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North County, Escondido, CA letter to the Editor

North County Times

Escondido, CA
05/18/2008

I have always been and will always be, against Obama for Pres. Any Native American with a thread of Intelligence will be against Obama, for he is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Native Americans across the country are getting fed up with the double talk coming from Barack Obama saying he supports the sovereign status of tribal governments while supporting the Congressional Black Caucus on several bills that include terminating federal recognition of the Oklahoma Cherokee Nation.

The CBC Caucus members are beating their chest on capitol hill demanding that Congress and Senate members back them in denying federal health care, school and housing funds for citizens of the Cherokee Nation. The CBC Caucus is upset over Cherokee citizens voting to reinstate its' Cherokee blood quantum heritage as a requirement to be a citizen of their Indian Nation. (not exactly blood quantum as in an amount, only that you have a Cherokee Ancestor on the Cherokee Base Roll - some difference there - since the Eastern Band requires a 1/4 or 1/8 blood quantum for enrollment, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma only requires an ancestor)

Cherokees are stating 'the federal government broke all treaties made with their nation, no federal treaty can dictate who can or cannot be a citizen of any Indian Nation!'

Cherokees are claiming the Freedmen group and CBC members are falsely framing the Cherokee issue as racist toward an Oklahoma Freedmen group. Fact is, Blacks with proven Cherokee heritage are citizens of the nation. The only so called Freedmen that have not to date proven their Cherokee blood heritage to the nation were affected by the Cherokee Nation's citizenship vote last year(which was passed by more than a 70% vote). (this not only meant Freedmen but all those claiming Cherokee Heritage etc, who do not have an ancestor on the Cherokee Base Dawes Roll...NOT just Blacks! and yes, we do have Black Freedmen as citizens of the Cherokee Nation...they have a Cherokee Ancestor on the Dawes Roll. This roll was made so the Cherokee Removal Land could be alotted to individual Cherokees)

All Citizens of the Cherokee Nation have to prove their blood qauntum (that you have a Cherokee Ancestor on that Cherokee Base Dawes Roll, not a qauntum per se) and lineage (back to the Cherokee Base Dawes Roll) to be a member of our Tribe, myself included. Why should blacks who can't prove it get special treatment?

The funniest part is that a group that is based on race and admits NO ONE from another race(The Congressional Black Caucus) is crying racism by us Indians, all the while using an Indian word in the name of their group. And guess what?

The word 'Caucus' is derived from the Algonquian Indian language. Talk about a bunch of hypocrites. And the biggest hypocrite is the one behind this bill, Congresswoman Diane Watson Dem-Ca, of the 33rd District. And of course she is Black.

Cheers, Nick.

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