A new Fresno Bee article concerning Chukchansi Gold’s disenrollment of hundreds of members has stated:
Tribal Chairman [of Chukchansi] says the disenrollments were necessary to correct past membership mistakes and had nothing to do with increasing the wealth of remaining tribal members.
“We had to find out if they were qualified Chukchansi,” he said. “It was a process and procedure that had to be followed.”
In my research on tribal disenrollments I’ve only dealt with court cases and news articles. This is not the first time that I recall hearing something from the other side – the disenrolling side – on any due process procedure given to those who are about to be disenrolled. However, some clarity was added when looking at a February 2005 newsletter published by Chukchansi (provided by the Fresno Bee):
Feb 2005 Newsletter Excerpt
The newsletter then went to discuss a larger issue concerning a recall election and various political rivalries within the tribe. An interesting sentence:
[The issue of disenrollments] is already tearing our tribe apart. Should we take the path of summarily disenrolling members from our Tribe, our Tribe could become the example of greed that gaming has engendered from coast to coast. This kind of press directly affects our Casino business, and contributes to the already significant backlash against Indian gaming in California and across the U.S…
Instead let’s practice the traditions of our people: respect, restraint and generosity in unraveling years of poor enrollment practices so that all people of Chukchansi blood are dealt with fairly.
Poor enrollment practices? Membership files being lost, stolen or destroyed? Is there more to the disenrollment issue than just the “evil council” perpetuating disenrollment after disenrollment for the sake of cronyism and greed?
In my own life I have seen just how easily it is for a tribal government (or one’s pretending to be) to misplace files. I was never aware of all the facts at the time so I can’t accuse anyone of deliberately destroying or losing files that could prove detrimental to their own positions or authority however the prevailing, unofficial opinion was that the documents were lost to either intentionally or negligently. So it doesn’t surprise me that such a large tribe (or at least not as large as it used to be) would have trouble holding onto their documents.
Somewhat related to this subject is the issue of finding geneaological records. The basis of many enrollment and distribution lists were census records taken in the 19th century – a time period where America could have cared less about Indian people and would much rather have them put to the sword or sent to boarding schools. As such, documenting one’s roots are next to impossible. In my family tree there are numerous references made to misspelled names, vague entries, or simply put, no records exist at all. Also, numerous members of my family were misidentified as Miwuks when they were really Paiutes.
Two questions emerge from this turmoil: 1) Did the census takers interview the Indians directly to get their information? or; 2) Did they ask other Indians. If the answer to the second question is yes then that raises all sorts of issues. How can you rely off second hand information for anything important like a census?
Compounding the problem further is that Indians in those days didn’t keep such records or have birth certificates. My great-grandmother was born in 1915; my mother and grandmother said she has one but the State of California can’t find it.
The sad truth is that researching one’s Indian ancestry is heavily dependent upon the shoddy research of 19th century census takers. One wonders if they were biased against Indians given the attitudes of Manifest Destiny prevalent in the American West which would aid their motivations to conduct as shallow research as possible, just enough to get by and move on to the next assignment. Or maybe they did try but no Indian would talk to the white man – they certainly had their reasons. Whatever the reason – tracing Indian lineage in the American West, particularly around Nevada and California is very difficult.
The trouble with documents when it comes to Indians is that despite all the research holes the government bases its conclusions on who is a legally recognized Indian and who isn’t on them. The Indians took care of each other; they took in people from other bands for the sake of survival and community. Despite the weakness of documentation the Indian communities made up for that weakness by enrolling together as one tribal government. It seems that the lack of paper evidence was disregarded in favor of communal ties and family relationships – the type of bond that only blood and friendship can bring. And like the newsletter points out, the more people on the roll list then the more money they got from the BIA.
So if the tribes needed their enrollment numbers up at one time then why do they need them reduced now? What factors would justify the tribes to get serious about determining who is a member of their tribe and who isn’t? What role does having a casino play in determining whether the membership lists needed to be reduced or expanded?
