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She has given clumsy answers, evaded questions, and for five weeks running allowed the story of her undocumented Native American ancestry to consume the entire Senate campaign in Massachusetts. Thursday afternoon, my phone rang with Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren on the other end of the line, ready to talk. Finally. On the phone, she spoke sometimes expansively and without the slightest hint of apology about her conviction that she has maternal roots from the Cherokee and Delaware tribes. “I know who I am,’’ Warren said. “I know my heritage.’’ A moment later, in response to a question over whether she...

If there’s anything Granny Warren hates more than a fake Indian or a plagiarist, it’s one of these damn real-estate speculators buying up the hammered middle class’ homes and flipping them for big bucks. Unless, of course, Granny is the hypocrite conniving with the banks to do the hammering and the hacking. Granny wrote in 2000 that foreclosure sales “are notorious for fetching low prices.” And boy, would she know. Here’s a foreclosed property she picked up in Oklahoma City at 2123 NW 14th St. for $4,000 in 1993. She transferred it to her brother and his wife in March...

Native Americans — outraged by Elizabeth Warren’s admission yesterday that she told her Ivy League bosses about her purported tribal roots — accused the embattled Democrat of snubbing them and vowed to protest at tomorrow’s state convention even as she scrambled to placate supporters. “If she really wanted to reach out to our native people and have a discussion about issues that are affecting us, then she needs to talk to our tribal media,” said Rhonda Levando Gayton, president of the Native American Journalists Association. Rob Capriccioso, a reporter with Indian Country Today, said he has reached out to Warren’s...

OKLAHOMA CITY — The nation's second-largest Indian tribe said on Tuesday that it would not be dictated to by the U.S. government over its move to banish 2,800 African Americans from its citizenship rolls. "The Cherokee Nation will not be governed by the BIA," Joe Crittenden, the tribe's acting principal chief, said in a statement responding to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Crittenden, who leads the tribe until a new principal chief is elected, went on to complain about unnamed congressmen meddling in the tribe's self-governance. The reaction follows a letter the tribe received on Monday from BIA Assistant...

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) -- Former Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller is being remembered as a patriot who was remarkable for both her strength and humility. Hundreds of members of the Cherokee Nation and 170 tribal, state and federal officials gathered Saturday at a memorial service for Mankiller in Tahlequah (TAL'-ih-kwah), about 70 miles east of Tulsa. Mankiller led the Cherokee Nation from December 1985 until 1995. She died Tuesday at age 64 after a bout with pancreatic cancer......

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Former Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller, one of the few women ever to lead a major American Indian tribe, has died. She was 64. Tribal spokesman Mike Miller said Mankiller, who became one of the nation's most visible American Indian leaders during her 10 years as chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, died Tuesday.

Wilma Mankiller, the once dirt-poor Oklahoma farm girl who grew up to become an American Indian and women’s rights activist, author and the first woman to hold the Cherokee Nation’s highest office, died Tuesday. She was 64.

By Adam Tanner SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The top court of the Cherokee Nation has declined to strike down a gay marriage in what is seen as a pioneering case in American Indian country, the couple and officials said on Wednesday. Cherokee tribal members Kathy Reynolds, 29, and Dawn McKinley, 34, married in May 2004 in Oklahoma, just weeks after the city of San Francisco ignited a national debate on gay marriage by briefly allowing same-sex couples to wed. Gay rights advocates say the pair are the first registered same-sex marriage in Indian country. Because tribal law at the time...

If you are nostalgic for the days when the Ten Commandments were posted in public buildings, you might want to consider visiting the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. The tribal council is making plans to mount a copy of the Ten Commandments in the council house where government meetings are held, and possibly display them throughout other public buildings in the Cherokee Nation of western North Carolina. The idea was introduced by Councilwoman Angela Kephart last month. She said the tribe should display the Ten Commandments out of respect and devotion to God. The motion passed unanimously. "We aren't...

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com If you are nostalgic for the days when the Ten Commandments were posted in public buildings, you might want to consider visiting the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. The tribal council is making plans to mount a copy of the Ten Commandments in the council house where government meetings are held, and possibly display them throughout other public buildings in the Cherokee Nation of western North Carolina. The idea was introduced by Councilwoman Angela Kephart last month. She said the tribe should display the Ten Commandments out of respect and devotion to God. The motion passed...

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, SC (Sept. 2, 2005) -- Three Native American representatives from three different tribes visited Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort Aug. 25-26. Richard Allen of the Cherokee Nation, Emman Spain of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and Tim Thompson of the Muscogee Creek Nation, visited the Lowcountry for a meeting with the Natural Resources Environmental Office and also took a tour of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 122. Every year Native Americans who have interest in the Air Station’s land visit Fightertown to review projects and agendas, according to John Luce, the natural and cultural resources manager...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - On American Indian reservations, some tribes are debating whether they should embrace gay marriage or shun such unions as an affront to family values. The controversy in these often-ignored sovereign territories within the United States comes as Americans in general are divided, often bitterly, over same-sex weddings. The controversy made headlines again this week as a judge ruled that California's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. "What goes on in Indian nations now is a microcosm of what is going on across the country," said David Cornsilk, a Cherokee representing two lesbians in the most prominent...

Who is Coburn to say who is a "real" Cherokee and who isn't? As a Cherokee woman I take great umbrage to the statements he made againt our nations' people. The Cherokee people have always had the "one drop" rule, but then again, as indigenous nations throughout this land we call home, we are the only people to be described in fractions or who have to prove "who we are" with a us governmental card - it's easier to be a terrorist and be more welcomed into this country, than to be an Indian, who were here long before the...

TAHLEQUAH, Okla., June 16 (UPI) -- The Cherokee Nation Tribal Council has voted in Oklahoma to ban same-sex marriages after a lesbian couple attempted to file a marriage certificate. Kathy Reynolds and partner Dawn McKinley said they would continue their fight through the courts after being rebuffed by the tribal court Tuesday, the Oklahoman reported. "I'm feeling frustrated, disappointed," said Reynolds. The tribal council voted 15-0 Monday night to enact a ban against same-sex marriages. The women were married May 18 in Tulsa and it was the second time they had been turned away when they tried to file the...

TALEQUAH, Okla. -- Cherokee Nation officials are scrambling to clarify their marriage laws after a lesbian couple obtained an application for marriage. Principal Chief Chad Smith says officials are looking into defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. This comes after a lesbian couple from Tulsa obtained an application for marriage from the tribal clerk's office. The application is not valid until the person who performs the ceremony signs it and the couple return it to the tribal court. Cherokee officials are trying to figure out if the same-sex marriage is sanctioned because the women received...