A newspaper article came out in the Mariposa Gazette with the Southern Sierra Miwuks, also called the American Indian Council of Mariposa, also referred as the AICM, which is made up of some current and former Indian employees of Yosemite National Park. In the article the Miwuks complained that the Office of Federal Acknowledgment, also called OFA, has not made them a recognized tribe. The AICM had been involved in acquiring a casino somewhere in the area of Yosemite, but needs to become a federally recognized tribe first.
OFA stated that the Miwuks, or AICM, had not supplied sufficient information regarding their ancestry or genealogy. So OFA gave the Miwuks an extension of six months, which was to end on April 29th, 2012.
The Southern Sierra Miwuks, or the AICM received a letter from the OFA, dated April 19th 2012, stating that 40 percent of the membership on file did not contain birth certificates. The actual numbers is 350 out of a total of 872 members that did not have birth certificates included. See letter below.
Note the application for membership of the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation that a copy of a birth certificate must be included when a member joins their group.
Application for membership in the Southern Sierra Miwuk
We ask the question. How did the Southern Sierra Miwuk supply a petition for federal recognition omitting 350 birth certificates which is mandatory for membership in the Southern Sierra Miwuk.
Now once again the OFA is extending the Miwuks deadline from April 29th 2012 to Oct. 29th 2012. The OFA is going to search the BIA database to provide birth names, dates, mother’s surnames, and other information for the 350 individuals. We wonder why the OFA is doing this and helping the Southern Sierra Miwuks? This means that this non-profit group failed in their petition process for federal recognition.
In tribal enrollment an application is submitted to the tribal enrollment officer who in turn prepares it for the tribal enrollment committee. If an enrollment application is submitted without the required birth certificate to support the Indian ancestry, the applications should have been rejected and returned to the persons applying as incomplete. The Miwuks should have never have submitted this petition to the OFA in the first place without the required birth certificates.
If an elder never had a birth certificate they could’ve created a delayed birth certificate for governmental services. We don’t believe that 350 people in the AICM do not have birth certificates.
Chief Tenaya was the founder of the Paiute colony of Ahwanhee - Dr. Lafayette H. Bunnell.