Whether the “evil council” stereotype holds up to scrutiny, I must conclude that given the wrongs committed against the Indians and the reaction to those wrongs – i.e. community building as a means of survival and friendship – the use of disenrollment as a function of protecting the tribal community is a gross farce. I find such excuses by this tribal council or any tribal council to that effect to be putting up the window dressing of due process when it smells of something different.
For more information on the tribal disenrollments in California, please see my article series on the subject:
The Legality of Tribal Disenrollments: Greed or Growing Pains? (Part 1)
The Legality of Tribal Disenrollments: Greed or Growing Pains? (Part 2)
The Legality of Tribal Disenrollments: Greed or Growing Pains? (Part 3)
The Legality of Tribal Disenrollments: Greed or Growing Pains? (Part 4)
Tribal Disenrollments: Greed or Growing Pains? (Conclusion)
diane e matlock
March 5, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Thank you Chris Collins and the Fresno Bee for running such a factual,and enlighting piece. I was no longer {according to council)a member in Sept 06.I have a direct lineage to Chief Hawa and his daughter Melliot (Memerite). I find it quite interesting when I was accepted into the tribe my lineage was very much investagated. Also a this time many of my relatives with the same bloodline as me are still in the tribe, as they should be. Two weeks before I was ejected, I was given a free night and meal at the casino for my 67 birthday, as are all the senior tribal members. There is more too lenghty too go into. This tribe needs to be reigned in and obey our tribal laws. I am still a Chukchanci and always will be. Yes I agree Morris Reid an all Council members –SHAME ON YOU !!! Diane E. (Jones) Matlock
victoria wood
October 23, 2009 at 12:21 am
Your last comment is exactly what I said when hearing was over. “Shame on You”.
I too am a descendant from Chief Hawa and Melliot.
Family Tree
Melliot/aka Mary Strombeck
Mary & Theodore Strombeck/daughter Mary who married Thomas Jones.
Mary & Thomas Jones/mother & father of Emma, Ruby, Dolly, Martha, Nellie, Thomas, Fremont, Grace, May, Richard, Mary.
Emma Jones-married name Fuhrman/who was the mother of Clair & Reggie Fuhrman.
Clair Fuhrman/father of Victoria & Greggory Fuhrman
All listed below disenrolled Oct 2006. We are still registered with the BIA and received an allotment back in (1973) est. amount of $800 from the State of California BIA; our names are listed in the lineage records. All with registered BIA Indian No. My grandmother Emma Fuhrman registered all her grandchildren years ago. We have proof of historical information, news articles, marriage certificates, and pictures. Our family historical records too were mentioned at the “hearing” unfortunately it didn’t matter. Council said everything fell under the 1988 constitution. We never received anything. We are even unsure if they truly notified everyone as they said by registered mail. They would not prove to us that registered mail was received. They said it was documented showing received. My personal opinion is why since there are only est. 1200 members, why not amend the constitution to those who could prove their lineage. My concerns are, at the hearing Council said any one who registered after 1989 would not be considered an enrolled member. This means to me, when members start to pass on, and their family members were not enrolled during that time 1988-1989, then what happens to the enrollment. It seems Council should amend the constitution with an open enrollment.
Clair Fuhrman/father of Victoria & Greggory Fuhrman
Reggie Fuhrman/father of Jeff Hays,Bob Hays,Billy Hays,Tawnie & Renee Fuhrman.
Bob Hays was the only one who has not been disenrolled.
Bill Hayes
October 4, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Iam very pleased to have seen this response from Vicky, my cousin. I was disenrolled in October of 2007. I talked with my brother Bob (Robert) about a month ago and he has been disenrolled, just recently. This whole situation is very sad. I have difficulty, at times, knowing my heritage but being denied by the Tribal council.
Bill Hayes – Grandson of Emma Jones and oldest son of Reggie Fuhrman
Cathy L. Cory
March 7, 2009 at 10:30 am
All my relations…
I, too, am a descendant of Hawa.
Interestingly enough, our ggg grandmother–Hawa’s daughter–Memillett/Melliot (listed in records with several different spellings, as was the order of the day, undoubtedly in an attempt to pronounce her Chukchansi name/aka “Mary Strombeck”) was actually responsible for some of the most accurate early census records of Indian People which exist today.
