[ Home | Contents | Next | Previous | ]
From: Concerned Osage
Date: 3/2/2006
Time: 10:39:38 PM
Remote Name: 70.143.35.29
Tribal members protest over ancestral land By Mary Weston/Staff Writer DAVID C. NEILSEN II/MERCURY-REGISTER Disenrolled tribal members picket in front of the Enterprise Rancheria office Saturday. The Indians of Enterprise Rancheria 1 protested Saturday in Oroville saying the Enterprise Rancheria organized using the land of their ancestor Emma Walters and is trying to disenfranchise her rightful descendants. Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon, about 45 members of Rancheria 1 and supporters demonstrated at the tribal office at 1940 Feather River Blvd. The demonstration was held at the same time the tribal council of Enterprise Rancheria had scheduled a meeting to discuss who had the authority and say over the land of Enterprise 1, and who could live there, said Robert Edwards, chairman of the Indians of Enterprise No 1. "They can't determine that," Edwards said. "We are the real tribe, not the members of Enterprise 2." Enterprise Rancheria sold their land, Enterprise Rancheria 2, to the state, and they were terminated, Edwards said. They reorganized illegally in the mid-1990s using the land of Enterprise Rancheria 1, he said. In 2004, Enterprise Rancheria disenrolled 70 members including Edwards who were the descendants of Enterprise Rancheria 1, because they tried to recall the tribal council. The disenrolled members had filed a petition claiming the tribal council spent human services money on personal items. The tribe later disenrolled two other members who spoke against the disenrollment. The disenrolled members formed a tribe, Indians of Rancheria. The land of Rancheria 1 had belonged to their ancestor Emma Walters, so they say they should be the real tribal members of Enterprise Rancheria, which was formed using the Enterprise 1 land and federal recognition. Carolyn Porteous was one member disenrolled for standing up for the first disenrolled members. She participated in the demonstration Saturday. "My great-great grandmother was given the land in 1915, and the people in Enterprise Rancheria don't have the right to make decisions about that land," Porteous said. Porteous said they are trying to gain the attention of congressmen, the BIA, and other legislators, who she thinks have a fiduciary duty to ensure the tribe was organized legally without disenfranchising the rightful descendants of Enterprise Rancheria 1. She said taking away their land, using federal recognition related to it and disenrolling them was like having someone move into their house and say you couldn't live there anymore. Edwards said the land at issue was purchased for Emma Walters and her descendants in 1915 by the Department of Interior. The 72 disenrolled members are true descendants of Emma Walters, and now Enterprise Rancheria is denying them rights related to their ancestral land including tribal membership, he said. Enterprise 1 has protested the council meeting scheduled for Feb. 25 to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Secretary of Interior. They had already submitted a land appeal on February 3, 2006, and members of Enterprise 1 said the tribal council of Enterprise Rancheria shouldn't be making decisions about ownership and rights to the land in question. The basis of the appeal was the BIA allowed the descendants of Enterprise 2 to organize Enterprise Rancheria using lands of Enterprise Rancheria 1. Enterprise Rancheria, according to their own constitution, has no jurisdiction over the land of Enterprise 1. The current constitution further states that authority over that land belongs to all the descendants of Emma Walters, Edwards said. When Enterprise 1 was trying to put a casino in Yuba County, they represented themselves as a landless tribe, and they are, Edwards said. "It is beyond my comprehension to understand how a tribe can obtain money from the bureau for land they have no jurisdiction over," Edwards wrote to the bureau from Enterprise 1 in February. Carla Maslin a disenrolled member of the Redding Rancheria and her husband, Mark, also attended the demonstration to support the members of Rancheria 1. They belong to American Indians Rights and Resources Organization that provides information about the disenrollment and reclassifications that are taking place across the nation. Tribal councils are disenrolling members who have different opinions than the tribal council or who speak out against tribal corruption or fraudulent practices, he said. The only recourse the disenrolled members have is to go before the tribal council. "That's like telling a women who has been raped that she has to seek due process through the rapist," Carl Maslin said. He said the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 was put in place to deal with these types of injustices, but it was gutted by the Martinez decision in 1978. Maslin said there needs to be some type of law or legislation in place to prevent tribes from unfairly disenrolling members, something that has happened in California and across the nation. Maslin said you can usually follow the money to see where the problem lies in tribes with gaming casinos or with plans to build a casino. "It goes coast to coast," Maslin said. "Longtime members and full-blooded Indians are being disenrolled." After the demonstration Saturday, Enterprise Rancheria canceled their meeting that day to discuss issues regarding the Enterprise Rancheria 1 land, including who has authority and say over the land and who can live there. Enterprise Rancheria didn't respond to this newspaper's requests for comment by press time. RETURN TO TOP