FC Community
Discussion Boards => Off-Topic => Topic started by: walksalone11 on December 21, 2009, 04:25:25 pm
-
http://www.republicoflakotah.com/2009/the-united-states-continues-to-steal-from-indians/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RepublicOfLakotah+(Republic+of+Lakotah)&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail
BILL MEANS
With all due respect to Elouise Cobell, lead plaintiff in a recently settled lawsuit over American Indian trust funds (”U.S. to pay Indians $3.4B,” Dec. 9), I think the United States is continuing a policy of “Indians are not humans.”
During the course of this long-running, class-action litigation, it has been documented that the United States owes Indian people more than $137 billion for mismanagement of trust accounts. That was established just by the documents that were presented.
The original federal judge on this case was Royce Lamberth, who held at least three secretaries of the Interior in contempt for not producing thousands of additional documents. Also, during the course of this case, hundreds of relevant documents were found in the trash by Interior Department employees, who reported this to the court and to Interior Department officials.
Those of us who own Indian land, heirs and the American public do not know the total amount owed to Indian people, because the government has refused to turn over all the documents ordered by the federal court. Lamberth was removed from the case; officials in the Bush administration argued that he was biased in favor of Indians.
This has rarely happened in the history of U.S. jurisprudence. Lamberth was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan and is a Texas Republican.
So basically, now, the U.S. government is saying that it has identified the thief of Indian royalties and resources as itself. It has allowed the thief to determine the value of the settlement and mostly has allowed the thief to keep what has been stolen.
Only in America if you steal something and hold onto it long enough does it becomes yours.
To add insult to injury, the government is clearing its conscience by paying back 2.48 percent of the so-far known value of what the United States stole in the first place. Paying $3.4 billion on a known debt of $137 billion is a national disgrace; this needs to be known by all Americans. Cobell should have at least held out until all the documents were presented or a final calculation of the debt was determined.
In the words of a great Oglala Lakota statesman Chief Red Cloud: “The United States made us many promises, but they kept only one. They promised to take our land, and they took it.”
Bill Means is a board member of the International Indian Treaty Council.
This article originally appeared in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmfue_pjwho&feature=player_embedded
-
I know the local tribe where I live is trying to stop paying state taxes. they are arguing that since they are federal they shouldnt have to pay the state.
-
Why is this significant to you?
-
If the tribe is federally recognized then they are a country unto themselves and not an American community or state. That would be like asking Mexico or Canada to pay taxes to the IRS.
As for the relevance to me?
I am Tsalagi and any issues relevant to indigenous peoples is in turn relevant to any and all NDNs.
-
It is unfortunate to hear of the settler's progeny still at it with the original indigenous people of this continent.
This is but just a small fraction of the social and humane injustices happening around the world today.
Drugs, smoking, alcohol, religious and social persecutions, genocide, privatization, out-sourcing etc etc the list goes on.
I am pleased to hear that there are efforts to help correct (if possible) the wrongs that were done, although they can never be taken back.
I am quite thankful our forefathers came here and set up the D.O.I and B.O.R. and the protection and freedoms they provide but not under the conditions that they did.
Today I woke up and as everyday i realized that no matter what I did the previous day (within reason) that there are infinite opportunities for positivity and growth here in america. Many people have wronged me as i have wrong many people, and I hope that we all have the fortitude to forgive and forget and work together and individually to better ourselves and our environment as we all must co-exist even if it is at a distance.
Remember "The Secret"
-
I didnt know this was happening...I know some native people are getting mistreated!!
-
why, don't we all stop paying taxes - we are all native to the earth - besides the indians of america say they belong to the earth as we all do - IMHO >> In My Humble Opinion - The MUSEUM, Zazzle, deviantART, ArtFire, FineArtAmerica
-
I have a friend who was a member of the tribal police on the Yankton Sioux Rez in south eastern South Dakota.
When a company decided to build a commercial hog farm, the tribe decided to not allow them access across reservation land.
The company defied the tribes warning against trespassing and began construction.
The tribal members decided on peacefully blocking access to the site.
The local sheriff, who btw has no jurisdiction on the reservation, has a son who is an electrical contractor and had the contract to do all the electrical work on the facility.
So in the interest of his son's business, the sheriff went onto the reservation and began kidnapping(arresting) the blockaders.
My friend was ordered to participate in the arrest of even his own family members who were by this time peacefully protesting the sheriffs actions.
He had to make a decision whether to follow orders and protect one of the very very scarce job opportunities in the area, or stand with his relations in protection of their rights even though it ultimatly forced him to lose his home to foreclosure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr8SM8-WQg8
-
Oh yeah it continues.
We as NDNs have been out of sight and out of mind by design, but there are many of us who are making our voices heard once more in any and all forums possible, online and in the real.
You will be hearing more and more about some of these issues.
NDN wars are not fought with guns and arrows now days, education is the weapon that I feel has the best chance at positive outcomes for our peoples.
The following video is of Black Mesa and Big Mountain in Arizona where many Navajo including many tribal Elders are refusing to be forced off their lands in order for Peabody Coal Company to rape the mountain. If you support the theft of the land you can thank John McCain as your hero in this issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MypNJfb7mSM&feature=related
-
More on Big Mountain,and the Navajo.
McCain's policies detrimental the Sioux Nations as well....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMP51DziLdE&feature=channel
-
Russell Means Discusses the 51-month sentencing of Timothy Hotz, a man convicted for 3 prior DUI offenses who drunkenly killed two 20 year old Indians on Pine Ridge, while an Indian gets 3 years fo...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqb6NK0cpo8
-
the U.S. seems to think they have the God given right to take whatever, from whom ever, to get what they want. It's been going on since we became a country almost 230 yrs ago. What can be done???? :dontknow:
-
It is not only the US government.
Most NDNs I know think more in terms of "Turtle Island" which is the whole of the continent, as opposed to the idea of separate countries of America, Mexico, Canada, South America etc.
I wish I had an answer to the what to do question, I really do. There are a lot of people whom have a lot more wisdom in those areas then I do, that I network with and speak to regularly.
As I previously said, I think education is key.
I think there have to be a new way of people seeing the world we live in and a more active role in demanding justice for EVERYONE, not just the rich, powerful, certain statuses, religions or Race.
Everyone has equal rights to opportunities and everyone should be expected to live up to their agreements and have honor in dealings with one another.
-
Another contemporary issue that goes unresolved, concerning our Relations to the north,the Mohawk.
http://www.pressrepublican.com/homepage/local_story_152221246.html
By DENISE A. RAYMO
Staff Writer
AKWESASNE — The Massena-Cornwall International Bridge was closed Monday after 400 St. Regis Mohawks camped out, protesting Canada's arming of its border agents.