She was married–at a very young age, I might add–to Theodore Thure Strombeck who was the census taker for the Coarsegold-Oakhurst-Crane Valley-Mariposa area for several census surveys in the late 1800′s. Due to her ability to speak the Chukchansi language, she was able to communicate directly wih the People in assisting her “husband” with the census.
Ironic that today, 42 of the 71 Hawa/Strombeck descendants on Picayune’s rolls have been dismembered from the very People which she strove to help in any way she could at a desperate time, and as a very young Chukchansi woman–a time when Indian People did what they had to do just to survive…
The Strombeck allottment itself upon which Melliot lived was noted by ethnologists as a place of the Chukchansi People, and has a place name “Che-we-she-nao”. The property is also described as “the original Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians in the book “As We Were Told” published by the Coarsegold Historical Society.
So much for honoring the ancestors…
The Picayune government of today is of the belief that the tribe “sprang from the earth” with the Tilley Hardwick decision in 1983–and with the “constitution” of the oppressors law developed soon after, which in truth was developed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and California Indian Legal Services, and is now being re-interpreted with each and every changing of the Tribal Council membership.
A sad day in Indian Country indeed, when the traditions, the culture, and the very history of a Nation–as well as the tribal, civil, and human rights of it’s people–can be stolen in an unending quest for power and greed.
As I told the Tribal Council on the day of my families “hearing”, I will fight FOREVER to restore the heritage of my People…
BRING THE PEOPLE HOME TO PICAYUNE!!!!!!!!!!!
a’ho
Cathy L. Cory
Chukchansi
Disenrolled/October 2006 (along with over 600 other Chukchansi People)
Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians
Coarsegold, CA
Luiseno
March 15, 2009 at 10:35 pm
This is almost exactly what has happened to our Tribe at Pechanga. Except we could prove we were direct descendents of an oricional allotment. Our family has been recognized as members of the tribe for over 100 years according to the records on file with the BIA. Now a small group has gained control of the Tribe, and inspite of the Tribe Voting to stop our disenrollment, they went ahead and disenrolled us anyways.
see these sites for more information.
http://teetilawuncha.blogspot.com/
http://originalpechanga.blogspot.com/
http://www.pechanga.info/
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/Pechanga_Membership_Battle_Los_Angeles.html
Erick
March 16, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Diane, Cathy and Luiseno:
I’m sorry to hear what happened to you and your families. I can only hope one day that a better solution can be found as an alternative to disenrollment. I also hope that you are all one day restored to your proper status as members within your former nations.
Cathy
March 21, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Hil-le hil-le, Erick!
Many thanks for your kind words, and also for providing such a well researched site for all to learn what is truly going on across California Indian Country in regard to tribal membership issues.
As I told the Picayune tribal council during the “hearing” for our family, I will NEVER give up the fight to restore the birthright of our Chukchansi People–ALL our Chukchansi People!
I, and others throughout this country as well, will continue in earnest our struggle to honor the ancestors and to restore the history, culture, traditions, and PEOPLE of our Chukchansi Nation.
And to the Picayune tribal council? Do the right thing…
!!!BRING THE PEOPLE–
ALL OF THE PEOPLE–
HOME TO PICAYUNE!!!
Kind regards,
Cathy L. Cory
Chukchansi
Disenrolled/October 2006
Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians
Coarsegold, CA
Jack Kimbro
October 3, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Is anybody still monitoring this site?
I too am a decsendant of Melliott and Theodore Strombeck. My great-grandmother is Mary Jones. I was never disenrolled as I did not enroll to begin with. After reading about those who have been I wish that I had enrolled, and I am enraged and wonder what I can do to help.
Jack Kimbro
Torrance Ca.
Erick
October 4, 2009 at 5:20 am
Why, of course I’m still monitoring this site! I just posted two new articles a day or two ago. And this blog is still getting hits on the tribal disenrollment articles. I even condensed them all into one document if you want to take a look at them, just click the “Strict Liability in Blog” link at the top and it should be the second post from the top.
Like I concluded in the disenrollment articles, the only real way to solve the problem is Congressional intervention because the Courts won’t do anything for you. Short of throwing yourself on the mercy of the tribal council that disenrolled you, your best way to help the disenrolled is to write your Congressman and Senator, and tell them what’s going on.
