Tribal Membership Rules
Because of renewed interest in Native Americans and because the Pequots have had such a successful casino operation, they receive numerous requests from people claiming tribal ancestry and wanting entry into the nation. They base tribal membership on individuals proving descent from people included on the 1900 census. This is similar to the Cherokee Nation's reliance on individuals listed in the Dawes Rolls. In addition, the Mashantucket Pequot have begun to require genetic testing of newborns to ensure they are descended from tribal members.
Read more about this topic: Mashantucket Pequot Tribe
Famous quotes containing the words tribal, membership and/or rules:
“Totem poles and wooden masks no longer suggest tribal villages but fashionable drawing rooms in New York and Paris.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)
“There are ... two minimum conditions necessary and sufficient for the existence of a legal system. On the one hand those rules of behavior which are valid according to the system’s ultimate criteria of validity must be generally obeyed, and on the other hand, its rules of recognition specifying the criteria of legal validity and its rules of change and adjudication must be effectively accepted as common public standards of official behavior by its officials.”
—H.L.A. (Herbert Lionel Adolphus)