Gabe Galanda on Tribal Disenrollment: "This Country Does Not Care"

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.

Gabe Galanda Explains "Acutely Unhealthy" Effects of Indigenous Human Rights Void

Last Friday, Gabe Galanda delivered the opening remarks at the Legal Foundation of Washington’s event, Changing the Way We See Native America, at Seattle’s iconic Town Hall.

The event celebrated LFW’s $4 million investment in Indigenous civil legal aid.

Gabe also emceed the event and introduced the night’s keynote speaker, Matika Wilbur. Here’s the first part of his opening remarks.

We are here in celebration and the Legal Foundation of Washington’s $4M commitment to expand Indigenous civil legal aid in our state.

This investment is crucial because only 1 on 10 Indigenous persons in our state receive civil legal assistance.

9 out of 10 Indigenous people don’t get legal help, whether for housing, family, employment, public assistance, civil rights, other problems.

90% don’t get the legal help they need, when they need it the most.  That is a truth that we cannot accept.

According to a 2015 Washington State Supreme Court Civil Legal Aid report, the top problems faced by Indigenous people includes:

·      Denial of services from a Tribal government or community organization that serves Indigenous people; and

·      Discrimination or employment termination by a tribe or tribally owned business.

That results in large part from the fact that Tribal citizens are the only so-called natural born citizens in this country that do not universally enjoy federal Bill of Rights protection.

That thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978, when Thurgood Marshall ruled that the federal Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 did not allow Indigenous people to seek protection in federal court when their personal freedoms were violated by Tribal governments.

The Supreme Court’s concern was flooding the federal courts with Indigenous civil rights cases.

Nearly 50 years later, the overwhelming majority of Tribal citizens in this country have nowhere to turn legally or judicially when their safety net it cut out from under them.

What this means is our Tribal citizens live their daily lives without the freedoms lived as a result of constitutional legal protections: freedom of speech/assembly, the right to personal privacy, the right to equal protection, the right to due process at law, to name a few. That reality breads an acutely unhealthy insecurity in Indigenous daily life.

We don’t even enjoy so-called birthright citizenship according to the 14th Amendment. 

Sunday was the 100th anniversary of the federal Indian Citizenship Act, which granted Tribal citizens American citizenship.

It took this country 150 years for the first people of these lands to be recognized as U.S. citizens, for voting purpose.

And today, our U.S. citizenship exists only at the will of the United States Congress, not by virtue of the 14th Amendment.  Think about that for a moment.

Even worse, there isn’t a single national organization in the country that is dedicated to the advancement of Indigenous civil liberties or human rights.

There is no Southern Poverty Law Center or NAACP Legal Defense Fund for Indigenous people.  Pioneering human rights organizations like the ACLU, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, are afraid to intercede, for fear of being seen as anti-Tribal or racist.

Which gets me back to the 9 out of 10 Indigenous people who don’t get civil legal aid, especially when being denied services or being discriminated against by Tribal governments or community organizations. 

Without Bill of Rights protection, any legal aid effort very well may be futile, and that is another truth that we cannot accept. 

And that unacceptable truth is why the Legal Foundation of Washington’s $4M investment in Indigenous civil legal aid is so important, and so commendable.

Gabe’s remarks have been edited for clarity.

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.

Chambers USA Recognizes Galanda Broadman's Excellence in Native American Law

Galanda Broadman, PLLC, has been recognized among the best Native American Law firms in the country by Chambers USA 2024. Gabe Galanda was also ranked among the best Native American Law practitioners in the latest edition.

The firm, with seven lawyers and offices in Seattle and Yakima, Washington and Bend, Oregon, represents Tribal governments, businesses, and citizens in critical litigation, business and regulatory matters, especially in matters of Treaty rights, sovereignty, taxation, civil rights, and belonging.

Galanda Broadman also represents Indigenous individuals in civil and human rights matters, especially in litigation against local, state, and federal police officers and jails for the loss of human life and against tribal politicians who abrogate Indigenous citizenship rights.

Galanda Broadman is honored to be ranked among the best Native American Law firms in the country and grateful to all of our Tribal and Indigenous clients for allowing us the opportunity to earn that recognition.

Nooksack Families Face Renewed Threats of Physical Eviction and Exile from Their Homelands

The United Nations has twice told the United States and Nooksack Tribe to halt the evictions of seven Nooksack families from their federal rent-to-own homes. 

