move in with an older relative who just happened to be Candelabra Nesecat Flores, whose descendants are still in the tribe. Flores was NEVER listed on ANY Census in the 1800’s, as Paulina Hunter was. This disenrollment was targeted because of the numbers of voters, and because their family stood up for what was right, namely the enrollment of rightful members.
3. Dehumanization: The separatist group Concerned Pechanga People (CPP) issued flyers saying Manuelas and Hunters were trying to “take over the tribe”. Which means they didn’t like the way we voted or rather, couldn’t control the votes. Hunters and Manuelas were no longer “We”, but “THEM”. “THEY” don’t belong. Hunters had been living on the reservation DECADES before chairman Macarro was born and raised in San Bernardino, CA.
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
4. Organization: The CPP, includes adopted member Butch Murphy and gadfly Ed Burbee, pushed for disenrollments. Murphy had previously tried to splinter the tribe. Burbee was concerned about increasing his income from the stolen per capita. Mark Macarro stacked the enrollment committee with those pro-disenrollment families, even allowing families to be brought up out of turn, so that more enrollment committee members could vote for disenrollment. Families who were cleared from disenrollment out of the order the cases were taken were cleared by only three members of the enrollment committee, less than a legal quorum of the committee so they were never lawfully cleared. Mark Macarro also overruled the will of the people, claiming a lawful petition was invalid.
5. Polarization: The CPP pushed for disenrollment with numerous flyers and vocal shouts at meeting of “you don’t belong here” even though Hunters had an allotment from 1890’s when the reservation was created and vaunted elder Antonio Ashman’s sworn deposition stated he knew Paulina Hunter as a tribal member. The tribe believed Ashman about the eviction of 1875, but did NOT believe him about Paulina Hunter, whom he KNEW personally. The Macarro-led tribal council did nothing to stop the tactics, not using the “bully pulpit” to bring the tribe together. They preferred the separatist view, because it meant more money for them.
6. Preparation: The enrollment committee forced all Hunter paperwork to be certified, yet accepted handwritten notes, not notarized as evidence against the family. They refused to answer when questioned if there was anything missing or were there any other evidence against us. They paid the highly respected anthropologist John Johnson to trace Paulina Hunter’s ancestry and he proved Paulina Hunter was Pechanga. They did not use his report. There was a quid pro quo with enrollment committee member Bobbi LeMere, enrolling members of her family, despite a moratorium on enrollment.
7. Extermination: Macarro’s goal was to wipe the opposition votes out, to control his chairmanship. Extermination of families was no big deal to this man, who was a member of the Democratic Party’s platform committee. While the genocide against the Manuela’s and Hunters is "paper genocide" the reality is there. His goal was to make sure the Manuela’s and Hunters no longer exist as Pechanga. We lost all voting rights, right to attend and speak at meetings, health benefits, educational assistance, per capita distribution, elder assistance. Tribal members, who get a huge per capita check per month (As high as $30,500 at one point)that went up each time families were disenrolled still get benefits from the federal government that they don’t even need, but we who need those benefits cannot get them because we were disenrolled.
8. Denial: Macarro had stated that there would be “no more disenrollments” after the Manuela Mirandas were terminated. He also said “what goes on in the tribe is no business of the white man”. He claimed it was “not about the money” yet the total lost to terminated members is over $250 Million. "Lost" to terminated members, means “found” by those remaining. He claimed that all parties had due process, when if fact, we were herded into groups, denied writing implements, denied attorneys, denied copies of charges and denied the right to question our accusers. We were given 30 minutes to appeal and again were forced into groups. While not the ovens of Nazi Germany, the implications were clear, we were exterminated.
Disenrollment is PAPER GENOCIDE.
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
That's half a BILLION DOLLARS, stolen by corrupt tribal councils and their leaders. They claim disenrollments weren't about the money, but the figures don't lie. That's something the Bureau of Indian Affairs, led here in California by Amy Deutschke, buries their heads in the sand to avoid. We first wrote about this story in January 2011: Follow the Money....
