Tuesday, April 1, 2014


News Clips For The Day


South Korea Eyes Kim Jong Un's Regime After Drone Crashes – NBC

Reuters contributed to this report.
- Julie Yoo and Alexander Smith
First published April 1 2014


SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea is investigating whether a drone that crashed on one of its islands originated in North Korea, according to reports Tuesday.
The unmanned aircraft fell on the island of Baengnyeong at around 4 p.m. Monday (3 a.m. ET) after the North and South exchanged hundreds of shells in disputed waters off their western coast.

A spokesperson for the joint military command between the United States and South Korea confirmed to NBC News early Tuesday that a drone had been found by a resident of the island. The official said it was being analyzed.

"As an in-depth analysis is currently under way, we cannot confirm which country made this drone," a military source told South Korea's Yonhap news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But there is a possibility that it belongs to North Korea."
A military official told Reuters that the South is looking into any possible link between the drone and the espionage operations of Kim Jong Un's regime.

South Korean officials have disassembled the drone to try to determine its origin. The source told Yonhap said the aircraft was 7-10 feet long, had a Japanese engine and Chinese components, and was fitted with a small camera.
It was similar to another drone collected near the border city of Paju on March 24, another source told Yonhap.



From Wikipedia, South Korea, comes the following information.

Korea was annexed by the Empire of Japan in 1910. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided into Soviet and U.S. zones of occupation. An election was held in the U.S. zone in 1948 which led to the creation of the Republic of Korea. Although the United Nations passed a resolution declaring the Republic to be the only lawful government in Korea,[9] the Soviets set up a rival government in the North.
The Korean War began in 1950 when forces from the North invaded the South. The war lasted three years and involved the U.S., China, the Soviet Union, and several other nations. The border between the two nations remains the most heavily fortified in the world.[10] In the decades that followed, the South Korean economy grew significantly and the country was transformed into a G-20 major economy.[11] Civilian government replaced military rule in 1987.




South Korea doesn't seem to be intimidated by the fearsome North Korea, keeping up a border squabble on a daily basis. Neither seems to try to invade the other, but according to this Wikipedia article, the border between them is “the most heavily fortified in the world.” This article, however, proves that the North is watching over them on a frequent basis, assuming there are lots more drones where these two came from.

Every now and then a news article appears about refugees from the North coming down into South Korea telling stories of starvation and people being born in prison camps, never to see freedom. The South, meanwhile, has thrived since the Korean War and has replaced its military rule with elected government officials. It is possible, even probable, that North Korea backed by Russia would have invaded them by now if it weren't for the close relationship of the US with the South. It isn't very troubling, therefore, that the drones have been found. The South is capable of defending itself, especially with the help of the US, so democratic government has a toehold in the far East that seems secure – at least, so it seems to me.




U.S. Considers Releasing Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard: Report – NBC
The Associated Press
First published April 1 2014

JERUSALEM - The United States is talking with Israel about releasing convicted
spy Jonathan Pollard early from his life sentence as an incentive to the Israelis in the troubled Mideast peace negotiations, people familiar with the talks have told The Associated Press.

Pollard, an American Jew, was a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy when he gave thousands of classified documents to his Israeli handlers. Releasing him would be an extraordinary step underscoring the urgency of U.S. peace efforts.
Two people describing the talks cautioned that such a release — which would be a dramatic turnaround from previous refusals — was far from certain and that discussions with Israel on the matter were continuing. Both spoke on Monday only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the talks on the record.

NBC News was unable to independently confirm the report.

In return for the release, the people close to the talks said, Israel would have to undertake significant concessions to the Palestinians in Middle East negotiations. Such concessions could include some kind of freeze on Israeli settlements in disputed territory, the release of Palestinian prisoners beyond those Israel has already agreed to free and a guarantee that Israel would stay at the negotiating table beyond an end-of-April deadline.

Secretary of State John Kerry met for several hours late Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before sitting down with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and another Palestinian official. Kerry met again with Netanyahu on Tuesday morning before his scheduled departure to Brussels for NATO talks on Ukraine.
U.S. defense and intelligence officials have consistently argued against releasing Pollard, who the Israelis recruited to pass along U.S. secrets including satellite photos and data on Soviet weaponry in the 1980s. He was arrested by FBI agents in Washington in 1985.




Pollard's career as a spy ended almost 20 years ago, and he didn't try to commit sabotage or “overthrow the US government.” If releasing him can get Israel to move forward with peace negotiations it seems worth it to me. The whole world is held hostage by the unrest in the Middle East. I approve of this proposed move by the Obama administration. I hope to see news articles on progress that is made in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the future.




