Update: Cherokee Tribe Backtracks on Expelling Descendants of Slaves
Apparently bowing to pressure from Washington, the Cherokee Nation's election commission has voted to allow descendants of slaves once owned by tribal members to cast provisional ballots for principal chief, but they'll only count if the tribal court orders them to be counted.
This controversy has been going on for decades, but it boiled over last month when the Cherokee's highest court ruled that only people of direct Cherokee ancestry could be members of the tribe and vote in the upcoming tribal election.
There are many tribe members who don't have a drop of Cherokee blood in them, including descendants of black slaves owned by wealthy Cherokee before the Civil War.
They're known as the Cherokee "freedmen", and they were guaranteed tribal citizenship in a treaty the Cherokee signed with the US government in 1866. In recent years however, the Cherokee have been expelling members who are not descended by blood from a Cherokee.
After the tribe kicked out nearly three thousand freedmen descendants and stripped them of their benefits and tribal voting rights, they filed suit in tribal court to get their expulsion reversed, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development froze $33 million in funds to the tribe.
Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk wrote a sternly worded letter to the tribe urging them tread carefully in proceeding with an election that does not comply with federal law.
Hawk stated "The department will not recognize any action...that...does not accord its freedmen members full rights of citizenship."
The tribal election commission has restored the freedmen's voting rights, but only on a temporary basis. They will be allowed to cast provisional ballots in the upcoming tribal election, but their votes won't be counted unless the tribal court rules against their expulsion and restores their tribal citizenship.
This issue is far from over. Under US law, the Cherokee are an independent nation, and they have the right to establish their own citizenship laws and decide for themselves who is or isn't a Cherokee.
While they don't care what anyone outside the tribe thinks about that, they do pay attention when Washington threatens to withhold federal funds.
Stay tuned.
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