Cherokee freedmen to challenge special election
Published: October 9, 2006
OKLAHOMA CITY - Descendants of black slaves who have lived with the Cherokee Indian tribe for more than a century said Monday they are outraged at an attempt to exclude all non-Indians from the tribe.
Members of the tribe will vote Feb. 10 on a measure that would make Indian ancestry a requirement for tribal membership.
Marilyn Vann, who has ancestry of Black, Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw cultures, is the president of the Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes. She said her grandparents and great-grandparents were original Dawes Tribal enrollees.
Vann is a registered Cherokee citizen and is registered to vote in the special election, as are many other freedmen. But Vann said her rights as a Cherokee citizen are trying to be stripped by her fellow Cherokees.
"I am outraged for several reasons... We have our rights by treaty. Most of the freedmen have blood rights," Vann said. "We're only asking for what we've been promised. We're not asking for apologies. We're not asking for money. We're asking to be treated the same as other tribal citizens."
Jon Velie, attorney for Vann and the Descendants group, said the attempts to remove freedmen from the tribal citizenship is "racist."
"Turning this against the Cherokee freedmen is a racist, ugly act," Velie said. "There's nothing positive that comes out of this. I believe that's the particular feeling of this particular chief and administration."
Velie, an immigration attorney out of Norman, said he just heard about the tribe's intentions on Monday, but plans to take action quickly.
"We'll certainly oppose this with the BIA as soon as we possibly can," Velie said. "I'm not surprised, since the chief's been trying to do this for a while."
"The Cherokees' unbending pursuit to alienate these Cherokee citizens from their rights can have an adverse effect on sovereignty for all Native Americans."
Velie said there will be a legal challenge but said he couldn't give specifics on the what he plans to do because it's too early in the process.
In an e-mail statement to the Associated Press, Chief Chad Smith wrote:
"More than 3,000 citizens have signed this petition asking for a special election; more than 2,200 of them have been certified as registered Cherokee voters. This is the largest outpouring of public sentiment in recent Cherokee history _ no other recent petition has gotten even a fraction of these signatures. It is my duty to act on a petition after it has been certified as valid, regardless."
Nearly 3,000 Cherokee citizens signed a petition that would add an amendment to the tribal constitution, barring non-Indians _ including freedmen_ from its tribal membership.
The Supreme Court of the Cherokee Nation OK'd the petition last week, allowing Smith to call for a special election Feb. 10 that would add the amendment if passed by Cherokee voters.
If passed by voters, the amendment would change citizenship requirements to require "descendancy," or a Cherokee blood-relative. There wouldn't be a specific blood percentage requirement as long as a parent, grandparent or other ancestor was Cherokee on the Dawes Rolls.
The Dawes Commission Rolls are the historical documents that tribes use as proof of Indian blood, blood line or family ancestry.
In March, the Cherokee Nation's highest court reversed a previous decision and ruled that the Cherokee Nation's Constitution allowed citizenship for non-Indian descendants who were listed on the tribe's historical rolls.
Membership had previously been tied to Indian ancestry.
Smith said he expects both the proponents and opponents of the petition to be active in trying to get their message out, and that since the election is several months away, any challenges could be decided before then.
Vann said she believes the motives of trying to remove freedmen from the tribe are of a "political" nature by Chief Smith and some tribal councilors, including Cara Cowan Watts, who represents District 7 of the Cherokee Nation.
Cowan Watts said it appears Vann's motivation is political.
"It appears (Vann) does not like the democratic process at work," Cowan Watts said. "She does not want the people to vote on a constitutional issue. She accuses people who support the right to vote of being racists with complete disregard for the democratic process all Cherokees participated in, publicly."
Vann said the special election and freedmen issue is a "smoke screen" for people to stay in office, but Cowan Watts said there's only one issue at hand.
"The only issue is the Cherokee people have a right to decide who Cherokee Nation citizens are, and only Cherokee people have this right," Cowan Watts said.
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