Canadian Border Service Agency officials decided near midnight to close the Cornwall Island station, which is situated on Indian land in Canada.
Only emergency vehicles were allowed on the bridge Monday, although foot traffic can cross.
OFFICERS LEFT
The eight to 10 officers working inside walked south from their customs house to the American customs station and were returned to Canada without incident.
"It was the agency that made the decision that it was more prudent, from a health and safety point of view, to close the office and continue negotiations," said Ron Moran, the national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, told the Cornwall Standard Freeholder.
The U.S. Customs and Border Service also closed its station, and all travelers were being rerouted to either ports of entry in Fort Covington or Ogdensburg, Troop B State Police Capt. Mike Girard said.
"Everything's quiet," he said Monday afternoon. "I sent one patrol over the bridge to the end of the U.S. side."
Using binoculars, he said he could see only about 10 cars and no people visible.
"It was Canada's decision that the bridge be closed, and the Canadian authorities asked the U.S. side to do the same," Girard said.
"(State Police) will maintain a presence there until they tell us otherwise."
TRAVEL INHIBITED
Troopers sending vehicles to the alternate crossings are fielding complaints, especially from the Mohawks living on the American side, who use the bridge frequently.
"It's the people of Akwesasne who this is really hurting because they go back and forth to see their family," Girard said. "The people are upset, but they understand that it's not our doing. It's Canada's."
PEACE CRUCIAL
The St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council offered its support for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne and the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs, saying that keeping the peace is the most important issue.
"Four peacekeepers have been appointed to monitor the situation and keep people calm," Chief James Ransom said. "They are all well respected community members who are level-headed and capable.
"Establishing a meaningful dialogue between the Akwesasne community and the Canadian government is going to be a key part of resolving the current situation," he said in a news release.
TREATMENT
Plans to issue a sidearm to agents starting June 1 only heightened an already tense situation, where past allegations of racial profiling and intimidation of some Mohawk people surfaced.
"We have had a variety of problems between some border guards and community members when they are crossing the border," Chief Monica Jacobs said.
"Complaints have been filed about how community members have been treated, and these issues need to be looked at so we can move forward."
Mohawk Council of Akwesasne Grand Chief Tim Thompson said his government considered declaring a state of emergency during the protest and continues to call for negotiations with Canadian representatives.
OPERATIONS CENTER
"It has been and it will continue to be a peaceful demonstration in our community in opposition to the arming initiative for border agents on Akwesasne Mohawk territory," said Brendan White, communications director for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne on the Canadian side.
"There is an operations center set up where people can make arrangements for their immediate medical needs and appointments they have scheduled," he said.
"No vehicles are being allowed to cross the bridge except for emergency-response vehicles."
He said pedestrians can walk north across the Canadian span between Cornwall and Cornwall Island, "but they cannot carry any packages or groceries," White said.
Canadian conservation authorities have launched two boats into the St. Lawrence River near the bridge to monitor the situation, he said.
-
If the tribe is federally recognized then they are a country unto themselves and not an American community or state. That would be like asking Mexico or Canada to pay taxes to the IRS.
As for the relevance to me?
I am Tsalagi and any issues relevant to indigenous peoples is in turn relevant to any and all NDNs.
Aren't American Indians allowed to vote in US elections? I heard that they were dual citizens. If they don't pay any taxes they should not have any participation in politics. Also, if they don't have to charge sales taxes on non Indian purchases on their land, they should have customs agents and border patrol like they have when you go from the US to Canada or Mexico.
By the way, I know in our area of upstate NY, the Indians are trying to take back a lot of the land that supposedly belonged to them hundreds of years ago. We should not be responsible for what our ancestors did.
-
If the tribe is federally recognized then they are a country unto themselves and not an American community or state. That would be like asking Mexico or Canada to pay taxes to the IRS.
As for the relevance to me?
I am Tsalagi and any issues relevant to indigenous peoples is in turn relevant to any and all NDNs.
Aren't American Indians allowed to vote in US elections? I heard that they were dual citizens. If they don't pay any taxes they should not have any participation in politics. Also, if they don't have to charge sales taxes on non Indian purchases on their land, they should have customs agents and border patrol like they have when you go from the US to Canada or Mexico.
By the way, I know in our area of upstate NY, the Indians are trying to take back a lot of the land that supposedly belonged to them hundreds of years ago. We should not be responsible for what our ancestors did.
Yes NDNs were given citizenship as part of a larger bill that was most beneficial to the US. Most of the NDNs that I know do not consider themselves Americans regardless of if they are allowed to or not.
It is not a matter of you being responsible for what your ancestors did but rather the government should either uphold their agreement in various treaties or be declared in default and the agreement rescinded and all properties be returned to pre-treaty owners.
Maybe I can explain it in terms you are more familiar with.
Say you go to the car dealer and get a vehicle. You take it home with the promise to make the agreed payments for the agreed upon time period.
If you do not continue to make the payments for the specified time, you are in default and have to return the vehicle.
The reason, you can not just one day decide, ok I have paid long enough, despite the fact that I have agreed to payments for a longer time period is because if you had offered to only pay for this lesser time period the saler may have not thought the amount was sufficient for the value of the property he was providing in trade for the payments.
You don't pay off your car or your home etc etc etc....you have to give it back.
Oh but wait......we are just NDNs being honorable, truthful, fair and faithful to us does not matter.
-
If the tribe is federally recognized then they are a country unto themselves and not an American community or state. That would be like asking Mexico or Canada to pay taxes to the IRS.
As for the relevance to me?
I am Tsalagi and any issues relevant to indigenous peoples is in turn relevant to any and all NDNs.
Aren't American Indians allowed to vote in US elections? I heard that they were dual citizens. If they don't pay any taxes they should not have any participation in politics. Also, if they don't have to charge sales taxes on non Indian purchases on their land, they should have customs agents and border patrol like they have when you go from the US to Canada or Mexico.
When did the criteria for voting become whether or not you pay taxes? I know plenty of 16 year olds with jobs who pay taxes. They don't get to vote.
-
why should the government uphold its agreements - i'm a vet - they didn't do it - i'm on social security - they didn't do it - why should they honor any agreement that is not in the best interest of the elite - if you think otherwise then maybe you should trust the airlines too - like the guy said to baggage check-in - send this bag to boston - this bag to miami and this bag to london - the clerk replied " we can't do that." - why not came the reply - you did it last time - happy holidays and merry chirismas
-
Just a thought.......the US owes debts to many foreign Nations, one of the biggest is China. What kind of collateral do you think backs these debts?
Land.
If the US continues to default on their debts to foreign countries, one day you will either become a citizen of a different country or you will be involved in the next world war.
Take a minute and try on the title of "American Chinese" and see how you like it now.
