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Letter: Saginaw Chippewa membership dispute
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Filed Under: Opinion

"You should be concerned who's a member of any Indian tribe with a casino. When Donald Trump said "Those don't look like Indians to me" trying to expose "new tribes," he was called a racist.

But, the American public believes their good intentions (i.e. spending money at tribal casinos to benefit the Indians who were left with broken promises called treaties), are benefiting "Indians."

And they have a right to know, in the case of the Saginaw Chippewas, that there are some not entitled to but have acquired membership (including monetary benefits).

The founding families and members (as defined in the tribe's first officially recognized document) have watched dilution of the tribe's constitutional membership criteria through various actions (including S.1106 99th Congress, the revised 86 constitution and Ordinance 14).

Disenrollment list(s) from the tribe's own legal department have been ignored by council, which consists of one influential representative who also appears on the disenrollment list."

Get the Story:
Rob J. Peters: Don't use sovereignty to define membership (The Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun 7/2)

Related Stories:
Blog: Disenrollments at Saginaw Chippewa Tribe (4/29)
Saginaw Chippewa Tribe starts disenrollment process (4/15)
Saginaw Chippewa Tribe mum on disenrollment (3/27)

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