Tag: native americans

GOP Senators Push For Federal And State Response To Indian Tribe’s 4/20 Marijuana Sales Plan In North Carolina

Two Republican senators are asking federal, state and local officials what steps they are taking to enforce marijuana prohibition as an Indian tribe prepares to launch recreational cannabis sales on its lands within North Carolina on April 20.

On Friday, Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Ted Budd (R-NC) sent a letter with 19 questions about their concerns regarding the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (ECBI) marijuana plan to the U.S. attorney general, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Department of Interior (DOI), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), National Indian Gaming Commission and various North Carolina state and local law enforcement agencies.

“As our nation is facing an unprecedented drug crisis that is harming our communities, it is vital to learn what measures your departments and agencies are taking to uphold current federal and state laws,” they wrote, adding that the “matter raises multiple questions on how North Carolina communities will be kept safe.”

ECBI members approved a referendum last September to legalize adult-use cannabis, becoming the first jurisdiction within the borders of North Carolina to enact the reform. More recently, last week the tribe announced that it had set a target date to open retail sales: April 20, 2024, also known as 4/20.

This follows ECBI’s 2021 move to legalize medical cannabis and register Qualla Boundary LLC to dispense marijuana to patients. Registration for the program opened to all North Carolina residents this past June, and in October, the tribe issued its first round of medical marijuana cards.

“With unclear guidance, it makes it difficult for state and local officials to uphold  the rule of law in our communities,” the senators wrote in their letter. “In particular, we have the responsibility to ensure our youth are shielded from untested marijuana products being produced and sold by Qualla Enterprise LLC.”

Tillis and Budd then listed 19 questions that they’re asking officials to respond to, depending on their jurisdiction.

That includes queries about whether tribes are considered exempt from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), whether agencies have concerns about the potential cannabis shop will attract transnational criminal enterprises, whether tribes can take land into trust for the purposes of selling cannabis and whether financial institutions can provide loans and credit to tribes seeking to open a marijuana business.

The senators are also pressing for answers on whether federal officials allow gaming profits derived from casinos to be used in support of marijuana ventures.

Ahead of last year’s legalization vote, Qualla Enterprises published an op-ed in the tribal newspaper, Cherokee One Feather, championing the benefits of adult-use sales. It compared the opportunity to when, “thirty years ago, the Cherokee People decided to build a casino.”

“This was highly controversial at the time, in part because nowhere in the surrounding region allowed gaming,” the company said at the time. “But we were not afraid to be different. Harrah’s Cherokee Casino has benefited this Tribe and its members in more ways than we ever imagined.”

The bulk of new jobs created by the policy change, according to the company, would be filled by enrolled ECBI members. In the medical system as of last year, 84 percent of cultivation employees were tribal members, its op-ed said, “which represents the highest of any business owned by the tribe.”

The op-ed also pointed to a statewide poll that found 73 percent of North Carolina residents support legal medical marijuana. And it cited estimates suggesting the state’s illicit cannabis activity amounted to nearly $3.2 billion in 2022.

A more recent survey of North Carolinians, conducted by the Meredith Poll and published last month, found 78 percent support for lawmakers to pass a medical marijuana bill this year.

The tribe’s moves to legalize despite North Carolina’s ongoing prohibition of marijuana drew criticism from other politicians, including Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC). Ahead of the election, Edwards, who is not Native, authored an op-ed in Cherokee One Feather warning that legalization on the tribal land “would be irresponsible, and I intend to stop it.”

The congressman also filed a bill in the U.S. House that would slash a portion of federal funding from tribes and states that legalize marijuana.

Then-Principal Chief Richard G. Sneed called the move “a big misstep” at the time. He told Marijuana Moment that he believed pushback from Edwards and others may have emboldened tribal members to support the measure.

“The worst thing that a non-Indian elected official can do is tell a sovereign, federally-recognized Indian tribe how they ought to handle their business,” Sneed said in an interview.

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Indian Tribe Plans To Open North Carolina’s First Marijuana Dispensary On 4/20

Following last year’s decision by members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (ECBI) to legalize cannabis for adult use, the tribe has set a target date to open retail sales: April 20, 2024. If all goes as planned, the launch will mark the first-ever legal marijuana sales within the borders of North Carolina.

“It’s the national cannabis holiday, right?” Lee Griffin, human resources director for the tribe’s marijuana business, Qualla Enterprises, said of the 4/20 start date during a ECBI tribal council work session on Wednesday. “Across the country, it’s the biggest revenue date annually” for cannabis.

“It’s like New Year’s Eve at the casino,” he said.

The retail store—located on the tribe’s 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary—will be open to any adult 21 and older, regardless of tribal membership.

Members of the tribe voted last September to legalize and regulate adult-use sales, approving a ballot measure with a strong 70 percent–30 percent margin.

Two years earlier, in 2021, ECBI’s Qualla Boundary became the first place in North Carolina where medical marijuana was legal after the tribal council adopted a regulated system. Registration for the program opened to all North Carolina residents this past June, and in October, the tribe issued its first round of medical marijuana cards.

