William Pink's Letter to Tribal Leaders

Dear Tribal Leaders       

Honorable Members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

Staff, Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs

In a recent decision by the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, Kevin Washburn, surrendered the sovereign power and pre-emptive authority of the United States to determine the Degree of Indian Blood of an Indian person. He has formally recognized that this is now a reserved power of Tribes or their duly elected/appointed committees governing Tribal membership.

The decision was the result of various appeals made by recently disenrolled members of the Pala Tribe in California as well as myself, challenging a Tribe’s right to determine an individual’s degree of Indian Blood. (Please see the enclosed decision as it pertains to me)

At first glance this decision may appear to be harmless and even innocuous. The fact is this may be the most important decision ever made with respects to the relationship between Indians and the United States.

Tribes are now empowered to adopt ordinances/regulations, delegating to themselves the authority to determine who is and who is not an Indian and not just a Tribal member. This seems harmless but the reality is that such a system is subject to extreme abuse and it already has been.

It means that Tribes, depending upon their governmental structure, can make Indians into non-Indians and non-Indians into Indians and hence duly Federally recognized. As such the United States will be obligated to provide services to these non-Indian Indians and refuse service to Indians made non-Indians. One would have to surmise that Tribes will also have the authority to recognize non-citizens as Indian too. (Remember that Tribes were often split apart by international boundaries) This now provides an opportunity for these affected parties to become members of Tribes within the United States. This is an action long opposed by the United States.

A quick and short summary of the facts in my particular case is that my Tribe’s Executive Committee reduced the Degree of Indian Blood of my great grandmother from 4/4ths Indian to 1/2  Indian. This single action caused the disenrollment of more than 170 descendants of my great grandmother and a reduction of the degree of Indian Blood of more than 100 other descendants of my great grandmother. 

On appeal, the Pacific Regional Officer held that my great grandmother was indeed 4/4ths Indian but due to the Tribe’s Ordinance the BIA could not overcome the Tribe’s action and has allowed the decision to reduce my great grandmother’s Degree of Indian Blood to 1/2  to stand. Assistant Secretary, Kevin Washburn concurred.

Many of you, both Tribal and representatives of the United States, may think this a simple matter and of no concern. I promise you that if you take even a minute to consider the ramifications of this decision you will quickly realize that the ability to truly determine who is and who is not an Indian reaches catastrophic proportion.

IF A TRIBE CAN DECREASE DEGREE OF INDIAN BLOOD THEY CAN ALSO INCREASE DEGREE OF INDIAN BLOOD AND EVEN CREATE A DEGREE OF INDIAN BLOOD FOR NON-INDIANS.

A small Tribe can now enroll hundreds of people not entitled to Tribal membership while a large Tribe can now disenroll hundreds of people who are entitled to membership. 

I and my family have been rendered helpless in this matter. It is my hope that courageous individuals will take up this matter and stop this new genocide. 

You can find the complete details of this case at: http://www.palawatch.com/2013/10/william-pink-appeals-directly-to.html

Sincerely,

William J. Pink

Genocide By Paper

All up and down the State of California and in many other places across the United States disenrollments have been taking place for the last 7 to 10 years.  The increase in disenrollments seems to coincide with the rise of Indian Gaming.

Casinos have sort of created the Perfect Storm for disenrollments.  Every Indian Tribe is unique in how they organize and determine their membership.  But one thing each tribe seems to have in common are long standing feuds between family groups.  Prior to the casinos the bickering between families often took place in meetings and were resolved by elections.

Casinos however have given Indian Tribes tremendous resources to do many things.  They can hire law firms and business professionals to help grow their businesses.  They can hire lobbyists and send them to Washington D.C. to protect their interest.  They can work with State and Local governments on things such as road and infrastructure improvements.

The other by-product of all this is the consolidation of political power.  Leaders of tribes are well aware of their political opposition and disenrollments have become to tool of choice to quell any opposition.  There is also a financial component to disenrollments particularly for smaller tribes.  The less members a tribe has the more per capita distribution there is for the remaining members.  All of this leads to a Perfect Storm for disenrollments.

