Pala is facing its most important election in a long time. The outcome of this election will determine Pala's future and fate as a tribe. If Robert Smith and the rest of the Executive Committee are re-elected they will view it as tribal approval of the disenrollments. They will feel emboldened and continue their plans to disenroll even more tribal members.
Right now Pala's Executive Committee is just sitting back and waiting. They are waiting to see if the BIA will do anything. It appears they won't. They are waiting to see if NIGC will do anything. It appears they won't. They are waiting to see if the Federal Government will do anything. So far it appears they won't. The last hurdle really is this election and the General Council. Once they secure another term they will be able to accelerate their plan.
I don't know if the People of Pala are aware (except the families of the disenrolled) but Pala's Executive Committee basically took the minor's trust funds. Where the money went is not clear. Some of the money from Vulcan was supposed to be in trust with the BIA. It wasn't. It was with the tribe. The Per Capita money for the minors was in trust funds with Pala. That was their money. They were members over the years the money was put into trust. Those trust funds should still be theirs.
The only way to reverse all this is to change the make up of the Executive Committee and return power to the General Council. Word needs to get out. All 162 disenrolled have fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins still enrolled. They need to all be voting. About half live off the reservation the rest live on.
It's no secret that in the past many Brittains living off the reservation voted for Robert Smith. Not being able to go to General Council meetings they had to rely on meeting agendas and minutes to determine what was going on. The consensus seemed to be that since the casino was doing ok Robert and the rest of the Executive Committee must be doing ok so they kept voting for them.
That's over now. The mask is off. The Brittains know they were betrayed by the Executive Committee.
It will be herculean task to defeat the current Executive Committee in the upcoming election. But for the sake of the tribe it needs to be done. If the Executive Committee is re-elected more disenrollments will happen. Will your family be next?
Speak out at a General Council meeting against the Executive Committee's plans and your family could be targeted for disenrollments. Do you want to continue living under that fear? Vote in new people and move the tribe forward. Reverse these shameful disenrollments and put Pala on a path to future prosperity. If a change in leadership does not happen then the tribe will continue to be torn apart by the Executive Committee.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Pala Raceway Noise
Fallbrook Bonsall Village News - Pala Tribe rebuts issue of raceway noise
Debbie Ramsey
Managing Editor
Here are some excerpts from the article:
#
The Rainbow Community Planning Group has stated that the Pala Band of Mission Indians has responded to its latest written plea (Aug. 19) for help in regards to a noise issue coming from Pala Raceway that they say is disrupting peaceful living. Unfortunately it wasn’t the answer they were hoping to hear.
RCPG chairman Dennis Sanford said the group received a letter dated Aug. 29 from Pala Chairman Robert Smith, which essentially said noise from the raceway does not exceed legal limits and the Tribe would not require the operators of the raceway to take any further steps to reduce noise.
"We have no proof of the sound levels as their study results were not shared and we had no access [to them]," said Sanford. "County ordinances govern noise levels being emitted from various sources. We have been told by the Tribe that because they are a "sovereign nation" they can do whatever they want and are not subject to various laws and ordinances."
#
In regards to taking any other measures to reduce noise emitting from the track, Smith said those measures would be "prohibitively expensive."
Read Full Artcile and Commnets Here - Fallbrook Bonsall Village News - Pala Tribe rebuts issue of raceway noise
Debbie Ramsey
Managing Editor
Here are some excerpts from the article:
#
The Rainbow Community Planning Group has stated that the Pala Band of Mission Indians has responded to its latest written plea (Aug. 19) for help in regards to a noise issue coming from Pala Raceway that they say is disrupting peaceful living. Unfortunately it wasn’t the answer they were hoping to hear.
RCPG chairman Dennis Sanford said the group received a letter dated Aug. 29 from Pala Chairman Robert Smith, which essentially said noise from the raceway does not exceed legal limits and the Tribe would not require the operators of the raceway to take any further steps to reduce noise.
"We have no proof of the sound levels as their study results were not shared and we had no access [to them]," said Sanford. "County ordinances govern noise levels being emitted from various sources. We have been told by the Tribe that because they are a "sovereign nation" they can do whatever they want and are not subject to various laws and ordinances."
#
In regards to taking any other measures to reduce noise emitting from the track, Smith said those measures would be "prohibitively expensive."
Read Full Artcile and Commnets Here - Fallbrook Bonsall Village News - Pala Tribe rebuts issue of raceway noise
Friday, September 28, 2012
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.
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.
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