Russia hikes Ukraine’s gas bill as new Kiev gov't tries to reign in far-right nationalists – CBS
AP April 1, 2014

MOSCOW -- Russia on Tuesday sharply hiked the price for natural gas to Ukraine, raising the heat on its cash-strapped government, while Ukrainian police moved to disarm members of a radical nationalist group after a shooting spree in the capital.
Alexei Miller, the head of Russia's state-controlled Gazprom natural gas giant, said Tuesday that the company has withdrawn December's discount that put the price of gas at $268.50 per 1,000 cubic meters and set the price at $385.50 per 1,000 cubic meters for the second quarter.

The discount was part of a financial lifeline Russia's President Vladimir Putin offered to Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych after his decision to ditch a pact with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Moscow. The move fueled three months of protests which forced Yanukovych to flee to Russia in February.

Radical nationalist groups played a key role in Yanukovych's ouster, but they quickly fell out with the new government. Last week, one of the leaders of the most prominent radical group, the Right Sector, was shot dead while resisting police.

Right Sector members then besieged parliament for several hours, breaking windows and demanding the resignation of Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. They lifted the blockade after lawmakers set up a panel to investigate the killing.

Late Monday, a Right Sector member shot and wounded three people outside a restaurant adjacent to Kiev's main Independence Square, including a deputy city mayor, triggering a standoff that lasted overnight.

Police surrounded the downtown Dnipro Hotel, which Right Sector had commandeered as its headquarters, demanding that the radicals lay down their weapons and leave. Avakov said that Right Sector members got into buses Tuesday morning leaving their weapons behind and headed to a suburban camp under the escort of officers of Ukraine's Security Service.

Russia has pointed at Right Sector's actions to push its claim that the new Ukrainian government was kowtowing to nationalist radicals, who threaten Russian-speakers in southeastern Ukraine. Russia has pointed at the perceived threat from ultranationalists to defend its annexation of Crimea, and has concentrated tens of thousands of troops along its border with Ukraine, drawing Western fears of an invasion.

Putin and other officials have said that Russia has no intention of invading Ukraine. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu insisted Tuesday that the Kremlin wants a "political settlement that would take into account interests and rights of the entire Ukrainian people" and had no intention to threaten Ukraine's statehood.

At the same time, Russia has used financial levers to hit Ukraine that is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Gazprom's Miller said that the decision to charge a higher price in the second quarter was made because Ukraine has failed to pay off its debt for past supplies, which now stands at $1.7 billion.




Right Sector members, after rampaging the parliament house and demanding that Avakov step down, gave up their weapons and were bussed away to a holding camp with Ukraine's Security Service. I'm glad to see this, because the Russian complaint that Right Sector and other unruly parties are harassing Russian-speakers is apparently at least partially a legitimate one, and such groups make a democratic society unstable as well. Many times in the US have National Guard troops been called out to quell a riot that may have just claims on some issue or other, but the actions of a mob are not acceptable. Thank goodness Ukraine can patrol its streets successfully. Russia is watching to get an excuse for another forced annexation.




New report details dramatic racial gap among U.S. Children – CBS
AP April 1, 2014

NEW YORK -- In every region of America, white and Asian children are far better positioned for success than black, Latino and American Indian children, according to a new report appealing for urgent action to bridge this racial gap.

Titled "Race for Results," the report is being released Tuesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which for decades has worked to improve child well-being in the United States.

The foundation also produces annual "Kids Count" reports, with reams of state-specific data, but these generally have not focused on race. The new report tackles the topic head-on, with charts and ratings that convey dramatic racial discrepancies.
At the core of the report is a newly devised index based on 12 indicators measuring a child's success from birth to adulthood. The indicators include reading and math proficiency, high school graduation data, teen birthrates, employment prospects, family income and education levels, and neighborhood poverty levels.

Using a single composite score with a scale of one to 1,000, Asian children have the highest index score at 776, followed by white children at 704.

"Scores for Latino (404), American-Indian (387) and African-American (345) children are distressingly lower, and this pattern holds true in nearly every state," said the report.

Patrick McCarthy, the Casey Foundation's president, said the findings are "a call to action that requires serious and sustained attention from the private, nonprofit, philanthropic and government sectors to create equitable opportunities for children of color."