Original Pechanga's Blog has done a great job of documenting disernollments up and down the State of California.

The list is long and includes Pechanga, Redding Rancheria, San Pasqual, Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, Robinson Rancheria, and The Pala Band of MIssion Indians, among others.

Not surprising, the position of the U.S. Government has been "hands off" Indian Tribes.  The policy of the U.S. Government toward the Indigenous Peoples of America has long been eradication and assimilation.

Toward the end of the 19th Century the public's enthusiasm for the extermination of Native Ameicans waned.  The Calvary was no longer being sent in to slaughter tribes.  Instead, tribes were forced onto reservations.  Government Officials then set about essentially setting up tribal membership by blood quantum.  While blood quantum was not explicitly defined in the Dawes Act government officials did use long standing blood quantum laws for the purpose of determining who should receive allotments.

We can see this in the 1913 Pala Allotment Roll where those who received allotments were either 4/4 or 1/2.  No one less than 1/2 received an allotment including the children of Margarita Brittain.

In many ways blood quantum was just another way the U.S. Government could ensure the final destruction of Indian Tribes particularly smaller tribes.  It was a form of Paper Genocide.  Larger tribes still have many full blood and half blood members.  There is no risk of them interbreeding resulting in genetic disorders.  Larger tribes tend to have a larger blood quantum requirement - either 1/2 or 1/4 blood.

Smaller tribes have a much rougher time of it.  Their survival depends on pro-creation.  When Pala set out to organize itself as a tribe and determine its membership they were well aware of this conundrum.  Very few fullbloods were left of parenting age.  There was also the issue of blood in general.  Pala's membership consists of a mix of Indian Blood which includes Kupa, Luiseno, Cahuilla, Yaqi, and Kumeyaay.

Because of this mix "Pala Blood" was determined to be those on the 1895 and 1913 Pala Allotment Rolls.  No distinction was made between the various different types of Indians that resided at Pala.

Americans often think fondly and romanticize about the Iroquois concept of making plans for the 7th Generation.  In some respect the People of Pala did make plans for the future generations and did what they could to ensure their survival as a tribe.  As such the blood quantum was set to 1/16 so they could protect their grandchildren and great grand children.

And while this solution seemed to work for a time it was in effect kicking the can down the road.  The fullbloods and nearly all the half bloods have passed.  Pala is composed primarily of 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16 degree of Indian Blood.  These generations are struggling to keep the tribe moving forward into the future.

At a time when Indian Tribes up and down the State of California should be strengthening their membership and ensuring their survival tribes have instead turned to disenrollments.  In the short run this may seen like a good idea for a variety of reasons ranging from a consolidation of political power and increased financial benefit.

But over the long term it's tribal suicide.  Indian Tribes are finishing the job the U.S. Government could not complete and that is the eradication of tribes in general.  This is why in my opinion the U.S. Government is taking such an unprecedented hands off approach to Indian Tribes.  They see the long game.  They know eventually smaller tribes will destroy themselves.

Many tribes have already gone bankrupt, had their casinos put into receivership, and now struggle for survival.  There is nothing more Las Vegas and Wall St would like to see than for casinos to be out of the hands of Indians and into the hands of Las Vegas developers and investment bankers.

It's Paper Genocide and in many ways it was all set up by the U.S. Government which established blood quantum knowing it would eventually lead to the demise of the smaller groups of Native Americans.  Sure, larger tribes will survive but the odds of smaller tribes making it another 100 years grows less and less each year.

I am often confronted by people who lament that many Indians these days do not know much about their language, their culture, or their religions.  When this happens I remind them that the U.S. Government prevented Indian Children from speaking their Native language, practicing their religion, or engaging in cultural activities.  It was forced assimilation and the whole purpose was to eradicate Native American Culture.

Now all the U.S. Government has to do is sit back and wait as Paper Genocide continues to ravage Indian Country finishing off the job the American People lost the stomach for 120 years ago.