Perpetrating a fraud for Gambling $$$$!
From the Heroes at Stop the Casino 101 Coalition:
Casino Tribe Chairman Sarris' Cousin: "We're not Indians"
"Greg Sarris isn't telling the real story....I simply
want people to know the truth."
A relative of Greg
Sarris, chairman of the Federated Indian of Graton Rancheria (FIGR) and Native
American author who holds the Native American Studies Chair at Sonoma State
University, has confirmed that the family line Sarris claims to have Indian
blood has none at all.
For almost three decades,
Sarris has declared that "Reinette Smith", the woman he claims to be his great
grandmother, was the daughter of famous Pomo Indian medicine man Tom Smith of
Sonoma County and a Native American woman named Emily Stewart of Marin County
who had both Pomo and Coast Miwok blood. Sarris even submitted a genealogical
chart to the federal government with this information as proof that he was a
Native American of Coast Miwok and Pomo blood. The FIGR are an amalgam of both
groups of Indians.
Now 68 year old Velia
Navarro, Sarris' second cousin and herself the great granddaughter of Reinette,
has exposed Sarris' claims to Native American ancestry as false. Ms. Navarro
states categorically that Reinette, who was born Reinette Stewart and died
Reinette Morton, was "... Irish, Scottish and German...(whose) parents were from
Maine and Pennsylvania."
"I am choosing to speak out
at this time because Greg Sarris isn't telling the real story of our
great-grandmother Reinette Stewart Sarragossa Morton. I loved my
great-grandmother, and I simply want people to know the truth," Ms. Navarro says
in a sworn Declaration.
"We're not Indians," she
states firmly.
Unlike Sarris, Ms. Navarro
knew Reinette, who died in 1962 when Ms. Navarro was 18 years old.
Sarris has claimed that
"Reinette Smith" was an Indian woman born in Marin County who didn't speak a
word of English. Ms. Navarro, who routinely spoke with her "Grandma Reinette",
states that English was the only language her great grandmother wrote and
spoke.
In her four page
Declaration (below), Ms. Navarro firmly dispels the myths Sarris has created,
seemingly out of whole cloth, about Reinette, her first husband Arthur
Sarragossa and their three children. In fact, Ms. Navarro is the granddaughter
of the eldest of those three children, Juanita Sarragossa.
Sarris found the family he
believes his in about 1982. Ms. Navarro, who was born in 1944, grew up knowing
the family intimately, including the man Sarris believes to be his birth father,
her first cousin Emilio Hilario, Jr., the son of Evelyn, the youngest of the
three Sarragossa children.
It appears that Sarris knew
the truth about the family, but ignored it. In the early 1990's, Sarris
introduced Ms. Navarro to Indians from the Sonoma and Marin area. She relates,
"He told me that these people are probably your cousins; I responded to him that
they're not my cousins and we're not Indians. This made everyone in the room
very uncomfortable."
Ms. Navarro also
contradicts the majority of the statements made about her family in a 2005
YouTube video of a Sarris lecture ironically entitled "Tracing His Family History: An Evening
with Greg Sarris".
A transcript of the portion
of the YouTube video pertaining to Reinette's family is available upon request.
Ms. Navarro's oral
tradition of her family history supports the 2010 research done by Stop the
Casino 101 Coalition in every respect. That research is available on our web site.
IN RE
MATTER OF THE ANCESTRY )
DECLARATION OF
OF THE
HILARIO / SARRAGOSSA/ ) VELIA NAVARRO
STEWART
FAMILY )
)
___________________________)
I, Velia Navarro, declare as
follows:
1. I
am 68 years of age. I was born in Los Angeles in 1944, and I have lived in the
Los Angeles area my entire life. My mother was Marguerite Martinez, who was the
daughter of Juanita Sarragossa Martinez, who was herself the daughter of
Reinette Sarragossa.
2. As
a child and a teenager, I recall fondly my great-grandmother Reinette. When I
knew her she was married to her second husband, Roy Morton. She died in 1962,
when I was 18 years old, and was buried at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange. I
knew Reinette well when I was growing up. I would frequently visit her at her
small house on Canyon Acres Drive in Laguna Beach, next door to the home of her
daughter Evelyn (my great-aunt) and her husband Emilio Hilario. I remember
having long conversations with "grandma Reinette." We always spoke in English,
which as far as I am aware is the only language she spoke.
3. My
great-grandmother Reinette had three children with her first husband, Arthur
Sarragossa. Arthur died long before I was born, I believe around 1926, so I
never knew him. The three children were, in order from oldest to youngest,
Juanita, Albert and Evelyn. I knew all three of them growing up, because the
extended family would get together frequently for holidays. I grew up in Los
Angeles with my mother Marguerite.. Marguerite was Juanita's daughter. Albert
and his wife Dora also lived Los Angeles, and Evelyn and her family lived in
Laguna Beach, next door to my great-grandmother Reinette.
4.
When I knew her, my great-grandmother Reinette was a short, heavy-set woman,
standing about five feet tall. She liked to spend much time cooking. I remember
that she was always well-dressed, and that she always wore a nice hat when she
went outdoors. Although I never met him, I know that my great-grandfather Arthur
Sarragossa had very fair skin and blue eyes. I know this both from family photos
and because my grandmother Juanita, who was Arthur's daughter, told me. I also
understand, from my grandmother Juanita, that Arthur was a cigar maker and
originally from Tampa, Florida, and that his father was from Spain and his
mother was French, although whether she herself was born in France I don't
know.
5. As
I mentioned, Reinette's three children with her husband Arther were Juanita,
Albert and Evelyn. I recall clearly that my grandmother Juanita had red hair and
blue eyes. Albert, had dark skin, brown eyes and black hair. Evelyn had almond
colored skin, medium brown hair and brown eyes, and I recall her as being
slender.
