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Casinos blamed as Native Americans forced out of tribes

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Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Casinos blamed as Native Americans forced out of tribes Critics say gambling profits have driven tribes to expel their own James Dao December 14, 2011 THE six-page letter Nancy Dondero and about 50 of her relatives received was generously salted with legal citations and footnotes. But its bottom line was brutally simple. ''It is the decision by a majority of the Tribal Council,'' it said, ''that you are hereby disenrolled.'' And with that, Ms Dondero's official membership in the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi tribe, the cultural identity she has carried all her life, summarily ended. ''That's it,'' Ms Dondero, 58, said. ''We're tribeless.'' For centuries, Native American tribes have banished people as punishment for serious offences. But only in recent years have they begun routinely disenrolling people deemed inauthentic members. And California, with dozens of tiny tribes that were decimated, scattered and reconstituted, often out of ethnically mixed Native Americans, is a hotbed of the trend. Critics say one factor above all has driven this: casino gambling. The state has more than 60 Native American casinos that took in nearly $US7 billion ($A6.9 billion) last year. Some small tribes pay members monthly cheques of $US15,000 or more out of gambling profits. Many provide housing allowances and college scholarships. Children who are disenrolled can lose access to tribal schools. ''Sometimes [disenrolments are] political vendettas or family feuds that have gotten out of hand,'' said David Wilkins, a member of the Lumbee people and professor of American Indian studies at the University of Minnesota. ''But in California, it seems more often than not that gaming revenue is the precipitating factor.'' At least 2500 people have been disenrolled by at least 24 Californian tribes in the past decade, according to estimates. More than 362,000 Native Americans live in California. Tribal governments universally deny greed or power is motivating disenrolment. ''You have people who want to be tribal members, where no one knows who they are or where they came from,'' said Reggie Lewis, chairman of the Chukchansi Tribal Council. Some members estimate the Chukchansi tribe's membership is now below 1000. Its 2000- poker machine casino near Yosemite National Park gives members a monthly stipend of $US300 each. But it pays for utilities, food and tuition - and Nikah Dondero, Nancy Dondero's 32-year-old daughter, had to turn down a master's degree program after she was disenrolled last month because she lost her scholarship. ''It destroys their connection to their ancestors, their cultural heritage, their tradition,'' said Laura Wass, the central California director for the American Indian Movement, an opponent of disenrolment. In Ms Dondero's case, disenrolment of her extended family came down to a single ancestor: a great-grandfather, Jack Roan, who died in 1942 at 76. The tribe's enrolment committee determined Roan was not Chukchansi based on a will and personal affidavits. Paradoxically, one of Roan's daughters, Ruby Cordero, is considered a cultural pillar of the tribe because she is among the last native speakers of the Chukchansi language. But at 87, she, too, has been disenrolled. Some activists say Congress should empower courts or the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide legal recourse to Native Americans who feel they have been disenrolled improperly. ''I don't like seeing Congress interfere with Indian sovereignty,'' said Tony Cohen, a lawyer who has represented Native Americans for 30 years. ''But I also don't like seeing tribal governments allowed to be, in essence, dictators.'' http://www.smh.com.au/world/casinos-blamed-as-native-americans-forced-out-of-tribes-20111213-1ot3t.html

 

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