Exercising the right of self-governance on behalf of Cherokee people since time immemorial

1. The Cherokee Nation: . Exercising the right of self-governance on behalf of Cherokee people since time immemorial

2. What is the most fundamental right of an Indian government?

3. [N]o right is more integral to a tribe’s self-governance than its ability to establish its membership. . . A tribe’s right to define its membership for tribal purposes has long been recognized as central to its existence as an independent political community.” Nero v. Cherokee Nation, (10th Cir. 1989)

4. What is the Threat Today? Not only to the Cherokee Nation but to all of Indian Country

5. U.S. Congressman Diane Watson (D-CA) is leading Democrats to terminate the Cherokee Nation

6. Why? Watson and Congressional Black Caucus members have initiated termination of the Cherokee Nation and cutting funding until Freedmen are admitted as citizens regardless of past or pending court decisions.

7. What is a Freedman? As defined by federal law, “Cherokee freedmen shall include only such persons of African descent, either free colored or the slaves of Cherokee citizens...”1906 Act, Section 3. By definition, Freedmen have no Cherokee, Delaware or Shawnee blood as determined by the federal government.

8. Amendment to the 1866 Cherokee Nation Constitution “All native born Cherokees, all Indians, and whites legally members of the Nation by adoption, and all freedmen who have been liberated by voluntary act of their former owners or by law, as well as free colored persons who were in the country at the commencement of the rebellion, and are now residents therein, or who may return within six months from the 19th day of July, 1866, and their descendants, who reside within the limits of the Cherokee Nation, shall be taken, and deemed to be, citizens of the Cherokee Nation.” Adopted November 26, 1866

9. The U.S. Congress itself has eliminated any federal right to citizenship for non-Indians • No child born of any Cherokee citizen shall be entitled to enrollment after 1902Cherokee Supplemental Agreement of 1902 •  The definition of freedmen descendant was • changed to include only descendants who were • either residents of the Nation on August 11, 1866, • or who returned to the Nation by February 11, 1867.  Five Tribes Act of 1906

10. For the last 100 years, descendents of non-Indian Freedmen, foreign tribes and Inter-married whites have been not entitled to citizenship - according to federal law.

11. Only after a tribal court decision in 2006 was enrollment opened to them for one year until a new vote was held in 2007.

12. The media falsely reported all African-Americans were removed from the tribe

13. Cherokee Nation vote was based on ancestry not race • Congressman and CBC member Mel Watt said, “He didn't think it was racist for the Cherokee Nation to want to preserve its blood lineage.” Charlotte Observer

14. Who is a Cherokee?

15. We Are Cherokee

16. Thousands of Cherokees have African-American blood • 1500 descendants of freedmen are Cherokee citizenship because they also have a Cherokee ancestor on the Dawes Roll • There are thousand of other Indian, Black, Hispanic, White and Asian people who are citizens because they have a Cherokee ancestor on the Dawes Roll

18. Did the Cherokee Nation break the Treaty of 1866? • There is no treaty right to citizenship 1866 Treaty, article 9

19. Why Won’t the CBC Follow the Rule of Law? • Rather than follow past court decisions or deferring to a federal case currently pending, Watson and CBC members are pushing a “scorched earth” policy aimed at hurting the young, old and infirm. Cutting funding to day cares, schools, elderly nutrition sites, cancer treatment and clinics is a “scorched earth” policy like in the 1770s.

20. Non-Indian freedmen descendents have filed several lawsuits in the courts Vann v. Kempthorne- Pending in Federal Court Harvest Inst v. Kempthorne- Recently dismissed in Federal Court Nero v. Cherokee Nation- Federal Court, 1989 Allen v. Cherokee Nation- Cherokee Nation Court Nash v. Cherokee Nat. Registrar- Pending in Cherokee Nation Court

21. The Cherokee Nation has relied on and abided by the law • Judicial Branch: • Federal court cases have interpreted the treaty to mean that non-Indian freedmen descendants had no federal right to citizenship. • Whitmire v. Cherokee Nation (1895) • Garfield v. Lowe (1909) • Lowe v. Fisher (1912) • Nero v. Cherokee Nation (1989)

22. Federal courts have rule non-Indians have noright to citizenship. • Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez “(tribes) remain a “separate people”, with the power of regulating their internal and social relations… They have power to make their own substantive law in internal matters.” • Nero v. Cherokee Nation “A tribe’s right to define its membership for tribal purposes has long been recognized as central to its existence as an independent political community.”

23. Has the United States Ever Honored a Treaty: • The Trail of Tears • Pillaging of gold from the Sioux Nation’s Black Hills • Seizure of lands in Central Oklahoma and given for free in the Land Run of 1889 • 1950s Eisenhower Termination Era • Indigenous Nations reduced to poverty on reservations Interior of Navajo Hogan, New Mexico, 1903

24. Dangerous Precedent Threats of termination by Congress each time they disagree with intra-tribal decisions set a dangerous precedent. Bills like HR 2824 could create a ripple effect. Indian country could see a return to the termination era. The policy of terminating tribes began in 1945 and affected more than 100 tribes and 1.5 million acres of trust land. 

25. Implications to all Tribes • HR 2824 threatens the sovereignty of all tribes. HR 2824 would suspend funding for thousands of needy Indians and impound gaming money, tribes’ major economic vehicle • If the CBC terminates the Cherokee Nation, is your tribe next?

28. The Cherokee Nation has relied on and abided by the law • Executive Branch: • The BIA has never said Cherokee Nation broke the Treaty of 1866 • Citizenship policy consistently included only those with Indian ancestry for decades on end, with no objection from federal government.

29. The Cherokee Nation has relied on and abided by the law • Legislative Branch: • Congressional Acts have clarified that non-Indian freedmen descendants were a limited class. • Cherokee Supplemental Agreement (1902) • Five Civilized Tribes Act (1906)

30. Federal court cases ruled non-Indians have no right to citizenship. Treaty provisions related to freedmen and descendants “were intended for the protection of the Cherokee Nation as a limitation upon the number of persons who might avail themselves of the provisions of the treaty…” Whitmire (1895) Whitmire court ruled that the “descendants” were not descendants for all time, but only those descendants who were living in the Cherokee Nation on or before February 11, 1867.