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Bureau Of Indian Affairs Takes Violent Action Against Native American Tribe In Washington D.C.
A Native American Indian Tribe has been harassed, threatened, beaten, and arrested by agents of the Federal Government for daring to discuss the restoration of their sovereign rights.
Tribal members of the Muwekma Nation are making their ‘Last Stand’ against the United States government in their continual quest for self-determination. Since they arrived in the Nation’s Capitol last week the Tribe has been violently attacked and arrested by U.S. Capitol Park Police, forced out of their campground, blocked from entering the Department of the Interior, and placed in the middle of a dangerous standoff with militarized police at a CNN-sponsored Kamala Harris Presidential campaign event.
After many decades of being marginalized, diminished, and disrespected by the Department of the Interior and other Federal agencies, the Muwekma Tribe of San Francisco Indians has embarked on a spiritual journey across the country, on their Trail of Truth, from the Golden-Gate State of California to the Nation’s Capitol in Washington D.C., to reclaim their land, and the sovereignty that has been stolen from them.
The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is at the National Mall in Washington D.C. to advocate for the return of the tribe’s federal recognition, which would give them the ability to operate as other federally recognized tribes do and protect their histories, cultures, and lifeways.
Tribal Chairwomen Charlene Nijmeh is committed to restoring her Tribes federal recognition. She said, “We’re out here, asking that the U.S. government return federal recognition to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe so we might operate as other federally recognized tribes do, with protections and the acknowledgement of our history and humanity. We’ve traveled across the country by horseback to make this point. We’ve met allies from so many tribes along the way, and they have marched with us in spirit.”
When the tribe entered the Nation’s Capitol on horseback on October 14th, after a long and arduous cross-country journey, they were greeted by the Capitol police who welcomed them into the city and escorted them to their campground, but while they were preparing for their ceremonial parade to the Bureau of Indian Affairs the following morning, for a pre-planned meeting with Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, the Tribe was surrounded by U.S. Park police who came to confiscate their “Spirit Horses.”
These precious animals are from the same lineage as horses their ancestor’s rode when they roamed across North America, way before Europeans came to the continent.
Chairwoman Nijmeh stated, “This sacred line of horses was provided to us by the Oglala Lakota”, so that they would carry us from across Turtle Island to Washington, DC on our three-month long journey across Turtle Island to demand justice from Congress and the Administration.”
The Park police quickly escalated the severity of the situation by swarming the tribe with overwhelming force and threatening to kill the animals. When one of the officers yelled out ‘You’ll never see them again,” the women and young people in the tribe jumped onto the horse trailer and clung to it tightly to prevent the police from taking it or harming the horses. Eight members of the Muwekma tribe were taken to jail and forced to spend the night in a holding cell.
The police opened an old historic war-wound when they threatened the horses, which might have reminded the Muwekma of the Washita Massacre of 1868, when Colonel Custer surrounded and slaughtered 103 peaceful sleeping Cheyenne Indians – and then killed 850 of their horses.
On October 15th, after being released from jail and finally making their way back to the campsite, the Tribe was almost immediately surrounded by police and forced to pack up their belongings and leave the park within 5 minutes, but before anyone was able to flee, the police descended on the campsite, assaulted the crowd, and forced the Tribe out of the National Park.
After the being forced out of the National Park, the Muwekma tribal leaders marched across the Capitol Mall to the Interior Department, to discuss their claim for re-recognition – but they were greeted at the Interior Department by armed guards, locked doors, and more harassment. The Nation’s top Indian agency would not let the tribal members enter the building or meet with any of the federal employees who have been appointed to oversee the Tribe and approve their sovereignty.
The Interior Department is a federal agency that is primarily charged with “effectuating the principles of self-determination and self-governance that are the cornerstones of the United States’ relationship with tribal governments.” The Bureau of Indian Affairs is the oldest agency within the Interior Department. They are responsible for managing the federal government’s trust relationship with American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Interior Department officials unlawfully refused to allow Nijmeh and her delegation entry to their offices for a meeting they had previously scheduled for October 21st, explicitly refusing to comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Tribe was then invited back for a rescheduled meeting the following day but when they arrived at the Interior Department they were once again refused entry and then accosted by contracted private security guards who wore badges that read “Special Police.”
The Tribe and its delegation also endured the cold shoulder of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who both had their office doors locked upon hearing of Chairwoman Nijmeh’s arrival at the Longworth House Office Building.
Many members of the Tribe suspect that Secretary Haaland’s office at the Interior Department was well aware of the Tribe’s presence on the National Mall and deliberately ordered the violence against them.
The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe was previously federally recognized as the Verona Band of Alameda County, California and that recognition was never terminated by an act of Congress. The Tribe was recognized as a sovereign nation by the U.S. government, in 1905, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs unilaterally and illegally removed them from a Congressional decree in 1927, after Congress mandated that land be purchased for the Tribe, and money allocated for the land purchase.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs wrongly omitted the Tribe from the official list of recognized Tribes when that list was first drafted in 1978. The BIA claimed that the tribe did not need land and therefore did not need Federal recognition – but they were wrong on both accounts. The Tribe has struggled for more than 45-years to affirm its federal status, but so far, that has fallen on deaf ears.
A federal district court judge in the Northern District of California has affirmed that the Tribe has retained its sovereign immunity even though they are not on the BIA’s list of officially recognized tribes, but despite that, they are still getting their claim for sovereignty sidelined by government officials.
In a powerful letter addressed to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Tribal Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh has called for accountability following the violence that was directed against her people by the Department of the Interior. The letter claims that tribal members were subjected to “unnecessary, unprovoked, and unjustified police actions,” that left women and children bruised and traumatized.
Chairwoman Nijmeh declared in her letter that these assaults highlight a continued colonial attitude within the Department of the Interior and raise significant concerns regarding the federal government’s continued mistreatment of Native Americans. She stated, “The events of October 15th and 16th were yet another horrible stain on America’s relationship with indigenous people.”
After being rebuffed at the Interior Department, twice, the Muwekma tribal members traveled to Pennsylvania, with their horses, to gather in front of a Town Hall event that Kamala Harris was having with Anderson Cooper and CNN, so they could have their voices heard by the Democratic Presidential candidate who has been given over $58 million dollars in campaign contributions by other casino-rich Indian Nations.
When they arrived, the Tribe was stopped on the street by a BearCat militarized tactical vehicle and surrounded by heavily armed police in riot gear with shields, batons, bullet proof vests, and Kevlar helmets. which provoked a dangerous standoff that could have turned deadly.
Kamala Harris was born, raised, and built her political career on Muwekma land. For years, she has refused to meet with the Tribe, despite serving as United States Senator from 2017 to 2021, and being twice elected as Attorney General of California. Chairwomen Nijmeh hoped to pose a question to Harris regarding the Tribe’s longstanding struggle to affirm its federal status, but she was prevented from attending the Town Hall meeting by an extraordinary hostile display of police force, and not allowed to leave until the event was over, creating a 2 hour long standoff.
“The Democrats talk a lot about Indian sovereignty, but when it comes to their actions, they’ve given us nothing but cold shoulders, locked doors, police violence, and now an outlandish military style confrontation that must have cost taxpayers $2 million in expenses,” Nijmeh postulates. “They would rather stare us down with guns than look at themselves in the mirror.”