EQUAL RIGHTS FIRST, by treaty, and then DAWES ROLLS, by U.S. Law (which provides for the issuance of the certificate of blood).
Seems to me pretty clear that in 1866, for the purpose of keeping their tribe, the Cherokee leaders agreed to a really big change in membership ~ to wit ~ political affiliation in a nation ~ and later they let the Dawes Commission screw with them and take them back to an earlier time BEFORE COLUMBUS.
This business of tossing out the black Cherokee is pretty recent. The Congressional Black Caucus has proposed withdrawing federal recognition from the Cherokee.
Again, that seems fair to me. You sign a treaty in 1866 and then repudiate your agreement 100+ years later so you can snickersnack the black folks out of your tribe ~ that tells me you no longer want to be a tribe ~ you want to be something else ~ maybe you want to be white folks.
There is certainly no shortage of white folks in America, nor black folks, so I guess most modern Cherokee could fit right in.
I don't have any sort of dispute going yet but I've got 800 families of people eligible for Oneida membership ~ and that's more people than the Oneida currently have ~ so they probably don't want to cut us in on the Turning Stone revenues ~ or, maybe they do.
It took the Onedia 200 years to get the US government to recognize their treaty rights ~ where they were the ally of the United States in the Revolution. New York ruled that they were all white people so they didn't have the right to be Indians anymore ~ they then took their land and gave it away to illegal aliens.
The Oneida could probably use another 800 families.
Actually, the TREATY said exactly what I said it said! Not to mention that those FREED MEN are DEAD and no longer exist and can’t quality for jack squat in the Cherokee Nation!