-
Who fights for you?
http://www.heritage.org/research/nationalsecurity/upload/85112_1.gif
Per-capita, the Indigenous of this country continue to have a higher rate of volunteering in the military.
Remember while studying this chart, that only enrolled members of a federally recognized tribe are allowed to claim that they are Indian(kill us off on paper)so if you take the category of two or more races, and add all the people who are Indian but are required by law to say they are white or some other race(never saw any other race legally barred from claiming their Ancestry, killing us off on paper again) and combine these with the federally recognized group the already disproportionally high per-capita percentage would be much greater.
Oh yeah, we're just NDN's.....every war needs it's cannon fodder........
-
http://www.ireport. com/docs/ DOC-374072
This is a site that individuals can post about events for consideration by CNN, in hopes it will be picked up and covered.
The more views a piece receives, the better chance that CNN will decide to cover it.
The biggest reason we all still face many of the issues we do today is due to the fact that most do not realize the issue exists.
The linked story is one covering the Crow Creek issue.
-
well i belive it..the usa does it again..always messin up..makin promise n not keepin..dem n 4 every1 dat thinks it gonna change becuz we have a black president ..well im sry its not..as humans we mean well..but deep down we r all selfish..
-
anyone that does not like the usa can leave any time - no one is making them stay - just because my grandparents came from a different country does not mean that i have to stay in the usa - i've been to 38 countries - every state in the usa - worked in 10 different states and lived in 6 more - i'll take florida over any state and the usa over any country - the last time i was reentering the usa - the custom's person asked what i thought about being back in the usa - told them 'it's great, americans are confident while all the others i had visited were arrogant and down right mean to americans" - but now it looks like the arrogance has landed on the usa shores and everyone wants something for nothing - not willing to work - only wants money from the obama stash - remember you get what you deserve - if you want health, peace and happiness you get it if that is what you sow - most get hate, fear and death because they can not forgive themselves - forgive yourself first - then you can forgive others - and a Happy New Year to all - by the way the indians were not the first people here in the land we call usa - the indians are also transplants from other areas of the world
-
The following is a partial list of sacred sites in the United States that are threatened and/or being subjected to desecration:
Bear Butte, South Dakota
Black Mesa, Arizona
Cave Rock, California
Cold Water Springs, Minnesota
Devils Tower, Wyoming
Glen Cove, California
Medicine Lake, California
Medicine Wheel, Wyoming
Mount Graham, Arizona
Mount Shasta, California
Mount Taylor, New Mexico
Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico
San Francisco Peaks, Arizona
Valmont Butte, Colorado
Yucca Mountain, Nevada
http://www.ProtectBearButte.com
-
A Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux Warrior named Harold J. One Feather was shot at during the occupation camp at Slim Buttes. The occupation is protesting against radioactive runoff in native lands, which has and is devastating the community and neighboring communities.
Uranium mining has devastated many communities from Standing Rock, to other Cheyenne River Lakota communities. Runoff from the uranium mining has seeped and is seeping into the soil, encroaching on these people, causing many premature deaths, and reproductive problems with the women.
Mission of the Grand River Environmental Equality Network Occupation Camp:
Gonna Stay until the Dogs Catch Their Own Tail
1. To demand the comprehensive and total clean up of abandoned uranium mines with the Slim Buttes and Cave Hills, and not just one at a time as the US Forest Service is stating it is doing.
2. To consider the negative health effects of low-dose ionizing radiation exposure through surface water, ground water and air transport; especially as this has been occurring to my community Rock Creek (Bullhead, SD). We feel that the US Forest Service's negligence of considering the Rock Creek communities concern that the uranium mines are causing extreme health crises within the community is tantamount to genocide and racism.
3. To revise the US Forest Service Sioux Oil and Gas Leasing Final Environmental Impact Statement to either start an Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement or start the EIS process anew to include tribal communities' extreme health concerns. This is our main point that the US Forest Service although hearing testimony from Rock Creek community members about their increasing rates of cancer, birth problems, and diabetes, they didn't include this in the FEIS and replied that the commenting period is over. They were told numerous times about what the sickness and deaths happening downstream, yet they purposefully ignore our concerns. This too is genocide and racism!
4. We demand that all current leases involving uranium, oil, gas as well as other mineral resources be outlawed in the Slim Buttes and Cave Hills and those existing outstanding leases be allowed to expire without renewal of these leases.
5. We demand that the name of the Custer National Forest be changed to Crazy Horse National Forest; this is upon the advice of the story told to LaDonna Brave Bull-Allard by Johnson Holy Rock and Elaine Quiver: that the Slim Buttes and Cave Hills was one of Crazy Horse's favorite places and is part of the Powder River basin that as a condition of his surrender would be his permanent reservation. For this he was murdered at Fort Robinson.
6. We demand that the Sioux Ranger District be renamed Paha Zizipila as this is its true Lakota name.
-
Just a thought.......the US owes debts to many foreign Nations, one of the biggest is China. What kind of collateral do you think backs these debts?
At the moment, mutual understanding that if the US collapses entirely, the rest of the world economy follows.
-
Vigil on the Plains
Crow Creek Sioux chairman is ‘not going anywhere’
By Stephanie Woodard, Today correspondent
Story Published: Dec 29, 2009
Story Updated: Dec 24, 2009
FORT THOMPSON, S.D. – On Dec. 15, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Chairman Brandon Sazue got a visit from eight horseback riders on a pilgrimage to memorialize 38 Dakota men who died in the nation’s largest mass hanging, in December 1862 in Mankato, Minn.
“The group took a detour from the main ride to fill a pipe here that will be smoked and prayed over when they get to Mankato.”
The 35-year-old chairman was camped on 7,100 acres of wind-swept, snowy land owned by Crow Creek Tribal Farms. The IRS recently seized the tract and on Dec. 3 auctioned it off for $2 million less than its $4.6 million value to pay a purported tax bill for the tribe, a separate legal entity.
The riders found Sazue holding his own in sub-zero temperatures. The chairman took up residence on the expanse shortly after the auction, intending to fast and pray for its repatriation until the crisis is resolved. “I’m not going anywhere. This land never was and never will be for sale. Not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow. As chairman, I inherited the tax problem and tried to work with the IRS. They claim they ‘consulted’ with us, but all they did was tell us ‘here’s how it’s going to go.’”
The IRS action appears to fly in the face of legal precedents as far back as a 1790 law prohibiting the transfer of Indian land without a treaty, according to a legal memorandum drawn up by the tribe’s attorneys, Mario Gonzalez, Oglala Lakota and Terry L. Pechota, Rosebud Sioux Tribe. The document was filed Dec. 2 in U.S. District Court in an effort to stop the sale. That request was denied; however, a trial will take place in March, during which the tribe will attempt to regain the site.