N.Y. schools are most racially segregated in nation, report says
The report was based on data from 2012, including census figures tallying the number of U.S. children under 18 at 39 million whites, 17.6 million Latinos, 10.2 million blacks, 3.4 million of Asian descent, and 640,000 American Indians, as well as about 2.8 million children of two or more races. Under census definitions, Latinos can be of various racial groups.

The report described the challenges facing African-American children as "a national crisis."

For black children, the states with the lowest scores were in the South and upper Midwest - with Wisconsin at the bottom, followed closely by Mississippi and Michigan. The highest scores were in states with relatively small black populations - Hawaii, New Hampshire, Utah and Alaska.

Outcomes varied for different subgroups of Asian and Latino children. For example, in terms of family income levels, children of Southeast Asian descent - Burmese, Hmong, Laotian, Cambodian and Vietnamese - faced greater hurdles than children whose families came from India, Japan, the Philippines and China.

Among Latinos, children of Mexican and Central American descent faced the biggest barriers to success; those of Cuban and South American descent fared better in the index.

The state with the highest score for Latino children was Alaska, at 573. The lowest was Alabama, at 331.

Only 25 states provided enough data to compile scores for American Indian children. Their scores were highest in Texas (631), Alabama (568), Florida (554) and Kansas (553), and lowest in the upper Midwest, the Southwest and the Mountain States. The score for Indian children in South Dakota - 185 - was the lowest of any group in any state on the index.

Some of South Dakota's Indian reservations are among the poorest nationwide, which contributes to high levels of domestic violence, alcoholism and drug abuse, fetal-alcohol syndrome, teen pregnancy and low graduation rates.

The report found sharp differences in Indian children's outcomes based on tribal affiliation. For example, Apache children were far more likely than Choctaw children to live in economically struggling families.

Among its recommendations, the report urged concerted efforts to collect and analyze race-specific data on child well-being that could be used to develop programs capable of bridging the racial gap. It said special emphasis should be placed on expanding job opportunities as children in the disadvantaged groups enter adulthood.

"Regardless of our own racial background or socio-economic position, we are inextricably interconnected as a society," the report concluded. "We must view all children in America as our own - and as key contributors to our nation's future."


Follow-up Article:


N.Y. schools are most racially segregated in nation, report says
CBS/AP March 26, 2014


NEW YORK -- New York state has the most segregated public schools in the nation, with many black and Latino students attending schools with virtually no white classmates, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California at Los Angeles looks at enrollment trends from 1989 to 2010.

In New York City, the largest school system in the U.S. with 1.1 million pupils, the study notes that many of the charter schools created over the last dozen years are among the least diverse of all, with less than 1 percent white enrollment at 73 percent of charter schools.

"To create a whole new system that's even worse than what you've got really takes some effort," said Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project and an author of the report.

The issue of charter schools is turning political in New York City, where Mayor Bill de Blasio is taking a stand to support existing public schools over charter schools.
Orfield and his fellow researchers say segregation has the effect of concentrating black and Latino students in schools with high ratios of poor students compared with the statewide average. Black and Latino students who attend schools that are integrated by race and income level perform significantly better than their peers in segregated schools, the authors note.

The study suggests that New York's segregation is largely due to housing patterns, because housing and school segregation are correlated, but that it could be mitigated through policies intended to promote diversity.

"In the 30 years I have been researching schools, New York state has consistently been one of the most segregated states in the nation - no Southern state comes close to New York," Orfield said.

Other states with highly segregated schools include Illinois, Michigan and California, according to the Civil Rights Project.

In New York, about half of the state's public school students were from low-income families in 2010, the report says, but the typical black or Latino student attended a school where close to 70 percent of classmates were low-income. The typical white student went to a school where just 30 percent of classmates were low-income.

"For New York to have a favorable multiracial future both socially and economically, it is absolutely urgent that its leaders and citizens understand both the values of diversity and the harms of inequality," the study's authors say.

New York City Department of Education spokesman Devon Puglia did not address the findings of the report, but said, "We believe in diverse classrooms in which students interact and grow through personal relationships with those of different backgrounds." The district is roughly 40 percent Hispanic, 30 percent black, 15 percent white and 15 percent Asian.

State Education Commissioner John King called the findings troubling and added, "The department has supported over the years various initiatives aimed at improving school integration and school socioeconomic integration, but there's clearly a lot of work that needs to be done - not just in New York but around the country."

The report, which used U.S. Department of Education statistics, also noted increasing segregation in upstate cities including Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse.