From the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in Temecula CA:
The Hunter family has lost $1,561,000 per person, in per capita payments alone. We arrived at that figure by taking the last full year of per capita $268,000/12 months and multiplying that loss times 70 months of disenrollment. 95 adults at the time of disenrollment equals: $148,295,000
The Apis/Manuela Miranda family was disenrolled two years prior in 2004; our previous posts mistakenly put their disenrollment in 2005. The per capita was slightly less, about $17,000 per month times 94 months of termination: $1,598,000 times 135 adults equals: $215,700,000
Moratorium People NEVER shared in what was rightfully theirs. The per capita went up to $360,000 per year for those remaining after elimination of tribal citizens.
From the Picayune Rancheria in Coarsegold, CA:
In the case of Chukchansi Gold, the casino had been averaging $5 million per month in payments to the Tribe over the past 48 months (as reported to me by a former Tribal Council member).The tribe disenrolled 625 members whose share would be $3,200 per month. This equates to $104,000,000 stolen. They are now disenrolling an additional 300 members
Let’s add what we have so far:
Pechanga: $388 MILION includes additional $17.4 Million in Health Insurance. Corrected Insurance due to coverages, some double covered as family. Per capita losses are $200,000 PER DAY. These totals do not include lost education assistance nor does it account for family members that attained the age of majority.
Picayune: $ 104.0 MILLION Money is from share of dollars casino sends to tribe per person will grow with 200 just receiving ejection letters.. Total disenrolled equates to 22 MILLION Californians.
Redding Rancheria: $ 35.3 MILLION Per capita only. Totals being tabulating but includes tribal JOBS lost.
Mooretown: $12 MILLION
Enterprise: $2.9 MILLION No Per Capita. Tribe gets revenue allocation. Losses include housing help.
Pala $24 MILLION. Amount includes one year projection of losses of 160 tribal members ejected. $14K per member in per capita and benefits PER MONTH.
United Auburn $2 MILLION per year projection is for one year. and growing by 180 K per month
San Pascual $6 MILLION in losses for the first year of Alto family’s ouster.
$560 MILLIONbut,
the tribal councils will say, it's NOT about the MONEY! The Truth IS it IS because so many have lost homes, health insurance because their rightful per capita was taken away
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Tribal Disenrollment Fact Sheet
Thousands of Native Americans have been terminated from their tribes since Tribes have developed casino gaming. California is the state impacted most.
Tribes such as the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, the Jamul Indian Village, the Santa Rosa Rancheria Tachi Tribe, the Redding Rancheria, the Enterprise Rancheria, and many others have found it fitting to deny or strip its members of their basic rights.
The Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians has disenrolled 70% of their tribe, including some original language speakers. They are planning more terminations.
Disenrolled members lose voting rights, the right of representation, health coverage, educational assistance and elder care. Many have lost the right to pray at the graves of their ancestors and to be buried alongside them.
The Redding Rancheria terminated the family of their first tribal chairman and forced the family to exhume the body of their ancestor for a DNA test, which was 99.9% positive. The council refused to accept the test results and eliminated 75 members of the Foreman family.
Tribes use the same language in talking about disenrollment: “We need to correct our membership rolls” “Tribal sovereignty allows us to do this”. A reminder: The Republic of South Africa was a sovereign nation too and had a right to impose their apartheid system.
The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians terminated 25% of their tribe, equating to 8 million Californians with two mass disenrollments in 2004 and 2006. One family is descended from Pablo Apis, on whose land grant the casino stands and another, the Hunter family still has their allotted land on the Pechanga Reservation since 1895.
This is about power and money. Eliminating voters, allows tribal councils to remain in power, drawing salaries and controlling funds. The theft of per capita has reached over $500 MILLION in California alone.
Hundreds more are caught up in membership moratoriums, being denied their rightful place in their tribes, in many cases in violations of tribal constitutions.
State governments and civil rights groups like the ACLU, Native American Rights Fund and the NAACP turn a blind eye to civil right violations as they are receiving money from tribes.
