The
Nooksack Tribe of Washington will start disenrollment proceedings against 300 people this week, an attorney said.
The tribe notified 306 people of their pending disenrollment in February. Six people are challenging the move in tribal court so their cases are on hold.
But the remainder will start learning their fate Wednesday morning,
attorney Gabe Galanda said. His law firm represents the six people who are in tribal court.
“I feel like I will be losing my heritage and my culture,” Moreno Peralta, who is among those being removed, told The Seattle Times. “It’s where I am from. They are telling me, ‘You are not Nooksack, you are not a tribal member,’ but I have been a tribal member my whole life.”
The tribe says the 306 people lack documentation to prove their membership status. But they say they are being targeted due to their mixed Indian-Filipino heritage.
“This tragedy would not happen anywhere else in America but in Indian Country,” Galanda told the Times.
Get the Story:
‘Nooksack 306’ fight to remain in tribe
(The Seattle Times 8/26)
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