The Winnemem Wintu Tribe of California refuses to ask the Bureau of Indian Affairs for federal recognition.

The tribe believes it was recognized by an unratified treaty and by an act of Congress. But the BIA doesn't have the tribe on its list.

"We have to break the law in order to practice our religion and to be who we are," Caleen Sisk-Franco, the tribe's spiritual leader, told The Christian Science Monitor. "They're basically saying, 'You don't know who you are. We know who you are, and you're not Indian.' "

Since 1978, no California tribe has successfully gained recognition through the BIA.

Get the Story:
What makes a native American tribe? (The Christian Science Monitor 8/22)

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