Native lawyer takes on tribes that kick members out

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Germans and Australians and Americans had the same self-respect as these tribes?

Seattle Times:

Every tribe has different and often complicated enrollment rules. In the Nooksack case, there isn’t agreement on what the rules are, although they are generally understood to include one-quarter Indian blood quantum and proof of lineage to a Nooksack on a 1942 Census roll or to one who received a federal land allotment.

Michelle Roberts, spokeswoman for the 306 (facing disenrollment), insists her family knows where it comes from, noting her grandmother took great pride in being a Nooksack. “We don’t want to lose her history,” she says…

Commenting on disenrollment (in general) Reyn Leno, Grand Ronde tribal council chair, said his tribe had disenrolled 80 members because “There was a feeling that people were receiving benefits that shouldn’t have been.” Leno says.

Leno also notes “Blood gives you the right to what we have.”