Freedmen protest honor given to Cherokee chief Chad Smith
MURRAY EVANS, Associated Press Writer
Comments 
32
Published: June 4, 2009
A group of descendants of former slaves once owned by Cherokee Indians Thursday protested an honor given to Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith.
Smith attended an American Indian symposium at the Skirvin Hotel, where he received the Red Earth Ambassador of the Year award before the Red Earth Festival, an American Indian-themed event scheduled for this weekend. The award is given by festival organizers to recognize people they believe have helped present a positive image of American Indians.
But about a dozen protesters stood outside the hotel, saying Smith does not deserve any honor because he does not want the descendants, commonly known as freedmen, to be a part of the Cherokee tribe.
"He has brought shame and embarrassment, in our opinion, to Indian Country," said Marilyn Vann, the president of the Oklahoma City-based Descendants of Freedmen of Five Civilized Tribes. "He has shown racism. He has shown discrimination. ... Why should a man like this be recognized by any organization?"
Smith, who has been the tribe's chief since 1999, told The Associated Press that the freedmen's claim of racism "has been shown to be very hollow, but it has its affect of being defamatory and inflammatory."
Smith said the tribe had 1,500 people on the rolls who are freedmen "and also have a Cherokee ancestor. We have the most liberal admission requirements of any tribe in the country — just one Cherokee ancestor. ... Our processes are colorblind, so the claims of racism are ill-founded and at this late time, they're sort of worn out."
In March 2007, by a 3-to-1 margin, more than 8,700 Cherokee voters approved a constitutional amendment that would remove about 2,800 freedmen from the tribe's rolls — and therefore eliminate their eligibility for medical and other services provided by the tribe.
The amendment would limit tribal membership to descendants of a Cherokee, Delaware or Shawnee Indian listed on the Dawes Commission's rolls from more than 100 years ago.
The petition drive for the ballot measure followed a March 2006 ruling by the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court that said an 1866 treaty assured freedmen descendants of tribal citizenship.
Since 2003, the Tahlequah-based tribe and a group of freedmen have been involved in litigation, both in federal and tribal courts. A temporary tribal court order giving freedmen citizenship remains in place as multiple cases wind their way through the legal system.
The Cherokee Nation filed the most recent case in U.S. District Court in Tulsa in February, asking a judge to decide if freedmen have a federal right to citizenship in the tribe. The tribe argues that because of the U.S. government's modification of the 1866 treaty it had with the tribe, descendants of freedmen are not entitled to federal citizenship rights.
Freedmen maintain only Congress can change the treaty, not the tribe, because the tribe traded away the right to do so in 1866.
"We just want our rights ... what's been promised to us by law," Vann said.
"The freedmen people are a part of the tribe. We're not Johnny-come-latelies. We came over the Trail of Tears. Our people have served on the (tribal) council. Our people have been members of ceremonial grounds. Many of our people still live in our traditional counties."
Smith maintains the tribal court, not the federal courts, is the proper venue to settle the issue.
"What is perplexing is that if the freedmen descendants truly believed that they were ... citizens of the Cherokee Nation, they ought to honor the institutions that they want to be a part of, which includes tribal court," Smith said.
Last month, a small group of powerful House Democrats sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, asking the Justice Department to investigate whether five major Oklahoma tribes — including the Cherokees — are engaging in modern-day racial segregation against the freedmen, and thus violating treaties and breaking the law.
The lawmakers include House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers of Michigan, Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts and former civil rights leader John Lewis of Georgia. At least two Oklahoma congressmen, Rep. Tom Cole, a Republican, and Rep. Dan Boren, a Democrat, have criticized their colleagues for sending the letter.
Justice Department spokesman Andrew Ames said Thursday that while the agency intends to respond to the letter, it has not yet done so.
"We continue to review their letter to determine what action, if any, is appropriate," Ames said.
Prev
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
Thank you for joining our conversations on newsok. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.
Log in below or sign up (it's free).
__________________________________________________________________________________
Hey wonder where ole tilde is??
__________________________________________________________________________________ John Cornsilk Real Cherokee Citizen, CNOT and UKB Member also!
I HEAR HE IS IN BORENS OFFICE ASKING HOW MUCH?
Watson reintroduces bill to hopefully eliminate CNOT!!
Maybe this time its early enough in the session we'll see the demise of the CNO...And the Cherokee People can set about to repair the damage by CNO. to see the bill click link http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-2761 its about the same as the old!
Hopefully the Weezle Smith is sweatin a little blood!
I know he already spinnin the lies and BS on http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/3744/Article.aspx
__________________________________________________________________________________ John Cornsilk Real Cherokee Citizen CNO member UKB too!
