Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008

10-16-07 Interview with Chief Richard Velky

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Host Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui interviews with Richard Velky, Chief of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, who details the tribe's appeal of the Bureau of Indian Affair's unprecedented decision to strip the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation of its federal acknowledgment. The tribe recently filed a motion for summary judgment for its claim that the loss of its federal status resulted from unlawful political influence by powerful politicians and a White House-connected lobbyist, who violated federal laws, agency regulations, congressional ethics rules and court orders to have the BIA decision reversed. Despite the fact that the Tribe had painstakingly followed the process and achieved Recognition on their 30,000 page petition's merits, political opponents launched a PR campaign accusing the Tribe of politically manipulating the process to gain Federal Recognition - then they launched their own secret campaign to politically manipulate the process to reverse that decision. The lobbyist group, Barbour, Griffith & Rogers (BGR) is named in the tribe's law suit, where they are charged with harmful and unlawful interference with the tribe's recognition. BGR's communications regarding the STN reach to the governor of CT, White House staff, Interior officials, the anti-Indian group One Nation United, and even former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who is a resident of Kent, CT. Original air date: 10-16-07

Posted by Indigenous Politics at 10:05 PM |   

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