Readers of “Santa Barbara’s Dos Pueblos Ranch Is Sold, Almost” may be forgiven if they accept the article’s false premise that this is a story about Indigenous Chumash on the cusp of re-acquiring their lands. As has been well demonstrated, yet never reported by the Independent, the founders of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council (NCTC), like those of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation and Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation, lack the Indigenous ancestry they claim (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brian-Haley-2/research).
The NCTC founder’s claim of Chumash ancestry was deemed hearsay by a state court. NCTC is a tax exempt organization that falsely portrays itself as a tribe, a type of sovereign political entity which the NCTC is not. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has admitted that they did not confirm NCTC’s claim of Chumash heritage when they awarded to NCTC a role reserved for local Indigenous people in co-managing a new marine sanctuary. NOAA deceived the public to obtain its sanctuary. The same appears to be happening with Dos Pueblos Ranch.
Numerous domestic and international studies have shown that the colonial expropriation of rights and property from Indigenous peoples continues today through false claims of Indigenous ancestry. By making such claims, non-Indigenous people abscond with resources and opportunities set aside for Indigenous peoples. The Chumash region is a center for such theft, which its local press facilitates through negligent reporting like the story above…