racism | Memory & Dream

Watson Bill, HR 2824, only compounds the injustice

As readers of this journal know, I have spoken out firmly against the banishment of the Freedmen from Cherokee citizenship, and I believe that racism had a heavy hand in passing that measure last March. But H.R. 2824, Congresswoman Diane Watson’s bill to withdraw federal funds from the tribe, only adds injustice to injustice.

After the Civil War, the Treaty of 1866 promised The Cherokee Nation certain rights, and demanded certain responsibilities, one of which was to take in our former slaves. There is no doubt that chatel slavery is among the most horrendous of conditions one group of humans can afflict upon another. Cherokee plantation owners were also slave owners, and because of this the Cherokee nation owes a debt to the descendants of those slaves, by accepting them into citizenship, as all other slave-owning nations have done.

However, there is also a big difference between the Cherokee Nation and other nations. Like the African slaves, the Cherokees also suffered a terrible tragedy at the hands of an oppressive U.S. government and society.

Is the Cherokee Nation abrogating the Treaty of 1866, as many claim? I don’t know, because I am not a legal expert, but two facts are very clear in my mind. First, the Treaty of 1866 was pushed upon a dispirited and beaten people, who had recently been forced on a journey of death and suffering, known as The Trail of Tears, and who had been further devasted by civil war.

Then, in 1877, the Dawes Act laid the groundwork for the theft of our new tribal lands by greedy white settlers. Let’s be clear, if anyone has broken promises, it is the United States government.

So, now, thanks to a couple of grandstanding politicians (I speak here of Principal Chief Chad Smith and Congresswoman Watson), two oppressed peoples are set upon each other, when we should be building alliances. I would like to remind progressives in Congress and elsewhere that it is white European ideologies and financial interests, and the complicity of the U.S. government, which has brought suffering on my people, as well as African-Americans.

Congresswoman Watson should be demanding that white America take responsibility for its role in this historical tragedy that is still unfolding today. Don’t use this ill-conceived decision by the Cherokee Nation as an excuse to take away programs for our poor. How will that help heal us?

Injustice in Jena, Louisiana

From CommonDreams.org: In a small still mostly segregated section of rural Louisiana, an all white jury heard a series of white witnesses called by a white prosecutor testify in a courtroom overseen by a white judge in a trial of a fight at the local high school where a white student who had been making racial taunts was hit by black students. The fight was the culmination of a series of racial incidents starting when whites responded to black students sitting under the “white tree” at their school by hanging three nooses from the tree. The white jury and white prosecutor and all white supporters of the white victim were all on one side of the courtroom. The black defendant, 17 year old Mychal Bell, and his supporters were on the other.

Racism dead in the America? Not even close:

In a small still mostly segregated section of rural Louisiana, an all white jury heard a series of white witnesses called by a white prosecutor testify in a courtroom overseen by a white judge in a trial of a fight at the local high school where a white student who had been making racial taunts was hit by black students. The fight was the culmination of a series of racial incidents starting when whites responded to black students sitting under the “white tree” at their school by hanging three nooses from the tree. The white jury and white prosecutor and all white supporters of the white victim were all on one side of the courtroom. The black defendant, 17 year old Mychal Bell, and his supporters were on the other. The jury quickly convicted Mychal Bell of two felonies – aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Bell, who was a 16 year old sophomore football star at the time he was arrested, faces up to 22 years in prison. Five other black youths await similar trials on attempted second degree murder and conspiracy charges.

Read the entire article: Injustice in Jena: The ‘White Tree’, A White Judge, White Jury, and White Prosecutor Calling White Witnesses Leads To Conviction of Black Youth – CommonDreams.org

Stacy Leeds on bill to pull Cherokee Nation federal funds

Stacy Leeds blog:

A bill was introduced in Congress today to pull our federal funds, close our casinos, and terminate our federal recognition. It’s truly a sad day for the Cherokee Nation. The rash decisions and inconsistent legal arguments of our current administration bring us to this point.

