Posted on 03/13/2007 5:26:11 PM PDT by mdittmar
WASHINGTON - Black leaders in Congress asked the federal government Tuesday to weigh in on the legality of a vote by the Cherokee Nation earlier this month to revoke citizenship from descendants of former tribal slaves.
Saying they were "shocked and outraged," more than two dozen members of the Congressional Black Caucus signed a letter to the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs questioning the "validity, legality, as well as the morality" of the March 3 vote.
"The black descendant Cherokees can trace their Native American heritage back in many cases for more than a century," said Rep. Diane Watson (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif. "They are legally a part of the Cherokee Nation through history, precedent, blood and treaty obligations."
Watson emphasized that the federal government spends billions of dollars a year on Native American programs, including for the Cherokee.
In the special election, more than 76 percent of those casting ballots voted to amend the tribal constitution to limit citizenship to descendants of "by blood" tribe members and remove an estimated 2,800 freedmen descendants.
The vote followed a March 2006 ruling by the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court that said an 1866 treaty assured tribal citizenship to freedmen descendants.
Descendants tried to stop the ballot measure in court but were denied. They have vowed to continue fighting.
Cherokee officials have said the vote is a matter of self-government and the tribe's sovereign right to determine its membership. Critics have called it racist.
Mike Miller, a spokesman for the tribe, could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Along with Watson, Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., civil rights movement veteran John Lewis (news, bio, voting record), D-Ga., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., were among 26 lawmakers to sign the letter.
They asked for a legal interpretation of the vote and requested possibilities for government recourse.
they are one of the "civilized" tribes. they were forced out of the southeast by Jackson resulting in the "trail o tears" saga. a large contingent fought for the south during the civil war.
I believe the "treaty obligations" mean that the US government has to treat the freedmen descendants as Cherokees whether the larger tribe does or not and the USG should continue so.
Actually, yes. The freedmen in this case were slaves who went to the Cherokees (and other groups, especially Miccosukees and Creeks. I believe some Cherokees owned some purchased slaves, also. The Seminoles took in many escaped slaves and "owned" some of them though it was a pretty relaxed ownership.
As I understand it there were "white" Cherokee and "black" Cherokee back to the early 19th c. Cherokee territory included a lot more than the areas cleared through the Trail of Tears saga. They were the dominent tribe in the original Virginia territories. I have a great ggg grandmother who was Cherokee but she "gasp" assimilated.
That is my understanding also.
LOL!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.