“It’s the Black Hills gold rush all over again,” said historian Waziyatawin, Ph.D., Wahpetowan Dakota from Upper Sioux and a University of Victoria research scholar. “Nowadays, the press is reporting on a green energy land rush and Department of the Interior efforts to free up millions of acres for wind and solar development. Open prairie land, such as that on Indian reservations in the Plains, is suitable for such enterprises. So the U.S. government is going after the poorest of the poor to find the resources it needs.”
How to help
Send donations of supplies or cash to Chairman Brandon Sazue, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, P.O. Box 50, Fort Thompson, South Dakota 57339.
To reach the Obama administration, call the White House Comment Line: (202) 456-1111 Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Eastern standard time, or go to www.whitehouse.gov/contact. Find your federal representatives at house.gov or senate.gov.
The tribe, which has an unemployment rate of about 80 percent and lives in one of the poorest counties in the nation, had been planning a wind farm for the area, said Sazue. “If we lose this land, we miss that opportunity. We have profound connections to this place as well. Our ancestors are buried here, and tribal members come to collect sage and other traditional medicines.”
When Waziyatawin visited the site with her family Dec. 12 for a pipe ceremony, she joined Crow Creek tribal members and visitors from Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, the Yankton Sioux Reservation, and the Rosebud Sioux Reservation.
The tax problem appears to have arisen after Harold Condon, a BIA employee who became financial manager of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in the early 2000s, advised the community not to pay federal employment taxes. According to a document that Gay Kingman, Cheyenne River Sioux, executive director of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association, received from the BIA in early December, the agency claims Condon did “an excellent job.” Further, the BIA letter says, the tribe owed the taxes and Condon was “instrumental in working with the Internal Revenue Service to get the large bill paid.”
The tract, which makes up 20 percent of Crow Creek’s reservation, was originally sold off after the Allotment Act of 1889 moved it into the hands of individual Indian owners. Notably, this was done without the majority vote of the tribe required by law. “We all know the referendum never took place,” Pechota said.
The tribe repurchased the land in 1998, according to Gonzalez’s and Pechota’s legal memorandum. Crow Creek then attempted to put the acreage back into trust, said Sazue. “We started the process in 2000. It shouldn’t take a decade to accomplish this.”
Nedra Darling, Prairie Band Potawatomi and a BIA spokeswoman, refused to comment on any aspect of the situation, citing the ongoing litigation. Darling added that Hilary Tompkins, Navajo, solicitor of the Interior Department and one of the Obama administration’s high-profile Native appointees, would also not comment.
The crisis occurs against a background of economic devastation created by the building of a series of giant dams along the Missouri River in the mid-20th century. The dams flooded valuable riverside agricultural areas on Sioux reservations throughout the Dakotas. Starvation ensued in many areas. In return for giving up the richly diverse bottomland, Crow Creek was promised free electrical power, which it never received. It did get $27.5 million that has been put into trust. However, the tribe can only touch the interest, not the principal, said Sazue. “I call that living off scraps. Why couldn’t we use that money to pay the IRS?”
The tribe’s difficulties have been exacerbated by the IRS siphoning off earnings from Crow Creek’s small casino and motel, making it difficult for the tribe to meet payroll and provide public services, as well as to pay the tax bill in an orderly fashion, Sazue said. The problem has also arisen at the worst time of year, according to the chairman. Despite frigid temperatures, the local electric company has been disconnecting the only power source for many Crow Creek families, claiming non-payment of bills. This forces the tribe to shelter members at its Fort Thompson motel, thus forgoing income it might receive by renting the rooms.
This is an annual occurrence, according to the humanitarian organization Can-Do, which filmed the electric company ripping out meters throughout Crow Creek during the winter of 2008, as babies cried and mothers tried to understand mysteriously escalating bills. To see the group’s video, visit www.can-do.org and look under “Project Progress Videos.” Can-Do’s investigation found “severe increases of illness, disease and mortality” on the reservation.
Sazue’s family was affected this year as well. “A month ago, my cousin called. She just had a baby, her husband is on oxygen, and her electricity got cut off. Companies are not supposed to do that in inclement weather, but they do here. Our people are suffering.”
“The Obama administration could help solve this crisis,” Waziyatawin said. “Obama is talking the talk when it comes to Indian country, but are he and his appointees going to walk the walk?”
-
CVMT Press Release:
From: Administrator' s Office californiavalleymiw oktribe@yahoo. com
California Valley Miwok Tribe
Picket the Central California Agency-Bureau of Indian Affairs
The California Valley Miwok Tribe invites you to join us in our open protest against the local Bureau of Indian Affairs, Dept. of the Interior, Central California Agency
Our Tribe is a federally recognized Tribe that is listed in the Federal Register as an Indian Entity Recognized and Eligible to receive services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The Central California Agency — BIA is illegally trying to re-organize a federally recognized Tribe that has never been terminated, that has a Custom and Tradition Tribal Constitution ratified by the Tribe in March 2000.
The local BIA has been illegally withholding our Mature Status 638
Contract since 2008 and by refusing to confirm to the California Gambling Control Commission who our duly elected Chairperson is, BIA has caused the CGCC to illegally withhold the Tribe's Revenue Sharing Trust Fund Monies (RSTF) since 2005.
Our civil rights have been violated. The local BIA is also violating federal law.
We (the "Tribe") have no money to fund our Tribal Programs, all employees have been layed off since Dec 2007.
The Tribe cannot pay its bills, and the only Tribal Property (1% acres of land at 10601 Escondido Pl., Stockton, CA 95212) has been foreclosed on.
The Sheriff's Department is scheduled to evict the Tribe and its members off the Tribal Property on January 15, 2010.
We are demanding that our funding be released immediately so we can save our Tribal Property and not be homeless. We are demanding fair treatment by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. We are demanding that an investigation into the inappropriate actions and treatment of our Tribe, by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Dept of the Interior - BIA mission is to "protect and honor its trust responsibilities to American Indians, Alaskan Natives and Affiliated Island Communities" , so why have they failed so miserably with protecting the California Valley Miwok Tribe?
Come join us, voice your concerns and issues.
Show strength in UNITY!!
Where: John Moss Building - Central Calif. Agency/Bureau of Indian Affairs 650 Capitol Mall,
Sacramento, Calif. 95814
When: Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 & Thursday, January 7 th, 2010
Time: 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. (each day)
followed by a 1 hour Press Conference (each day)
For more info contact the California Valley Miwok Tribe at (209) 931 -4567
http://www.californ iavalleymiwoktri be-nsn.gov
and http://californiava lleymiwoktribe. us
All are welcome to join us, voice your concerns and issues, Show strength in UNITY!!
Our Tribal funds are being illegally withheld,
Our civil rights and Federal Law is being violated.
