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Shasta band again seeks tribal status
Hopes documentary, lawmakers will help effort

Kimberly Bolander
Record Searchlight
March, 16 2002 — 7:09 a.m.

Five members of the Winnemem band of American Indians are leaving Sunday
for Washington, D.C., to petition federal representatives to restore
their tribal status.
The Lake Shasta-based Winnemem learned in 1985 that the Bureau of Indian
Affairs no longer considered them and at least 169 other groups to be
tribes, said Caleen Sisk-Franco, a tribal leader.
At that time, the Winnemem realized they were gradually losing
previously enjoyed grants and services, she said.
"What we're wanting from Washington and what we're asking of our
Congress members is when we lost recognition and why," said Sisk-Franco,
49.
She will be the successor to the Winnemem's spiritual leader,
92-year-old Florence Jones.
At least 67 tribes in California do not belong to a reservation or
rancheria, and therefore live without tribal status, Sisk-Franco said.
Nationwide, 102 tribes are petitioning for federal recognition, she
said.
The Winnemem say they are not interested in tribal status to build a
casino.
"We need to be able to have a village again, not a casino. We need our
children to learn the songs of our tribe, the dances. Visit our sacred
places. Learn to fish again," she said.
They petitioned in 1993 for federal recognition, and the bureau asked
for information possibly omitted from their application later that year,
according to a letter dated Oct. 23 by a BIA official.
"We are waiting for the group to respond to the review letter by
submitting further documentation or a statement from the group informing
us when it believes that its petition is ready for evaluation," it
reads.
The letter was in response to an inquiry made on the tribe's behalf by
Rep. Wally Herger, R-Marysville. In a Feb. 22 message to the tribe,
Herger encouraged them to provide the additional documentation of their
former recognized status.
While it has happened in the past, Herger noted that "the chances of
successfully passing federal legislation are not good," his letter
reads.
As they did last year, the small group will spend about $6,500 in
airfare to the nation's capital — and hope to get at least 15 to 30
minutes with the their elected representatives. They hope to speak to
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.,
Herger and a Bureau of Indian Affairs representative, Sisk-Franco said.
Herger's Washington press agent said Herger has met with the tribe's
members several times before and will see them again.
The group will present 50 to 60 pages on the Winnemems' history and hope
to show part of a documentary featuring the tribe, called "In the Light
of Reverence."
The Winnemem were once one of nine dialectic bands within the Wintu
tribe, Sisk-Franco said. Probably only three of those groups still
exist: the Nor-el Muk, Nomtipom and the Winnemem, she said. Those groups
do not consider themselves Wintu, she said.
Sisk-Franco said she doesn't expect the trip to yield immediate results
but believes the tribe must continue lobbying for its cause.
"We're not going to fix this overnight. This trip's not going to change
anything. . . . What we want to do is to deliver our history," she said.
Without federal recognition, the 100-some tribal members live without
the benefits federally recognized tribal members enjoy, Sisk-Franco
said. For example, they worry most about losing the right to hold
ceremonies in sacred places around Lake Shasta — their traditional
living grounds, now mostly under water, she said.
If they lose their right to practice their culture and religion — by
losing access to sacred sites — the band will go underground, she
said.
Another example of the costs of losing tribal status is that the group
cannot claim repatriation rights to artifacts recovered from its former
homelands, Sisk-Franco said.
"We're not allowed to if we're not a tribe. Even though everybody knows
that if they're digging up something along the McCloud River, it's
Winnemem," she said.
Losing tribal status also means the Winnemem get no state and federal
education benefits and no financial help in perpetuating or preserving
their native language.
The tribe shouldn't have to prove its identity to a federal government
that previously recognized it, Sisk-Franco said. She believes only an
act of Congress can legally tamper with tribal status — not the Bureau
of Indian Affairs, she said.
California has just two reservations and numerous rancherias. The
federal government considers rancherias "tribes" even though they are
typically consortiums of tribes — as is the Redding Rancheria, which
is affiliated with the Wintu, Yana and Pit River tribes, she said.
Sisk-Franco and her partner, Mark Franco — the Winnemem's keepers of
ceremony — will fly out of Sacramento on Sunday, as will their
10-year-old daughter, Waimem.
Wintu member Ricardo Torres, acting as the Winnemem's legislative
analyst, Winnemem dance captain Rick Wilson and documentarian
Christopher McLeod will also be part of the Washington-bound entourage.
The group plans to meet with the tribe's Washington attorneys and visit
the Smithsonian Institution to dig up more documentation of their tribe
during their week's stay, Sisk-Franco said.
Reporter Kimberly Bolander can be reached at 225-8339 or at
kbolander@....
Saturday, March 16, 2002
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