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And Connecting the Dots

Well, well, well....I do believe the reason the Tribes in California are dis enrolling members is because those that are dis enrolled are not Indian, the missing dot in this saga.

You never see that in the media, just how these members have lived on the reservations for 100 years and seeing that you indeed would have sympathy for those families dis enrolled. However, when you add to this one little fact - they are not Indian - that throws a whole new light on things.

Dis enrolled families who want to count on the BIA for genealogical information need to remember the Cobell case - if the BIA can't keep track of the money, they certainly have no insight into the genealogies of families.

We have seen the case of the bogus KS tribe selling memberships into their *tribe* to illegal immigrants - I suspect this is what went on in the early days of some California tribes - Mexicans believing that they would be less discriminated upon would integrate into an Indian group and thus over the years, much like some who claim to be Cherokee, their family story became one of being Indian. You also hear the same stories from non Indians *look what I've done for you*, as if this makes them Indian.

Do we really blame money for the Tribes wanting to remain Indian?

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