An Interesting Idea

I wrote a previous post on my views of blood quantum and I had did a little research behind what I was writing and I found a most interesting article from the Missoulian, a newspaper from Missoula Montana concerning the Confederated Tribes of the Salish and Kootenai with regards to their own blood quantum rules:

"Meet Tim Smiley, also known as White Eagle, the name given him by his maternal Indian grandparents. He's the self-proclaimed chief of the Lost Tribe of the Confederated Salish, Kootenai and Pend Oreille Indians of Montana.

''There are at least 13,000 tribal descendants on the Flathead Reservation who are not enrolled. My goal is to enroll every one of them,'' Smiley said in an interview this week.

Smiley, a 50-year-old printing broker by trade, said he is a first-generation descendant of a tribal family. Two of his brothers are enrolled, but because of the luck of the genetic draw, he and two other siblings are not eligible for enrollment. They lack the one-quarter degree ''blood quantum" that the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' constitution requires, he said.
He said he worked behind the scenes for 13 years trying to get the federally recognized CSKT to allow lineal descendants of tribal members to become members themselves by repealing the blood quantum rule in the constitution.

''We don't believe in blood quantum. Those words are not Indian words,'' Smiley said in an interview Wednesday in Polson, where his newly organized tribe has its headquarters in his modest home on a quiet residential street.

But a constitutional referendum in January to allow lineal descendants was soundly beaten back by enrolled CSKT tribal members, an election, Smiley noted, in which he could not vote. But he accepted the results. He knows that he now will never be a CSKT member, despite his heritage.

So Smiley decided to do the next best thing - start his own tribe of unenrolled descendants.

In an interview this week, he showed a reporter documents supporting his claim, including a printed copy of the original Hellgate Treaty and correspondence between his tribal organization and the federal government that, he hopes, will set in motion the process to gain federal recognition as a tribal entity.

The Lost Tribe of the Salish, Kootenai and Pend d'Oreille would not have any land base in its possession, as does the CSKT government. But Smiley said he is hopeful the federal government would take care of that, granting the lost tribe a homeland once it is recognized as a legitimate entity.

He said he is not challenging the CSKT government in any way; he only wants what is due the unenrolled Indians on the reservation. That means federal recognition that they are truly Indians, not merely "red bones," as unenrolled descendants sometimes refer to themselves." -By JOHN STROMNES of the Missoulian

Original article: Man plans new tribe from ranks of unenrolled