Freedmen vs Cherokee Nation

Descendants of Native Americans' Slaves Left Out of $3.4 Billion Settlement By RYAN ABBOTT http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/12/21/32757.htm COLUMBUS, Ohio (CN) - Descendants of slaves owned by the so-called (so called?; they were called civilized because they were farmers in the SE) Five Civilized Tribes challenged the $3.4 billion class action settlement in Elouise Cobell et al. v. Ken Salazar, in a class action of their own. The Harvest Institute Freedman Federation says the Cobell settlement was racially discriminatory, with the United States paying off descendants of treasonous (lol - treasonous? - lol - give it a rest already!) Indian slave-owners who took the South's side in the Civil War, while stiffing descendants of the Indians' slaves. The $3.4 billion settlement in Cobell v. Salazar, which will be implemented under Title I of the Claims Resolution Act of 2010, "is racially discriminatory and perpetuates past unlawful racial discrimination," the Free

Feinstein wades into urban gaming fight By Malcolm Maclachlan 12/02/10 12:00 AM PST http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=zbfozf2sq3hu5p&xid=zbf7ptghovltry&done=.zbfozf2sq45u5p Opponents of urban casinos in the Bay Area have a powerful ally in Washington: U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Feinstein, a Democrat and California’s senior senator, has proposed changes in the law that would make it harder for tribes to take new lands into trust. It’s a seemingly obscure legal designation that has serious implications for just about any tribe that would want to build an urban casino. Under Feinstein’s changes, a tribe would have to show both a “substantial direct aboriginal connection to the land” and “substantial direct modern one.” (Duh! This was all Native Lands at one time - direct aboriginal connection; and the fact they were forced from it should be a continuing trespass which would prevent applying a *direct modern connection*; in other words Natives can't have a direct

Tester, senators told road funding system on Indian reservations 'broken' By VINCE DEVLIN of the Missoulian missoulian.com Posted: Friday, October 15, 2010 9:15 pm http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_1ddfee76-d8d9-11df-82e1-001cc4c002e0.html POLSON - Almost three-quarters of the roads on American Indian reservations are unpaved, yet too much of the federal money meant to rectify that goes to states and urban tribes that don't need it, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester was told repeatedly Friday. Tester, a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, took testimony on the issue at a field hearing at KwaTaqNuk Resort - the first time a U.S. senator has convened a committee hearing on the Flathead Indian Reservation. The first of two panels to testify included some heavy hitters from Washington, D.C., including Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk, and Michael Black, the director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. But it was the second panel, of Monta

Cherokee Nation drops DOI and Salazar from Freedmen suit By WILL CHAVEZ Senior Reporter http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/25306/Article.aspx TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee Nation on Oct. 6 dropped the Department of Interior and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as defendants from its federal lawsuit against five Cherokee Freedmen. The lawsuit was filed Feb. 2, 2009, in the Northern District of Oklahoma. It sought declaratory judgment regarding the citizenship of Cherokee Freedmen under an 1866 Treaty between the CN and federal government. Salazar, the DOI and the five Freedmen in the case moved to transfer the case to the District Court for the District of Columbia where a similar case (Vann et al v. Salazar) has been since 2003. On July 2, 2010, U.S. District Judge Terence C. Kern for the Northern District of Oklahoma said the case should be transferred to the District of Columbia court because the plaintiffs and defendants in both cases were substantially similar and “involve a single cor

(I've never seen any drunken debaucery going on here???) The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa owned and operated by the Cherokee Nation is not a party to the lawsuit. Lawsuit cites local casino Improper use of Hard Rock logo is alleged A logo hangs from the exterior of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Alleged "drunken debauchery" at the Las Vegas site may have sparked the Hard Rock logo-use lawsuit. Associated Press file By ROBERT EVATT World Staff Writer Published: 9/24/2010 2:22 AM Last Modified: 9/24/2010 4:54 AM http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=46&articleid=20100924_46_E1_CUTLIN25032 The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa is being cited by Hard Rock Cafe International for alleged improper use of the Hard Rock logos - part of a lawsuit that complains about "drunken debauchery" at the Hard Rock location in Las Vegas. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York, alleges that defendants Morgans Hotel

