Chapter 1.
An open letter from:
Former Redding Rancheria Tribal Chairman Edward "Bob" Foreman
To whom it may concern,
My name is Edward Robert Foreman, also known as Bob Foreman. I am a 70 year old Achumawi Pit River Indian and the eldest son of Lorena Foreman-Butler. In 1971, I started the first Indian health clinics in Shasta, Trinity and Siskiyou counties of California. I am also one of the founders of the California Rural Indian Health Board (CRIHB).
In 1985, Redding Rancheria regained its tribal status and I was elected the tribe’s first Chairman, having served in that capacity multiple times.
< 1996 Director of Indian Health Clinic 1971 Director of Indian Health Clinic >
On January 27, 2004, all 76 members of my family the “Foremans” were removed from the Redding Rancheria tribal rolls based on nothing more than a conjured up rumor alleging my mother Lorena Foreman-Butler was not the daughter of her mother Virginia Timmons, one of Redding Rancheria’s 17 Original Distributees.
Tribal Officials never produced a single piece of evidence to dispute my mother's maternal lineage and my family provided reams of legal and contemporary documents proving her mother was Virginia Timmons. Tribal Council still required my family to provide genomic DNA from my deceased mother and grandmother to retain our tribal citizenship
< 1921 My grandmother 1921 My mother >
Despite my family providing Tribal Council with DNA test results from two separate labs of 99.987% and 99.890%, proving by the legal standards established by the American Bar Association and the American Medical Associations that Lorena Butler and Virginia Timmons were mother and daughter, Tribal Council still stripped my family of our tribal citizenship.
*But if she were ever asked to prove her family's ancestry, Edwards said, she's not sure how she would. "I've thought about that," she said. "I don't know how I'd do it." (Tribal Chairwoman Tracy Edwards)
For all practical purposes these tribal officials believe they are above the law, both tribal and federal. This loss of tribal citizenship has had dire consequences on my family, both young and old. We lost our jobs, homes, medical and educational benefits, but most importantly it has had a devastating impact on my family’s mental well being.
< My Sister Lorena and grand nephew
Using the lure of increased casino per capita payments, the conspiracy to disenroll my family happened under the watchful eyes of the Tribal CEO Barbara Hayward-Murphy and Tribal Chairwoman/*Tribal Attorney Tracy Edwards. Both of these individuals lacked moral character to protect my family’s civil rights.
Murphy - who wouldn't say how she had voted - said that just because the Foremans are no longer in the tribe doesn't mean they stop being Indians, or lose their capacity to go out and work. She added that every tribe restored after termination is going through similar power struggles and membership disputes. Sacramento Bee newspaper article titled For tribes members only, February 15, 2004.
< Former CEO Barbara Murphy Former Tribal Chairwoman Tracy Edwards >
In *1989, after living in Canada for over *two decades, current Tribal Chairwoman Barbara Hayward-Murphy moved back to Redding and with the help of California Indian Legal Services’ (CILS) attorney David Rapport, the two negotiated a gaming contract with a casino investor.
With the Redding Rancheria tribe owning no Indian trust land, and to comply with the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, tribal members voted to expedite the process of building a casino by acquiring Indian trust land from two of its tribal citizens, one of those was my 73 year-old mother Lorena Foreman-Butler, a third generation Redding Rancheria resident. In 1993, groundbreaking for Redding Rancheria’s Win River Casino began and a decade later, I, along with all 76 descendants of my deceased mother, would be stripped of our tribal citizenship.
< 1993, my Mother
Tribal Chairwoman Tracy Edwards stated: “It's just always been a question, The Foremans’ lineage hitch dates back to the rancheria's reconstitution around *1987 - not just since the tribe started making big profits on its casino and business ventures.” Redding Record Searchlight newspaper article titled Tribe Defends Decision to Expel Foremans, February 19, 2004.
As late as *1987, tribal chairperson Tracy Edwards' *high school friends were alarmed to hear she would go to the reservation to visit relatives. "They would say, 'Why would you want to go over there?” Edwards said. June 29, 2003, Redding Record Searchlight titled Rancheria Shares History With Neighborhood.
Obviously my family was misled by then CILS Attorney David Rapport and Tribal Chairwoman Barbara Hayward-Murphy when they negotiated the 1990 gaming contract to acquire my mother’s Indian trust land.
Long before tribal officials used casino money to exploit Indians, my family worked with the local Indian community and civic leaders in Shasta County.
“I was in construction a few years ago, when I first heard of the project, and had this dream,” says Pit River Indian Bob Foreman, tri-county project coordinator, “in this project we have a fantastic potential to help all Indians in the tri-county.” *August 18, 1971 Anderson Valley Post newspaper article titled Health Center Serves Three Counties.
“Some people didn't even know there were Indians in this (Shasta) county *until we opened the casino and started doing things,” says rancheria chief executive officer Barbara Murphy. Associated Press newspaper article titled Impoverished North-State Tribe Gambles, Hits Jackpot, October 24, 1998.
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