Our Tribe is facing forced eviction on Jan 15 th, 2010
The Bureau of Indian Affairs must be held accountable.
The Public needs to know the truth about how American Indians rights are being abused!
Please join us! We need your support!
-
The next land rush?
Story Published: Dec 31, 2009
Story Updated: Dec 31, 2009
On Dec. 4 an action was taken against Crow Creek tribal land near my district that shook the absolute foundations of Indian law all the way back to the 1800s. Yet, few people were in the small room in Highmore, S.D. to see this monumental action and few other tribes even know it has taken place. Any tribe with land should shutter with the magnitude of what this precedent could mean for themselves or their individual tribal members.
The Internal Revenue Service collected against 7,100 acres – 11 square miles – of Indian owned land in Hyde County, S.D. This particular parcel was part of the original Crow Creek treaty boundaries, but the treaty was subsequently broken and this land was sold to LeMaster. Interestingly enough, our tribe was able to use settlement money from another federal land taking to purchase this land back in 1998.
My issue is not with the IRS action itself but rather with the system that our tribe and all other tribes find themselves under. The actions of a handful of people are being used to take the property of 3,000 tribal members. Where else in America is that even a possibility?
The land tenure system in place asks us as tribes to place land in “trust” with the federal government. We are told that the government will look after our best interests and utilize the land to its utmost capabilities. But, as tribes, we know this is not true. Just two weeks ago we saw this same guardian have to dispense $3.4 billion to tribes because that trust was broken, not only broken but we as tribes had to wait 13 years for a resolution.
We are also told that once in the system the government will look at interceders with a jaundice eye and the land will not be able to be condemned or taken. But just a quick drive around the Crow Creek Reservation you can see huge transmission lines and the Big Bend Dam which have taken incredible amounts of land that seem to prove this principle otherwise. Where was the federal government when their other agencies stepped within our borders to take this land?
The federal agencies involved in this current action will tell you that the LeMaster land was never brought under this “trust responsibility” and the land remained as “tribal fee.” When should the government step away from the original obligation to uphold the treaty boundaries? Their great idea of land policy has left us with reservation lands that are labyrinths of complicated property interests, jurisdictional issues and taxation problems. Their policy has created checker-boarded islands that as tribal members we merely have to tolerate because Dawes’ idea just did not work out.
The federal government’s “trust” has definite limits and if those limits are exceeded they will allow other pieces of government to take action within the reservation boundaries. And, every tribe that has a piece of land should take notice or they too could have a new 11 square mile hole to drive past within their boundaries.
– Duane St. John
Crow Creek Tribal Council
Big Bend Community, S.D.
-
wow..
-
I am a half Cherokke Indian and proud of it.
I am not proud of the U.S. potentially stuff
from us Indians, Of course they haven't stole from me
yet and hope they don't.
-
I am a half Cherokke Indian and proud of it.
I am not proud of the U.S. potentially stuff
from us Indians, Of course they haven't stole from me
yet and hope they don't.
I can see very clearly by this short post that "they" have indeed stolen your cultural identity.
Half "Cherokee" ?.....which half?
The Elders teach that either you are TSALAGI or you're not no half about it.
If you were so proud of it you would at the least learn how to spell it, and at the most learn that "cherokee" is the name the europeans gave us(yeah they even stole our name from us) the traditional name and the one that all traditional(versus completely assimilated AMERICAN indians)cherokee use is "Tsalagi" can you say Cha-Luh-Gee?
The way I see it someone with Native ancestry but is totally assimilated isn't Tsalagi.
The fed.gov. have been attempting to make us extinct for over 500 years and yes it is very much still happening today.
Today, however, any murders are an uncommon occurrence and are never heard of save from in the very local vicinity.
The annihilation is more assimilation, B/Q, killing us off on paper........how many other races do you know of that even if you are 100% full blood but are not a member of one of the few tribes that are federally recognized, you are forced by law to claim on any identifying documents, such as birth certificate, drivers license etc any other race you want....EXCEPT FOR NDN!!!!!
The reason being......kill us off on paper and renege on all previous agreements/treaties, not to mention that there are absolutely zero treaties that the US ever entered into with any Native Nation and did not break.
No matter how much NDN blood runs through the veins of the citizenry here, once all of our people have been successfully assimilated....there will be no more Indians.
It isn't the blood that courses through ones veins that makes them who they are....it is being intimately familiar with the traditions, the history, the language.....in other words, the culture. Once the forced, coerced, or other wise purging us of all of our NDNness we will no longer be the proud free Nations we once were........we will then simply be....americans.
I AM NOT NOR WILL I EVER BE AMERICAN!!!!!
-
wado
-
wado
ro901 O'siyo.
gvlieliga.
osda sunalei
hi tsalagi s?
-
why, don't we all stop paying taxes - we are all native to the earth - besides the indians of america say they belong to the earth as we all do - IMHO >> In My Humble Opinion - The MUSEUM, Zazzle, deviantART, ArtFire, FineArtAmerica
I agree with you their, my family pays around $11,000 dollars a year in property taxes for the farm land we have owned for many generations, so they are stealing from my family as well as any one else.
-
anyone that does not like the usa can leave any time - no one is making them stay - just because my grandparents came from a different country does not mean that i have to stay in the usa - i've been to 38 countries - every state in the usa - worked in 10 different states and lived in 6 more - i'll take florida over any state and the usa over any country - the last time i was reentering the usa - the custom's person asked what i thought about being back in the usa - told them 'it's great, americans are confident while all the others i had visited were arrogant and down right mean to americans" - but now it looks like the arrogance has landed on the usa shores and everyone wants something for nothing - not willing to work - only wants money from the obama stash - remember you get what you deserve - if you want health, peace and happiness you get it if that is what you sow - most get hate, fear and death because they can not forgive themselves - forgive yourself first - then you can forgive others - and a Happy New Year to all - by the way the indians were not the first people here in the land we call usa - the indians are also transplants from other areas of the world
I agree with you their, in my county where I live everyone is looking for a free hand out from the hard working taxpayer and all I keep seeing is my family's and my property taxes keep increasing to take care of the people that are stealing from me!
-
anyone that does not like the usa can leave any time - no one is making them stay - just because my grandparents came from a different country does not mean that i have to stay in the usa - i've been to 38 countries - every state in the usa - worked in 10 different states and lived in 6 more - i'll take florida over any state and the usa over any country - the last time i was reentering the usa - the custom's person asked what i thought about being back in the usa - told them 'it's great, americans are confident while all the others i had visited were arrogant and down right mean to americans" - but now it looks like the arrogance has landed on the usa shores and everyone wants something for nothing - not willing to work - only wants money from the obama stash - remember you get what you deserve - if you want health, peace and happiness you get it if that is what you sow - most get hate, fear and death because they can not forgive themselves - forgive yourself first - then you can forgive others - and a Happy New Year to all - by the way the indians were not the first people here in the land we call usa - the indians are also transplants from other areas of the world
I agree with you their, in my county where I live everyone is looking for a free hand out from the hard working taxpayer and all I keep seeing is my family's and my property taxes keep increasing to take care of the people that are stealing from me!
how far back can you trace the deed to your family farm?
