Letters to the Editor - July 15, 2015

Dear Tribal members:

Earlier this month I sat through the July 1 Tribal Council meeting. Naturally, the question of enrollment, or disenrollment, was brought up.

I remember when this sad chapter of our Tribal history began. I don’t think it began with the enrollment audit myself. It began with how the Tribal Council dealt with the audit. One family in particular has been persecuted more than others, so much so that one year ago the Enrollment Ordinance was amended specifically to deal just with them. The question asked on July 1 during Other Business naturally was directed toward them, and asked by someone who has been very public about their wishes to see this family purged from the rolls. As I recall the timing of the Enrollment Ordinance amendment last year was strangely close to the election. What better time to eliminate votes, right?

This brings me to my point. Over the past two years, and in some ways before that even as enrollment has always been a hot topic, I’ve come to realize that disenrollment and the council’s authority to keep people in the Tribe can be manipulated in such a way that it has become a form of gerrymandering. For those of you not familiar with gerrymandering, it is a process by which politicians simply change the boundaries of their voting districts to assure themselves of re-election. Historically this was often done along racial lines, e.g. splitting up a heavily African-American or Hispanic district, city even, to make it more winnable for candidates who were not in favor with that particular voting group.

How is this possible within our Tribe? Easy, disenroll people who support your opponents, and change the enrollment requirements to help expand your constituency. In our Tribe, this can be done by disenrolling entire rival families, and helping politically supportive families allow more of their members in. That, in a nutshell, is Tribal gerrymandering.

People may think I’m off base for saying this. But as I’ve watched our leaders put forth another series of amendments to our Enrollment Ordinance, one of which makes it possible to remove names from the Restoration roll, despite assurances two years ago that council would not make any changes while following up on the audit, I no longer know what to think. Or trust for that matter. My gut instinct tells me this is bad news.

Angie Blackwell

Roll #1089

P.S: Please read the proposed amendments to the Enrollment Ordinance. Ask Tribal Council or somebody in our Legal Department to let you see them.