In the Syracuse metropolitan area, the report says, the number of black students increased by 4 percent between 1989 and 2010, but black isolation increased dramatically. In 1989 the typical black student went to a school that was one-third black, but in 2010 the typical black student went to a school that was nearly half black.

Pedro Noguera, a New York University education professor, said it's disturbing that policy makers have focused so little on racial integration in recent years.
"We've been talking about reforming schools in New York and elsewhere. This issue was never addressed," Noguera said.

He added, "When you concentrate the neediest kids together in under-resourced schools they tend not to do very well."

The UCLA report recommends that state and local education agencies develop policies aimed at reducing racial isolation and promoting diverse schools.

The report suggests voluntary desegregation programs in upstate cities like Rochester, where low-income populations are surrounded by more affluent communities.
In New York City, Orfield said, a system of unscreened "choice" schools would foster more diversity than the current New York City high school choice system, which sees entrance tests at top schools excluding most black and Latino students.

"If you just offer choice, the people with the best information will get into the best schools," he said.

Requel Russell-George, the mother of two students at Public School 169 in the Bronx, which has about 75 percent black and 19 percent Latino students, said she feels the school is "excellent" but she would like to see more diversity.

"I do feel that it would be great for our children and other children to be exposed to other cultures," Russell-George said. "You're more knowledgeable and things are not mysterious to you as you get older."



These two articles are both pretty depressing, except that the Annie E. Casey Foundation is now tracking the problems and seeking progress for all groups of children involved. We think of the South as being the worst for racist views and actions, but several northern states are shown to be among the very worst. The Casey Foundation report is quoted here – “We must view all children in America as our own....”

I think it is not an accident that Native Americans and blacks have the deepest poverty and the worst school achievement. In both those cases a racial war was waged against them by an overwhelmingly white society, and their family structures and cultures were largely crushed. There has to be less family pride and self-confidence under those conditions, and as a result, less hope and more depression. Kids don't learn joyously and strive to do better, except for the truly unusual cases, in such a situation.

Whatever the root causes, in the case of many black children they are being brought up in home environments where there is a prevailing hatred of white society; and they are too often heard to say that their peers who achieve in school and eschew such activities as drug use and joining gangs, much less those who listen to classical music, are “acting white.”

There were, early on in his presidency, some mentions in the news that Barack Obama wasn't “black enough.” How can children with such an attitude and family background succeed? They don't have the encouragement and impetus of family pride in intellectual achievements to tell them that they can make it, and to force them to try harder and more consistently in school when they're having problems. You can bet that fairly affluent white children who are having trouble in school will get tutoring to bring their grades up, and if they are just too rebellious or “lazy” to study, the parent is likely to take away some of their privileges to enforce a better effort.

I do not, for a minute, believe that “people of color” are less intelligent than whites. When white children are brought up in grinding poverty and cynical, negative home environments – and it does happen – they are also more prone to perform poorly. If the father is an alcoholic and beats them or, worse, rapes them, it will cause depression and hopelessness, which don't help the children to be achievers. However, if a background of enjoying intellectual pursuits is there, those kids will be more likely to read for pleasure and the joy of learning and put in the time studying their math if they don't easily achieve in it. I think the poor achievement of blacks, Hispanics and American Indians is due to cultural factors that are rooted in their home life and neighborhood, for the most part.


The second article above concentrates on the problem of de facto segregation, specifically in NYC schools. The term “black isolation” is used, and under those conditions there are fewer white and Asian students to bring in their new ideas and improved classroom input to the school room. Poor grades can become “the norm” and therefore are “not a big problem -- par for the course." The intellectual enrichment and competition between students where there are those who have traveled, studied a musical instrument, and voluntarily read books, tend to make kids try harder, so when all the students are black or Hispanic without supportive parents to urge them on, the test score averages just get lower and lower. Joining a gang, breaking into cars and sniffing glue can become the thing to do.

The UCLA study suggests “voluntary desegregation” efforts in the upstate New York systems, where the nearby neighborhoods of more affluent people make it easier than in NYC. For NYC schools the availability of “unscreened choice” schools is recommended, in other words they do not have an academically based entrance test screening the students who are allowed into the school. Those tests tend to screen out black and Hispanic students, leading to segregated systems.




­
Latvia's Ex-President: 'We Have To Worry' About Russia – NPR
by NPR Staff
April 01, 2014

Russia's takeover of Crimea sent shivers through Latvia.
The tiny Baltic state was itself taken over by the Soviet Union in 1940 and did not regain its independence until the Soviet breakup in 1991. Latvia has a population of just 2 million, and roughly a quarter of those are ethnic Russians.