-
I live less than two miles from the Ak Chin Indian community. They are anything but mistreated. The Harrah's Ak Chin Casino rakes in millions of dollars(mostly from the pensions of retired White People). They enjoy free medical care, their own dialysis center, a huge recreation center. Most of them also got brand new homes. They are living better than I am.
-
http://shema-yisrael.org/blogspot/2009/05/where-is-the-poorest-county-in-america/
Tim Giago, in his 2007 blog article The “Poorest County in America” gives a good description of those reservations that prosper due to the presence of Casinos vs. those who either choose not to use Casinos as an income source, or who would see no advantage in building them. While Giago cites data from the 1980 U.S. census, he states that 27 years later, when writing his article, “the Pine Ridge Reservation is still among the top ten poorest counties in America, and why three of the top ten poorest counties are located in South Dakota…What does that say about our elected Congressional delegation”? With that last question hanging in the air, I found myself wondering how much (if any) of President Obama’s much touted “stimulus package” was targeted to the Oglala Lakota Sioux and to impoverished Native American people?
A quick Google search found the March 13, 2009 USA Today article, Tribes look to $3B share of stimulus funds. Keep in mind, that as of a little over two months ago when the news story was published, the Pine Ridge Reservation wasn’t “rolling in dough” because of stimulus money. There is still a severe housing and job shortage among Native Americans on reservations in general, with an estimated 200,000 new homes needed. On Pine Ridge, 2 out of 3, or 63% of the population is unemployed. Compare that to the April 2009 national unemployment rate of 8.9%. Also nationally, unemployment among Native Americans is at a staggering 85%. I mentioned a housing shortage, but according to the Indian Housing Authority, one-third of the existing residences “are severely substandard, without water, electricity, adequate insulation, and sewage systems”.
You may be saying to yourselves, that all the tribes need to do is wait for the stimulus money to kick in, and they’ll be fine. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Jacqueline Johnson Pata of the National Congress of American Indians, says that even the seemingly huge amount of funds dedicated to the tribes will barely scratch the surface of the enormous needs they face. 3 Billion dollars is a great deal of money, but it is to be shared by all of the nation’s 562 federally recognized tribes. The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation reported in July of 2008 that “Indians are worse off economically than any other minority. In 2007, American Indians’ median household income - the middle figure, with half the amounts above and half below - was $35,000, 31% less than the $50,700 median for all Americans, according to the Census Bureau. One in four Indians, 25%, live below the poverty line, compared with 13% of all Americans”.
“Indians are worse off economically than any other minority” in the United States. We hear a great deal in the news about how difficult it is for people in these economic times. Certainly many of you reading this article have suffered because of the economy. It is regularly reported how various minority groups in the U.S. have a much harder time surviving and acquiring basic services than the average (non-minority) American. As a Messianic believer who has a focus on the Land of Israel, I also read many reports of how the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are suffering terrifically because of the “oppression” of the Jewish “occupiers”.
All that considered, we Americans have an “invisible” population of poor living within our very borders that we fail to acknowledge or even consider. When was the last time you read a news story or saw a T.V. report about the poorest people in the United States (besides those that I’ve drawn to your attention in this blog)?
-
I live less than two miles from the Ak Chin Indian community. They are anything but mistreated. The Harrah's Ak Chin Casino rakes in millions of dollars(mostly from the pensions of retired White People). They enjoy free medical care, their own dialysis center, a huge recreation center. Most of them also got brand new homes. They are living better than I am.
Seeings how you live only 2 miles from the Rez, you may be interested in doing what I just did and call the finance dept at (520) 568-1027 and ask for an accounting of the hundreds of thousands of dollars they have contributed to the surrounding communities last year, in taxes as well as grants, scholarships and other donations.
Then perhaps if you would consider working some where close to as hard as they have you might just advance your standard of living to a point to where you wont have need of whining about how good the Jones' are having of it.
Just a thought. ;0)
-
anyone that does not like the usa can leave any time - no one is making them stay - just because my grandparents came from a different country does not mean that i have to stay in the usa - i've been to 38 countries - every state in the usa - worked in 10 different states and lived in 6 more - i'll take florida over any state and the usa over any country - the last time i was reentering the usa - the custom's person asked what i thought about being back in the usa - told them 'it's great, americans are confident while all the others i had visited were arrogant and down right mean to americans" - but now it looks like the arrogance has landed on the usa shores and everyone wants something for nothing - not willing to work - only wants money from the obama stash - remember you get what you deserve - if you want health, peace and happiness you get it if that is what you sow - most get hate, fear and death because they can not forgive themselves - forgive yourself first - then you can forgive others - and a Happy New Year to all - by the way the indians were not the first people here in the land we call usa - the indians are also transplants from other areas of the world
I agree with you their, in my county where I live everyone is looking for a free hand out from the hard working taxpayer and all I keep seeing is my family's and my property taxes keep increasing to take care of the people that are stealing from me!
Back from 1860 is when my ancestors purchased our land, and back then it cost $1.25 per acre.
how far back can you trace the deed to your family farm?
-
anyone that does not like the usa can leave any time - no one is making them stay - just because my grandparents came from a different country does not mean that i have to stay in the usa - i've been to 38 countries - every state in the usa - worked in 10 different states and lived in 6 more - i'll take florida over any state and the usa over any country - the last time i was reentering the usa - the custom's person asked what i thought about being back in the usa - told them 'it's great, americans are confident while all the others i had visited were arrogant and down right mean to americans" - but now it looks like the arrogance has landed on the usa shores and everyone wants something for nothing - not willing to work - only wants money from the obama stash - remember you get what you deserve - if you want health, peace and happiness you get it if that is what you sow - most get hate, fear and death because they can not forgive themselves - forgive yourself first - then you can forgive others - and a Happy New Year to all - by the way the indians were not the first people here in the land we call usa - the indians are also transplants from other areas of the world
I agree with you their, in my county where I live everyone is looking for a free hand out from the hard working taxpayer and all I keep seeing is my family's and my property taxes keep increasing to take care of the people that are stealing from me!
Back from 1860 is when my ancestors purchased our land, and back then it cost $1.25 per acre.
how far back can you trace the deed to your family farm?
Wheres it at, perhaps you would be interested in some older history than that of it.
