Posted on 08/30/2011 5:16:20 AM PDT by Paladins Prayer
Just a week ago this Monday, the Cherokee Nation’s Supreme Court ruled that the tribe may revoke the citizenship rights of black members. The case stemmed from a 2007 vote in which the Nation amended its constitution to allow the expulsion of the descendants of Cherokee-held slaves; this inspired a lawsuit by the “Freedmen,” as the black Cherokee are known. A district court found in favor of the Freedmen, but the Supreme Court overturned that ruling, arguing that the Cherokee alone have a right to determine who is and is not a fellow tribesman. The result is that these erstwhile Cherokees, approximately 3,000 strong, will now be denied benefits that inclusion in the tribe affords, such as free healthcare and education, and voting and housing rights.
The Freedman had enjoyed Cherokee citizenship status ever since it was granted through a treaty with the U.S. government after the War Between the States. Previous to this, the Cherokees, along with tribes such as the Choctaw and Creeks, kept thousands of African slaves (additionally, some Indians allied themselves with the Confederacy during the war).
While these facts aren’t generally found in school textbooks, they should surprise no one. Slavery was once ubiquitous throughout the world, and North America’s indigenous people were no exception. For their embrace of the institution predated the white settlers’ arrival; moreover, this event presented new slaveholding opportunities: Some Indians made slaves of Europeans as well as Africans.
(Excerpt) Read more at thenewamerican.com ...
Facts are not popular with some folks. An example -—Africans are not Indians. [American indigenous people]
I think that other tribes/nations have standards (percentage of blood) that must be met to be considered a member. I’m thinking that the Cherokee are drawing a line. Might seem unfair on the face of it, but if your great, great, grandad was half-cherokee, then your claim is pretty weak.
I guess will see here real quick who’s the top dog in the liberal caste system.
My great great great great grandmother was Cherokee. Does that count? Just fun to know though.
Whose great-great granddad wasn't half-Cherokee?
Cherokee people
Cherokee tribe
So proud to live
So proud to die
But I thought they were noble savages much better than the white European scum that despoiled this contry.
Another fact: Native American tribes routinely “adopted” outsiders - people who were from other tribes, and even some Europeans - after which they were considered as much “Indian” as the blood-members of the tribe that “adopted” them. The so-called “blood quantum” rules for tribal membership are the creation of white Europeans, who had their own, inimical, reasons for categorizing individuals as Indian or non-Indian, and those rules were eventually forced upon (or in some cases adopted by) the tribes. Absent the blood-quantum rules, these folks would be considered full members of the tribe, regardless of their original heritage.
Franklly, I think it is time to disgard the tribal concept and funding. Let the Indians keep the land they were bequethed, but no more indian nation. Have them be governed by US law.
These folks must enjoy sticking a stick in a hornets nest because that’s exactly what they’ve just done!
That’s racist, Kemosabe.
Hey, you think the Cherokees are going to share that casino $$$$$ with anyone they don’t have to??? The blacks were their “brothers” until there was real money involved.
Excluding anyone who is not 100% is a Cherokee thing. My sister married a Cherokee. She died 2 years ago and the tribe revoked the Cherokee status of her 2 kids, because they weren’t 100% pure.
They receive nothing from the tribe. Cherokees are first class bigots.
I think this is all about sharing the casino profits.
Follow the money.
My then 8 year-old son remarked to an 8 year-old Cherokee girl he was trying to befriend that his great-great-granddad’s mother was Cherokee. Her reply: “The white Indians don’t get no money.” No eight year-old comes up with that on his/her own.
Indians had slaves??? Next, they’ll be saying that blacks had slaves. Or worse, that black Africans sold other blacks into slavery. What is up is now down...
BTW, Will the blacks be allowed to work in the casinos?
After greater than 150 years, even the Cherokees don’t want them. Sad....
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