Caitlyn M May

Statesman Journal

This story has been edited to correct the dates of enrollment and dis-enrollment.

It’s a long walk for Debi Anderson to the podium. She’s come to the Grand Ronde tribal council meeting to address her tribe, and the sound of her cane keeps the beat of her journey to the front of the chamber.

Every member of the tribe is granted five minutes to speak, but Anderson — who was cast out of the tribe after almost 30 years — will now have to ask permission of the tribal vice chairman before she delivers a speech the packed room has been waiting months to hear.

Anderson and her family were part of an enrollment purge that removed 86 people from the official tribe rolls. She and all descendants of Chief Tumulth had been ruled ineligible for tribal membership in 2013, but a recent tribal appeals court overturned that decision. Anderson and her kin were back in the fold.

Except they weren't, yet.

A month after the appeals courts' ruling, Anderson and her relatives had still not been re-enrolled — which means they still cannot vote, receive elder pay or apply for hunting tags.

When she finally reaches the podium, Anderson tells the council that the family has followed the process for more than two years. She tells them she has family members who are suffering financial and cultural setbacks. She asks the tribal council to call an emergency meeting, as it has done in the past, to reinstate the family in time to vote in the September 10 elections for tribal council.

Anderson's case has grabbed the attention of Indian Country as Oregon's Grand Ronde tribe has found itself fighting an internal war that has become the primary source for election fodder: who belongs and who doesn't.

Root of the issue

The U.S. Department of the Interior does not have a uniform policy to verify Native American status. All 567 federally recognized tribes, according to the agency, are responsible for creating and enforcing their own enrollment requirements. To qualify as a member of Grand Ronde, individuals must have a 1/16 blood quantum, a parent on the roll at the time of the applicant's birth and an ancestor who was on the official roll at the time of their application. Neighboring tribes differ in enrollment requirements. The Siletz tribe, for example, does not mandate that a parent be on the role at the time of birth. The Klamath tribe requires a 1/8 blood quantum or an ancestor listed on its 1954 roll.

Anderson has a 1/8 blood quantum but it was questions surrounding her ancestor that divided the tribe.

"We are descendants of Chief Tumulth and he signed the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855. That's the original Grand Ronde document," Anderson said.

Under the treaty, native tribes in the Willamette Valley ceded land to the U.S. in exchange for reservations around the state, including Grand Ronde.

However, Tumulth never made it to the reservation; he was executed by the U.S. Army in 1856 after being accused of taking part in the Fort Rains Massacre. He was never placed on the original roll and was long deceased at the time the tribe was terminated in the 1950s and subsequently restored in 1983.

But because tribal laws stated a roll or record of native ancestry could be used to apply for enrollment, Anderson’s great aunt and uncle presented the Willamette Valley Treaty as a record of Tumulth’s lineage. They were enrolled in 1984.

In 1999, however, the tribal council changed the law and no longer gave applicants the option of submitting a record. The treaty with Tumulth's signature was no longer a qualifying document.

The issue came to light during a 2013 roll audit. A total of 86 people from Anderson's immediate and extended family were dis-enrolled. They lost elder housing, elder pay, hunting and fishing rights, drumming rights, ceremonial salmon distribution and casino payments. Two college students attending Cornell and Vanderbilt lost part of their funding. Anderson's daughter was denied when applying for a federal program that offered Native Americans enrolled in federally recognized tribes a lower interest rate on mortgages.

A growing trend

"Dis-enrollment is an epidemic right now in Indian Country," said Dina Gilio-Whitaker, Policy Director and Senior Researcher at the Center for World Indigenous Studies in California. "In the last 10 years it has been increasing and it's sort of a crisis." Gilio-Whitaker said the phenomenon seems to be linked to successful gaming tribes. "The problem is there is no way to prove it, but it does seem to be correlated to successful gaming, indicating a motive of greed."

Grand Ronde members currently receive a quarterly payment; the most recent, issued in September, was for $1,100. But the tribe is facing a 41 percent revenue loss due to an incoming casino in southern Washington. Tribal council has not offered a solution to the revenue shortfall, but tribe lobbyist Justin Martin has said Grand Ronde is looking into every available option to continue offering services such as health care, elder care and education to tribe members; services that will otherwise have to be provided by the state of Oregon.

Grand Ronde is one of Oregon's most successful gaming tribes with 6 percent of its gaming revenue going to nonprofits per state law. Since Spirit Mountain Casino began operation, the tribe has donated $71.6 million. In January, Grand Ronde wrote checks totaling $1.5 million. The Siletz tribe runs Chinook Winds casino in Lincoln City and said it has never had a mass dis-enrollment to the scale of Grand Ronde's.