-
http://www.petitiononline.com/CrowCrek/petition.html
To: Bureau of Indian Affairs, President Obama, SD Governor Rounds, SD Senator Tim Johnson, SD Senator Thune,U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin
On December 3, 2009 the Internal Revenue Service unlawfully auctioned off 7100 acres located on Crow Creek Sioux Tribal land.
The land is owned by Crow Creek Tribal Farms, Inc. a Tribal corporation and distinct legal entity from the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe.
According to the recent motion for temporary restraining order, filed by the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, the IRS seized and auctioned the land to recover $3,123,789.73 dollars in unpaid employment taxes. The document states, Because of erroneous tax advice received from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe became delinquent in the payment of employment taxes collected by the IRS beginning in 2003. The BIA had informed the Tribe that, because it was a federally recognized Tribe, it was not necessary to pay federal employment taxes.
The Crow Creek Indian Reservation was created by the 1868 Treaty, Act of April 29, 1868, 15 Stat. 635, and by Section 6, Act of March 2, 1889, 25 Stat. 888.
The Crow Creek Sioux Reservation encompasses Buffalo County and portions of Hyde and Brule Counties. Crow Creek Sioux Tribe is consistently documented as one of the poorest Reservations in the Nation, with 78% of their members living below the poverty line.
This despicable and irreparable action from the IRS, could ultimately eliminate 20% of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribes Reservation lands.
This action taken by the IRS could ultimately set a precedence, allowing the continual land grab on Tribal Lands. We must ALL UNITE and take a stand on this issue, to voice Tribal Lands are NOT for Sale!
We the undersigned, hereby request the immediate return of the unlawfully auctioned Crow Creek Sioux Tribal Lands.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYh7RI0GTJI&feature=related
-
http://www.petitiononline.com/CrowCrek/petition.html
To: Bureau of Indian Affairs, President Obama, SD Governor Rounds, SD Senator Tim Johnson, SD Senator Thune,U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin
On December 3, 2009 the Internal Revenue Service unlawfully auctioned off 7100 acres located on Crow Creek Sioux Tribal land.
The land is owned by Crow Creek Tribal Farms, Inc. a Tribal corporation and distinct legal entity from the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe.
According to the recent motion for temporary restraining order, filed by the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, the IRS seized and auctioned the land to recover $3,123,789.73 dollars in unpaid employment taxes. The document states, Because of erroneous tax advice received from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe became delinquent in the payment of employment taxes collected by the IRS beginning in 2003. The BIA had informed the Tribe that, because it was a federally recognized Tribe, it was not necessary to pay federal employment taxes.
The Crow Creek Indian Reservation was created by the 1868 Treaty, Act of April 29, 1868, 15 Stat. 635, and by Section 6, Act of March 2, 1889, 25 Stat. 888.
The Crow Creek Sioux Reservation encompasses Buffalo County and portions of Hyde and Brule Counties. Crow Creek Sioux Tribe is consistently documented as one of the poorest Reservations in the Nation, with 78% of their members living below the poverty line.
This despicable and irreparable action from the IRS, could ultimately eliminate 20% of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribes Reservation lands.
This action taken by the IRS could ultimately set a precedence, allowing the continual land grab on Tribal Lands. We must ALL UNITE and take a stand on this issue, to voice Tribal Lands are NOT for Sale!
We the undersigned, hereby request the immediate return of the unlawfully auctioned Crow Creek Sioux Tribal Lands.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
That's the US Government, the IRS is always looking too take property and money from people, but as long as they paid their taxes their is nothing that the Government can do to take their land.
-
I do not think anyone should be confined to a certain place, but we are all God's people, every one of us, created in His image. We all have to follow the bearacratic ways, so people of the indian decent do not choose this, and they can opt out, which makes them set apart, because we do not have that choice, but in general this is God's land, not anyone individual tribe, people etc. God created this land. land has been being taken over in every county, every nation, everywhere, just think about it, war after war, tribe after tribe, land has switched hands over and over and over. We are only indebted to Jesus Christ who gave His blood so we could be here, period.
-
I do not think anyone should be confined to a certain place, but we are all God's people, every one of us, created in His image. We all have to follow the bearacratic ways, so people of the indian decent do not choose this, and they can opt out, which makes them set apart, because we do not have that choice, but in general this is God's land, not anyone individual tribe, people etc. God created this land. land has been being taken over in every county, every nation, everywhere, just think about it, war after war, tribe after tribe, land has switched hands over and over and over. We are only indebted to Jesus Christ who gave His blood so we could be here, period.
hold that thought...we will revisit that later.....
-
http://www.poormagazine.org/index.cfm?L1=news&story=2427&pg=1&preview=1
A Mama Bear in the Woods
Andy Kreamer/PNN Indigenous Peoples Media Project
Friday, January 8, 2010;
“There might be things that you have a hard time doing, but that doesn't mean that its impossible” says Silvia Burley. Silvia is the Chairperson of the California Valley Miwok Tribe and she doesn't just say this in passing- but rather as her Tribe of mostly women and children prepare to lock themselves inside their Tribal Headquarters in Stockton, CA. This is the plan for January 15th, when the Sheriff is coming to forcibly evict them from their land because of foreclosure. Silvia adds: “These people have apparently never seen a mama bear in the woods, because then they would know how a mother is willing to fight and do anything for her child.”
Hoping to stave off the eviction, the California Valley Miwok called for a 2-day protest and speak-out gathering at the Bureau of Indian Affairs recently on January 6th and 7th. The BIA was targeted because they have been withholding funds that the CA Valley Miwok need in order to pay for their land, and also because the BIA could push the California Gambling Control Commission (CGCC) to also release funds due to them. The CA Valley Miwok don't have a casino, so under the Indian Gaming laws they are entitled to revenue that gets taxed off the Tribes that do have casinos.
“The event was a great show of Unity” said Quanah Brightman of the United Native Americans. “9 organizations came together for 2 days to show our support of the California Valley Miwok and also to bring up other issues that we all have with the BIA. Filipinos were there, the Brown Berets, Wounded Knee and the defenders of Glen Cove, several Miwok nations as well as other nations all came because when one of us is attacked, we are all attacked.”
Brightman, Burley, and a lawyer for the CA Valley Miwok were able to get a meeting with Troy Burdick, head of the Central CA BIA because of the commotion caused by the events. They demanded that the BIA tell them the reasons why the money has not been released to the CA Valley Miwok since December 2007. In addition to paying for their land, the money is needed for medical insurance, education, and the welfare of children. The group also brought up some other concerns that they want to BIA to consider and investigate: “In South Dakota the Crow Creek reservation is being sold by the IRS to pay off that Tribe's unpaid taxes- but Native Tribes are like non-profit organizations, we don't have to pay taxes, so why is the IRS involved with a Tribe at all?” questioned Quanah Brightman.
