At a meeting of many today to discuss the future course of the exiled/disenrolled Tribal members of the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, it became apparent that the issue of disenrollments are so far reaching into the neighboring Indian communities that the tone of the get together almost got off to the wrong start.

This meeting had been scheduled as part of an educational series to showcase a legislative piece that could effectively end the "genocide on paper" practice now being carried out by Tribes around the State and the Country.  The bill, authored by Laura Wass, Executive Director of the Many Lightning's Cultural Center and Bryan Galt, former Chukchansi member, doesn't give any preferential treatment to specific Tribal groups.  The bill instead focuses exclusively on fixing the problem at its root source by shutting off the Tribe's ability to remove its citizens at will and adding in severe penalties for doing so.

However, this was only one part of the agenda that appeared for the meeting and neither the training nor the meeting agenda listed the topics some of the participants wanted to talk about such as bringing lawsuits against the BIA or the Tribal Councils, so the meeting started to become derailed within the first fifteen minutes while Ms. Wass was attempting to outline the plan to "bring everyone home."

Kathy Lewis of Table Mountain Rancheria tried to make the point that any meeting of the people shouldn't be used as an exclusive means to further the goals of any one Tribal group, especially since the overall issue has affected everyone in the State. She tried to make the point that she and several others have protested and brought suits to federal court even without the full support of the rest of the Native peoples in this area, and that made it so much more difficult to accomplish, but her voice was lost in the crowd as many people started to speak their views on this.

After a couple of minutes of back and forth discussions with a couple of members in the audience, Mr. Ron Alec, former Chair of the Cold Springs Rancheria spoke up.  His tone was strong and commanded attention from the crowd.  He stated, "We have to come together to be strong, like a band of sticks. When they are bound together, you cannot break them. When they are individuals, anyone can break them. This is how we are now and we have to stop. Our focus should not be on the little distractions, it should be on [the goal]." He went on to add that the Indian people needed to come back to the Mother, to the Water and to begin to heal each other.  He offered a prayer in song to the Creator for our people and brought the meeting into order.  His actions touched many of the attendees.

However, the magic of his actions wore off fairly quickly as the meeting turned back to the various issues at hand.  The major points that were being kicked around the room were four of the five possible options available to any former PRCI member and to former members of some Tribes (depending on their situation).

1. CREATE A NEW TRIBE: Should the exiled/disenrolled members of PRCI or any Tribe attempt to create another Tribe? This was one of the highest priority items of the agenda but it didn't take into account several key issues such as the seven criteria for recognition, the tremendous waiting list to achieve recognition and the generation and presentation of hundreds of pages of supporting documents that would be required to show eligibility for recognition, including an extensive report from a certified historian/genealogist plus untold thousands of dollars for legal feesand travel expenses.  This option did not present any method for prevention of exile/disenrollments from occurring if this new entity happened to win its bid for federal recognition.  The bottom line is that even a newly recognized Tribe cannot prevent their political leadership from taking steps to eliminate political opponents or to reduce the number of members enrolled in the new Tribe if they so chose.  So what would the 1000's of hours of work that would go into the recognition process accomplish?
2. RECALL THE TRIBAL COUNCIL: Should the remaining existing members of the PRCI conduct a recall of the Tribal Council or force another petition to be circulated to amend the Constitution to reverse the damage that has been created by removal of so many of the membership? What steps would be necessary to accomplish this option and how many of the enrolled members would come forward to support this action?  If the Tribal Council was successfully removed from their posts, what then?  What would the new Council do to prevent further exile/disenrollments from occurring and how would they make sure that the next Council down the road didn't just pick up where this one left off?
3. FILE SUIT IN FEDERAL COURT: The suggestion was made that the currently enrolled Tribal members and the exiled Tribal members should utilize habeas corpus to sue the government and the Tribe for denying our people their rights as guaranteed to them in the US Constitution as Native Americans for removal from the Tribe and loss of their access to the Chukchansi lands. According to the proponents of this idea, it has already been tested in federal court and successfully won by the individuals who brought the suit forward. The flaw in this option is that it doesn't resolve the status of the exiled members of the many Tribes in California, therefore what would be the point?
4. SUPPORT THE CILA: Should the exiled/disenrolled members of the PRCI or any Tribe support the California Indian Legacy Act as the best alternative to any of the choices listed above? Well, the jury was out by the end of Ms. Wass' presentation and it didn't seem too moved by the time I completed the follow-up either.  What we were unable to communicate to the members was the simple fact that only Congress can change the core issue that has created the rampant and unchecked moves by Tribal Councils to exile/disenroll their citizenships, and that issue is removing the Tribe's absolute power to make the determination of who is truly qualified for the citizenship.  The Supreme Court and the Appellate Courts have ruled on a dozen cases that the Tribe has 100% autonomy on this issue and that the only federal body that can change this is the Congress.

With the only choices left to the exiled members lawsuits, takeovers, Congressional lobbying or simply allowing the Tribal governments to toss them aside for their own financial gain, it doesn't seem that any choice is a viable one that will help everyone.  But, when carefully analyzed by carefully reading the bill and reviewing the Court decisions on enrollment issues, the CILA does come out as the only option that will serve all California Indians and "bring them home" where they belong.  Is this going to be an easy fight to win?  I seriously doubt it.  The bill is doing for Native Americans what the Tribal Councils who represent those Native Americans no longer have the moral capacity to do for their own people-it makes it the law that all Natives have a home, and no one can take that from them.  Isn't that the real reason behind the Casino's being granted to Tribe's in the first place, to take care of their own?  Now, the time is here to make that happen, even if it means by legal force.