The Cherokee Tribe is in an interesting confrontation with the federal government over the right of the tribe to ban 2,800 African Americans from its citizenship rolls. Joe Crittenden, the tribe’s acting principal chief, insists that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has challenged the sovereignty of the tribe and “The Cherokee Nation will not be governed by the BIA.”
The confrontation was triggered when so called “Cherokee Freedmen” were excluded from the September 24 Cherokee election. BIA Assistant Secretary Larry Echo Hawk wrote the tribe to warn that such an exclusion would result in an invalid election in the eyes of the BIA.
According to the article below, many of these black members are the descendants of wealthy Cherokee who owned black slaves for work on their plantations in the South. When the tribe was forced to relocate in the 1830s, many took their slaves. The Cherokee actually fought for the South, but after the Civil War a treaty with the United States was signed in 1866 guaranteeing tribal citizenship for the freed slaves.
That was until last month when the Cherokee Supreme Court voted to support the right of tribal members to change the tribe’s constitution on citizenship matters– requiring Cherokee Freedmen to prove that they have a Cherokee blood relation.
In Johnson v. M’Intosh, 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 543 (1823), Chief Justice Marshall lays out the basis for aboriginal title in the United States. Then in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. 1 (1831), ruled that the Court did not have jurisdiction in a land dispute since original jurisdiction rested with the Cherokee were a dependent nation.
Source: MSNBC
Oh my! They don’t know what the hell they are doing, kicking out one of their most famous artists. Frank Morgan was Cherokee: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TodHH4z7XMM&feature=related
How about the Black crime rate and all the social issues affecting them?
Jay S.,
I have seen it already happen on the Ojibway reservations……The class keeps getting smaller and smaller….
Anonymously has it right. This is all about money. So many dollars divided into X people is more appealing if the number X gets smaller.
I wonder why there so much animosity concerning 2800 African Heritage Cherokee when there are reportedly 300,000 Cherokee strong. Must be the European blood eeking out. Having the right to do something doesn’t mean it’s right to do it!
These treaties aren’t written into the Constitution, therefore they could be rendered null and void by an act of Congress. I wish they’d do it for the Indian’s own sake. Divide up the land. Take your share and welcome to the USA, citizen. Sorry BIA bureaucrat, the unemployment line ends over there. Good luck! Hey Congressional super committee! How about a closed down federal agency to make your job easier? Hoiw about those extra cigarette taxes, too? And for most (sorry Texas!) states: illegal dens of gambling to close down or maybe just seize using powers of eminent domain.
It’s insane to have a bunch of poor man’s North Koreas parasitically clustered inside the heartland of America. Assimulate them. Then these so-called nations will be nothing more than social clubs and therefore free to pick and choose their members. Problem solved.
And the biggest winners are the former tribal members who get to discover the wonders of standing on their own two feet. Their lives will be enriched beyond measure once they get over this false sense of entitlement and bitterness over events that transpired long before any currently living person was born.
Why is being a “blood relation” any better, objectively, as a criterion of inclusion/exclusion than any other? Cultural boundaries cannot be drawn using genetic criteria. So if someone says, “My great grandfather was a Native American,” what are the appropriate criteria to assess such a claim without presupposing that cultural affiliation IS a matter of genetics?
Mike,
I do as well…..I guess that they can buy there own beads…..and maybe take back Manhattan….Ya never know….
The only draw back that I am aware of in some peoples mind….is that the family is financing the initial starts….
However, if you talk with people that LIKED Vegas….They wish the family would come back….a mans word was what it used to be….