Part 3 of a 4 part series by Jeff Smith at the San Diego Reader is out. It is titled:
Against the Inevitable - This land is mine: The Cupeño removal of 1903, part three of four
Here is an excerpt:
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On April 19, Cecilio Blacktooth and three other tribesmen rode to San Bernardino to buy horses. “We will never give in,” he told the Los Angeles Herald, “but will perish gladly if the last sight we see is our Agua Caliente.
“Some will scatter to other tribes, but the old men and women would not leave and have begged to be taken above Warner’s Ranch in the mountains…to look down upon the graves of their ancestors.” Pala is “so barren,” he added, “not even rabbits will live there.”
Blacktooth didn’t mention that at least 15 Luiseño Indian families already did. They lived on allotments assigned by the government ten years prior. The relocation would force them to share a reservation with another tribe.
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Read the full article at this link:
Against the Inevitable - This land is mine: The Cupeño removal of 1903, part three of four
4 comments:
Good article Ortega,Nolasquez and Britten all went to try and meet the president to help the tribe and now smith/nieto want to dishonor the Britten family line and take away their birth right/blood degree! The men that were paid to cart the Cipeno people to Pala, look up the history one of those men was Lugo from Cahuilla that's how he knew about the land in Oala that was being given to natives so he and his wife came down got a piece of land side by side( Which I could understand) but that's why All Lugo's rom the census records of those years are listed from Cahuilla except one that shows up on Pala census records after 1903. Suspicious maybe? Look it up for yourself you can see all the documents to support it. Someone even passed some around a while ago. That's fine if we want to except that bloodline that has been a part of Pala Rez since the beginning but don't then have that same person's ancestors try to question some else's membership in the band when you and your family should not be rightfully enrolled. Keep membership as it was from before the casino. It's obviously not about the money as people like to think if these members were enrolled years before the casino was even possible.
I wish Robert would just re enroll the britians. Disenrollment is a shameful act. I truly believe they do belong anyway. I also think it would relieve some of the tension on the Rez. I doubt Robert will, but I think it is the right thing to do for everyone
You seem to want to blame the Lugo family for the disenrollments. There is plenty of blame to go around, but make no mistake. Robert Smith is the architect of the disenrollment of the Britten descendants. Everyone else is dancing to the strings of the puppet master.
Keep in mind that Leroy Miranda and Mel Lovato said their grandmother Roscinda Nolasquesz told them that Merced Nolasquez and Margarita Britten were half sisters with the same mother. We know that Miguela Owlinguish was Margarita Britten's mother. We also know that Pelegrino Ortega was the father of Merced Nolasquez.
Carolina Nolasquez testified at the probate of Merced Nolasquez that Pelegrino Ortega was Merced and Margarita's father. This means they had the same father but different mothers. Carolina was Roscinda's aunt, she was older and knew more about the family history, and her testimony was corroborated by each of her siblings. This is why the BIA issued a Final Decision stating the matter was settled and that Margarita Brittain was full blood.
We have traced the enmity between the families over the years, and have seen the 1913 Pala Allotment role marked with fraudulent changes to the the Britten blood degrees. We have seen 1928 CIJR applications that Smith relied on to say that Margarita Britten was half blood. Those applications have been altered also. BIA Area Director Ron Jaegar noted that the 1928 applications had been tampered with and said so in a 1986 letter to the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs recommending that Margarita Britten's blood degree be increased to full blood.
So there was a definite plot against the Brittens. Blood degrees were altered without evidence. Rightful members were denied enrollment. Appeals were filed. The Pala General Council voted to correct the blood degree. The BIA issued a Final Decision. And still puppet master Smith took revenge on a family that helped him when his parents were unable (unwilling?) to care for him.
Now PBMI has to live with the consequences. Everyone look around them and see how the Chairman's actions have affected their lives. Murder, violence, mayhem, rampant drug use, investigations, surveillance, paranoia, and corruption is the story of the Pala Reservation under the reign of Smith. Hope the monthly check makes it all worthwhile.
Don't vote for Kilma,if he runs for chairman I been reading what he has been writing on the blog,he lies about everything,dont trust him.
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