The Baltics Eye Crimea Closely, Concerned Over Russian Intentions:
Given this history, Latvia was eager to align itself with the West. In 2004, under then-president Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Latvia joined both the European Union and NATO and is counting on those allies for protection.

On NPR's Morning Edition, Vike-Freiberga said Tuesday that despite having powerful friends, Latvia needs to continue to strengthen its own national security as well.

On Latvia's ethnic Russians

We have been working very hard, certainly during my presidency, to convince them that if they have decided to live in Latvia they might as well do so with full political participation which comes with citizenship and the right to vote ... But there are the diehards who think that the renewed independence of Latvia is only a passing thing and that, indeed, the fate of Crimea is what they would hope for (for Latvia) because they came here as conquerors under the propaganda that they are liberating the country from fascism — even in 1940 when (Latvia) was independent and (the Soviet Union) invaded it.

On the notion that Russia has a right to intervene in neighboring countries

I think such ideas should have disappeared with the 1917 revolution when Latvian riflemen helped to overthrow the tsarist regime. The whole point was that we were following (U.S. President) Woodrow Wilson's principles of the right of nations to determine their own fate and that includes those who have the misfortune of living nearby whatever Russian political system is in effect at the time.

We have no predestined wish to be subject to Moscow's dictates. We have been submitted to it by the force of arms. In international law, there is no such concept that has been accepted that one nation can determine how another should be governed.
There are principles — for instance, in the European Union — to which we have all voluntarily subscribed. But it has not been a case of (the EU) enlarging its sphere of influence to include Latvia as a member. It is a completely different thing.
On a fundamental difference between Russia and the European Union

They have the vertical of power in Russia and it doesn't quite work that way in the EU. We'd rather follow the principles of subsidiary and leave quite a bit of decision-making power to each sovereign nation. The vertical of power means that you have one man and his cronies controlling basically all the levers of power and the finance and subsidiary means you try and have as much decision-making delegated at either the municipal, the regional or national levels rather than at the supranational levels such as the EU.

On the likely impact of sanctions against Russia

It remains to be seen how hard any measures taken by the West will bite him. And that is also difficult to predict because we live in such a globalized world where the interconnections in energy supplies and in the flow of financial markets is not as predictable as one would like to see it. If the sanctions should happen to bite sufficiently, something might happen. But otherwise, having once seized (Crimea) it's like a vulture having seized something in its claws. I doubt that, voluntarily, (Russia) would give it up.

On threats to Latvia's security

We have to worry every minute of every day. We have to be ready in every possible way. This is why when we were first given the membership action plan for NATO, we took it very seriously. We're glad to have it... We, at the moment, are not fulfilling our 2 percent of (the proportion of GDP that NATO requires to be spent on defense). I have spoken out in public and said this is wrong. Of course, we had a very serious (economic) crisis in 2008 and 2009... so there was this difficult period when our investment in defense had to decrease but now it has to increase again because, yes, we have to be fully participating partners in our common security, which is a security that NATO offers.



“On NPR's Morning Edition, Vike-Freiberga said Tuesday that despite having powerful friends, Latvia needs to continue to strengthen its own national security as well.” This is what I want to see all of Eastern Europe concluding. The US alone is only so strong, but as a group the EU and NATO nations can effectively stand down Russian efforts to regain its cold war strength.

I would like to see US efforts in the Middle East be decreased and a new emphasis put on Europe. Too many Middle Eastern countries are not natural allies for us because of the really vast cultural differences. Sharia law is not compatible with modern democratic Western beliefs. Not all Islamic states are ruled by Sharia law, but the number that are is increasing. When those people immigrate to the West most of them will bring their culture with them, making “honor killings” an all too common event. Besides, Eastern Europe especially needs us very much right now.

“We have to worry every minute of every day. We have to be ready in every possible way.... we had a very serious (economic) crisis in 2008 and 2009... so there was this difficult period when our investment in defense had to decrease but now it has to increase again because, yes, we have to be fully participating partners in our common security, which is a security that NATO offers.” This is good to hear. If all European states were as independently capable of contributing strongly to their own defense as this statement from President Freiberga recommends, Russia would be a more thoroughly domesticated society.




­ For Native Americans, Losing Tribal Membership Tests Identity – NPR
by David Nogueras
April 01, 2014


In western Oregon, members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde are engaged in a debate over what it means to belong.