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Contact Information
John Gomez, Jr. www.airro.org [email protected] Phone: 951-941-4943 He can discuss all issues on tribal civil rights violations and abuses in Indian Country. This is a must contact. Cathy Cory [email protected] Cathy can discuss Chukchansi with you and put you in contact with some latest disenrolled. Carla Maslin [email protected] She is the daughter of Robert Foreman of Redding Rancheria. She can tell you about the DNA testing issue and about the politics of the tribe. Carolyn Lubenau [email protected] Can fill you in on the Snoqualmie Tribe of Washington State. Which has refused to comply with a Federal judge’s order to restore members rights.
Nikki Harris [email protected] or 812-617-6000 A disenrolled member of the Pala Band of Mission Indians. They recently terminated 160 members of their tribe. Kenneth N. Hansen, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Political ScienceFormer Co-Coordinator, Africana and American Indian Studies Program, 2007-2010Co-editor of The New Politics of Indian Gaming: The Rise of Reservation Interests (2011, University of Nevada Press)Board member, Many Lightnings Indian Legacy Center, a 501(c)3 organization
(w) 559-278-2260(c) [email protected]
Media Contacts:
Elizabeth Larson elarson@lakecountynews is a reporter who can put you together with disenrolled from Robinson Rancheria, whose tribal chair was just arrested for embezzlement.
Carmen George [email protected] has written 3 stories on the Chukchansi Disenrollment and has contacts with disenrolled members..
Edward Sifuentes [email protected] has written on Pala, Pechanga, San Pascual disenrollments.
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Websites for Disenrollment Stories
Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Pala Watch: http://palawatch.com
AIRRO: www.airro.org
Tribal Corruption: www.tribalcorruption.com
Freedmen 5 Tribes: www.freedmen5tribes.com
Pechanga.info www.pechanga.info
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Media Stories on Disenrollment
Pechanga Membership BattleColleen Williams of KNBC 4 LA reports on the termination of the Hunter family from Pechanga, despite Pechanga’s hired expert determining “no family belongs more to Pechanga, than this family.”
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/Pechanga_Membership_Battle_Los_Angeles.html
Chukchansi tribe members take over casino officesABC Fresno affiliate reports: Two groups of Chukchansi tribal members are refusing to leave office buildings, engaging in a standoff of sorts just across the street from the casino.
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=8559908
In California, Indian Tribes With Casino Money Cast Off Members
New York Times discovers disenrollments 10 years late. Details Chukchansi issue.
Casino Tribe Outcasts Claim They Were Unfairly Expelled Over Greed
KCBS Los Angeles and Cristy Fajardo report on disenrollments at the Pala Band
of Mission Indians and Pechanga.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/05/16/casino-tribe-outcasts-claim-they-were-unfairly-expelled-over-greed/
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Editorial in Sierra Star NewsI find it disturbing that in all the years we've had mass terminations of tribal citizenship, no politician has stood up for those Indians who have been harmed by their tribe.
When you give it a benign name like "disenrollment," it takes on the context of, say, losing membership in the PTA. That makes it simpler for a politician to take tribal money and say, "tribes can choose their own membership" than taking a closer look at what it really entails.
The U.S. Government can strip an American of citizenship for few reasons, here's one from US Code 1481:
7: Committing any act of treason against, or attempting by force to overthrow, or bearing arms against, the United States ... engaging in a conspiracy to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the government of the United States.
We are talking about treason or overthrowing the government. No disenrolled have threatened overthrow of their tribal government. No bearing arms against tribal councils. In Indian country, you can lose your citizenship for simply disagreeing with the tribal council.
Can you name one American stripped of their citizenship? How about American terrorists who advocate death to American and Sharia law?
On the Pechanga Reservation in Temecula, Original Pechanga allottee descendents have had their citizenship taken away, along with voting rights, health care and the right to speak at meetings. Redding Rancheria terminated 25% of their tribe, including their first tribal chairman.
The same politicians who rightfully found the apartheid policy of sovereign country of South Africa abhorrent now side with tribes who are practicing the same apartheid in their own districts.
Politicians in California who were appalled over neighbor state Arizona's stricter immigration enforcement laws, going so far as to call for boycotting that state over 'possible' civil rights violations, are supporting tribes who have actually stripped voting rights, health care, per capita (now totaling $500 million), elder care and educational assistance.
