Cherokee Termination Bill Opposed by National Congress of American Indians

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith Praises the National Congress of American Indians for Opposing Bill To Sever U.S.-Cherokee Relations and Cut Nearly $300 Million in Federal Funds

TAHLEQUAH, Oklahoma - Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith praised the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) for unanimously passing a resolution opposing H.R. 2824, a U.S. House bill that retaliates against the Cherokee people for voting to limit Nation citizenship to those with Indian ancestors on the Dawes Rolls, the 1906 federal census list of the Cherokee people (Read NCAI Resolution Here).

"Indian Country sent a strong message today that H.R. 2824 is nothing less than a scorched-earth assault on tribal sovereignty that threatens all Indian nations," Chief Smith said. "I applaud NCAI President Joe Garcia and other leaders for taking this stand to stop a slippery slope of congressional interference with intra-tribal affairs and the work of the courts."

Authored by California Congresswoman Diane Watson, H.R. 2824 aims to punish the Nation for its March 2007 vote of the Cherokee people to require every citizen in the tribe - whether African-, Caucasian-, Asian- or Hispanic-American - to have at least one Indian ancestor listed on the Dawes Rolls. More than 500 other Indian tribes in the United States also require their citizens to have Indian ancestry.

The March 2007 measure, which passed by 77%, disenrolled about 2,800 Freedmen descendants who had been citizens in the tribe for about a year due to a Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ruling that allowed citizenship for descendants of people listed on the Dawes Rolls as non-Indians.

The bill would sever U.S.-Cherokee relations and cut nearly $300 million in federal funding for crucial social services such as health care, housing and education that help young, elderly and infirm Cherokees.

Litigation over Freedmen citizenship issues continues in federal and tribal courts. Until all litigation is resolved, the approximately 2,800 Freedmen descendants have been reinstated to citizenship in the Nation with full social services and the right to vote. Congresswoman Watson's bill will hurt many of these individuals and others in the tribe who receive such federal assistance.

The Cherokee Nation has launched efforts to rally tribal leaders to tell Congress that the citizenship status of the 2,800 Freedmen descendants should be decided by the courts and not Congress, including: an outreach campaign to all tribal leaders throughout the United States; letter-writing campaigns to Members of Congress by tribal leaders and the grassroots; and educational efforts at major Native American-focused conferences to raise awareness about the issue. For more, go to http://www.cherokeenationfacts.org/mystory, the Nation has asked individuals to submit personal stories about what the U.S.-Cherokee relationship and its vital social services mean to them. The Nation has also been showcasing its diversity, which includes thousands of African Americans and about 1,500 Freedmen descendants. All are citizens because they each have an Indian ancestor listed on the Dawes Rolls.

To help Freedmen descendants become citizens, the Nation will fund genealogical studies to assist them in learning whether they have an Indian ancestor listed on the Dawes Rolls, no matter how long it takes.

Here are several undisputed facts to know about this issue:

  1. The March 2007 vote requiring Indian ancestry for citizenship had nothing to do with race and everything to do with who is a Cherokee.
  2. Two percent of Cherokees held slaves before the Nation voluntarily emancipated them in 1863 - two years before the end of the Civil War.
  3. Two-thirds of Cherokees fought for the Union during the Civil War.
  4. In addition to cutting social services for Cherokees, H.R. 2824 would eliminate 6,500 jobs in Oklahoma.

For more information, go to http://www.cherokeenationfacts.org/PressRoom/PressKits.aspx.