American Indians meet in SoCal for tribal disenrollment protest
By CHRIS T. NGUYEN
Associated Press Writer
Article published May 21, 2005
More than 100 American Indians ousted from their casino-owning tribes joined hands Saturday to protest what they called the growing problem of money grabs by tribal leaders through disenrollment.
It was the first such large-scale organized gathering for people who contend they have been excised from tribal rolls by leaders seeking a larger share of gambling profits. As tribal gambling grows into a $17 billion industry, disputes over disenrollment have flared nationwide. More than 1,000 people are fighting their ouster in California alone.
"There needs to be a healing in Indian country and we're going to start it," said John Gomez Jr., who was removed from the local Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians. "From this day forward we're not going to play the victim any more."
Gomez was joined at a public park in this Riverside County community by former members of 16 tribes from California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and New York. They planned another meeting in Nevada and said they were asking Congress to hold hearings on disenrollments. Many noted the growing political power and formidable finances of the tribes that ousted them.
Bob Foreman, 68, was ousted from the Redding Rancheria tribe in Northern California in January 2004, along with 65 members of his family. In an effort to prove his ancestry, he even exhumed the bodies of his grandmother and mother to collect DNA evidence. Still, he said, tribal leaders refused to reinstate him.
"I don't think I could forgive or forget," said Foreman, who had served several terms as tribal chairman and had received about $2,500 a month in casino revenues before he was ousted. "Sovereignty - it's given tribes the power to do anything they want. It's greed."
Vicky Schenandoah, 43, a former member of the Oneida Nation of New York, led a prayer in which the crowd held hands in a circle, representing the continuity of life. "We could have peace. We will all be happy in our minds," she said in the Oneida language.
It has been 10 years since she was denied tribal status after protesting what she called the tribe's secret deal to build a casino. Following the protest, she said she was labeled a terrorist and arsonist.
"This is not about money for me. It's about integrity," said Schenandoah, who sued the Oneida Nation in federal court in 1996. Judges have thrown out the case, ruling U.S. courts have no jurisdiction.
Disputes over tribal status have also played out in state courts. In California, 11 former Pechanga Band members sued in March 2004, representing an extended family of 130 adults and about 70 children who claim ancestry to the tribe. They claimed to have lost about $120,000 a year in profits from the tribe's popular casino.
Four months later, Superior Court Judge Charles D. Field declined to dismiss the suit, ruling that courts have authority over legal matters that arise from tribal disputes. The case is currently being heard in an appellate court.
Among those ousted from the tribe was Stella Alvarez, 35, who said her disenrollment came while she was in a coma following a severe asthma attack. The tribe didn't cover the more than $1 million in medical bills she incurred while being hospitalized for nearly a month - though expenses were covered by a private insurer.
Still, Alvarez is struggling with being cut off from her family.
"My main thing is I've always been told we're Pechangans, so how could they take that from us?" she said.
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Last updated on May 27, 2005