On a more direct level, if you want to help any disenrolled you may know or are related to why don’t you call them up and ask them if they need anything?
Thanks for visiting and thank you for wanting to make a difference in people’s lives, especially the disenrolled. They are truly a group of people that need justice.
Diane(Jones)Matlock
November 8, 2009 at 4:08 pm
I am so happy to see and hear these responses. Cathy is such a fighter! I am proud you are all my Chukchansi sisters and brothers
tribal member from the south west
December 27, 2011 at 11:33 pm
As my tribe once said greed is everywhere and we the tribe will not let that break us. Therefore, all monies will be spent on health, education, schools for our kids. No member shall get any form of monies and no tribal/elected member will receive any paid monies for there service.
tribal member
December 27, 2011 at 11:54 pm
i was a worker there when they first open and I knew that there was going to be some trouble down the road. I am a proud tribal member from AZ. who was given a job there from the start as time went by and listening to local members discuss the enrollment issues I knew one day it was going to explode.
I recall working with a few members who called themselves native Chukchansi but the problem was that they had no blood that reach them. there great great grandparents were full blooded but they were not. They got in because of what others have said and what was told by the elders of the tribe.
Yes, they were related but the blood line stop at the parents and they did not meet the qualifications set by the tribe. Many have enrolled this way and no one made a fuss about it because there great uncle or uncle was a tribal member on the board.
Fast forward to this date and now we have a huge mess and lost paper work that no one can find. I say get a independent tribe and who have access to research and let a independent tribe make the final ruling on this.
let both side plead there case to a independent tribe and lets move on. Lets not let greed get in the way of building what we fought so hard to get as tribe. “REMEMBER IT TOOK MANY YEARS TO BUILD THIS BUT IT CAN BE DESTROYED WITH IN DAYS”
I would be happy to be part of a committee to over see who is entitled to be a member and trace the history of the people.
Mochuk808
September 14, 2012 at 2:00 am
(re:tribal mem) clearly the most intelligent and native response on this entire topic.. Once upon a time does not equal BLOOD line req’s. People want to “discover” their heritage,be “tribal”,& reap the benefits all in the same day..unfortunately for some THEIR ancestors made their choice for them long ago to either CONTINUE that NATIVE BLOOD or to continue to dilute it (so thank them, don’t blame the tribe). BE Native all you want gggg grandchildern etc…that doesn’t entitle you to tribal citizenship.Yes I am enrolled.Yes Mary&Thurie are my GG’ mokshay&enshay (and im an 80s baby so sorry for all you my senior who are 1/16ths etc..), and YES you can believe my people stayed indian and kept ME& my BLOOD close to (a full documented) 1/2 degree indian BLOOD. I haven’t had a moment of doubt re: MY enrollment and I do not RELY on MARY & THURIE line at all, because I go through my other equally qualifed lineage. I know who I am I don’t have to “find out” or ask..I talk with my people in our toungue as we always have for hundreds of years..I am not worried nor shaken in my beliefs..The reason Melliot & Thurie descendants aren’t qualifed off top (also why you NEVER hear of descendants AS CHUKCHANSI) is because only ONE child A SON married an INDIAN woman. He moved and took on the tribe of his WIFES people and THEIR children identified likewise. These were the ONLY descendants who maintained the BLOOD.
Erick
September 14, 2012 at 11:27 am
If I may make an observation here: It’s always fascinating to watch Indians put their blood quantum on display, like they’re champion bred race horses or something.
I believe that blood quantums are a waste of time as well as being a deceptive and disingenuous method devised by past conquerors to effectively breed Native Americans out of existence. First, there is an underlying assumption that BQ’s accurately serve as a true measure of culture. Second, the next assumption is that the higher your BQ, the more enveloped one is in that culture. If you take away BQ’s as a measuring stick of who is or who isn’t Indian, then Native American tribes actually have nothing at all to measure culture. This, more than anything, concerns me about whether or not Native American tribes can survive in the 21st Century. Other than BQ’s, I have yet to see Indian Country come up with a measure of who is or who isn’t Indian.