On August 5, the tribal appeals court ordered that 66 of the 86 dis-enrolled individuals be re-enrolled; 13 of the 86 had dropped their appeals and seven had passed away during the process.

The decision by the appeals court sharply divided the tribe and became the center of campaigns throughout the reservation. Members of the enrollment board — a board separate from the council and charged with overseeing enrollment issues — came out publicly against reinstating the family. Tribal chairman Reyn Leno questioned the appeals court decision on social media and the August 31 council meeting where Anderson spoke descended into a heated debate over why the board had yet to act. Council members said they were removed from the process and the decision was for the enrollment board to make.

According to tribal counsel Robert Greene, the enrollment board is, in fact, responsible for handing the re-enrollment. However, the tribal council has stepped in before, according to councilman Chris Mercier. He said in 2013 council vice president Jack Giffen requested that the enrollment board meet outside of its schedule to re-enroll members of the tribe in time to vote. He was running for re-election at the time.

The enrollment board is not scheduled to meet until the end of the month, 16 days after the September 10 elections and 52 days after the appeals court ordered the family to be re-enrolled.

Grand Ronde officials declined to comment on the matter.

A nation divided

Dividing casino revenue and legislating blood quantum has become an issue facing tribes nationwide.

"Imposing blood quantum has always been a problem," said Gilio-Whitaker. "It's the opposite of the 'one-drop' rule. We call it statistical genocide."

Tate Walker is the editor for Native Peoples magazine and a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe.

"Personally, I’m not a fan of blood quantum," she said. "Traditionally, our tribes were constantly marrying outside our communities and making relatives in other ceremonial ways."

Census data shows the largest portion of those who identify as multi-racial in the U.S. identify in some part as Native American.

"This is where tribal identity gets messy; unlike other people of color, our identity is political," Walker said.

As for the issue of blood quantum and which tribes will continue to use it as a measure of Native heritage and which tribes will not, Walker said the debate will rage on.

"While this issue of enrollment and Native identity may seem new, I promise this has been an issue since colonizers came upon our shores. What’s different now is social media – the folks being dis-enrolled have a court of public opinion to take their cases to and I guarantee this issue won’t go away anytime soon."

It's what worries Anderson.

"They say the tribe will self-terminate in 20 years because of blood quantum," she said.

September 21 will mark three years since the Anderson family was dis-enrolled. Three family members are headed to college without the help of state and federal grants reserved for Native Americans. They will have to wait for the next application cycle if they are re-enrolled. Anderson’s daughter is still house hunting, hoping to obtain a lower interest rate when re-enrolled. The family was unable to vote in the September 10 elections and they still cannot apply for their hunting and fishing tags.

Left waiting

During the August 31 meeting, several members used their five minutes to speak on Anderson's behalf. Tribe member Monty Herron polled the council, asking if they would be in favor of requesting an emergency meeting of the enrollment board. The response is mixed with the majority of the council saying they would not make the request.

Mercier is one of the few who spoke in favor of the emergency hearing and tells Anderson he doesn't envy her situation.

"There are members of the committee (enrollment board) that have made statements about how they feel about this case," he says. "I wonder if there is a little political bias? Of course it is elections and has it been the cleanest election? I'll say candidates have been clean but not their supporters."

No council member requests more information on calling an emergency meeting of the enrollment board. There is no instruction to place an item on the next agenda.

Anderson embarks on the long journey back to her seat.

What is blood quantum?

The Bureau of Indian Affairs does not perform blood tests to verify Native identity. Private companies conduct blood and/or DNA tests to determine the percentage of blood that is considered tribal due to inherited markers. Once the test is completed, BIA will issue a Certified Degree of Indian or Alaskan Native Blood which can be used in combination with official tribal rolls to apply for enrollment in a federally recognized tribe. Each tribe has its own set of requirements for enrollment. Blood quantum has been used by tribes nationwide to verify Native heritage but many tribes are doing away with the requirement in favor of exclusive use of certified tribal rolls while others are relying solely on the genetic test. Grand Ronde currently requires a minimum blood quantum of 1/16, a parent who was on the roll at the time of the applicant's birth and an ancestor who is on an official tribe roll at the time of application.

Grand Ronde enrollment numbers

At restoration (1983): 1,101

A year before the dis-enrollment (2012): 5,111

Current enrollment (2016): 5,304