"To me they are just a bunch of bullies and little criminals coming in here and trying to push us around over here and occupy our aboriginal territories out there where our ancestors are buried," Kennedy said.
He continued to tell the history of his tribe's fight over land. Members of the tribe are descendants of the Wadatika band of northern Paiutes. Their history in the area dates back 9,000 years ago, the tribe says. The ancestors of the Burns Paiutes lived in caves near the shores of lakes in the Northern Great Basin. When the lakes began drying up the tribe had to migrate.
The tribe said it has never ceded its right to the land but received federal recognition in 1868 and signed a treaty with the federal government that requires it to protect the safety of the natives and promised to prosecute any crime or injury perpetrated by any white man upon them.
Fast forward to 1879 after the treaty was signed. The Paiutes say their people were "loaded into wagons and ordered to walk under heavy guard" in knee-deep snow and forced off their land on foot.
"They literally walked our people, children and women off our lands. They had no problem killing us," Kennedy said.
Inside the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, Kennedy said there are important official papers that document his tribe's history and his ancestors' existence on the land. That headquarters has been taken over by men from out of state.