At this week’s tribal council meeting, which was first reported by The Charlotte Observer, Griffin said that about 1,400 people have already applied for cannabis-related jobs, though Qualla Enterprises aims to hire just over 350. Currently the business employs 69 employees, he said.

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Osage Nation’s Victorious War Cry After Judge Rules Wind Farm on Tribal Land Must Be Dismantled: ‘This Is Our Homeland’

The Osage Nation in Oklahoma won a great victory for American property rights last week after a judge ordered the dismantling of a renewable energy wind farm that was erected without permission on their tribal lands.

One of the main reasons the Native American council opposed the wind farm was to protect their mineral rights, not to mention their ability to control their own ancestral homeland.

But the battle has been raging in court for a decade already, as the Osage Nation and its Mineral Council worked to eliminate the facilitates of Osage Wind LLC, Enel Kansas LLC and Enel Green Power North America Inc.

The victory was total. U.S. Court of International Trade Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves ruled in the case in Tulsa last week that the Osage Nation was awarded injunctive relief via “ejectment of the wind turbine farm for continuing trespass,” according to Tulsa World.

The judge ruled that the wind turbine facility constituted “mining” and required a lease from the Osage Nation’s Minerals Council, something the wind farm companies neglected to do when erecting their turbines.

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Nearly ONE HUNDRED churches across Canada have been torched or damaged after activists lied that 200 indigenous children were buried under Catholic schools

Almost 100 Christian churches in Canada have been systematically targeted in apparent revenge attacks following a hoax about mass graves containing Native American children. 

In 2021, a horrific story swept the internet as an indigenous group in Saskatchewan claimed to find 751 unmarked graves under the Marieval Indian Residential School, weeks after 215 children were supposedly discovered under another school in British Columbia. 

The schools were run by Christian churches – largely Catholic – and sought to eliminate their students’ Indigenous culture so they could ‘assimilate’ into Canadian society.

However, excavations carried out last year failed to turn up any evidence of bodies, and most experts concluded that claims of mass graves were exaggerated. 

At the same time the excavations failed for the past two years, at least 96 churches have been burned, vandalized and destroyed, seemingly in retaliation, with phrases smeared on the walls including: ‘Where are the children.’

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Biden Admin Reverses Decision to Remove William Penn Statue

The Biden administration has reversed a decision by the National Park Service to remove a statue of William Penn from a park in Philadelphia. Penn was the founder of Pennsylvania (named for his father) in the late 1600s and is a revered figure in the state.

(Previous TGP report on the planned removal of the statue posted by David Greyson at this link.)

The Park Service recently announced plans to renovate the park where the statue is located, Welcome Park, to make it “inclusive” of Native Americans, even thought the park is built where Penn’s home once stood and is named after the ship, the Welcome, that brought Penn to the New World from England in 1682. The Park Service also planned to remove a replica of Penn’s home, the Slate Roof House, as well as a Penn timeline on a wall at the park. In other words, the Biden administration was erasing Penn.

The Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, is led by Biden appointee Secretary Deb Haaland, a radical progressive who is the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary.

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Native Americans Share Aboriginal Australian Ancestry

Recent DNA studies on the peopling of the Americas challenge established narratives, revealing a complex ancestry for Native Americans. The research identifies a surprising link between Native Americans and the Australo-Melanesian genetic group, encompassing Australians and Melanesians. This revelation challenges conventional theories, as scientists grapple with the timing and routes of migration.

Two conflicting studies, conducted independently, uncovered traces of Australian and Melanesian DNA in Native American populations. While one posits an early migration, the other suggests a more recent genetic contribution.

The debate centers on the origin of this connection, with theories ranging from an ancient migration to a later gene flow during the postulated Beringian crossing. The findings not only challenge previous notions about paleo-American populations but also shed light on the intricate web of human migration.

Indigenous South American communities, notably in the Amazon and Peru, exhibit Australo-Melanesian ancestry, challenging preconceived notions about their genetic makeup. As scientists continue unraveling the genetic tapestry of Native Americans, these discoveries underscore the need for more extensive genomic analysis to fully comprehend the intricate history of the Americas’ original inhabitants.

Mother of Boy Accused of ‘Black Face’ at Chiefs Game Speaks Out: ‘He Is Native American’

The mother of the boy attacked by ultra-woke media outlet Deadspin for wearing facepaint and an Indian feathered headdress at the Kansas City Chiefs game is speaking out against accusations that her boy is a racist who disrespected blacks and Native Americans, and she is noting that he actually has Native American heritage in his family.

Shannon Armenta, mother of five-year-old Chiefs fan Holden Armenta, is outraged over Deadspin’s accusations.

“This has nothing to do with the NFL,” Armenta wrote in a Monday Facebook post.

“Also, CBS showed him multiple times, and this is the photo people chose to blast to create division [she wrote referencing the profile view photo of her son]. He is Native American – just stop already,” she wrote.

Unlike many who have some vague feeling that “great great grandma was a Cherokee,” Armenta noted that her son could not be a racist against Indians because he has Native blood in his family.

Indeed, the boy’s grandfather, Raul Armenta, has an official position in the Chumash Tribe in Santa Ynez, California, where he sits on the board of the Chumash Tribe, the Post Millennial discovered.

