If I had to, could I prove who I am? Could you?
And if either of us could prove our lineage – prove it in a way that might stand up to scrutiny from someone other than ourselves – why would we ever have to?
Isn’t not having to prove yourself, to anybody, part of what being American is all about?
That’s the kind of stuff I was thinking as I chewed a beef dip and listened to Nathan Banda, leader of the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation, deliver some huge news.
Last week, we got published on the federal
“Last week, we got published on the federal register,” Banda said during a lunch that happened in late October in Dana Point.
“So we’re in active status.”
Banda carried on for a bit about baskets (to be fair, I’d asked), but the registry stuff stuck.
Translation: Banda’s people – the same people who inhabited what is now Orange County for about 10,000 years – just took a monumental step in their long-running quest to be formally recognized as a tribe by the U.S. government, which has been around for all of 250 years.
You read that right. The people who
You read that right. The people who were here first by, like, a lot, are going to be sanctioned – or not – by the newcomers, the immigrants.
To date, that backward process has resulted in 575 tribes and Alaska native groups gaining formal recognition from the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
It’s also a process that, so far, has eluded the Juaneño/Acjachemen.
Sadly, federal recognition is important. Getting it makes it possible for a tribe to buy property, develop it and keep all the money they make. Usually, tribal development has meant casinos or other gaming operations, but tribes also have built shopping centers, hotels, golf courses, chocolate companies; the list is long and diverse.
That development can mean power for the tribes
That development can mean power for the tribes – which, in theory, use the money they earn for public services – and for the individuals who are recognized as “enrolled members” of the tribe.
And that money can be big.
Though the details aren’t public (tribes are sovereign nations and don’t have to report their earnings to anybody), published estimates suggest that being an enrolled member in a recognized tribe in Southern California can be worth up to $30,000 a month.
But getting into that lucrative club – being a tribe that has proven what it is, and being recognized as an enrolled member of a recognized tribe – are separate, and complicated, processes.
Banda said the recent mention of the Juaneño/Acjachemen
Banda said the recent mention of the Juaneño/Acjachemen people in the grammatically challenged “Federal Register Tribal Entities List” compiled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs was about tribal recognition. He also said it was an early move in a process that could take at least a few more years.
That process will include reports from genealogists and anthropologists. It will rely on historical documents and letters (in English and Spanish and Acjachemen, a language that’s being revived) from families who have been part of the culture for the past couple centuries.
It’ll also include testimony, written or otherwise, from people in Banda’s world, and from people in other tribes, including some who have a strong financial interest in preventing the Juaneno/Acjachemen from achieving full federal recognition.
Banda believes the biggest hurdle to tribal recognition
Banda believes the biggest hurdle to tribal recognition will come, in fact, from other tribes.
“They’ll do what they can to prevent us from getting started,” he said. “We know that.”
All that said, the recent listing is a big deal. It’s something Banda’s people have been working on for the past 45 years, or two years before he was born. It launched a comment period that will end in February. After that, Banda said, the government will dig in to start its formal review.
“It really means we’re in the game,” Banda said.
If the listing leads to formal recognition
If the listing leads to formal recognition by the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs – and Banda is optimistic – that could change his people, and this region, in some interesting ways.
Once recognized, Banda said he and his crew and some outside investors could buy some land. That, in turn, would let them create housing for tribal elders and community infrastructure that could preserve historic Juaneño/Acjachemen culture.
And, yes, it might mean some kind of gaming operation. That’s why investors might get on board in the first place.
Banda said his group has looked at property
Banda said his group has looked at property off Ortega Highway, near Camp Pendleton, and in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle area. Within three years, he projected, his group hopes to be running a casino, or some other business, in or near the county.
But recognition from the U.S. government also might kick off something else: fighting from within.
While the recognition process includes several legalese-written steps that are far too intricate for me to understand accurately, much less explain in print, it breaks down into two distinct (though connected) paths.
Yes, the federal government recognizes a tribe
Yes, the federal government recognizes a tribe. But the list of people who comprise that tribe – the so-called “enrolled members” – is created by the tribe and submitted to the government as part of the approval process.
Bottom line: The next few years could include a lot of investigating into a lot of backgrounds.
Earlier this year, Banda and his staff brought 25 boxes of information – each filled with stuff that supports individuals’ claims about their tribal background – to a meeting at the Department of Interior.
For people in the Juaneño/Acjachemen culture, a lot
For people in the Juaneño/Acjachemen culture, a lot of individual cases have been bolstered, in part, by the same process that led to the downfall (or, in some accounts, the change) of that culture – the use of native people to build the Mission at San Juan Capistrano.
“We have the best records, in part because of Father (Junipero) Serra and the records that were started when the mission was built – when we built the mission – 250 years ago,” Banda said.
Banda said his tribe probably includes about 4,000 people, overall, but that only 2,000 are officially enrolled. That member list was created in 2009, and it leaves out younger people (including Banda’s daughters). It also includes some people – like Banda – who trace their heritage to both the tribe and to Mexico.
Banda said it’s important that his people
Banda said it’s important that his people were never forced to live on a reservation. That omission makes it somewhat harder for the federal government to identify the tribe as such. It’s also meant that individuals in the tribe are more geographically dispersed than are members of other tribal groups.
A few hundred Juaneño/Acjachemen live in Orange and Riverside counties, while others live in northern California and around the country. Some live with strong cultural connections to their tribal history; others do not.
Banda, who grew up in San Juan Capistrano and ran the business side of a car dealership for many years before being elected as tribal leader 18 months ago, lives locally. He also lives in both worlds, ancient and modern.
“For me, it’s like switching a light on and off,” he said. “I’ve got to be able to understand different cultures to better help the people I come from.
“It’s how I recognize myself.”