Will the bill pass? Doubtful.

Does the introduction of the bill matter? Without a doubt.

Following is the text of Stacy Leeds’ statement:

A bill was introduced in Congress today to pull our federal funds, close our casinos, and terminate our federal recognition. It’s truly a sad day for the Cherokee Nation. The rash decisions and inconsistent legal arguments of our current administration bring us to this point.

Will the bill pass? Doubtful.

Does the introduction of the bill matter? Without a doubt.

In addition to this proposed legislation, a federal court case is pending and there is on-going review by the BIA regarding the legality of the March 3rd Special Election. Now all three branches of the United States government are fully engaged in the fall out of our decision to expel a class of tribal citizens.

Why is this happening? The Cherokee people, although certainly possessing the right to redefine citizenship, were not told the whole story by the current administration. The Cherokee people were not fully advised of the legal and political consequences of the special election. Instead, the decision was rushed and public debate and deliberations were suppressed.

Why was the federal bill not introduced earlier? Principal Chief Chad Smith has been in negotiations to delay the introduction of this bill so that it would not be introduced the week before the election. He didn’t want to allow the Cherokee people the opportunity to know the seriousness of our present situation. Instead, he attempted to negotiate some undisclosed deal to keep this out of the media.

My concern is two fold: (1) The Principal Chief does not have the authority to strike a secret “deal” with the Freedmen without discussing it with the Tribal Council; and (2) exactly what were the details of Chief Smith’s “offer” to the Freedmen?

The introduction of the bill was delayed for a week based on the Principal Chief’s promises. What exactly did he promise? How much would his promise cost the Cherokee people?

I will alway support the Cherokee people’s right to make decisions, good or bad. What must end, if we are to be a healthy nation, are the half-truths and secret dealings of our present leadership.
A positive change is just around the corner . . . . vote Saturday June 23rd.

Stacy Leeds blog

Cherokee Freedmen restored to membership

This is good news. Now let’s hope the courts make it stick. The Cherokee nation has a moral, ethical, and legal responsibility to the descendants of Cherokee Slaves.

Indianz.Com > News > Cherokee Freedmen restored to membership for now

An excerpt:

The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has agreed to restore the citizenship rights of 2,700 African descendants pending appeals in the tribal court system.

The temporary injunction will allow the Freedmen to receive tribal services and to vote in a June 23 election. It only applies to a tribal court lawsuit and not to a federal lawsuit.

Also, a more recent article: Indianz.Com > News > Another vote on Cherokee constitution proposed

The council of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma will meet June 6 to consider another vote to amend the tribal constitution.

The tribe’s 1976 constitution requires federal approval for any changes. In 2003, voters approved an amendment to remove the federal review provision.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs on Monday rejected the 2003 amendment. Assistant secretary Carl Artman said he was concerned that the Cherokee Freemen, the descendants of African slaves who were made citizens by an 1866 treaty, weren’t allow to vote in that election.

The opponents of the Freedmen’s citizenship are painting this as a sovereignty issue: The Big Bad BIA vs. The Indians. BS. The motivation is racism. My tribe had African slaves, and we owe them. End of story.

Let’s fight the sovereignty battle on some other ground. This is not the one!

Tribe makes a shameful choice

Due to a confusing registration and voting system for outlander citizens like me, I wasn’t able to register in time for the Cherokee Nation special election today. Even if I had, it wouldn’t have made a difference.

Seventy-six percent of the tribe voted today to expel the descendants of the freedmen, the ex-slaves of wealthy Cherokee plantation owners. This is an expulsion of over 2,000 citizens, because they are not Cherokee by blood. Promised by treaty in 1866, the freedmen are entitled to citizenship, and todays decision is a shameful travesty.

The blood argument does not wash. The Delaware and Shawnee of Oklahoma are citizens of the Cherokee Nation, yet they are not Cherokee by blood.

This is racism, pure and simple. I am ashamed of my tribe today.