The only thing closest to a solution was pitched in this article: http://turtletalk.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/commentary-on-david-treuer-nyts-oped-on-indian-blood-quantum/
Although I’m open to new ideas.
Mochuk808
September 14, 2012 at 11:02 pm
Im not sure I follow you in that BQ is deceptive and disingenuous when the very nature of it is to tell the truth on whos who and if you are who you say you are, these things cannot be fabricated. Having said that, I can empathize with thee “BQ isnt the way theory..” though it is more emotional then fact but I can empathize. However,the bottom line with BQ is that it is Undeniably a non-bias definitive on identity. Im not sure what it is people like yourself see as, in fact defining who is and isn’t indian these days. None the less BQ does just that. I am not aware of a test for “culture”, and BQ is not intended to define “culture”. Also, if BQ were to be erased as thee “measuring stick” then you fail to mention that the people would then be identified by who knows who and who does or doesnt know YOU. This is nothing new and the reason people feel “snubbed” by others, nobody knows you. I am honestly confused as to what again people like yourself see the “tribe” as? Yours (and others like you) sound more like a Rainbow Coalition then a tribe of indians.. You can raise a person in/give them our culture but that will never make them indian. This is what we all become after generations and generations of new blood. We all should Ask ourselves where that Indian is in your family tree and how long its been since there was an indian in your tree? Then you complicate that further by the fact that no one knows you (elders,WWII generation). We are and always have been oral people, if they (the old ones left) don’t know/your people/you and YOU yourself don’t know your people then you get “snubbed”, because you have no ties. In addition to all this, you often have that indiv. described above who wasn’t raised in or given their culture (why because it is likely their family took on their other heritage effectively washing the indian away). Who is going to define this as the tribal member? I would like to consider these as educated times we live in and myself a reasonable indiv. so my question is this..what exactly defines a tribal member and what defines an indian any more for that matter to you?
Mochuk808
September 14, 2012 at 11:26 pm
Doing away with BQ “breeds indians out of existence”..think about it. If you MUST compare this to animals then You yourself are suggesting you would have a purebred and a mutt call them both the same and attach equal value to them both..I would not want to be on the receiving end of that logic. One pup has the right to say he IS (german shep. or whtever purebred), while the mutt might say his GGGG grandsire was a purebred. Now are these BOTH German Shepards?? I wouldnt want to be the fool buying the mutt passed off as a purebred. Pretty soon you have no more GERMAN SHEPARDS you hav mutts… who among them can call themselves German Shepard anymore? Im suggesting it is only those who are and infact STILL remain GERMAN SHEPARD are allowed to REPRESENT themselves as such. The mutt is shepard, terrier, poodle, hound, pit, and a few others..he may try but he doesnt pass off as a shepard no more..hes too much OTHER. BQ defines how much OTHER you have. To do away with that would be to effectively and quite literally “BREED the indian out of existence”
Erick
September 27, 2012 at 10:48 pm
I’m going to spring off your mutt v. pure-bred analogy.
Mutts are the future. It’s as inevitable as change itself. Look at Jews. There’s Israeli Jews, Ethiopian Jews, Persian Jews, American Jews, European Jews, and Russian Jews. From the Diaspora till now, the Jewish people look nothing like their ancestors from hundreds of years earlier. And yet they are still Jews.
Culture cannot be measured by long hair, brown skin, or flat noses. I’ll concede that culture is, in part, a connection to one’s past way of doing things; however, rituals and tradition alone do not make an “Indian.”
Culture is a personal commitment by the individual, an affirmative act by a person to keep alive some portion of his ancestors’ knowledge and wisdom. How each person practices their culture is up to them, especially in a country where some Native American groups cannot remember exactly what their old ways were.
We live in a post-racial world where markers of identity that once defined cultural boundaries no longer exist. Things like geography or racial distinctions borne out in physical features are no longer the limitations of a culture. Today, Native Americans can have the long hair, brown eyes, brown skin, etc. But they can also have blonde hair, blue eyes, and maybe even black skin depending upon that tribe’s intermingling with other races. And they’re both Native American. They don’t need to live in a certain place anymore either. A Native American is not a fervent environmentalist but one who seeks a better relationship between himself and his land. Where that land is doesn’t really matter. There’s ancestral lands, obviously, but that isn’t the whole earth. And the nexus between Native American and his culture is the personal commitment, not whether he is 3/8ths of an Indian or 1/2. In his heart, a Native American is a Native American, devoid of the labeling system that blood quantums have cast on Indian people.