They tell themselves, "well, it's only nine people," or "it's only 75 people." Yet how many does it have to be to make it wrong?
The Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians took away citizenship to 50% of their tribal people. When is it wrong, or rather "wrong enough?" What if, say, the GOP got 50% of Democrats excluded? Would it be wrong? Of course it would.
It's past time to take it seriously and to stand up for the rights of the individual Indian.
Our government needs to do its job and stand up for the weak and defenseless. Exercising its moral outrage includes:
1. Eliminate funding for tribes who violate the rights of their people.
2. No longer take land into trust for abusive tribes.
3. Place enforcement actions into the Indian Civil Rights Act.
Tribes have a sovereign right to do wrong, but they shouldn't be supported by our politicians when they do.
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Rick Cuevas is the author of "Original Pechanga’s Blog," a web site created to keep American Indian disenrollments and their effects in the public eye. The site is visited regularly by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, House of Representatives, Senate and tribal officials.
Editorial in Sierra Star News Linked at Indianz.com
The Sierra Star has done an excellent job in bringing the shameful acts of disenrollments of members of the Chukchansi Indians to the public. Congratulations to reporter Carmen George for her McClatchy President's Award for her story on Chukchansi tribal member disenrollments.
Tribal membership is about heritage. It's the corrupt tribal council of Chukchansi, along with those from the Pechanga tribe of Temecula, and Redding that are tossing aside the history of their tribes with a dismissive attitude that should be alarming to the people of California. Pechanga ran ads for expanding gaming, claiming 10,000 years of history; yet quickly shed two families with more historical ties to the land, proven by the tribe's own expert, than one of their sitting council members who has no Pechanga blood.
Tribal governments are using sovereignty as a weapon to beat the weak and helpless, and terrorize them into submission. Our federal and state governments are happy to stay out of the issue by saying that membership is a tribal matter. Fair enough, but what about the government's trust responsibility to Indians to see that tribal constitutions are followed?
Good governance requires fair legal frameworks that are enforced impartially. It also requires full protection of human rights. Impartial enforcement of laws requires an independent judiciary and an impartial and incorruptible police force. That simply is not what is happening on tribal reservations.
On reservations across our state tribes are using fear tactics and yes, terrorism, to keep members in line for fear of losing their land, homes, per capita shares and health benefits. More critical is that they also lose their rights to choose a representative government and to vote on issues that pertain to them. Imagine if the Republicans were able to eliminate 25% of the Democratic vote?
Currently at Pechanga, the tribal council is threatening allottees with fines, banishment and restricted access to their property. One family is taking it upon themselves to try to force another family who was given an allotment with the creation of the reservation, off their land. They're using their family members on the council to issue the threatening letter that is published on Original Pechanga's Blog.
This is not what we voted for when we approved gaming to tribes in our state. This was not what was meant by self-reliance. I urge the readers to stand up for civil and human rights. Bill Cosby stood up and refused to perform at Chukchansi because of these issues. By telling tribes you won't go to their casinos, you can nudge them into acting justly.
Don't let tribes get away with terrorizing their own people into silence. I would advise people to consider not supporting casinos owned by tribes that abuse their people.
-- Rick Cuevas is a terminated member of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians and writes for Original Pechanga -- originalpechanga.com the site shines light on civil and human rights abuses to American Indians by casino tribes. Original Pechanga's Blog is visited regularly the Bureau of Indian Affairs, House of Representatives, Senate and tribal officials.
Link to editorial at Indianz.com: http://64.38.12.138/News/2012/004643.asp
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Link at SierraStar.com http://www.sierrastar.com/2012/02/16/57423/disenrollments-are-nothing-short.html
Exercise YOUR Moral Outrage on Tribal Disenrollment
Some in Indian country and in the wider U.S. society advocate an appeal to the BIA to intervene in tribal enrollment decisions. However, if we are serious about self-determination, then we must never turn to our colonial administrators for help when, through an act of self-determination, something happens within an indigenous nation that we disagree with. To do so would be to act like the ''wards'' that our ''guardian'' Great White Father wishes upon us rather than the self-determining sovereigns that we wish to be. So, how can those of us from other indigenous nations or even citizens of non-indigenous nations (like the United States or Canada) reconcile this moral dilemma? How do we support the principle, yet disapprove of an action? How do we, as citizens of other sovereign nations, register our moral disagreement with this act of disenrollment, yet still respect the right of the Cherokee Nation to make its own enrollment decision?