6.
Notwithstanding their vastly different appearances, I never heard any hint in
the family that Juanita, Albert and Evelyn were anything other than full
siblings and the children of both Reinette and Arthur. The three had similar
facial features even though their skin color was different.
7. I
do not recall ever discussing my great-grandmother Reinette's parents or
ancestry with her. I do recall my grandmother Juanita telling me that Reinette's
ancestry was Irish, Scottish and German, and that Reinette's parents were from
Maine and Pennsylvania. I do remember once, as a young person, wondering whether
the family had some black ancestry, based on my great-uncle Albert's appearing
to be mulatto.. That got me in trouble, so I never asked about it again. I do
know that, prior to Greg Sarris' arrival on the scene, nobody in the family ever
suggested that we had any Indian ancestry whatsoever.
8. I
know that Reinette lived in the Los Angeles area when she was married to Arthur
Sarragossa. I also know that she lived in San Francisco for a period in the
1920s and 1930s, which I believe was after Arthur died, and later moved back to
Southern California. One story my mother Marguerite and my grandmother Juanita
liked to tell was from the San Francisco period. They were living in a
particularly hilly neighborhood of San Francisco, and Reinette's mother Emily
Stewart was living with the family. My mother and grandmother told me that Emily
was even shorter than Reinette, who as I mentioned only stood about five feet
tall. Reinette would have Marguerite, who was a young girl at the time, about
three or four years old, accompany her great-grandmother on walks, and Reinette
would warn Marguerite not to take Emily running down the hills.
9. I
recall that Greg Sarris found the family at some point after Emilio Jr. had died
young of coronary problems, but while Emilio Sr. was still alive. Emilio Sr.
accepted Sarris into the family on the belief that he was Emilio Jr.'s son, so I
have regarded Sarris as my third cousin since then. I do know that Sarris has
long been focused on Indians. I recall one incident when Sarris was teaching at
UCLA and living in the Hollywood Hills. This would have been in the 1990s.
Sarris asked me to come over and cook dinner because he was having company. He
introduced me to his guests, who were Indians from the Sonoma and Marin area.
Sarris told me that these people are your cousins; I responded to him that
they're not my cousins and we're not Indians. This made everyone in the room
very uncomfortable.
10. I
have watched the Youtube video of Greg Sarris explaining his purported ancestry,
and also read a partial transcript of that video, attached. To say that Sarris
is taking great liberties with our family story is an understatement.
a. Sarris' claims about
Reinette's supposed parents and grandparents are not anything that I have ever
heard before. These claims were certainly not part of the family oral tradition
when I was growing up.
b. I never heard my grandmother
Juanita, my great-uncle Albert or my great-aunt Evelyn, or anyone else, talk
about attending the "Sherman Indian School" or running away and riding the rails
to East L.A. If such colorful things had actually happened, I'm sure they would
have talked about them.
c. My understanding is that
Juanita, Albert and Evelyn were all born in the Los Angeles area, contrary to
Sarris' inference that they were from the North Bay.
d. "Uncle Millie," as Emilio
Hilario, Sr. was known to me, was a very masculine man and I simply cannot
imagine him carrying around a woman's pink wallet, nor did I ever see him do so,
after his wife Evelyn died.
e. This is a minor point, but I
do have to comment on Sarris' assertion Evelyn "was all over" Emilio Sr.
Actually, the story I heard from my mother about Emilio Hilario's courtship of
Evelyn is that he would come over to the house to give her a ride in his car,
and Marguerite, then a girl of about eight years old, would be sent to go riding
with them as a chaperone.
f. I never heard anyone address
Emilio Jr. as "chief," nor did I ever hear of anyone doing so. Emilio Jr. didn't
look anything like an Indian, so there would be no reason for anyone to do so.
Also, I recall hearing from my great-aunt Evelyn and my grandmother Juanita that
many white girls in Laguna Beach were chasing after Emilio Jr., and that worried
them because they were concerned that a young man of color could get into
trouble dating white girls. I knew Emilio Jr. well. When I was a young girl, he
would give me rides on his shoulders. I thought he was very handsome.
g. Arthur Sarragossa was not
"Mexican and Indian." As I stated above, in the family tradition he was born in
Florida, his father was Spanish and his mother was French.
11. I
understand that Linda Trujillo was quoted in an article in the Santa Rosa Press
Democrat published February 18, 2010. Trujillo is identified as working as a
receptionist in the Graton Rancheria tribal offices in Rohnert Park. In the
article Trujillo identifies herself as a granddaughter of Juanita Sarragossa.
That is true, because Linda Trujillo is my younger half-sister. The article goes
on to quote Trujillo as saying she "met" Juanita's mother, "'Nettie Smith,' an
Indian who 'didn't speak one word of English.'" That last statement is incorrect
in five different particulars. First, Reinette Sarragossa died in March 1962,
several months before Linda was born in July 1962, so the two never met. Second,
as I described above, English is the only language I ever heard Reinette speak.
Third, I never heard anyone call her "Nettie." Fourth, her last name was not
Smith. Her maiden name was Stewart, and her married names were Sarragossa and
Morton. Fifth, she wasn't an Indian.
12. I
am choosing to speak out at this time because Greg Sarris isn't telling the real
story of our great-grandmother Reinette Stewart Sarragossa Morton. I loved my
great-grandmother, and I simply want people to know the truth.
I
declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that
the foregoing is true and correct.
Dated: September 15,
2012 ______________________________
Velia Navarro
(This is the text-only version of
Ms. Navarro's Declaration for use in this email only. Please see the PDF version
available at www.stopthecasino101.com for the bona fide signed
copy of this Declaration)
|
Back In Federal Court Soon!
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