April 18th, 2016

As the sun warmed the streets of Seattle on a hot Monday afternoon, Indigenous people from around the Pacific Northwest gathered at Westlake Park for a rally in protest of disenrollment of 306 members of the Nooksack tribe and other tribes around the United States who have diesenrolled tribal members. The rally included speakers from the Nooksack tribe, tribal leaders from the Snoqualmie tribe, and disenrolled members from tribes throughout Washington.

I asked Matt Remle, writer and editor at LastRealIndians.com about disenrollment. “In the 1930’s after the US gov forced US citizenship on tribes there was a bill passed called the Indian Reorganization Act, which forced tribes to develop tribal governments and dissolve traditional forms of government. The purpose was mainly to create a puppet tribal [governments] that would serve to basically rubber stamp allowing corporations to take resources from reservations despite broader tribal opposition. This lead to some pretty horrific internal battles over the decades where tribal [governments] acting on behalf of US corporate interest would stifle opposition with the support of the Feds. The stand off at Wounded Knee II in the 70’s is probably the most high profile example. I see disenrollment as a new chapter in silencing/stifling dissent.”

Matt Remle speaks about disenrollment at the Norton Building in Seattle.

Robert Upham spoke to the crowd about his personal experience with disenrollment. His grandmother (by adoption, not birth) passed on a piece of land to him as a child, but because of he was adopted he couldn’t own land belonging to his grandmother’s tribe. “There’s a lot of Indians that say, ‘this doesn’t matter, it’s what you feel in your heart’. It’s not like that. When I was a little kid, I couldn’t own land. Guess what, when I grew up, I couldn’t run for tribal council…Citizenship is more than what’s in your heart, it’s how you care for each other…This kind of meeting needs to be done at National Congress of American Indians.” Upham went on to remind the crowd to think seven generations ahead and explained his view on the situation. “I think this blood quantum, or where you’re born, or who your parents were, is a type of political positioning that makes it competitive for Indian people from the day we are born. Nobody else has to go through those kind of guidelines.”

Robert Upham shares his experience with disenrollment to a crowd at Westlake Park in Seattle.

The protest then took the streets from Westlake Park to 5th Avenue, down Madison and South on 2nd Avenue, ending at the Norton building, home to Morisset, Schlosser, Jozwiak, and Somerville law offices, the attorneys involved in the disenrollment of Nooksack tribal members. The march was flanked by SPD on bicycle and led by SPD on motorcycles who blocked streets and directed traffic along the route. After arrival at the Norton building, a few additional speakers addressed the crowd. A few minutes after arrival, a security guard at the Norton building instructed a handful of Native people to move from where they were sitting to the sidewalk 8 feet away, as they were on “private property”. Most decided to continue sitting and the property manager of the building instructed them to move, and they again refused. SPD was called over from where they parked their bicycles across the street, but no arrests were made and the demonstration came to a close soon after.

I asked Idle No More organizer, Sweetwater Nannauck, what her opinions were on the situation.”Native American tribes are sovereign and set their own rules regarding tribal enrollment and membership. In addition, enrollment or membership requirements often can be found in tribal constitutions or tribal codes. Most tribes have blood quantum and/or lineage requirements. Some are based on the Census or the allotment of land.”

Nannauck continued, “Disenrolled members have appealed to federal courts and sometimes to state courts, often though there is no recourse. This is a modern day form of cultural genocide that is a huge injustice and goes against our original teachings and tribal values. Shielded by ‘tribal sovereignty’, fueled by greed, and inflicted upon ancestors, entire families, and even the children who are our future. This cultural genocide should not be tolerated and actions must be taken to rectify this situation immediately.”

Sweetwater Nannauck speaks to the crowd at Westlake Park in Seattle about disenrollment and it’s affects on tribal members.

While the enrollment requirements vary from tribe to tribe, the 306 Nooksack tribal members facing disenrollment feel they deserve recognition, regardless of results based on Census Bureau data, which can be spotty, or blood quantum that ignore those adopted into different tribes or disenfranchise those with a mixed heritage. Carolyn Lubeneau, Chairwoman of Snoqualmie Tribe, and someone who experienced disenrollment first hand stated, “I speak to you of the love I have for all Indian people and how much I admire and respect each and everyone for the struggles they have had to endure. My passion is to educate about this sickness of disenrolling families, children, and elders from their culture, from what sustains them.” Lubeneau ended her speech by calling for an amendment to the Indian Civil Rights Act and an enforcement of those laws and a protection of their human rights.

