Oklahoma Independent Media Center

Folks,

I am a member of the Citizen Potawatomi tribe in Oklahoma and also in exile here in Indiana. When my late wife and I moved from Oklahoma six years ago, we had just been arrested in tribal court, along with five others, for publishing a campaign ad on a private website. That's it. The ad, which we had no hand in publishing, pointed out that the tribal chairman, John "Rocky" Barrett, had smeared the reputation of a candidate for vice-chairman of the tribe. Although seven people were arrested and charged in tribal court for "criminal defamation of character," not a single lawyer in the entire state of Oklahoma could be found to prosecute us. Eventually, after thousands of dollars in legal fees, the charges were dropped.

In an unholy triumvirate of a corrupt tribal judge, Phil Lujan, chairman Barrett, and a series of half-witted attorneys serving the tribe as "Attorney General," tribal prosecutor, and other such high sounding titles, the abuse of the legal process continues.

What is interesting is that not a single newspaper or media outlet will print this story. What story?

My uncle Leon ran against Barrett in a tribal election in 2005. During the campaign he wrote a letter to the senators from Oklahom about the tribal bank. That's it, wrote a letter to senators Inhofe and Coburn and then published the letter on his campaign website. For this, he was arrested and brought before Judge "hangemhi" Lujan and charged with (you guessed it) "criminal defamation of character." Thousands of dollars in legal fees later, he was acquitted by a Potawatomi tribal jury.

Last year, a tribal member was arrested on multiple counts of embezzlement. His real crime? His nephew was running for tribal office against the wishes of Rocky Barrett. Rocky could not find charges to file against the nephew, so he filed them against his uncle. But they learned a lesson from the prosecution of my uncle. Don't allow the defense to call any witnesses who might exonerate the accused. The uncle was convicted on multiple accounts of embezzlement and served months in the new Potawatomi County jail which, BTW, is owned by the Potawatomi tribal bank in Shawnee.

Two weeks ago, news surfaced that at the Firelake Casino Indians are allowed to drink to the point of stupor and then arrested in the parking lot of the casino for public drunk. No DUI charges will be filed because that might mean felony charges. And felony charges are not allowed to be heard in Hangemhi Lujan's court. Felony charges in Indian Country are investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by the US Attorney. And, in spite of all their bungling of cases, they can sift out political charges from criminal charges.

A young woman was arrested and now sits in the Pott County Jail awaiting sentencing and has not been allowed to see an attorney, not allowed visits or phone calls. And has lost her job and been kicked out of college. Her crime? Well, her mother is a well-known political activist on behalf of Indian people, and she was getting too close to writing a letter to the editor about these abuses of the court system. Solution? Arrest and hold her daughter hostage.

Routinely, Indians arrested and hauled before Lujan are not allowed percentage bails. In other words, if your bail is a thousand dollars, it is a cash bond, not one hundred dollars (or ten percent) to the bail bondsman.

Slick deal. Fills up the jail with Indians. And--only Indians are charged 35 dollars a day in the Pott County jail. See, white folks who have to stay in the Pott County private jail have their stay paid for by the County. Indians? They are charged 35 dollars a day, every day.

So, why isn't the news media interested in this story? Wonder? Connections from Shawnee to Barrett and the statehouse put a lid on anyone printing anything about this corruption.

Think about it.

Johnnie