So, a mutt and pure-bred have equal standing. You cannot contain culture in skin tone or racial features. Culture is fostered in the heart of the individual. If that doesn’t match up with what people think is what Native American culture was then such is life. Life evolves as it has been evolving since all the years of recorded history. Old attitudes that fail to adapt become stale and are forgotten while others acknowledge the change, redefine themselves, and survive to flourish in a new way.
In short, blood quantums are not the answer to measuring who is Native American and who isn’t. And from a pure anecdotal viewpoint, I haven’t seen a people so obsessed with who’s pure blood and who isn’t other than Native Americans. Blood quantums are truly a unique Native American obsession. Looking at their history, blood quantums determined who was an enrolled member or how much money an Indian tribe received from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. But now, Native Americans wear their fraction of Indian blood as a badge of honor, bent on some sort of mad, exaggerated display as if they almost know that there is going to be a complete paradigm shift towards a world where Native Americans don’t look like the Native Americans of 100 years ago and it scares the hell out of them.
Underneath it all, I sense that the real issue is Native’s perceived fear of miscegenation and the breeding away of what Native Americans think a “real” Native American should look like. It’s an old, archaic view that history has shown never survives.
Mochuk808
October 15, 2012 at 10:44 am
What is it what “looks” like an indian to you..? I have no interest in defining the Tribe by such and find it a Large pt of your insight. There are YOKUT “full bloods” (both ndn parents , 3/4& up)With pale skin and grn eyes, personally I dnt care what you look like b/c as an ndn we know them in every family. Im sorry, I just dont follow you there. Also, the jew example w/the diaspora sounds ABSOLUTELY GREAT except jews are both a religion AND an ethnic group. If you are suggesting ethiopian jews look NOTHING like isreali jews thats b/c they are RELIGIOUS converts NOT ETHNIC JEWS. I would like to see your analogy work re: Ethnic not Religious. I would even suggest using Your jew ex. That the ETHNIC jews of today do infact look very much like their ancestors and culturally by and large do not prescribe to your post racial pc melting pot theory. Would your african or other non ethnic jew be considered for say an ethnic jewish entitlements ..? Well i feel im getting further and further from the pt much like “our” yes our ppl are from the blood line. No we are not “obsessed” with quantum or “scared as hell”, we have simply made a horrible negative work in OUR favor and yes I understand the post racial wld we live in today however,we wear 2 hats one from our old ways and one from w.civilization. Thee old we walk in 2 wlds always have.. Some of us become more heavily indocterinated in 1 or the other, some ride the fence or have no clue and thats fine too. Multi racial PC foward thinkers are truelly a blessing in that they serve as intermediaries however Tribal and US 2 diff. Wlds and are governed as such. When you seek to involve the US you undermine our plc in this w. world. To put it plainly we are native out here no matter how much or how little infact maybe evn only @heart, while in here (tribal) we abide by rules set forth by those very traditions and customs that you say “dnt make an ndn”.
Diana Lizaso
June 13, 2012 at 10:55 am
I too am a direct desendant to Chief Hawa through his daughter Mememite(Mary) who married Theodure Strombeck. My Great Grandmother was their daughter Mary, her daughter Martha my Grandmother and her son William Harbour is my father. I went to a PowWow to see the culture and to talk with tribal members. I was actually snubbed by the People and was treated rudely. I was wanting to apply for membership to the tribe but have since decided not to if this is how our People treat others that have te lineage. I still would like to know more about the People and the way of life, how my family lived and be able to talk with someone that might be able to tell me more about the Strombecks, the Jones and the Harbours. If at some point the tribal council decides they will re examine the spplication process for those of us with documented lineage, I would reconsider appying.
Erick
June 13, 2012 at 12:17 pm
Thank you for reading!