I asked Matt Remle what the next steps were in the new era of disenrollments and he responded, “Several tribal governments have begun taking to the passing laws to outright ban disenrollments, so if nothing else, all the attention paid to this issue will help stop the practice.”

Remle and Nannauck pose for a photo at the end of the march to protest tribal disenrollment.

For additional photos and information, check out these articles…

https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/04/21/23976483/photos-from-the-indigenous-peoples-rally-and-march-against-tribal-disenrollment-earlier-this-week

http://lastrealindians.com/chinook-denounces-disenrollment-by-gabe-galanda/

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/08/fighting-disenrollment-nooksack-306

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article51517800.html

http://kuow.org/post/nooksack-tribe-cites-missing-ancestor-reason-disenroll-306-members

At approximately 8am this morning, the Seattle Police Department began evictions and removal of personal property from the Dearborn encampment. The residents were given 30 minutes to pack their belongings although city officials say the police have been giving warnings all week. The Nickelsville homeless encampment was previously approved by the city but has since lost that status after the ouster of Scott Morrow by the residents of the camp. Morrow, who is a large part of the staff that runs Nickelsville, has previously faced accusations from unhappy camp residents. That path that lead to the dismantling of Camp Dearborn and the eviction of it’s residents is nuanced and complicated.

Sharon Lee, the executive director of the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) said residents were “being offered a place to say” in three other city sanctioned encampments if they were willing to follow the rules set up by SHARE and Nickelsville. The three city sanctioned encampments offered are in Othello Village (South Seattle), Interbay (Middle of Nothing),  and Ballard (Northwest Seattle). In one case, 12 bus tickets (or 6 days worth of transportation) were provided to a resident who worked nearby. Those with addictions however, have few options, one being the Downtown Emergency Services Center, which some would argue is not much of an option.

After the eviction and clean-up began, Sharon Lee emailed photos of found needles and mentioned in an email that “16 people were here. 8 people agreed to move to Othello Village and abide by Nickelsville code of conduct–including a mother and son who arrived 3 days ago.” When asked about the needles being used for drugs or possibly diabetic injections, Lee replied “Needles were found in lots of different locations. This is drug use. One couple we moved both are totally high. Hard liquor bottles everywhere too. Drug paraphernalia in tents and sheds”.

(Image courtesy of Sharon Lee)

Sharon Lee, executive director of LIHI and Scott Lindsay, public safety adviser to Mayor Murray, spoke to the press for a few minutes during the eviction.

Heidi Groover does a much better job of explaining the situation

Echoing chants of thousands marching in 45 cities brings Bernie Sanders message to the masses in Seattle. Between 600-800 activists, community members, union workers, labor leaders, organizers, and one goat, gathered at Occidental Park in Seattle to rally in support of Bernie Sanders as the democratic nominee for the 2016 presidential election. Demonstrators then marched from Pioneer Square to Westlake Park with stops at the King County Administration Building and Wells Fargo, flanked by lines of bicycle police. At Westlake, community organizers, labor leaders, and Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant spoke to the crowd. You can hear Sawant’s speech below.

Thousands gathered at Garfield high School to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King during a rally with speakers including members of the Garfield High School Black Student Union, members of the community, Sheley Secrest of the NAACP, Mayor Ed Murry and keynote speaker, Erin Jones.  As the thousands made their way into the streets, activists of all ages could be seen marching and carrying signs. The 2,000 marchers made their way down South Jackson St. to downtown Seattle while a group of 300 demonstrators split from the main march and turned North on 20th. The Seattle Police Department were taken by surprise as the group splintered and were reported to have set up barricades around the East Precinct, expecting that to be the target of the protest. The direct action march made their way to the parking lot of Uncle Ike’s Pot Shop where they heard spoken word from Black Lives Matter activists, experiences from the Central District, songs from indigenous activists, chants from activists with Bayan and information on gentrification and racism in Seattle.

Owner Ian Eisenburg could be seen watching the demonstration unfold in the parking lot of his business. After the march he commented “I can stomach a little inconvenience if the alternative is living someplace without protests and free speech.”  Activists managed to lock the doors of Uncle Ike’s with a bike lock, preventing any sales for the three hours the activists were assembled.

