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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales
The National Congress of American Indians is hosting its annual convention this week in Sacramento, CA.
A group of Native people from disenrolled tribes came out to draw awareness to the disenrollment issue.
As Rhonda LeValdo reports, they’re asking the Native rights organization and its tribal membership to listen to them.
The general assembly kicked off Monday afternoon, as a group gathered outside the convention center to protest tribal disenrollment.
About 20 people advocated their cause to NCAI attendees who walked by them. They’re calling on NCAI to listen to their stories on disenrollment.
Cam Foreman explains why they felt the need to be there.
“To say that you support tribal sovereignty while you won’t condemn the desecration of ancestors, the banishment and abuse of elders who are sacred, that’s what NCAI says, to protect the Indian Child Welfare Act, yet children are being denied their right to belong, banished from their tribal communities. It’s not a membership issue it’s a civil and human rights matter and it needs to be condemned. It’s gone on for too long. This is just a small percentage, a tiny bit of the 11,000 that have been disenrolled from their tribes, homes and communities.”
Meanwhile, inside the convention, during the first general assembly, NCAI President Fawn Sharp conveyed the message that the conference was focusing on tribal sovereignty issues with the theme “Defending Sovereignty since 1944.”
“This year’s annual convention was going to be all about defending tribal sovereignty, that was before Castro-Huerta, that was before so many decision coming out of the U.S. Supreme Court. We knew that we have to gather all of Indian Country to strategically talk about tribal sovereignty.”
Protesters disagree and think the concept is disingenuous because they’ve been officially ejected from their tribes.
The sovereignty theme is taking center stage at this year’s convention.
A sovereignty run from Oklahoma to California ended in Sacramento as the convention started to raise awareness on attacks on tribal sovereignty, and the recent reinstatement of Jim Thorpe’s 1912 Olympic wins
The National Congress of American Indians told National Native News it does not have a comment to provide at this time regarding tribal disenrollment.
The speaker of the Navajo Nation Council faces disciplinary action after a photo surfaced of him allegedly intoxicated during a recent family trip.
As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, a bill has been introduced that would strip him of his leadership position.
The photo shows Navajo Nation Council Speaker Seth Damon slumped over and appearing inebriated while sitting in front a gambling machine in Las Vegas, NV.
The image, which Damon called “unauthorized,” recently circulated on social media.
He told the council that he was, in fact, intoxicated and in a statement said he accepts responsibility for the incident and apologized to the Navajo people. But he stopped short of stepping aside as speaker and will instead let council delegates decide his fate.
Legislation introduced last week would put Damon on indefinite unpaid leave and require the approval of two-thirds of the council.
If it’s passed, chairs of four council committees will rotate as speaker pro-tempore.
Damon was on a family vacation to Las Vegas for the Indian National Finals Rodeo to support Navajo athletes when the photo was taken.
He said he was not on official Navajo Nation business at the time and spent no tribal funds.
Damon leads the tribe’s legislative branch and is in his second term as speaker.
He’s running unopposed for to his seat on the council in the November 8 election.
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