Alleged misconduct puts IHS officials in hot seat Senate panel grills leaders on Aberdeen office's problems LEDYARD KING • Argus Leader Washington Bureau • September 29, 2010 http://www.argusleader.com/article/20100929/NEWS/9290319/1001 WASHINGTON - Senators lambasted Indian Health Service officials Tuesday after investigators found that some workers in the federal agency had criminal records, stole drugs and embezzled money - all while patients endured long lines for medical services or were turned away. Government inspectors have opened almost 300 investigations into IHS during the past decade for alleged violations including fraud, theft and employee misconduct, according to the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. At the same time, IHS supervisors often put disciplined employees on paid administrative leave, allowing them to stay at home and collect their salary for months. Tuesday's hearing by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee focused on

Want to know more about Indian Country Today.... http://www.richheape.com/ The real tragedy as well for Indian Health Care is: it was lumped in with the Obama Health Care Bill....that should never have happened...the bases for providing health care to Native America comes from a totally different source than any *public health care system* that has been passed; it is in a separate category all it's own and as such should have been passed separately.

Seek truth about Cherokee Story Published: Oct 1, 2010 Story Updated: Oct 1, 2010 http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/letters/Seek-truth-about-Cherokee-104155283.html The Cherokee Nation does not question anyone’s claim of heritage or ancestry, but merely points out the significant difference between claiming heritage and having citizenship in a federally recognized Indian tribe. Fraudulent groups and individuals passing themselves off as Native American have become big business over the past two decades, with more than 200 groups that claim to be some sort of Cherokee tribe. There are also hundreds of individuals who claim to be Cherokee or from the Cherokee Nation and offer services that range from teaching culture to spiritual advice. However, there are only three federally recognized Cherokee tribes – the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians both located in Oklahoma and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians located in North Carolina. The Cherokee N

Details of slave life under Cherokees emerge in new book Bay State Banner 09/08/2010 The House on Diamond Hill: A Cherokee Plantation Story, The University of North Carolina Press, $26.00, 336 pp. In her new book, “The House on Diamond Hill: A Cherokee Plantation Story,” author Tiya Miles paints the most detailed picture yet published of the lives of the black slaves to the Cherokee. A professor at the University of Michigan, where the Harvard graduate teaches both Afro American and Native American studies, Miles has emerged as a leading scholar of relations between the Cherokee and African Americans in the early 1800s. In this interview with Kenneth J. Cooper, she talks about how she became interested in the subject and mined the archives of Moravian Christian missionaries for details about slaves on the northwest Georgia plantation of James Vann and his son Joseph Vann , who in their day were the biggest slaveholders in the Cherokee Nation. She also offers her opinion about the leg

First let me say, I have the utmost respect for the Cherokee Council and each of the two councilors listed below. However, the Cherokee Council may have been too quick to respond to this. I'm not sure which tribe requested the support and certainly don't know anything about the tribes in AZ. However, I do know about Southern California and what has happened there. I felt as though I lived in a foreign country, called Mexico. La Raza, tells high school students this is their country and to take it back, all speeches given in Spanish. I certainly don't want to learn Spanish, sorry, if I learn a language it will be Cherokee. I believe most of the problems in CA Tribes stem from Hispanics in the early years of intermingling with the tribes there. A time when documentation was done mainly by the church. A good many Hispanics intermingled with the tribes because they believed, whether right or wrong, that there was less discrimination against the Indians than Mexicans, so by sayi

Freedmen suit challenge sent to D.C. A federal judge in Tulsa says the Cherokees' action is similar to a case pending there. By CLIFTON ADCOCK World Staff Writer Published: 7/7/2010 2:23 AM Last Modified: 7/7/2010 8:04 AM http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11& articleid =20100707_11_A13_ Afeder 470460 A federal lawsuit filed in Tulsa by the Cherokee Nation seeking a declaration that the descendants of freedmen are not entitled to membership in the tribe has been ordered transferred to Washington, D.C., where a similar lawsuit is pending against tribal leaders and the federal government. The Cherokee Nation filed its suit last year against the U.S. Department of the Interior and five descendants of freedmen — former slaves that had been owned by tribal members. The freedmens ' descendants had obtained tribal membership before Cherokees voted in 2007 to restrict Cherokee citizenship by excluding people whose ancestors were not listed on the Dawes Rolls as

Tennessee Indian status dispute has tribes at odds Clarksville leader defends move BY BRIAN EASON • THE LEAF-CHRONICLE • July 6, 2010 http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20100706/NEWS01/7060312 A dispute over tribal recognition has some American Indians in Tennessee at odds with a well-established tribe in another state. And a state American Indian caucus chaired by a Clarksvillian has positioned itself right in the middle of it. The Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs officially recognized six new tribes last month, a move that will make them eligible for federal funding and minority status. Jim Cossingham, a retired business consultant who now lives in Clarksville, praised the decision, noting the new opportunities it will provide local tribe members. Cossingham, a member of the Nipmuc Tribe of Massachusetts, said he's worked with American Indian tribes for years, helping them apply for federal funding. The scarcity of that funding appears to be at the heart of opposition

