Skip to main content

More distorted truth about the Cherokee Nation

Another example of how this is trying to be *spun*...all of these *stories* fail to include, that these 1. Freedmen are not Cherokee by Blood, they do not have a Cherokee Ancestor on the Dawes Roll; 2. Indian Tribes are sovereign Nations and as such have the right like any other country to determine who is or is not a Citizen 3. Freedmen with Cherokee by Blood or Ancestry and that are on the Dawes Roll are citizens of the Cherokee Nation.

Most articles like this are written by Freedmen or their supporters and continue to distort the facts of what is really going on. We just think you should be Cherokee to be a Citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

The Freedmen's identity is not within the Cherokee Nation regardless of how they came to be associated with the Indian Tribes - their identity is with other freed slaves and they should push to retain that identity rather than trying to *become* Cherokee. They can still get all the benefits they get from the Cherokee Nation through the U.S. Government, that after all is where we get the funding for those benefits. However, Watson would like to see all that funding cut and it is in fact the Freedmen that are pushing for Watson's Bill in congress.

http://www.morungexpress.com/index.php?news=5076

"In the United States, the Cherokee Nation voted earlier this year to exclude the Cherokee Freedmen. These are black and multiracial Indians who fled slavery and found sanctuary with the tribe and then were forced west with their Cherokee brethren to Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears. Cherokee leaders argue that it is their tribal right to determine who is a member of the tribe. But for the 2,800 disenrolled Freedmen, the decision is a wounding blow to their identity, not to mention their well-being. As a result of the decision they will lose their share of tribal housing, healthcare, voting, and other rights. The decision has sent shudders through mixed-race Indians from other tribes. They worry that Native American tribes have absorbed discriminatory attitudes long directed against them by whites."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Americanization of Native Americans

Americanization can refer to the policies of the United States government and public opinion that there is a standard set of cultural values that should be held in common by all citizens. Education was and is viewed as the primary method in the acculturation process. These opinions were harshly applied when it came to Americanization of Native Americans compared to immigrant populations who arrived with their "non-American traditions". The Americanization policies said that when indigenous people learned American customs and values they would soon merge tribal traditions with European-American culture and peacefully melt into the greater society. For example in the 1800s and early 1900s, traditional religious ceremonies were outlawed and it was mandatory for children to attend English speaking boarding schools where native languages and cultural traditions were forbidden. The Dawes Act of 1887 , which allotted tribal lands to individuals and resulted in an estimated total o

Indian Boarding Schools - the US Solution to the Indian Problem

American Indian Boarding Schools Haunt Many by Charla Bear This is the first in a two-part report. For the photos with this piece and the rest of the story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16516865 May 13, 2008 Col. Richard H. Pratt founded the first of the off-reservation Native American boarding schools based on the philosophy that, according to a speech he made in 1892, "all the Indian there is in the race should be dead." CORBIS 'Kill the Indian...Save the Man' According to Col. Richard Pratt's speech in 1892: "A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one, and that high sanction of his destruction has been an enormous factor in promoting Indian massacres. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man." From Need to 'National Tragedy' Early in the history of American Indian boarding schools, the

Cherokees and their California Connections

Sheriff Edward “Ned” Bushyhead http://sheriffmuseum.org/index.php?/Museum/comments/sheriff_edward_ned_bushyhead The San Diego Sheriff’s Department’s history is rich with men who were not only recognized as being excellent lawmen, but built often colorful reputations outside of law enforcement. From our first Sheriff, Agostin Harszthy, who moved north to start the California wine industry and who seemingly was eaten by an alligator, SDSO sheriffs were prominent figures throughout the history of the United States. San Diego County’s 12th sheriff, Edward “Ned” Wilkinson Bushyhead was no exception. Perhaps no character in all Cherokee history was more revered and respected by his people than Rev. Jesse Bushyhead, who was born in the old Cherokee Nation of southeastern Tennessee in September 1804. Called Unaduti by his Indian friends, he had two children with his first wife and nine children with his second wife, Eliza Wilkinson who was half Cherokee. The Bushyhead home was in a small Chero