Evana Enabulele, one of the activists involved with the action commented “It is symbolic. The theme for this action was gentrification. It is ironic that we are marching blocks away yet the black community is being pushed out. The splinter march brought light to the ongoing poison that Ian Eisenberg and others are planting in the CD and all the other black areas. Honoring MLK’S dream is to keep the fight going whether it’s gentrification to food justice.”  While SPD maintained a presence, no arrests were made.

A statement from the activists who organized the MLK Day 2o16 direct action…

“Take A Hike, Uncle Ike! Gentrification Stops Here!

We have assembled at Uncle Ike’s today to stand up and speak out against gentrification and the harm it causes our communities.

Gentrification functions as an expression of capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, and exploitation. When this destructive process is aided and assisted by so-called “community leaders” of the local Black misleadership class, it is called neocolonialism.

The methods inherent in the process of gentrification are little different than the colonial practice of ‘peaceful’ subordination, encroachment, and expulsion of a people from spaces traditionally occupied by them and their ancestors. This was practiced in the Pacific Northwest during the eighteenth and nineteenth century against the indigenous populations by European and Anglo-American settlers. The same political and economic structures, ideologies, and dehumanization of vulnerable people is as alive in Seattle today as it was in 1855 when the Treaty of Point Elliott was signed.

Let us remind you that ALL of Seattle squats on stolen Duwamish and Salish land!

This process is ‘justified’ under the supposedly “colorblind” economic principle of supply and demand that also lacks any sense of JUSTICE.

These white newcomers, many from outside the city itself, buy homes and land for cheap in formerly red-lined areas, building or remodel houses, which drives up the property values of the homes around them until they are no longer affordable to the people who had been living there.
Or a developer, like Ian Eisenberg, buys up vast amounts of land and builds major apartments or condos too expensive for an oppressed community to afford. Either way the net result is the same, people are displaced and are sometimes made homeless.

There are some people who manage to hold onto their homes or apartments only to watch as their children suffer another harmful effect of colonialism (and neocolonialism); a white-washed, academically lacking, miseducation.

Marginalized as ‘minorities’ and ‘special education students’ in their schools, our cultural traditions are shunned, our methods of communication are stigmatized, and our history is all but ignored. Students of color are penalized for not becoming more like their oppressors, and as a result are suspended and expelled at three times the rate of their peers making them exceedingly likely to become trapped in the School-to-Prison Pipeline (STPP).

At the University of Washington, a public institution with over 40,000 students only approximately 3% are Black, when in Washington Black people make up 4.1% of the population, in King County 6.7%, and in Seattle 7.9%. Black youth in Seattle Public Schools (SPS) made up 4.5% of the students, but also over 50% of the students classified as being without a home.
Urban cities are, in essence, internal colonies replete with an occupying force known as law enforcement. These newcomers complain at advisory councils, such as, the East Precinct Advisory Council (EastPAC), about Black people and other people of color,  and demand that the police extricate or expel us from “their” neighborhoods and ruthlessly punish us for existing at all.

Over the past year, Black Lives Matter has brought back onto the public agenda how the police brutalize and terrorize people of color and are a slave catching force for the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC).

No longer will we remain silent. No longer will we be complicit in crimes against our community. No longer will we watch as gentrification and capitalism destroy our social networks and structures by displacing our people. No longer will we permit these supposedly ‘colorblind’ economic practices to continue without an appeal to justice.

Ian Eisenberg, owner of Uncle Ike’s Recreational Marijuana Shop and owner of numerous properties in Seattle’s Central Area, YOU WILL:

1.       Hand over 54% of his real estate holdings to the community for the purpose of community controlled low income housing.

2.       Provide funds to be used for the legal defense of people of color with drug cases in Seattle and the cities that people have been gentrified to, and provide funds to the Black Community to lobby for retroactive marijuana laws.

3.       Provide funds for community-selected organizers to fight economic instability in impacted communities of color.

4.       Build or provide funding for a community controlled center that will have programs, which include but are not limited to, addressing economic disparities, food justice, and the education gap experienced by people of color.

5.       Provide funds to assist people who have already been, or who will be, displaced by gentrification.

We are willing to take all necessary measures to satisfy the demands we’ve listed here.

Sincerely,
Seattle Black Book Club
#TakeAHikeIke #GentrificationStopsHere”