Freedmen vs Cherokee Nation

Smiling back in those photographs are faces of a Cherokee-Mexican, a Cherokee-black, a Cherokee-German, a Cherokee-Vietnamese, a Cherokee-Ecuadorian and a Cherokee-Irish. "You know the mainstream, the majority population looks at the world as being either white or black. It is a race spectrum," Smith said. "But Indian communities don't look at it in that term. They look at it in terms of ancestry . . . It is the commonality of having a Cherokee ancestor." To read the entire story click the link above.

Oklahoma State Government will face a human crisis over termination of Cherokee Nation. Oklahoma state government would be hit with a social economic melt down with passage of Congresswoman Watson's bill H.R. 2824, to include Freedmen that are citizens of the Cherokee Nation. Congresswoman Watson's bill would stop two hundred and seventy million dollars of federal funding going to the Cherokee Nation each year. In no way, does that funding come close to covering the nations funded programs to its’ some three hundred thousand citizens. Mike Graham August 23, 2007

I'm not sure which paper this was in, might have been the Tulsa World: Editor: Diane Watson, a California congresswoman, brought her dog-and-pony show to Tulsa and Muskogee this past week to recruit supporters for her legislation to sever government-to-government relations with the Cherokee Nation. (See "Congresswoman rips citizenship revocation," Aug.21) However, her grandstanding may have cost her more than she planned. Her credibility began to suffer when she could not answer simple questions nor discuss the details of the Treaty of 1866, the treaty on which she based HR 2824, the house bill she is trying to sell to the rest of Congress. Watson has hung her reputation on a misinterpretation of that treaty that gave freedmen land rights, not citizenship rights. She also failed to explain how she decided which group ofAfrican-Americans to discriminate against. Currently, there are more than 1500 Black Cherokees who are tribal citizens who will suffer, along with th...

She still doesn't get it....purchase of land in Oklahoma doesn't make one Cherokee or give one any understanding of the Cherokee Nation... I'm a tax payer and she sure isn't protecting my tax dollar! She can protect my tax dollar by allowing it to go to Cherokees not non Cherokees!! Cherokees vote just like any other elections that are held in the states, what's to understand? ********************* OKLAHOMA CITY—A California congresswoman and a Cherokee leader held dueling news conferences at the state Capitol on Tuesday on a bill to strip the Cherokee Nation of federal funding. Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., said Cherokees broke an 1866 treaty when they voted March 3 to deny tribal citizenship to more than 2,000 descendants of black slaves, known as Cherokee freedmen. She has introduced a bill to cut off federal funds to the tribe unless it rescinds the vote. She said her legislation would cost the tribe about $300 million that is distributed through the Bureau of In...

This is a separate case than the case filed in the Federal District Court. They appear to be asking for a bit more than just citizenship and voting rights in the Cherokee Nation. Those Freedmen involved in this case, are those that do not have a Cherokee Ancestor on the Cherokee base roll required for citizenship in the Cherokee Nation. Complaint Filed Against U.S. Department of Interior Seeking Treaty Benefits for Black Indians and Freedmen WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Claud Anderson, president of the Harvest Institute Freedmen Federation (HIFF) announced that it has filed a Complaint in the United States Federal Court of Claims in Washington, D.C. against the United States Department of Interior and its Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) seeking legal redress and civil and property rights for the descendants of Black Indians and Black Freedmen. HIFF discussed background and details of the Complaint at a noon press conference at the National Press Club in downtown W...

June 22, 2007 Chad Smith, Principal Chief Cherokee Nation P.O. Box 948 Tahlequah , OK 74465 Dear Principal Chief Smith: This letter is in response to your inquiry regarding whether the Department of the Interior intends to continue providing Federal funding to the Cherokee Nation, in light of the activities in Vann v. Kcmpthome , Civil Action 03-01711 ( HHK ), (D. DC). The Department intends to continue providing Federal funding to the Cherokee Nation, unless otherwise directed by a Federal court or Federal legislation. The Department's position has been expressed in the United States Memorandum in Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for a Preliminary Injunction filed May 29, 2007, in Vann , and accepted by the district court's decision dated June 13, 2007. Sincerely, Jerry Gidner Deputy Bureau Director -·Indian Services cc: Jeanette Hanna, Director, Eastern Oklahoma Region (to see an actual copy of the letter click the title above to go to the Cherokee Nation official site...

Basically the only difference between this case and the Freedman vs Cherokee Nation case is: a civil war slave relic treaty of 1866 - The only Indian Nations I'm aware that have these types of Civil War Treaties are the Five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma - shouldn't they be allowed, like any other Indian Tribe in the U.S., to determine their own membership? Or will Congress continue to treat this group of Tribes differently only because some Native Americans fought on the side of the Confederate Army - there were also a good many Native Americans from this area that fought on the side of the Union during the civil war. Congress - let our people go!! 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 19706,*;424 F.3d 959 KATHY LYNNETTE LEWIS, LARRY PAUL LEWIS, JR., JERRY LEE LEWIS, and CHAD ELLIOTT LEWIS, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. GAIL NORTON, in her capacity as the Secretary of the Department of the Interior; TERRY VIRDEN, in his official capacity as Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a bur...