The grandfather is listed as a “business committee member” and was first elected to his position in 2016. You cannot be elected to a tribal position unless you have provable Native heritage.

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Arizona tribal cop is accused of ‘sickening’ cover-up after fatal hit-and-run on Thanksgiving: Mowed down woman, 30, and then returned to the scene to ‘investigate’ – even going to her parents home with other officers to tell them she was dead

An Arizona cop has been accused of ‘sickening’ cover-up after a woman was killed in a fatal hit-and-run – and he allegedly returned to the scene to ‘investigate.’

Mom-of-two Iris Billy, 30, was hit and killed on State Route 73 in Arizona by a driver at 3.30am on the morning of Thanksgiving. The person driving the car fled the scene – and police launched their hunt for the driver. 

Police in charge of the investigation quickly realized that the main suspect in the hit-and-run was in fact another officer.  

Josh Anderson, 49, an officer of the White Mountain Apache Police Deptartment, was arrested and is facing a slew of criminal charges. Anderson’s patrol vehicle was found with damage that was ‘consistent with a collision with a pedestrian.’

He was on duty when the crash happened – and he even responded to the scene later on, and then went to Billy’s family home with other officers to inform her family with the news that Billy had died. 

Anderson, a tribal officer who had spent two decades in the force, was charged with assault, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault causing serious physical injury, and criminal negligence.  

He was also charged with reckless driving, interference with an officer, death caused by a vehicle and leaving the scene of a fatality collision. 

The case has been turned over to the FBI – and the sheriff’s office said Anderson resigned following his arrest. 

The Navajo County Sheriff’s Office said: ‘This is an extremely sad time for the family of the victim, the men and women at the White Mountain Apache Police Department, and the White Mountain Apache Tribe. 

‘This event is an isolated incident and is not a reflection of the fine police officers that serve and protect the citizens of the White Mountain Apache Reservation every day.

‘The White Mountain Apache Police Department acted in a swift, transparent, and aggressive manner to find the facts and document the incident. 

‘Their professionalism and vigilance throughout the investigation resulted in the ability to gather evidence and facts surrounding the death of Iris Billy.’

Billy’s sister, Phylene Burnette, said: ‘It is very disturbing, sickening and heartless. 

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Raid On Unlicensed Marijuana Business On Tribal Land In Minnesota Raises Complex Legal And Political Questions

About three months ago, Mahnomen County sheriff’s deputies and White Earth tribal police raided Todd Thompson’s tobacco shop, seizing around seven pounds of cannabis, along with $3,000 in cash, his cell phone and surveillance system.

The August 2 raid happened the day after recreational marijuana became legal across the state and was the first major enforcement action under the new law.

But no charges have been filed in the case—and the state may not have the authority to prosecute him or any other tribal member for marijuana crimes on reservations.

Thompson, a member of the White Earth Nation, didn’t have a state permit to sell cannabis nor did he have the consent of the tribal council, which voted days earlier to allow adult-use cannabis and sell marijuana cultivated in its tribal-run facility.

For his part, Thompson doesn’t believe he needs the permission of the state or the tribal council to sell marijuana on the reservation under the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe’s constitution or U.S. treaties with the Ojibwe. That’s why Thompson said he and four other tribal members decided to sell cannabis out in the open from Asema Tobacco and Pipe, the store he’s run for five years in Mahnomen.

“We were pushing our rights,” Thompson said in an interview. “We’re just sick of being held down. And every economic opportunity, we’re held back from.”

They made it hard for law enforcement to ignore, advertising marijuana for sale with Facebook photos and videos showing large jars of green marijuana buds and invited people to come in.

The next day, tribal police and Mahnomen County sheriff’s deputies came to Thompson’s store with a search warrant. In the search warrant application filed in Minnesota district court, a White Earth narcotics investigator said they had seen a Facebook Live video of Thompson promoting the sale, and an undercover agent then purchased cannabis there.

Thompson said police handcuffed him and workers at his store and held them for more than an hour while they searched the premises.

He said they also went to his house, where they broke into his safe and “desecrated” sacred items—he found his eagle feather on the floor and the ashes from his sage bowl dumped onto his white sheets.

“They’re just some rotten, dirty bastards,” Thompson said.

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Indian Tribe Within North Carolina Votes To Legalize Marijuana, Snubbing Anti-Cannabis GOP Congressman

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) passed a referendum Thursday in favor of legalizing marijuana, becoming the first jurisdiction within the borders of North Carolina—or any of its surrounding states—to commit to the policy change. But it will be a while before would-be customers can make a purchase.

According to unofficial results posted by the EBCI’s Board of Elections, members approved the measure by a margin of 70 percent to 30 percent. Although the referendum does not legalize cannabis automatically, tribal leaders have said they’ll follow voters’ lead when they ultimately take up the issue.

The referendum asked the tribe’s enrolled members, “Do you support legalizing the possession and use of cannabis for persons who are at least twenty-one (21) years old, and require the EBCI Tribal Council to develop legislation to regulate the market?”

Sales would be open to all adults over 21, regardless of tribal membership.

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