Freedmen say their concerns are ignored

MUSKOGEE — About a dozen black protesters, some dressed in American Indian garb, demonstrated outside U.S. Rep. Dan Boren's district office in Muskogee Friday afternoon.

Members of the Cherokee Freedmen Association said Boren has been both inactive and nonresponsive to their concerns. The group has been embroiled in federal litigation with the Cherokee Nation over tribal membership.

The Cherokee Nation sponsored an election last year, kicking out the freedmen — descendants of Cherokee slaves and freed slaves who originally traveled to Oklahoma territory with the tribe. In 1866, the Cherokee Nation entered into a treaty with the U.S. government granting tribal membership to the freedmen.

"I was reading that treaty just the other day: it couldn't have been any more clear. It said the people who came here with you are going to be citizens, and you will treat them like citizens,” said Norman Hightower, 67.

As tribal members, the group would have access to a plethora of services such as free health care and education for dependent children, in addition to a share of the tribe's gaming profits.

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