The state of Washington has filed 85 notices of violation against Nooksack, pending with the IRS, for the Tribe's violation of federal and state tenant ownership rules.  

Washington's Auditor is conducting a $500,000 audit of the state's federal low income housing tenant ownership program after a state agency admitted its "compliance monitoring practices unfortunately did not hold [Nooksack] accountable."

Notwithstanding, seven low income Nooksack families most likely face threats of physical eviction, by armed Tribal police, from their federal rent-to-own homes in coming weeks.

The families, which include senile elders, wheelchair-bound relatives, and young children, are owed deeds to those homes after more than 15 years of good tenancy under the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program administered by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission (WSHFC) and Nooksack Tribe.

But those homes are being taken, without just compensation or due process of law, especially because Tribal politicians have "barred" us at Galanda Broadman from representing them at Nooksack.

"They have barred our lawyers. They have rewritten all the rules. They have ignored all applicable laws. They have snubbed their nose at the UN," said Michelle Roberts, spokesperson for the families and head of the household for one of the families threatened with eviction. "There is simply no justice or dignity at Nooksack."

On Tuesday, Nooksack Court of Appeals Chief Judge Rajeev Majumdar summarily dismissed a set of pro se appeals filed by the families "for want of action," despite the families' May 2nd request for a stay pending the IRS proceedings. 

The families appealed a Nooksack pro tem judge's set of unlawful detainer decisions last spring. Despite Tribal law requiring those appeals to have been heard within 45 days, the appeals commenced nearly a year later, this spring, only to be dismissed out of hand by the single appellate judge. 

The matters have been "returned to the jurisdiction" of the Nooksack trial court, where eviction writs are expected to be issued soon.

The dismissal Tuesday occurred while we, the families' longtime lawyers, pursued our own due process rights before the Tribal appeals court, after once again having papers "REJECTED" by the Tribal Court Clerk in violation of Nooksack law. 

Yesterday, pro se litigant Roberts implored Judge Majumdar to reconsider his decision, explaining:

[T]his happened while our lawyers’ appeal is pending so that they can be allowed to represent us.  My family does not understand what all of these tribal court papers mean.  My dad and Auntie Ollie are both senile. We cannot be expected to bring our appeals on very complicated legal federal housing issues "pro se" and without any help from lawyers.  All of this goes to show why we need help from our lawyers. Any tribal people would need legal help in such a complicated legal case.

The Nooksack judicial system has been considered illegitimate since Nooksack politicians overthrew it eight years ago. 

In late 2016, a group of federal Indian law professors from throughout the country wrote the Nooksack appeals court: "[T]he ripple effect of [the Tribe's] lawlessness will reach far beyond the boundaries of Nooksack...The suspicions and denigrations of tribal courts as second-class forums will gain credence among those that are hostile to tribal sovereignty.” In 2018, the Washington State Bar Association proclaimed "the Nooksack ‘’justice system’ is probably not worthy of that description."

The United States has rebuffed the United Nations’ unprecedented interventions, in both 2022 and 2023.  Each time the U.S. State Department blithely cited “tribal sovereignty” to justify federal inaction when confronted with the United Nations’ findings of “violation of international human rights law” at Nooksack.

Meanwhile, WSHFC has admitted: "Through the Nooksack disenrollment issue, we realized that eventual tenant homeownership plans had not been integrated into our monitoring practices....the IRS has stated that it will not take action in response to a notice of noncompliance" in these circumstances. It remains to be seen whether the IRS will take action on the 85 notices of violation.

In March, WSHFC’s regulatory gaffe caused the Washington Legislature to appropriate $500,000 for the state Auditor to audit the “commission's oversight of housing developers that offer a rent-to-own option for projects funded by the commission, including “how rent-to-own policies have affected affordable housing and home ownership options for eligible tenants.”  The audit is slated for completion by the end of the year.

Last year, Governor Jay Inslee asked Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Bob Ferguson to review the Nooksack families’ property rights in their LIHTC homes, and consider whether Nooksack was violating state law by taking those homes.  Ferguson declined, because the review “would clearly impact the Nooksack Tribe [and] there is no realistic chance that the Nooksack Tribe would consent” to it.

