Skip to main content

The Congressional Black Caucus...strikes again!

The Cherokee Nation is one of the more progressive Tribes in the US, we have a very sophisticated Legislative and Judicial Branch, along with our Executive branch...so Obama (he's a member of this congressional black caucus), where's that change you keep talking about? Apparently the CBC is still stuck in the 1950s Indian Policy! Oh, I see we're not black so we don't count, is that it? Talk about immature silliness...whew, this tops the list.

ALL THE FREEDMEN ARE CURRENTLY ON THE TRIBAL LIST - WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!

*********************************

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/cbc-warns-reid-on-cherokee-funds-2008-04-03.html


CBC warns Reid on Cherokee funds

By Kevin Bogardus

Posted: 04/03/08 05:13 PM [ET]

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have promised Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that they will try to block a Native American housing assistance bill if the measure does not include language that prevents the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma from receiving any of the benefits.

The House included such a prohibition in its Indian housing assistance bill passed in September. But the Senate version does not include similar language.


“We are writing to advise you that members of the CBC will not support, and will actively oppose, passage of a [Native American housing assistance] bill that does not include this limitation,” the CBC stated in a letter sent to Reid on March 13.

The dispute between the CBC and the Cherokee Nation arose last year after the tribe amended its constitution to exclude the Freedmen — a group of freed slaves who have been members since the Civil-War era – from tribal membership. Black lawmakers have charged the tribe is ignoring the Treaty of 1886, an agreement the Cherokees signed with the U.S. government that gave tribal citizenship to the Freedmen.

“We must send the unequivocal message to the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma that failure to provide full citizenship rights to the Cherokee Freedmen will have severe consequences,” CBC members wrote Reid.

Cherokee leaders argue that as a sovereign nation they have a right to amend their own constitution.

Thirty-three of the 43 CBC members signed the letter to Reid. The Senate leader has not responded to the letter as of yet, according to House aides.

Members approved an amendment offered by Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) that bars funds for the Cherokees when the House took up the housing assistance bill in September. Rep. Dan Boren (D-Okla.) also was successful in adding language that delays the funding prohibition until tribal courts render a decision on the fairness of the Cherokee’s efforts to exclude the Freedmen.

The Senate bill, which has now been reported out of the Indian Affairs Committee, does not include language similar to Watt’s provision. Negotiations in the Senate are ongoing between Republicans and Democrats, according to a Senate Democratic leadership aide.

Since the flare-up over the Freedmen last year, the Cherokees have increasing come under pressure from CBC members. Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.) introduced a bill that would prohibit the distribution of federal funds to the tribe until it reverses its decision on the Freedmen. Watt has been tapped to lead a taskforce on the issue for the caucus.

In turn, the Cherokees have bulked up their lobbying presence here in Washington. The tribe has hired the Podesta Group and McBee Strategic Consulting to help sooth relations on Capitol Hill.

Congress has remained attentive to the issue, however. Before the Easter recess, Watson, Watt, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) met with Carl Artman of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to discuss the Cherokees. Staff aides are working on a final draft of a letter to Artman that will be signed by the four lawmakers shortly, according to a House aide.

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
Read more

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
Read more

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
Read more