YōkûtCHUK
October 15, 2012 at 11:34 am
When you mk generalizations like some natives having lost or not knowing any of their customs or traditions anymore i say to you..who? Let us know. I disagree, maybe the “peopel” dont but the language family, speakers, and nieghbors do. Also i have yet to meet a people (ndns) in any of the great 50 states thats have absolutely NO knowledge of tradition and custom. It just takes work (pwr in knowledge), and as we all know people are lazy.. Please state the ex. Before you umbrella a people with such generalizations. Im afraid what you meant is that there are times when we come into contact with natives that have no knowledge of self and culture, which is true however do not speak for the masses. I would like to genuinely hear your insight on why you believe in what comes off as affirmitive action for being indian. It seems like you believe everyone deserves a shot @ being native if they look honest enough. You have your membership. If you dont agree with it relinquish it. Let us “outdated” and “stale antiquated” thinkers die off with the tribe as you say. We dont share pt of view, yet we play for the same team. I find it a great underestimation to ignore the widening gap between us two and the like. Across this great nation this struggle exists among us all (ndn ppl)while furthering that gap. It is a real issue and it wont dissappear niether by your theory or mine. Well ,then “such is life” as you call it. I do agree that as the post racial mind gets more and more liberal in his beliefs so does the traditional, widening that gap and swelling in #s. we cannot ignore that. It is game time, to see who does and doesnt make the cut that is evident. You and I will hav to see ultimately who is still playing for the home team.
Erick
October 15, 2012 at 11:57 am
I don’t know how I make a generalization when I say “some” Native Americans have either lost or, for some reason, failed to retain their cultural heritage, knowledge, or history as opposed to all Native Americans, which I did not say.
Regarding your next point, not everyone “deserves a shot” at tribal membership because not everyone will qualify. If you’ve read my blog — and not just this post — you’d realize that I am strongly in support of tribal sovereignty, and that includes a tribe’s method of determining their own citizenship. I take umbrage with the thought that tribes will disenroll their own people simply for the sake of greed. But other than that, a tribe should be free to determine who is or who isn’t an Indian according to whatever process they feel is appropriate. Obviously I make my case that blood quantums by themselves are not enough and will lead to a fiasco if it hasn’t already. But not all — in fact, probably most — Indian tribes are not going to listen to such suggestions. And that’s their prerogative.
Lastly, I’m not sure what your next point is though I assume you’re basically telling me that time will tell which one of us is “right.” I’m not striving to be “right,” but I believe I made it clear that blood quantums were designed to eventually weed Indians out of existence. It was their intended purpose. Hence my citation to the NYT op-ed which proposes a hybrid solution. When you say things like “[i]f you don’t agree [with having tribal membership then] relinquish it” you’re creating a false dilemma and a gross oversimplification of a highly complex area of culture and history. I value my tribal membership but that does not mean I have to agree with the blood quantum criteria upon which it was based. I believe that as a Native American and a student of the law, I have the responsibility to study, opine and suggest ways that the current system of enrolling Native Americans should be improved. This is one type of recommendation. I want tribal memberships to embody the full panoply of rights and privileges that should come with such membership, and not see them cheapened by an old, archaic way of doing things. But that is my opinion and I advocate for it.
YōkûtCHUK
October 15, 2012 at 11:54 am
Re: being “scared as hell” of not looking like ndns did 100 yrs back..Um i look just like my 1850 people. Its b/c my parents and their parents married an indian..that would actually be a little more then 100 yrs bk., alot of PRCI tribal (like them or not) look just like their 1850+ ppl too. Btw BQ means NATIVE AMERICAN, not Just CA ndn or CHUKCHANSI ndn i means 2 ndn parents and theirs the same. Why should we give that up to tk pt in a post affirmative action pc world. Thats the kind of thought that aligns us with “special interest” and not our own identities
YōkûtCHUK
October 15, 2012 at 11:08 am
Documents aren’t good enough b/c they are lacking,while BQ is “disingenuous” what then is to be the determining factor(s) of being an “indian”( which is in itself cliche’ as non of us were “indian” prior to 1492)? Are we to open our hearts and rolls to a “good faith” policy or give up our identity all together and just let anyone have it so we can all be “americans”? It is all very disheartning to hear that our choices as a tribe are to give into a post affirmitive action PC melting pot anything goes identity or be viewed as “antiqued” for holding fast our beliefs. Make no mistake this is no cover if you dont know these customs and “old” ways , or people have lost them then just ask UC berkley or A.H. Gayton to name a few (records) and learn a thing or 2 about why we believe as we do and hold fast to these beliefs. Maybe we should thank an elder for preserving them insted of trying to re-write them.