In order to be sovereign nations, we must act like sovereign nations. But that does not mean that in order to support self-determination in principle, we need to agree with every decision of other sovereign nations. Nation-states in the international system do not always agree with the internal actions of other nation-states, yet they nearly always accept the principle of the equal sovereignty of all nation-states within the international system (with certain notable exceptions like the Iraq invasion or humanitarian interventions). When a nation-state, a group of nation-states, or private citizens of other nation-states disagree with the internal actions of another nation-state, there are a number of possible avenues of action.
First, sovereign nation-states can register a diplomatic complaint with the government of the offending nation-state. This is done all the time in the international system. The U.S. Department of State often drafts and delivers letters of protest to the diplomats and officials of other governments over areas of disagreement. Likewise, the executives of our indigenous nations have the right, if not the moral responsibility, to send letters and make phone calls of complaint directly to the executives of the Cherokee Nation, expressing their concern over the disenrollment decision. This can be done while supporting the inherent right of an indigenous nation to determine its own membership.
Another tactic which can be employed by other indigenous nations or the private citizens of other nations is the art of moral persuasion, or ''moral suasion,'' as it has also been termed. This involves a campaign of exposure and embarrassment. This tactic has most often been employed in international human rights campaigns, with the purpose being to expose the immoral government action in the media and open up international discussion in order to embarrass the target government into changing its policy to better conform to international norms. This was done in the early days of the campaign against apartheid in South Africa and has been used often by groups like Amnesty International to urge
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
governments to stop human rights abuses.
Finally, follow the money. Those of us who find the actions of the sovereign Cherokee Nation disturbing or morally questionable also have some economic options. Again, sovereign nations take these actions against other sovereign nations all the time. Witness the economic embargos against Cuba and North Korea, and the sanctions that were placed by many nations against South Africa in the last days of apartheid. In none of these cases was there overt intervention (setting aside for the moment the Bay of Pigs invasion) by other nations in the internal affairs of another nation and the legal sovereignty of the target nations was respected. Following this model, we have a right to boycott all Cherokee businesses and still respect the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation. Even the U.S. federal government could conceivably express its outrage at the decision of the Cherokee Nation, not by intervening directly and exercising colonial authority as it has usually done, but rather, by cutting off or threatening to cut off non-treaty-based federally funded programs to the Cherokee Nation. In fact, the federal government did exercise this option by withholding funding when the Seminole Nation disenfranchised its freedmen.
Through all of these avenues, we cannot only find our way out of what appears at first glance to be a moral dilemma, but we also advance our own sovereignty in the process. We do not have to sit back and accept all the decisions of a fellow sovereign in order to respect their sovereignty and show solidarity with them.
Nation-states in the international system do not; and we should not, either. We have options available to us that allow us to register our moral protest at another state's actions which will, at the same time, help us act more like the self-determining sovereign nations that we are.
Sheryl Lightfoot, Keweenaw Bay Ojibwe, is a Ph.D. candidate, International Relations and Comparative Politics Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota, and chair of the American Indian Policy Center, St. Paul, Minn.
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Letter to Robert Smith, Chairman of Pala Band
Dear Chairman Smith,
You and the other members of the Enrollment Committee have determined that we are disenrolled as members of the Pala Band. Through this action you have denied our heritage, our ancestry, our land, and our blood, and have done so without just cause.
We are the descendents of Margarita Brittain, who was an original allottee from the 1913 Pala Allotment roll, and are rightful members of the Pala Band of Mission Indians. Our Great-Great-Grandmother was born and raised in Cupa, and rode the Trail of Tears to the San Antonio de Pala Assistencia. She was a full blood Cupeno, a skilled basket weaver and wise in the ancient ways.