They also pushed the BIA to take a stand to protect Indigenous Sacred Sites, the traditional burial ground in Glen Cove, Vallejo, CA in particular. Finally, they demanded that the BIA grant 'Federally Recognized' status to all Tribes who currently have only 'State Recognized' status, because these people are being denied Federal protection of their human rights and desperately needed services. There are over 500 Tribes that are not Federally Recognized, and 76 in California. Many of these California Tribes need the Federal status so that the remains of their ancestors can be returned to them from anthropology museums across the State, including UC Berkeley and UC Davis.
Burdick didn't have anything to say for himself nor the BIA, and the meeting was interrupted quickly by a staff person interrupting and informing him that he had a 'really important phone call.'
On Thursday afternoon the lawyers for the CA Valley Miwok heard that there have been 2 meetings in Washington D.C., and the matter is being discussed very heatedly. The decisions will be made there by the new BIA director Larry Echohawk instead of in California. This is good news because folks have only gotten the run-around here at the California office of the BIA. Before their meeting with Troy Burdick about the funds from BIA and also the CGCC, Burdick has said that the “BIA doesn't have any authority to tell the CGCC to hold or release your funds because they are a State Agency that we don't have any control over.” This while the CGCC says that they cannot release the money without authorization from the BIA.
The BIA is a federal agency, and their only job is to look out for the welfare of Native Americans. Surely they have the ability to overrule State agencies when a Tribe's livelihood is at stake. Unfortunately, this current run-around is not different from the BIA's actions historically. “Over 1 billion acres have been stolen over the last 500 years by the US cavalry and the BIA,” says Quanah Brightman. Cesar Caballero, Chief of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok states that “families have been destroyed by children being moved away to BIA boarding schools, and forced relocation policies have broken spiritual connections to land. The few strong people who have survived all this are faced with the BIA providing no roads or utility infrastructure for the small lands that are left, often times leaving us to be shot at by our neighbors who don't want us crossing their land to get to ours.”
He continues, “Our tribes are made up of a lot of war veterans, and we have little education. The genocide that started with the Gold Rush into our Miwok lands is almost complete, but we are still here.” Silvia Burley says: “Us Miwok, we used to live on 10 Counties worth of land, now we are left with only 1.5 acres, and they are trying to foreclose that on us.”
The BIA's choice of doing nothing thus far to stop the eviction of the California Valley Miwok is not just a bureaucratic mistake of overlooking a small tribe while attending to a busy work schedule; it's much deeper than that. The local Central CA agency, and Superintendent Troy Burdick in particular, are corrupt and working with several casino investors and developers in a new tidal wave of colonization that is drowning Indigenous folks all over the Central Valley. Entrepreneur Chadd Everone/Ludwig has been recorded on tape describing the ways that he has been working with this local BIA office and the CGCC to discredit the Tribe and instate impostor leadership. They will then sign casino building deals with multimillionaire Albert D. Seeno Jr. who runs the giant Peppermill Casino chain and 30-40 assorted businesses in the Bay Area. Silvia Burley says that “Seeno was told by the BIA at one point that he couldn't have just one elder sign a deal for a casino.” Check out the audio archive at: http://www.californiavalleymiwoktribe.us/
Chadd Everone/Ludwig has gotten the BIA office to view the Leadership of the Tribe as 'in dispute,' which the BIA is now using as a reason to withhold funds; even though the BIA considered the leadership to be in dispute for years and released funds regularly for years, because the funds go to the Tribe and not the leader anyways. There are now an unknown, and growing number of people with CA Valley Miwok identity cards who have not registered yet with the legitimate Tribe nor the BIA. A group of these people came to the protest on Thursday and were reportedly paid $1000 each by Everone/Ludwig to be there, when they were questioned by a man who went to the protest about whether they wanted to build a casino or not they changed the subject.
“Straight up identity theft of Tribes' names is real, and it's happening” says Cesar Caballero, of a nearby band of Miwok called the Shingle Springs Miwok Tribe. His Tribe's name was stolen in the 1970's and 1980's by some people of Maidu/Hawaiian bloodlines who were living near Sacramento. A bit later they worked with two white guys from Vegas named Kevin M. Kean and Jerry A. Argovitz and the local BIA office to be instated as leaders of the Shingle Springs Miwok Tribe. Kean and Argovitz then arranged for a whole succession of deals to be signed by the Tribal Impostors, ultimately resulting in an agreement between the Tribal Impostors and Lakes Entertainment- a company that has deals with 4 'Tribes' in 4 different States.
“This identity theft issue is huge.” says Cesar Caballero. “I am part of a lawsuit right now, along with 5 other tribes across the United States, who are dealing with our Tribes being infiltrated by outsiders, who then go on to sign deals and build casinos. We filed it with the Supreme Court and they will decide whether or not to hear our whole case on January 15th. The BIA is facilitating this theft to happen, and the original Tribal members are being left out of even the basic healthcare services that we got before we were infiltrated.” You can see the case at: http://www.mklaw.com/mdewakanton.htm
The Original Miwok Tribes are coming together in a consortium, as they are all being similarly infiltrated. It is time to stand with the Miwok Tribes, and all Indigenous Americans, and fight off these attacks by greedy casino developers who seek to use the Tribes' ability to have casinos for their own profit-making. After all, Cesar states, “A typical casino deal looks like this: very publicly 50% of the profit goes to the private investor and 25% gets taken in taxes by the State. Of the remaining 25% only 5 or 6% goes to people in the Tribe, because some has to be used to do repairs on the casino, and a lot goes to the people who signed the deals with the casino company.”
The eviction of the CA Valley Miwok is currently scheduled for January 15th, in Stockton. A temporary restraining order and an injunction have been petitioned for, but not granted.
Silvia Burley pleads: “We are requesting that all people who know what its like to have an injustice done to you and who can remember how it felt for people to walk away without helping, or for those who had been wrongly accused and had to stand alone and fight through the tears and frustration to be ridiculed and finally justified in the end when the truth came out in the open, you are the ones that we are asking to step up and help us.'
'Please send letters, faxes, and or emails to your elected officials, and also leave voice messages regarding how appalled you are about the Bureau of Indian Affairs allowing such abuses to happen to a federally recognized Tribe, for this has gone on (years) too long!!! Do not allow the lies of Chadd Everone and his Gaming Developers (financial backers) to continue to cover up the truth of what they have been doing to destroy us. DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE INVESTIGATION INTO THE CRIMINAL ACTIONS OF THE LOCAL BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS/CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AGENCY, and SUPERINTENDENT TROY BURDICK, REGARDING HIS WORKING WITH CHADD EVERONE AGAINST OUR TRIBE.
For more information on how to help the Tribe, please contact us at the Tribal office at 209.931.4567 or by fax 209.931.4333