"This country, the entire system of American government, has turned its back on these families," said Gabe Galanda, lead counsel for the families. "Indigenous human rights protection is of no concern or consequence to the United States."

Related News: "Converge Media Releases Nooksack 306, a New Film Spotlighting the Eviction and Exile of Over 300 Nooksack Tribal Members" (May 29, 2024)

Converge Media Releases "Nooksack 306," a Film About Indigenous Belonging and Exile

Converge Media’s latest film, Nooksack 306, dives into the struggle faced by Indigenous people who are being disenrolled by tribal politicians and threatened with losing their homes and being exiled from their homelands. Filmmakers spoke with members of the group known as the Nooksack 306, who shared the story of their family’s twelve-year political persecution and proclaimed their will to keep fighting.

“We have always been Nooksack and will always be Nooksack. We have no intention of abandoning our homes or homelands. We belong, our ancestors belonged, and we are staying put,” Nooksack 306 Spokesperson Michelle Roberts said.

Following a lack of federal support spanning both the Trump and Biden administrations, the United Nations has twice intervened, raising concerns about the unlawful disenrollment of the Nooksack and related ejectment of several Nooksack families from federally subsidized homes they are entitled to own.

“Having been denied access to the courts and any human rights protection from this country, the Nooksack 306 have taken their fight to the United Nations and the court of public opinion. This is an existential fight for the ages,” Indigenous Rights Lawyer and Nooksack 306 legal counsel Gabe Galanda said.

The protracted legal and political battle has ramifications across generations, as grandparents, parents, and children have been catapulted into the fight to remain in their community and keep their homes, many of which have been in the families for decades. This film tells the story from the perspective of those whose voices have been stifled, sharing their Indigenous traditions and amplifying their pleas for support.

“We are proud to be able to help tell this story and share the message of the challenges that are facing the Nooksack 306. This film highlights Converge Media’s dedication to uplifting the voices of those who’s stories need amplification and we hope it will raise awareness and make a difference,” Converge Media Head of Production Alaia D’Alessandro said.

The film is out now and streaming across Converge Media platforms. It can be watched on YouTube here.

Gabe Galanda Contributes Essay to Book Honoring Legacy of Vine Deloria, Jr.

Gabe Galanda is among the Indigenous contributors whose work appears in a new collection of essays about one of the most influential thinkers of our time. Of Living Stone: Perspectives on Continuous Knowledge and the Work of Vine Deloria, Jr. features more than 30 original pieces by Indigenous leaders, artists, scientists, activists, scholars, legal experts, and humorists, in tribute to Deloria.

Gabe’s essay is titled, “In the Spirit of Vine Deloria, Jr.: Indigenous Kinship Renewal and Relational Sovereignty.” Gabe heeds Deloria’s inspiring call for the renewal of Indigenous kinship tradition and counsels for what Gabe calls “relational sovereignty,” whereby Indigenous human existence is exalted and protected over individual power and profit.

His Deloria tribute essay is among a series of scholarly essays that Gabe has published since 2023 about existential challenges facing Indigenous peoples:

• The Federal Indian Blood Quantum Fiction

• Durability and Duress: Inter-Tribal Kinship and Indian Gaming Capitalism

• Into The Void: Indigenous American Civil Rights

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.

Decolonizing Indigenous Fashion

Image from Women's Wear Daily (WWD.com)

Next month SWAIA’s Santa Fe Native Fashion Week[1] takes its rightful place on the fashion calendar, sharing an already prestigious sartorial “first week in May” with the Met Gala. The two events represent an important dichotomy in today’s fashion industry – the former showcasing how centuries of sustainable Indigenous knowledge and design are informing innovative current Indigenous fashion; the latter the penultimate annual fete of a mainstream fashion industry largely built on centuries of colonial exploitation of resources. You will see beautiful clothes at both events. Dazzling works of art made with the finest materials by artisans whose hearts speak through their needles and thread, and stunning people wearing them.

You will also see Indigenous people at both events; but only in Santa Fe will you find a celebration of Indigenous fashion and the opportunity to gather with designers who seek to develop sustainable fashion businesses and create value for their communities.

