My chairman responded to the article and controversy and it was printed in the local paper;
Yosemite-Mono Lake responseMono Lake Paiute responds
The article “Feds again delay decision
on natives’ tribal recognition” (Nov. 10)
does not tell the whole story.
The United States government gave the
Southern Sierra Miwuks 29 years to supply
documentation to support their petition
which they submitted in 1982. Last
October the Miwuks were told they were
up for review. The Miwuks responded
saying they were not ready after 29 years,
and the government gave them an extra
six months. Therefore, by requesting an
extension the Southern Sierra Miwuk delayed
the process, not the federal government.
As for ex-Chairman Leonard stating that
the group was not entertaining a casino
venture, this also is not the case. It is a
well known fact amongst the Southern
Sierra Miwuk that the group was seeking
a casino deal. The Miwuk already receive
health funds from California Indian Rural
Health Project which gives the MACT
board funding. In the 1930s the Miwuk
were given a chance to become a tribe by
the government, but they voted it down
because they saw themselves as Park employees
only.
The Miwuk’s 1982 petition is full of genealogical
and tribal historical errors because
the indigenous Yosemite Natives
were Yosemite–Mono Lake Paiutes, not
Miwuks. The Southern Sierra Miwuk are
using the history of our Paiute people to
seek federal recognition under false pretenses.
The glaring example is the Eadweard
Muybridge photo that goes with
this article. The photo is of a Paiute people’s
gathering in Yosemite numbered
1575, and the proceeding photo is 1574
called “Paiute Chief’s Lodge.” They are
not Miwuks, but Paiutes, like the Indians
of Yosemite.
David Andrews
Yosemite Mono Lake Paiute
Indian Community
actual newspaperI bet that made a few people spit up their coffee this morning.
Chief Tenaya was the founder of the Paiute colony of Ahwanhee - Dr. Lafayette H. Bunnell.