Now you dishonor her, her legacy and the people by saying we don’t belong. We have not broken any law, transgressed any rule, or committed any crime, and yet we stand accused, tried, and convicted. Convicted of what offense we do not know, because you have not had the courage to tell us. You point to someevidence, some erroneous documents you think support your lies, but you say you don’t have to show it because you are a sovereign Indian tribe.
It is obvious that you have confused yourself with the Tribe. The Tribe is a sovereign nation, but you are an elected official, an employee of the Tribe at large. It is your job to uphold the Tribal Constitution, but it is obvious that you forgot to review it before you acted against us. Check our Tribal Constitution. It guarantees due process, as does the Indian Civil Rights Act, and so you are required to present the evidence to those you accuse, to allow them to present a defense, and to conduct a fair hearing before their peers.
We have been denied all of this. Your actions are unconstitutional, and a violation of our Civil Rights, and yet you are intractable, resolute in your mission to destroy the people you are supposed to lead. Even worse you defy the Bureau of Indian Affairs final decision that Margarita Brittain was fullblood, and a subsequent decision on the appeal of the original eight disenrollees.
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
How would it harm the leader of a sovereign nation to uphold the Constitution and notify the accused of their alleged offense? How does the denial of our right to a defense serve the Tribe? How does your refusal to conduct a fair hearing before our peers prove that “right is right and wrong is wrong,” as you said in a KCBS television interview?
We submit that you acted out of a desire to harm us and to get revenge for some imagined wrong you suffered in the past. We submit that you intimidated or lied to the other members of the tribe to cooperate with your capriciousand despicable decision. We submit that you disenrolled us to eliminate opposition to your failed leadership.
Never has it been more evident that you have failed miserably as a leader. You have failed to bring the people together, and instead have split us apart into the haves and have-nots. You have failed to act wisely, and instead have foolishly pursued your own interests to the detriment of the Tribe. You have failed in your duty to protect and preserve the culture, tradition and heritage of the people by casting out descendents of an original allottee.
You have failed to uphold the Constitution, and to treat all the members of the tribe equally. You have ignored the superior evidence of the BIA, and rejected the truth in favor of your manufactured lies. You are a massive failure, with nothing to support your position but your claim of sovereignty.
We too are resolute and defiant. We will not cease to speak out against you and your failed leadership. We will continue to show the evidence of our right to belong; we will uncover the collusion between the parties that led you to believe that you could get away with this illegal action. We will use the lawyers, the courts, the press, and public opinion to make our case. Wehave joined together in this fight, and will not go out quietly. We will prevail because there is justice and fairness for the persistent and you will fail because you know not justice.
Signed,
Margarita’s Children
www.palawatch.com
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Expert Contradicts Pechanga Disenrollment
TEMECULA -- A renowned anthropologist hired by the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians to study their
lineage and ancestry has called the tribe's recent disenrollment of a large family from its rolls "unfortunate and
not based on solid evidence."
"They ignored whatever I did in their decision-making," said John Johnson, who was hired by Pechanga to
determine whether Paulina Hunter was one of the tribe's ancestors. "It's too bad economics and politics have
been injected into (tribal lineage rulings)."
Johnson has worked as curator of anthropology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History since 1986.
He earned his doctorate in anthropology at UC Santa Barbara and teaches a course called "California
Indians" at the campus. For more than three decades, he has worked on detailed studies and recordings of
California Indians' archaeology, archival records, cultures and history.
He researched the Hunter lineage as a paid independent consultant.
Last month, Pechanga's enrollment committee handed down a ruling that rejected an appeal by Hunter's
descendants, a family of about 100 adults, to reverse the tribe's decision to disenroll them.
When Pechanga disenrolls a family, it not only strips the extended family of their membership in the tribe, but
also health insurance, college scholarships and other benefits provided by the tribe, including thousands of
dollars in casino profits tribe members get each month.
The Hunters are the second large family in two years to be booted from the tribe's rolls, in addition to the large
Apis clan. There is talk that another family is set to be disenrolled from Pechanga soon.
Hired by Pechanga two years ago, Johnson researched whether Hunter was of Temecula descent. He made
his comments on the tribe's ruling earlier this month, after it rejected the Hunter appeal. He said he is "90
percent" sure Hunter was an original Pechanga Indian, based on all the available documentation.