The Indigenous designers preparing to show at Santa Fe Native Fashion Week consistently express profound appreciation for the cultural influences that contribute to and inform their designs. Many describe learning their craft from loving matriarchs who instilled in them the importance of using it not just to better their own lives, but to build economic opportunity for their People and for future generations. Western practices now known as “sustainable fashion” emerged in the countercultures of the 1960’s and ‘70’s, became a source of consumer advocacy against corporations like Nike’s use of sweatshop labor in the 1990’s, and launched a global Fashion Revolution[2] following the collapse of Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza garment factory complex in 2013.

But Indigenous fashion predates these movements. It exists as a feature of the original triple bottom line economy; one colonization seeks to extinguish, but which has survived and thrived, nevertheless. As Carol Anne Hilton, MBA, Founder & CEO of the Indigenomics Institute, points out, “Indigenous economies are the original sharing economy, the original green economy, regenerative economy, collaborative economy, circular economy, impact economy, and the original gift economy. The indigenous economy is the original social economy .”[3]

Events like Santa Fe Native Fashion Week and the many Indigenous fashion weeks around the globe in recent years highlight a growing consumer demand for authentic Indigenous design. With increased awareness and activism making it more difficult for corporations to exploit Indigenous creators or pass off fake Native designs, the demand presents a significant opportunity for Indigenous fashion designers to activate “the ‘culture-of-origin effect,’ a term that reflects the strategic use of tribal culture as a way to increase the value of goods originating from American Indian entrepreneurs.”[4] And as Indigenous fashion designers start and grow their businesses, there is a corollary need for lawyers who understand and appreciate the ethos behind their work. Only with that understanding can an advisor and advocate help embed principles of “ethical responsibilities toward creation,”[5] community, and decolonization into negotiated transactions and business strategy. After all, “[i]t is the brave and true organization that goes above and beyond the expediency of mere legal compliance to practice what is right and just.”[6] It is the dynamic legal and business team that can help make that happen.

Take, for instance, a collaboration and licensing agreement between a large corporation and an Indigenous designer (think: PRL x Naiomi Glasses (Dine)). These contracts, which have historically been used - where a written agreement was reached at all – to legitimize the theft and exploitation of Indigenous design, offer significant opportunities to activate what Eighth Generation Founder, Louie Gong, calls the Decolonizing Partnership Model.[7]  From negotiating appropriate compensation and exclusivity terms, to ensuring participation and control in the product development and marketing stages, a knowledgeable advocate can ensure an Indigenous fashion designer’s business relationships are built on the principles by which they and their communities have lived for millennia.

I, for one, can’t wait for Santa Fe. I look forward to seeing you there and, if you have a moment, hearing about your Indigenous fashion goals; your pain points; the obstacles you’ve overcome and the ones you’re facing; and, of course,  your latest inspirations. Let’s talk!

Rachel Tobias is of counsel at Galanda Broadman. In addition to supporting the firm’s tribal law and Indigenous rights practice, she represents and advises Indigenous creators on an array of matters. Rachel holds a JD from the University of New Mexico School of Law and an LL.M. in Fashion Law from Fordham University School of Law.

[1] Southwestern Association for Indian Arts. https://swaianativefashion.org

[2] https://www.fashionrevolution.org

[3] Hilton, Carol Anne, MBA. Indigenomics. New Society Publishers, 2021, at 91. https://indigenomicsinstitute.com

[4] Stewart, D., J. Gladstone, A. Verbos, and M. Katragadda. 2014. “Native American Cultural Capital and Business Strategy: The Culture-of-Origin Effect.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 38:4, at 128.

[5] Claw, Carma M., Amy Klemm Verbos, and Grace Ann Rosile, “Business Ethics and Native American Values,” American Indian Business Principles & Practices, edited by Kennedy, Deanna M., et al., University of Washington Press, 2017, at 147.

[6] Id., at 156.

[7] https://eighthgeneration.com/pages/decolonizing-partnership-model#:~:text=A%20Decolonized%20Partnership%20requires%20compensating,capacity%20development%20for%20artists%20partners.

Statement of Gabe Galanda Re: Washington's New NextGen Bar Exam

Washington State’s new lawyer licensure reforms are a step in the right direction, especially with regard to diversifying our state's legal profession.  But those reforms can't come at the expense of Washington-specific subject matters that are intended to broaden our society's access to the legal system. 

