The San Jose, California, city council last week delayed taking a vote to support the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s efforts to gain federal recognition after a member of the council asked to know the ramifications of such recognition.
Council member Pierluigi Oliverio asked if the recognition might lead to the tribe getting the rights to have a casino.
The city attorney said he didn’t know the specifics of the recognition.
The city’s Vice Mayor Rose Herrera, who wrote the resolution, said the tribe was asking for cultural recognition and had denied wanting a casino.
According to the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Herrera said, They said no … they were pretty emphatic that wasn’t the direction they were going in.”
The 550 member tribe has been based in the Bay Area for thousands of years. The tribe’s recognition was taken away in 1927 and the Bureau of Indian Affairs has declined to review its status.
