Discrimination or Sovreignty?

Good early morning Sisters and Brothers,

As a blogger who uses wordpress I can see certain reports.  I can see how many people viewed the content, I can see trends in readership, I can see countries who tune in to the blog and I can see “search terms”.  What I mean by a search term is when a person goes to a search engine such as Yahoo, MSN, or Google and attempts to find the Choctaw Voting Block Political party blog and what phrases or words the are using to find it.

A particular phrase caught my attention: “is it discrimination to not hire a non cdib person”.  I have thought about this particular phrase for a couple of days now and I feel the need to explain the concept of sovereignty as it pertains to American Indian tribes.  For our friends in Canada, Mexico and those African countries who are regular readers this explanation I am about to give may not apply to you but all indigenous people should know their rights within their own country – know those rights down to the very last punctuation my friends.

Here in the United States tribal entities are granted certain rights and we do not have to follow certain federal and state guidelines because we are sovereign dependent nations residing in the borders of the U.S.  As American Indians we are citizens of the U.S., we are citizens of our own tribes and our relationship to the Federal Government resembles that of a state.

We have not always had this status.  That is how our children were forced into boarding schools, this is how our people were forced to relocate.  Before our sovereign rights were reinstated our religions were prohibited and we were not citizens of the United States.  Countless atrocities were committed against American Indians from murderous slaughters to mineral rights infringement.  We were not allowed to control our own tribal lands which led to the embezzlement, loss and infringement of our rights by the nahullo trustees. 

So you see ALL tribes must protect their sovereignty so it cannot be challenged in the federal court system.  No tribe wants to be the one who lessens the sovereignty of us all.  No tribe wants to be the one who sets a precedence for weakening our right to govern ourselves (which putting it very simply IS tribal sovereignty).

Now back to the CDIB question.  As in the building of a house if we were looking at the foundation of tribal sovereignty one of the cornerstones would be INDIAN PREFERENCE.  Can Halliburton say in its job postings that preference will be given to indian applicants?  Can Joe’s Diner say indian preference in their hiring?  No they cannot.

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 American Indian tribes were granted indian preference in relation to employment.

There is a flip side to this protection.  If a tribe doesn’t treat their American Indian employees well the federal government agency (EEOC) which handles discrimination is powerless to protect the tribal citizen.  There is little to nothing that can be done.  Hence, this is why each tribe in the United States should have a Tribal Employee Rights Organization it not only makes political sense but it makes HUMAN sense.

So, to answer the inquiry.  No it is not illegal to not hire someone just because they do not have a CDIB, if that non-cdib person is applying for a position within a federally recognized tribe.  The United States granted tribes the right to have CDIB preference and American Indian Preference should be guarded by every single tribe in the United States. 

If the leadership within a tribe doesn’t honor indian preference or tribal employee rights then they should be voted out by tribal members and replaced with leadership that understands the absolute importance of sovereignty.

I for one do not ever want to turn over our lands, water rights or children to any other entity “entrusted” with our well-being ever again. 

Yakoke,

MW/CW

The Propaganda Machine

Good evening brothers and sisters,

I want to talk about how important a tribal newspaper is to the unity and communications of a tribe.  The integrity and freedom of thought that is essential for accurate communication is lost when the main source of information is nothing more than a sunshine filled propaganda tool.

Propaganda is just another more sophisticated word for spoon fed BS.  A Chahta citizen inquired to a member of Chief’s office why don’t you publish any type of disagreement, complaints, differing thought or questioning in the Biskinik?  The individual laughed at him and said “Why would I do that”. 

Recently, Chief’s office sent out an announcement about our Chief having hepatitis B and that he needed recuperation time at home and would be working from there. Gary Batton would be acting chief while he was recovering. 

The message was meant to reassure the masses.  ONLY….I don’t think whoever actually wrote the message bothered to check and see what having  hepatitis B really meant.  I guess the old assumptions about Choctaw intelligence were still at play.  Maybe the thought was that we tribal members are too pitiful to realize or to find out that hepatitis B is contracted intravenously or through sexual contact.  ????  Come on if a person did really have the disease would said person want it announced to the public?  Give me and all Choctaw members a break from the BS nahullo CRAP!

I would rather know my chief has Alzheimer’s than be fed a load of lies.  His staff used to search for him because he would disappear with appointments waiting for him.  I am told that at times they would find him in the closet giving a speech.  My question is to those who are supposed to “protect” him – you would rather we think he has a sexually/intravenous disease than know the truth? 

There is a reason you don’t see healthy dialogue in the Biskinik because just like the hepatitis announcement – they don’t want you to know the truth.  That simple.

Yakoke,

MW/CW

CVB Executive Board – Meeting

Friends, family, brothers and sisters I want to update you on our first official meeting 0f the Executive Board of the Choctaw Voting Block Political Party.  To carve aside time for that many people taking into account each other’s schedules was no easy task but we finally were able to meet face to face instead of our online virtual meeting “room”.

Since this was our first face to face meeting we shared our individual stories of growing up amongst the Chahta people and our dealings with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.  As the evening continued it became very clear that our mutual goal is to better the Chahta Nation for our people.  The acting chief’s office has put out the word that we are just a group of digruntled employees.  That may be true in my case but over half the executive board have never worked for the CNO.

Out of my digruntlement came the seeds of change.  We are organizing, we have a plan and a strategy.  What the Choctaw Voting Block Political Party is about to do is an undertaking that will take determination and committment.  I would like to share with you the preliminary goals of our party.

Goals

• To evoke a more balanced system of Chahta government
• To empower Chahta citizens through the creation of the Chahta Employee Rights Organization
• To protect our tribal sovereignty in all manner of interactions
• To evoke term limits
• To implement an elder pension
• To empower Chahta people as managers, directors and executive directors
• To operate with transparency, releasing budgets and processes as freedom of information
• To make it clear to all who work for the Chahta Nation of Oklahoma that they work for our people
• To change the name of the tribal paper to “The Chahta Advocate” (giving a voice to all who may agree or disagree with CNO government)
• To make the learning of our history, language and traditions paramount
• To increase communication mediums to all Chahta citizens around the globe

These are preliminary goals and I am sure they will change as we dive into getting voters registered, fighting for the voters registration list, establishing a non-profit, fund raising and devising a communications plan- just to name a few.

The Choctaw Employee Rights Organization and constitutional revisions emerged as the cornerstones of the CVB party and any Chahta that wishes to run for election as a CVB candidate must agree to the CVB party goals and objectives.

Other strong possibilities in the goals department include representatives for areas outside of the 10 -1/2 counties and the formation of an unbiased, unduly influenced election board.

An interesting point was made at Friday’s meeting.  The constitution hasn’t been changed since 1983 and that change was very little.  Our nation is different now with almost a quarter of a million members and billions of dollars in assets.  The constitution has been stifled and relegated to near death by people who covet power and money.  We need and we want to use the constitution as a guide and a framework so we never find ourselves outsiders within our own nation again.

So, Sisters and Brothers our first step is registering to vote not only making sure we are registered ourselves but that ten of our relatives or friends are as well.

Yakoke!

MW/CW