David Wilkins in ICT on the Nooksack Disenrollments

Here.

An excerpt:

To her credit, it appears that the Chief Judge was attempting to console the disenrollees and explain a decision that gravely disappointed them. Unfortunately, she also utilized words that profoundly diminished indigenous sovereignty:
“While the Court recognizes the important entitlements at stake for the proposed disenrollees, this is a fundamentally different proceeding than a loss of United States’ citizenship…. In the case of tribal disenrollees, the disenrollee loses critical and important rights, but they are not equal to the loss of U.S. citizenship. A person who is disenrolled from her tribe loses access to the privileges of tribal membership, but she is not stateless. While she loses the right, for example, to apply for and obtain tribal housing through the Tribe, her ability to obtain housing in general is unaffected. Though she loses the right to vote in tribal elections, she does not lose the right to vote in federal, state, and local elections. While the impact on the disenrollee is serious and detrimental, it is not akin to becoming stateless.” (Emphasis mine.)

Whatever one’s views on the way each Native nation chooses to exercise their sovereignty with regard to defining membership, the judge’s view of Native nationhood is chilling. By ruling that the termination of a Native person’s citizenship is “not equal to the loss of U.S. citizenship” and the loss of tribal membership is “not akin to becoming stateless,” she places Native citizenship in a position squarely inferior to U.S. citizenship. The implications are profound. It is not realistic to expect to maintain true government to government relations with states and the federal government if we begin by diminishing our own status as citizens of sovereign nations.

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/11/07/disenrollment-disaster-my-citizenship-better-yours

4 thoughts on “David Wilkins in ICT on the Nooksack Disenrollments

  1. Helen N. November 7, 2013 / 3:42 pm

    A trend in tribal politics is to redefine what is “direct” proof and then reference back to some old time period. Years now have passed when all the direct proof is long gone. Tribal governments are now choosing to pick bones, literally. It is a war that will lead to less sovereignty of tribes. When a tribe accepts (public) documentation as sufficient then years later say it is not good enough, something is amiss. That something is the game of politics. There has to be some finality. Otherwise, all tribal members are at risk of losing membership. Demand a statute of limitations preventing such abuses.

  2. Alice Langton-Sloan November 7, 2013 / 3:52 pm

    Citizenship is extremely important whether with a nation or state! Genocide in any capacity is not to be taken lightly! When a person loses their cultural affiliation to all they have ever known and that recognition is stripped from them they lose any future recognition to belong. Native culture is recognized for its community and cultural belonging. Tribal nations are weakened when they fail to recognize the uniqueness of what the families contribute to their history. Equal to the US taking away the recognition of so many tribes. Tribes are only as strong as their people and without the people there would be no tribes!

  3. Ross Cline (Nooksack Tribal Member) December 5, 2016 / 9:32 pm

    Section 1. THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE NOOKSACK INDIAN TRIBE shall consist of:
    (a) All original Nooksack Public Domain Allottees and their lineal descendants living on January 1, 1942.
    (b) All persons of Indian blood whose names appear on the official census roll of the tribe dated January 1, 1942 provided the 1/1/42 roll may be corrected by the tribe with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior.
    (c) Lineal descendants of any enrolled member of the Nooksack Indian Tribe subsequent to 1/1/194provided such descendant possess at least 1/4 degree Indian blood.
    (d) All persons who received a payment under the Act of 4/30/1965 entitled Nooksack Tribe of Washington distribution of judgement fund (80 STAT. 906) 0/6/1966 and lineal descendants of any persons so receiving a payment provided such descendants possess at least 1/4 degree Indian blood..
    (e) Official membership roll of the tribe shall be approved by the council and by the Secretary of the Interior or his designee .
    (f) Any person who possess at least 1/4 degree Indian blood and who is adopted by an enrolled member of the tribe under the laws of the tribe or any state of the United States.
    (g) Any person who possess at least 1/4 degree Indian blood and who is an adopted member pursuant to the constitution and the ordinances enacted hereon.

    It is not enough to meet the 1/4 degree Nooksack blood as Mr. Galanda contends, rather one must also meet the above criteria per the Nooksack Indian Tribal Constitution and By Laws.

  4. Ross Cline (Nooksack Tribal Member) December 5, 2016 / 9:36 pm

    They retain full citizenship in the Skway First Nation Band of British Colombia, Canada and retain cultural affiliation to the Skway band.

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