The reason he said he cannot be 100 percent sure is because when studying the lineage of Luiseno Indians --
who include the Pala, Pauma, Rincon, La Jolla, Soboba and Pechanga bands -- there are three "primary"
mission record books missing that detail births, marriages and deaths from 1835-1852. These books were
established when the mission was founded.
The name "Luiseno" derives from their having lived at or near the Spanish mission San Luis Rey, established
in 1798 and located in northern San Diego County near Oceanside.
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Hunter was born sometime during the 1830s or 1840s, and lived on the reservation in Temecula, Johnson's
research shows. That is the tie her descendants point to show they are Pechanga descendants.
Determining exactly who Paulina Hunter's parents are is not cut and dried without those primary record books,
Johnson said. With that, he made his determinations using other various baptismal and marriage records,
California census books, Pechanga Indian census records, genealogical evidence and other sources, he said.
He determined that Paulina Hunter was an original Pechanga Indian based in part on the fact that the
man most likely to be her father, Mateo Quasicac, was the only person listed from "Pechanga" in
census books from that time.
Moreover, he said, Hunter was listed on tribal rolls in the late 19th century and was the recipient of Pechanga
Reservation allotment No. 62.
"Paulina Hunter would not have been given an allotment if she was not of the Temecula Indians," Johnson
said. "So, why was she given an allotment?"
What's more, anyone currently enrolled in the Pechanga band whose ancestors were born between
1835 and 1852 would have the same trouble proving their heritage using primary resource books, he
said.
"They are all in the same boat as Paulina Hunter," Johnson said. "She is not unique."
Johnson said he wrote a lengthy report to the tribe detailing his results in 2004, and sent a letter to them
reiterating his findings a few months before the enrollment committee's August ruling.
Pechanga Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro would not comment on Johnson's remarks. He did not respond to
requests for an interview.
In an August statement, Macarro said the decision to deny the Hunter appeal was reached after months of
investigation and hearings.
"This is a very complex intertribal matter involving Pechanga history and genealogy," he wrote. "Questions
about citizenship, therefore, are resolved by the Pechanga enrollment committee, the government body with
the proper authority and ability to determine if a person meets criteria for Pechanga citizenship.
"The insinuation that these actions are motivated by politics or profits is reprehensible. The fact is that
disenrollments occurred long before Pechanga ever opened its gaming facility."
One Hunter family member who asked not to be named because she said she would face retaliation as she
lives on the reservation, said Pechanga enrollment committee members are taking the word of former Tribal
Chairman Vincent Belasco Ibanez, who is finishing up an eight-year prison term for child molestation,
over Johnson's findings.
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Ibanez was known as a local expert on the preservation of American Indian artifacts and for conducting nature
walks and seminars on native plant species for the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony east of Temecula.
The Hunter family member also said that because records show Paulina Hunter's mother was baptized at the
San Luis Rey Mission, enrollment committee members are taking it to mean she was from there. But
everyone traveled to that mission to be baptized during that century, she said.
"These people are targeting certain families," said the Hunter family member. "They are just throwing out all
the facts. It's all about financial gain. It's all about more money."
The ousted members of the Apis family turned to the courts to plead their case, but have not won a verdict.
Indian sovereignty and disenrollment have taken on a new significance around the nation, with the rise of
Indian casinos and the money and political clout that accompany them. Pechanga is not the only tribe to
disenroll some of its members.
"I don't agree that it was an unfortunate mistake. In my opinion it was a premeditated decision to disenroll the
Paulina Hunter descendants," said John Gomez Jr., a spokesman for the 130 disenrolled adult Apis family
members.
"We've been proud of (our heritage) and participated in the different aspects of being a tribal member, an
Indian person -- and one decision has all that taken away. We can't participate in tribal affairs, we lose our
health benefits, and the children lose their culture. That's the most devastating because that is your identity."
The Pechanga Band paid the foremost expert for his opinion and detailed work and they ignored his findings. They did not ask for a refund.
The Hunter family still resides on their allotment that has been in the family since 1895. Tribal Chairman Macarro has NO allotted land, nor does two council members, Russell “Butch” Murphy or Andrew Masiel.