__________________________________________________________________________________ John Cornsilk Real Cherokee Citizen, CNOT and UKB Member also!
An appeals court says the U.S. did not comply with the law that governs housing assistance.
Now who is telling the Lie and using his CNO Press to spread this Lie?
He has shown how easy it is to spread his spin on his Press?
He and Hammonds along with Mike Miller should be removed for this.
Go to the Tulsa World and you will read he Lost the HUD Case?
Now if you were trying to say the postings Arch put up are somehow superfluous in the realm of redundancy, that would be in the eye of the beholder of course depending on what they may or maynot know as to the facts of the matter on the subject, what ever it may be!
__________________________________________________________________________________ John Cornsilk Real Cherokee Citizen, CNOT and UKB Member also!
__________________________________________________________________________________
"All the crap JC writes is what HE believes. They are not facts as he states. It's just the way HE interprets words. It is HE who posts ignorant crap. If one chooses to read his crap and believe it, then one gets what one deserves. Why doesn't JC insist on Marilyn Vann proving and showing her card? Because she cannot"
__________________________________________________________________________________
I the Elder Cornsilks says!.....Well tilde, so happens its not what I say or how I may interpret the words of a Document, quite simply the material I cite as facts of the matter, are just that, for example how can you question the fact when I say the Cherokee Nation was abolished by the Curtis Act of 1898 then I post words from the Document, and if you doubt the the fact of the words of the Document then you are welcome to show any version that would counter what I say, the Document says:
__________________________________________________________________________________
"The Curtis Act, (Act of June 28, 1898), ch. 517, 30 Stat. 495. Section 28 of the Curtis Act provided that on July 1, 1898, "all tribal courts in Indian Territory shall be abolished..."
__________________________________________________________________________________
And they were tilde everlast one of them: Therefore tilde if the people want to know truth of the matter simply read material that I may cite, they don't have to believe a dang word I say, but the documents don't lie!
__________________________________________________________________________________
As for Marilyn and her card, she does not need a card, and if you are talking about the CDIB Card that is NOT a legal requirement to be Cherokee, you can learn all this by documentation at www.cornsilks.com or stop ny John's Place and I will splain it to you in my inimitable fashion.
__________________________________________________________________________________ John Cornsilk Real Cherokee Citizen, CNOT and UKB Member also!
Do you remember the Cherokee Freedman Council member Stick Ross?
There is even A Mountain in Tahlequah named for him Stick Ross Mountain???
Shall have all the rights of native Cherokees.
9.
The Cherokee Nation having, voluntarily, in February, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, by an act of the national council, forever abolished slavery, hereby covenant and agree that never hereafter shall either slavery or involuntary servitude exist in their nation otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, in accordance with laws applicable to all the members of said tribe alike. They further agree that all freedmen who have been liberated by voluntary act of their former owners or by law, as well as all 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, and their descendants, shall have all the rights of native Cherokees: Provided, That owners of slaves so emancipated in the Cherokee Nation shall never receive any compensation or pay for the slaves so emancipated.
ARTICLE 10.
Every Cherokee and freed person resident in the Cherokee Nation shall have the right to sell any products of his farm, including his or her live stock, or any merchandise or manufactured products, and to ship and drive the same to market without restraint, paying any tax thereon which is now or may be levied by the United States on the quantity sold outside of the Indian Territory.
Source: Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Vol. II (Treaties). Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1904.
SEC. 2
That the said Shawnees, Delawares, and freedmen shall have a right, either separately or jointly, to begin and prosecute a suit or suits against the Cherokee Nation and the United States Government to recover from the Cherokee Nation all moneys due either in law or equity and unpaid to the said Shawnees, Delawares, or freedmen, which the Cherokee Nation have before paid out, or may hereafter pay, per capita, in the Cherokee Nation, and which was, or may be, refused to or neglected to be paid to the said Shawnees, Delawares, or freedmen by the Cherokee Nation, out of any money or funds which have, or may
{Page 373}
be, paid into the treasury of, or in any way have come, or may come into the possession of the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, derived from the sale, leasing, or rent for grazing purposes on Cherokee lands west of ninety-six degrees west longitude. and which have been, or may be, appropriated and directed to be paid out per capita by the acts passed by the Cherokee council, and for all moneys, lands, and rights which shall appear to be due to the said Shawnees, Delawares, or freedmen under the provisions of the aforesaid articles of the treaty and articles of agreement.
