Gabe Galanda is quoted at length by Fresno news stations KSEE24 and CBS47, regarding the latest scourge of disenrollment at the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians.
In a digital news story, “Chukchansi using ‘paper genocide’ for more casino money, former council members say,” Gabe sounds off on this country’s indifference to Indigenous human rights abuse in Indian country:
“Disenrollment isn’t about ascertaining historical truth,” said Indigenous rights lawyer Gabriel Galanda. “It’s about accomplishing a certain political goal, which is eradicating and exiling political opponents.”
Galanda says systematic and unjustified disenrollment is a problem across tribes and is in itself an inhumane practice.
“It’s hard to imagine anything more inhumane than telling a youth who has grown up believing they belong somewhere – and now they’re being told they don’t belong,” Galanda said. “That is the height of indignity and inhumanity in America.”…
“What disenrollment really accomplishes is it cuts out the safety net of an Indigenous person from underneath them – social service benefits, educational benefits, health care benefits, or general welfare benefits.”
Galanda says the worst part is that nothing can be done about it since Chukchansi is a sovereign nation.
“Yes, they can do whatever they want with or without regard for tribal law and there is nobody in the country who cares enough to do anything about it,” Galanda said.
For those disenrolled, Galanda says he wishes he could spread hope, it’s all too little too late at this point.
“Tragically, I have no hope that these relatives will be saved from disenrollment or exile,” Galanda said.
“The cold, the cold, hard truth is that this country does not care about them. It does not care about the health and welfare of the first peoples of this country.”
Gabe Galanda is an Indigenous rights attorney and the managing lawyer at Galanda Broadman. He has been named to Best Lawyers in America in the fields of Native American Law and Gaming Law from 2007 to 2024, and dubbed a Super Lawyer by his peers from 2013 to 2024. His law review article, “Curing the Tribal Disenrollment Epidemic: In Search of a Remedy,” was published by Arizona Law Review in 2015.