Newcomb: ‘Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson’ By Steven Newcomb Story Published: Jul 6, 2010 http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/97661764.html While in New York recently for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, I was invited by an American Indian friend to see the off-Broadway production “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” at the Public Theatre. Written by Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman, and directed by Timbers, the play is being described as “an irreverent Wild West rock musical” that “redefines America’s seventh president, a pioneer of humble stock who invented the Democratic Party, moved Indians west, and played a kick-ass guitar.” The reviews have been quite positive and the play ran through the end of June. >From an American Indian perspective, however, “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” is a racist and dehumanizing portrayal of American Indians. It is an effort to be humorous by using and reinforcing the worst stereotypes of American Indians, and working them to

Daughters Read Wilma Mankiller's Final Message KOTV-TV - Online 04/11/2010 Sunday, April 11, 2010 1:04 PM EST Updated: Sunday, April 11, 2010 1:15 PM EST Wilma Mankiller died at age 64 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Wilma Mankiller's daughters Felicia and Gina Olaya speak at their mother's funeral Saturday. TAHLEQUAH, OK -- Former Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller wrote a message four days before her death that was delivered at her memorial service by her daughter, Felicia Olaya. I think what helped my family and friends is to see that even though I don't feel well, my mind is peaceful. I know that many people around here believe in burial. I've decided that what I want is to be cremated and to have my ashes be part of the land around the spring at Mankiller Flats where I grew up, the place I love and that will always be. But I would like them to bury something after today. I would like them to bury any unkindness or anger or hurtful things I may have done. Bu

Actually any wild animal, is just that, a wild animal. The incident in Orlando brings to mind the Snow Leopard in Vegas that attacked his trainer. I don't agree with animal rights folks on all things...but commericalization of *trained wild animals* is an oxymoron. Wild animals never lose their wild traits, it's just that simple. Anyone who watches and trains these animals that doesn't know that, ought not be dealing with them. Oh, all he did was grab her ponytail...well, duh, that's all it took...do we excuse a human for killing another on a Twinkies defense, NO! They are dumb animals and can't tell the difference between a ponytail and an arm or a leg. Not to mention this same whale was involved in two other deaths...which no one apparently saw...so whose to say, the whale didn't grab an arm or leg the last two times. Dogs that kill are put down...these wild exotic animals should be put down as well. To protect them for money purposes is not in any ones inter

Did I see surveyor flags between Nowata and Talala, laying out another lane on 169??? I did, I did, I did!!!! They are extending at least part of U.S. 169 from Talala on up almost to Nowata to a 4 lane highway! It's about time! Nowata has laid dormant long enough! In this part of the woods or hills, those 4 lane highways help towns prosper!! Work where you must, but LIVE in Nowata....:)

I'm inclined to think this will give us a more *representative government* - why would you need a lobbyist if you could contribute to a campaign? Those with the *most money or connections* have always had a voice in DC; this would allow tribes to contribute directly to their *own* candidates of *choice*. As in the Freedmen vs Cherokee case; a contribution to a challenger in Watson's own district seems to have done more good than all the lobbyists in DC. DC has just beome a great big club, Tribes not Welcome! This could very well change that! Campaign finance ruling impacts tribes By Rob Capriccioso Story Published: Feb 4, 2010 http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/83031602.html WASHINGTON – Many tribes already have trouble getting their voices heard in the American political system. A controversial Supreme Court campaign finance ruling may amplify the problem, according to political observers. The ruling, handed down Jan. 21, throws out some major campaign finance ru

Rep. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) is ready to announce her retirement, according to Washington Democratic sources, and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) is expected to announce her bid to replace the congresswoman. Watson's pending retirement, which has been rumored for months, was reported in The Hill newspaper Tuesday [Updated at 12:23 p.m.: Watson is expected to make a formal announcement Thursday, according to numerous Democratic sources. Bass declined comment on her own political future, opting to wait until Watson's official announcement. When asked about a possible congressional run Wednesday, Bass would only say, "Diane Watson has been a great leader for Los Angeles."] Bass, a close ally of Watson's, has said privately that she is interested in running for Congress should Watson choose to retire, but has been reluctant to comment publicly to avoid being seen as pressuring Watson to step down.