SEC. 3
That the said suit or suits may be brought in the name of the principal chief or chiefs of the said Shawnee and Delaware Indians, and for the freedmen and in their behalf and for their use in the name of some person as their trustee, to be selected by them with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. And the exercise of such jurisdiction shall not be barred by any lapse of time heretofore, nor shall the rights of such Indians be impaired by any acts passed and approved by the Cherokee national council. Suits may be instituted within twelve months after the passage of this act, and the law and practice and rules of procedure in such courts shall be the practice and law in these cases; and copies of petitions filed in the case at the commencement of the suit shall be served upon the Attorney-General of the United States and on the principal chief in the Cherokee Nation by the marshal of the district court for the Indian Territory; and that the costs of the said suits shall be apportioned between the United States and the other parties to such suits as to said court law and equity shall require. The Attorney-General shall designate and appoint from the Department of Justice a person who is competent to defend the said Cherokee Nation and the United States. And the said Shawnees, Delawares, and freedmen may be represented by attorneys and counsel. And the court is hereby authorized to decree the amount of compensation of such attorneys and counsel fees, not to exceed ten per centum of the amount recovered, and order the same to be paid to the attorneys and counsel of the said Shawnees, Delawares, and freedmen; and all judgments for any sum or sums of money which may be ordered or decreed by such court in favor of the Shawnees, Delawares, or freedmen, and against the Cherokee Nation, shall be enforced by the said court or courts against the said Cherokee Nation by execution mandamus, or in any other way which the said court may see fit.
SEC. 4
That the said Shawnee Indians are hereby authorized and empowered to bring and begin a suit in law or equity against the United States Government, in the Court of Claims, to recover and collect from the United States Government any amount of money that in law or equity is due from the United States to said tribes in re-imbursement of their tribal fund for money wrongfully diverted therefrom. The right of appeal, jurisdiction of the court, process, procedure, and proceedings in the suit here provided for shall be as provided for in sections one, two, and three of this act.
Approved, October 1, 1890.
John, you still haven't changed my mind.
Once again, Sadly Bradley, in order for a mind to be changed, first there must be a mind, evidently you lack one seriously, the answer is plain as the beak on your mug if you will only read the material, you dont have to believe a dang thang I say just read the Facts!
__________________________________________________________________________________
Its all available to read at www.cornsilks.com/cherokeedocs.html there is absolutely no reason for people to post all this ignorant equine excrement when all the material is there to teach you the simple Truth!
__________________________________________________________________________________ John Cornsilk Real cherokee
I say congratulations to Chief Smith for a job well done. He is the best chief we have had since Wilma Mankiller.
I hope this is all put to rest soon by the pending court cases because it is getting to be ridiculous.
John: You haven't "explained" anything, anywhere. You just make people despise you even more. You will never convinced the people who matter.
http://newsok.com/group-is-protesting-leaders-recognition/article/3375304?custom_click=lead_story_title
__________________________________________________________________________________John Cornsilk Real Cherokee
Advertisement
Listed in the complaint, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District in Muskogee, are Smith, Benjamin L. Dixon and James Majewski.
Dixon is employed as economic development executive, and Majewski is the chief executive officer for the Stilwell-based Cherokee Nation Industries. Majewski since has been placed on administrative leave with pay.
"By filing this lawsuit, this minority of the council is trying desperately to make headlines for political grandstanding rather than serving the Cherokee people," Smith said in a statement.
In the complaint, Smith, Dixon and Majewski are accused of scheming to divert federally guaranteed funds of Cherokee Nation Industries for personal use and to damage the Cherokee Nation.
Smith said all questions raised in the lawsuit are the subject of a review initiated by the Cherokee Nation Industries board of directors months ago. The board makes all decisions about the management and major purchases, he said.
"Including me in the lawsuit ignores the fact that the board and management of CNI operate independently from the Cherokee Nation," Smith said.
According to the lawsuit:
Smith signed a consent for Majewski to purchase $2.5 million in stock in the Global Energy Group in July 2005 without permission of the Cherokee Nation Industries.
Smith also assigned all voting power of the shares to Majewski, which bypassed the board of directors.
Global Energy makes patented technologies for the refrigeration and service industry.
A credit line was diverted to buy shares of stock directly from Global Energy stockholders without any of the $2.5 million purchase price going into the company operation.
This credit line maneuver was done when the company had generated approximately $12 million in losses and no assets.
The complaint states that on June 30, Global Energy reported more than $4 million in current liabilities and less than $100,000 in assets. Since the acquisition by Cherokee Nation Industries, approximately $1.5 million has been given to Global Energy Group and it subsidiaries via loans.
No report on these loans has been made available to the council, the complaint states.
In documents obtained by The Oklahoman, Majewski stated it was important to freeze Global Energy's stock price, saying the real reason for the purchase was to supply jobs to Cherokees through the manufacture and distribution of Global Energy products.
I hear he is so mad at her because she is now dating A Freedmen?