The Tejon Indians lived on a reservation in the hills of what is now Tejon Ranch, beginning in the 1850's. Over the next 100 years, tribal members moved out, and somewhere along the way, the tribe lost its federal recognition. Now an investor is bank rolling their efforts to get it back.
It's Sunday morning and members of the Tejon Indian tribe are getting ready for a sacred ritual. It begins with a prayer and a song, with everyone joining hands to form a circle. Then, tribal members get in their cars for a ten-mile journey down a bumpy, dirt road. They arrive at a small cemetery, where tribal elders and other family members are buried. And where their descendants gather on this day, to clean up the burial ground.
The cemetery was once surrounded by adobe homes, on an indian reservation that was set up here in the early 1850's. Dr. John Johnson, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. "It went all the way from the canyon to the Grapevine. It was a huge reservation. All the indians from the Southern San Joaquin Valley were moved here."
Dr. John Johnson has been studying the Tejon Tribe for 30 years. He says the tribe was federally recognized, the government even built this schoolhouse and paid a teacher to teach the indian children. But somewhere along the way, the recognition was lost. "I don't know whether letters went undelivered or what exactly happened, but when they came up with the list, all of a sudden the Tejon indians are left off in 1967."
Kathryn Montes Morgan, chair, tejon tribe. "We didn't even know there was a list. We grew up and left here to seek jobs." Kathryn Montes Morgan lived here with her family until her father's death in 1965. Hers was the last family to call this place home. "We have always been a family, a tribe, we never thought we needed a formal recognition stamp on our tribe."
Now Morgan and her tribe are trying to get that recognition back, so they can once again live together and receive the benefits Native Americans are entitled to. "Federal recognition for our tribe will enable me to get help or housing for my people that are living in substandard housing today. It will help my kids with education, the students that come to me now and I tell them I don't have money to give them."
Right now, there are 564 federally recognized tribes in the United States, with close to two million people. But getting recognition isn't that simple, and it's not cheap either. In order to get what they want, the Tejon Tribe is having to rely on the deep pockets of a Las Vegas businessman, who wants more than just cultural development. "He heard our story. He saw it on paper and believed it and he bought into it." Does he have anything to gain? "Absolutely, economic development at the end of the recognition."
The businessman, whom the tribe won't name, has his sights set on a casino for Kern County. He has already spent more than 200-thousand dollars on attorneys and lobbyists, to try and speed up the recognition process. But Morgan says any talk of a casino here is premature. "We have to get federal recognition. I have to have that first. I have to have a land base, even if I did that, that would be years and years ahead."
The fight for federal recognition has been a long one. The Tejon tribe first submitted a petition back in 2000. So why has it taken the federal government so long to recognize the tribe?
Morgan says, "I think it's the Department of Interior itself. They have all our documents that prove we were federally recognized until the time they made the list and we were off it. What's missing? I don't think there's anything missing."
According to the National Congress of American Indians, the process of getting federal recognition can take decades. Something, these tribal members hope doesn't hold true.
Dora Montes, tribal member. "A lot of people have died waiting for this to happen. It would be a big thing for the tribe." Mario Sanchez, spiritual advisor, Tejon Tribe. "Just down the hill from here is where my grandmother was born, she was raised in this valley. So for me to say and have proof that I'm a Montes, it means a lot. The validity of singing a song and saying this comes from my land, it means a lot to me."
It appears the Tejon Tribe's application for recognition is caught up in red tape. 17 News contacted the Bureau of Indian Affairs and a spokeswoman told me she couldn't find the paperwork, it's likely tied up in one of numerous committees.
By the way, we also received a statement from Tejon Ranch. It reads "Tejon Ranch has absolutely no plans nor any interest in selling any of its property, or using any of its land for the development of an indian gaming casino."
