Indians protest ousting
TEMECULA, Calif. – More than 100 American Indians ousted from their casino-owning tribes joined hands Saturday to protest what they called 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 Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, which has a casino near this city about 85 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Gomez was joined at a public park 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 are 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. He said tribal leaders refused to reinstate him even after he exhumed the bodies of his grandmother and mother to collect DNA evidence.
“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.