Difficult times breed great leaders, new hope

In recognition of Native American Heritage Month, The Sun graciously invited the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians to present a four-part series of columns exploring the Southern California Native American experience and, more specifically, the impact and influence of Native Americans on the Inland Empire and beyond.

[qyrral]

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are
free.": Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -(1749-1832)

[indian]

Wow the san manuel tribe has to be the worst display of indians i have ever seen, they have disgraced there own people, they talk about Santos Manual saving there tribe from extingtion, and yet today they have disenrolled many of there own tribal members all in the name of money. There new commercial that shows Santos Manual saving there tribe does not include most of there own tribal members , they used members from other tribes, wow how ashamed are they really of there own people. They talk about unity and the fight for sovereign rights and yet they have hired lawyers costing thousands of dollars to try and stop a tribe from federal recognition. You will soon see this in the local papers i promise. The same people they hired for there commercial are the people they are fighting.

[Arthur Anderson]

IT is too bad that infighting exists with the tribes in the inland region. The inability to unite has hurt tribes across this nation for centuries.