In 2002, Washington added federal Indian law to its bar exam, becoming the second state in the country to do so.  New Mexico was the first; South Dakota followed suit, becoming the third.  When Washington moved to the uniform bar exam in 2011, it maintained federal Indian law as a bar exam subject. 

Among the many reasons for adding and keeping federal Indian law were the need to increase lawyer competence in that arena so that more lawyers would be equipped to help meet the unmet legal needs of Indigenous people and those who interact with Indigenous people in Washington. 

We still have miles to go in that regard.  Indigenous people remain the most underrepresented racial demographic in our state's legal system, for example, with only 1 in 10 Indigenous people's civil legal needs being met by legal counsel.  In other words, 90% of the Indigenous people in our state go unrepresented, including when they need it the most--whether in a child custody, divorce, employment, or eviction matter. 

Because the NextGen exam does not include federal Indian law, it will be incumbent on Washington’s three law schools to ensure that federal Indian law is taught to every law student in our state.  Each of our three schools must make the subject a prerequisite to graduating law school by 2026.

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.

Galanda Broadman Litigation Assistant Announcement

May 18, 2024 Update: This announcement has expired.

Galanda Broadman, PLLC, an Indigenous rights firm with seven lawyers and offices in Seattle and Yakima, Washington, and Bend, Oregon, seeks to add a litigation assistant to our growing team.

Galanda Broadman is an Indigenous owned firm dedicated to advancing tribal and tribal citizen legal rights and tribal business interests.  The firm represents tribal governments, businesses, and citizens in critical litigation, business and regulatory matters, especially in the areas of Treaty rights, tribal sovereignty, land rights, cultural property protection, taxation, commerce, gaming, serious/catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, disenrollment defense, and Indigenous human/civil rights. 

The litigation assistant primarily assists in Galanda Broadman’s federal court civil rights and wrongful death cases. That individual is involved with every step of the litigation process, from managing new client intake, to filing complaints in state and federal courts, to assisting with public information and discovery requests.

Multi-tasking; technology and research skills; critical and audacious thinking; strong communication; tremendous work ethic; tenacity; and sound ethics are required. 

Salary DOE. 

Galanda Broadman seeks a candidate with relevant experience in legal administrative work. This position could be adjusted for part time or full time. Work is primarily remote, with occasional in-person work required in Seattle.

Qualified applicants should submit a cover letter tailored to this announcement, as well as a résumé, transcript, and list of at least three educational or professional references, to Alice Hall, the firm’s Office Manager, at alice@galandabroadman.com. 

Applications directed elsewhere will not be considered.

Galanda Broadman Indigenous Human Rights Fellowship Announcement

Galanda Broadman, PLLC, an Indigenous rights firm with seven lawyers and offices in Seattle and Yakima, Washington, and Bend, Oregon, seeks a rising second- or third-year law student to work as an Indigenous Human Rights Fellow during the fall 2024 or spring 2025 semesters.

Galanda Broadman is an Indigenous owned firm dedicated to advancing tribal and tribal citizen legal rights and tribal business interests.  The firm represents tribal governments, businesses, and citizens in critical litigation, business and regulatory matters, especially in the areas of Treaty rights, tribal sovereignty, land rights, cultural property protection, taxation, commerce, gaming, serious/catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, disenrollment defense, and Indigenous human/civil rights.

We seek Fellows who are deeply committed to representing Indigenous interests; curious and persistent in crafting creative legal strategies; and enthusiastic to dive into an enterprising & fast-moving practice.   We seek students who can commit from 15–40 hours per week for 8–12 weeks for credit or outside funding. We work with students to get class credit from their schools.

Fellows will work throughout all areas of our practice depending on their interests and on the firm’s needs. Fellows will get the chance to work with each member of our team. In the past, projects have included: researching and writing briefing for federal, state, and tribal court litigation; conducting written discovery; working with clients to identify civil rights claims; crafting legislative advocacy materials with Indigenous stakeholders; and developing longer-term research projects and novel strategies for clients. 

Qualified applicants should submit a cover letter tailored to this announcement, as well as a résumé, writing sample, transcript, and list of at least three educational or professional references, to Alice Hall, the firm’s Office Manager, at alice@galandabroadman.com. 

Applications directed elsewhere will not be considered.

For more information about Galanda Broadman, visit galandabroadman.com.