The tribe's enrollment committee is considering kicking out an entire family that traces its lineage back to the founding of the modern tribe more than a century and a half ago. The family is related to Chief Tumulth, leader of the Watlala, a tribe that controlled river traffic along a key section of the Columbia River.

"If you search for 'Chief Tumulth,' you'll find that he's, as some people claim, the most famous Chinookan chief that there ever was," says Jade Unger, Tumulth's great-great-great-great-grandson.

After Unger heard about Chief Tumulth as a teenager he began to study the tribal language, Chinuk Wawa, and learned the traditional methods of hunting and fishing. Studying his ancestors, he began to learn about himself.

Eventually, Unger was enrolled at the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. In 1855, his ancestor, Chief Tumulth, played an early role in the confederation's founding by signing an important treaty with the U.S. government.

Unger says for nearly 30 years his family was embraced by the tribe — that is, until last September, when everything changed. The tribe's enrollment committee told Unger and 78 members of his family that a recently completed audit showed they were enrolled in error.

"I'm not worried about me. I know I'm fine economically," Unger says. "I'll make it. But there's people in my family that are going to be devastated by this, people that are dependent on their elders' pensions. There are people that are going to lose their homes."

Back in 1995, the tribe opened its Spirit Mountain Casino, and for the first time, members began to see a financial benefit. Within a few years, the tribe began to tighten its enrollment requirements. In fact, under the new standards, Unger's family wouldn't be let in today.

His ancestor may have signed a key treaty in the formation of the Grand Ronde, but Chief Tumulth was killed before the reservation was officially recognized in 1857. Unger says that information was well-known to the committee members who approved their applications.

"There was no error," Unger says. "It was very deliberate, and it was unanimously agreed upon that we had a background and we had a right to belong here in this tribe."
Tribal Council Chairman Reynold Leno wouldn't discuss pending cases. But he says the audit was needed to correct inconsistencies in the tribal record.

"Tribes are made up of families, and families know their own history," Leno says. "And when you have people that don't kind of fit into that family-type scenario, it kind of draws a question. And I think that's what a lot of people wanted looked into."

While he says any disenrollments that result from the audit are unfortunate, he says the tribe has a constitution — and it's his job to uphold it.

"It was given to us by the Supreme Court to set standards and regulations for our enrollment, and I think people should respect that," Leno says.

But both in and outside of Oregon, disenrollments are raising questions. David Wilkins, a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Lumbee Nation, estimates that as many as 8,000 U.S. citizens have been cast out of native tribes over the past two decades. And Wilkins worries that tribal disenrollments could be putting tribal autonomy in jeopardy.

"At some point there's going to be enough clamor raised by disenrollees that there is going to be a congressional hearing or there is going to be some presidential proclamation or there is going to be a Supreme Court decision that might seriously impinge on what is a true sine qua non of a sovereign nation, that is the power to decide who belongs," Wilkins says.

Grand Ronde is still reviewing the results of the audit, which means more disenrollment letters could go out.

Unger acknowledges he might lose his federally recognized status, but he says nobody can take away his identity as a native person.

"That's, hands down, way more important to me than any little chunk of money I might get in a per capita payment," Unger says. "I don't care about that. I care about my tribe. I feel like I belong. We belong."

And Unger says that's the one thing he wants to hold on to.




“The tribe's enrollment committee told Unger and 78 members of his family that a recently completed audit showed they were enrolled in error.” Tribal Council Chairman Reynold Leno apologizes, but defends the committee's action. Nonetheless, the disenrollments are raising questions. David Wilkins, a member of the Lumbee Nation, as many as 8,000 have been cast out of various native tribes. Wilkins predicts enough unrest over the matter for the Supreme Court to weigh in on it, thus breaching the Indian nations' autonomy.

This disenrollment which is linked in the article above with the money which is now being produced by Indian casinos. Would these families be cast out by a controlling inner group simply to reduce the number of people who would receive a share, and therefore increase their own income? If so, that is grossly unfair. Unger says that he is not interested in the money, but in the comfort of being a tribal member and having roots. It is a tragedy for American Indians, whose cultures have been largely destroyed, to have no compatriots with whom they share customs, kinship ties and a language, plus the fact that their tribal pensions which apparently fund whole families will be lost. The only word that comes to my mind to describe it is heartlessness. They aren't even robbing strangers. They're robbing family members. The quality of the tribal memberships will be devalued by these moves, as the surviving members share in the wealth gained by an immoral act.