Erick
October 15, 2012 at 11:17 am
As I said earlier, this is the closest thing I’ve seen to a solution: http://turtletalk.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/commentary-on-david-treuer-nyts-oped-on-indian-blood-quantum/
In short, blood quantum + political factors = you being an “Indian” so far as your tribe is concerned. Blood quantums, by themselves, will not work and that’s what I’ve been stressing this whole time. Indian Country needs to galvanize and step away from using this as their sole yardstick of measuring who is Indian and who isn’t.
YōkûtCHUK
October 15, 2012 at 11:57 am
Then you seek to change with no real answer. I would say it is that thought that becomes stale and forgotten. My answer has been around 100s of yrs predating BQ within out own customs
YōkûtCHUK
October 15, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Sounds good to me. As i said ppl are stupid , so if you sound smart im inclined to pick @the brain a bit. As I said before.. These are educated times & i would like to consider myself a reasonable indiv. I didnt mean to insult your membership by gross oversimpl. Its just as an american doesnt agree with the laws that govern the land yet enjoys its citizenship. People will tell you to relinquish it or do something about it. Also i have read your blog not just post
Erick
October 15, 2012 at 1:30 pm
“People will tell you to relinquish it or do something about it.”
Well, I hope I’m “doing something” about it by writing these posts. The fact that we can have this debate means there’s more sides to this issue than just using blood quantums as the sole means of measuring Indian culture. As for your earlier response that I seek change with no real answer, I disagree. I think I’m seeking a very real answer. I’ve outlined the form (see above), but now I seek details. I can attest that I surely do not want blood quantums used as the sole factor in deciding who is or who isn’t Indian. As for your argument that your answer has been around for hundreds of years prior to blood quantums, I know you’re still relying on some sort of a “plain sight” / “look” test to see who is Indian (i.e., looks like an Indian, knows his elders and vice versa, knows his language, knows his culture, etc.) And I will concede that many, if not the majority, of tribes view their determinations of Native heritage in this way.
I admit I take a liberal view, but I only make it because the “plain sight” test is going to eventually fail because it is built on a system of diminishing returns. The fact that you (someone who looks the same as their ancestors did in the 1850′s) can marry someone who also shares your racial and cultural characteristics just shows that my prediction of changing geo-cultural norms is not the present standard in all parts of tribal communities. But things change. I see no reason why Native America should escape the fate of numerous other cultures before it, and I believe the only way Native Americans can adapt is to change their view on measuring Indian-ness, and not redefining the meaning of what Indian-ness is to them. Those are two separate analyses, but I think Indians have a tendency to conflate the two.
This is a kind of change that will force tribes to ask difficult questions about who is or isn’t Indian as well as what the goal of their tribe is rather than just surviving. The sooner tribes tackle this challenge the more prepared they will be.
Emma Williams
November 30, 2012 at 4:08 pm
I am too a Descendent of Chief Hawa
Melliot & Theodore Strombeck
Daughter Mary & Tom Jones
Daughter Grace Jones & Claude Williams
Son Bud & Madge Mellot
Daughter Bonnie WIlliams is my grandmother
I am only 14 and barely understand why I canʻt be a “registered chukchansi indian”.
I am just as much “blood percentage” as some of the tribal council members!
But after all of this disenrollment of our native people, Iʻm not even sure I want to be recognized as a Chukchansi indian. It is shameful after all of these events.
Erick
November 30, 2012 at 4:13 pm
Yes, it definitely is shameful and I’m sorry that you’re being exposed to all this. The real reason is just politics. I wish I could illuminate more on that, but really, that’s just what it all boils down to. Stay strong.