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Pechanga’s Moratorium People Belong But are Kept Out
The Rios/Tosobal Family has ties to the Pechanga tribe, from his mother back to his great-great-great-grandmother, born in 1811. (That’s when Abe Lincoln was 2 years old!)
So, when his mother died in 1978 and left him a piece of reservation land, Manuel Rios Jr. began trying to make arrangements to bring water and electricity to the plot so he could set up a home there. 30 years later, he has yet to get tribal approval to do anything with the land.
Tribal officials had told him he and his family are not on the rolls, he said, and they won’t get considered for membership until a moratorium on new enrollments is lifted now extended past 2010. His family members, who number more than 100, have stacks of documents that they say they submitted to the enrollment committee 15 years ago.
The Tosobol descendents belonged in the tribe. Two enrollment committee members were concerned that the right thing be done and brought this family's paperwork forward. This led to the families of those two members being terminated from the tribe. 300 men, women and children, losing an estimated $300 MILLION in per capita, which the remaining members divvied up amongst themselves. Imagine that, denied your heritage for honoring the ancestors of the tribe.
In 2003, new members of the Enrollment Committee, including family members from the Hunter and Manuela Miranda families, who had been elected to the committee in 2002 sent a letter to the tribal council informing them of corruption on the Enrollment Committee.
The letter detailed how members of the Enrollment Committee had acted to deny enrollment to lineal descendants of enrolled members. These members would require DNA tests, delay meetings, and misinform parties before the Enrollment Committee.
So the Enrollment Committee prior to 2002 dominated by people from the CPP faction very well could have sat on applications of people who ended up in the moratorium and these and other irregularities were pointed out to the tribal council by people who ended up being disenrolled.
And the fact that those Enrollment Committee members who had been accused of not doing their duty by members of disenrolled families were then allowed to vote on the fate of those families is a violation of Pechanga's own constitution that says under Article V, "It shall be the duty of all elected officers of the Band to uphold and enforce the Constitution, Bylaws, and ordinances of the Temecula Band of Luiseno Mission Indians; and also, TO UPHOLD AND ENFORCE THE INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS OF EACH MEMBER WITHOUT MALICE OR PREJUDICE."
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
Any reasonable person can clearly see that those Enrollment Committee members who had been accused of wrong doing by family members of the families who ended up being disenrolled should have been made to step aside from ruling on the disenrollee’s cases
As nonmembers, the Rios family has no recourse against the sovereign nation. He can’t sue the tribe in an outside or tribal court, and he can’t vote on the moratorium or cast a ballot against the elected tribal leaders.
The reservation has changed dramatically since Rios’ mother was a girl there, thanks to the opening of a $262 million resort and casino and other businesses. Now that tribal members collect a reported $30,000 in gaming profits a month, disputes over membership are commonplace.
Rios and others insist they once were members, and they allege that someone removed their names in order to ensure larger shares of gaming profits for the other members.
Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro has said tribes work hard to make sure that there’s due process in enrollment matters, yet, in reality, there is no due process.
He also contends that many recent applicants had no interest in the tribe until it was rich. ‘‘Where were these people before there was a casino?’’ Macarro asked.
Rios’ 53-year-old son, Manuel Rios Jr. of Riverside, said he’s glad his grandmother left the reservation, and her descendants avoided being mired in reservation poverty because of it. ‘‘I was out getting an education so I wouldn’t have to suck the money from the state of California to support me,’’ he said in an interview in Fontana. ‘‘We were paying for their (tribal member’s) welfare.’’
The Rios family members contend that the Pechanga tribal leadership is using sovereignty to improperly deny them membership and is acting like a dictatorship. In fact, Pechanga’s own constitution provides for OPEN ENROLLMENT every January. In the most recent disenrollment of the Hunter family, which occurred in 2006, the tribe stated that the membership, which voted to stop ALL disenrollments, had no authority to do so.
That would mean they have the power to keep people from getting IN, but not the authority to keep people from getting thrown OUT. That makes no sense at all.
Contact Rick Cuevas [email protected] or see Original Pechanga’s Blog: http://originalpechanga.com
