Cherokee Freedmen Controversy - Reactions To The Controversy

Reactions To The Controversy

A number of Cherokee Freedmen descendants feel that they have been gradually pushed out of the Cherokee Nation, and that the process has left each generation less aware of its rights and its history. As Freedman activist Reverend Roger H. Nero said in 1984, "Over the years they have been eliminating us gradually. When the older ones die out, and the young ones come on, they won't know their rights. If we can't get this suit, they will not be able to get anything".

Individual Cherokee and Freedmen have in the past been ignorant about the issue all together. Circe Sturm (1998) wrote in her book on the Freedmen descendants that many had little sense of the historic connection with the Cherokee, and are ambivalent about getting recognized. Cherokee members have also been ignorant of the historic issues. Cara Cowan Watts, a tribal council member who opposed membership for Freedmen descendants, admitted in 2007 that she didn’t know anything about the Freedmen or their history before the court case. Chief Smith said, "A lot of Cherokee don't know who the Freedmen are," and that he was not familiar with them when growing up.

Some Cherokee who oppose membership for Freedmen descendants support Chief Smith's position: that the Freedmen are not Cherokee citizens because their ancestors were listed on the Freedmen Roll of the Dawes Rolls and not on the "Cherokee By-Blood" Roll (although some were of Cherokee blood). Smith and supporters claim that the Freedmen and their descendants have not been active in the tribe for 100 years, the Freedmen were compensated for slavery with their Dawes land allotments and not tribal membership, they were forced on the tribe by the US under the Treaty of 1866, and they want to share in the tribe's resources and Cherokee Nation's federally funded programs.

Those supporting membership of Freedmen descendants believe they have a rightful place in Cherokee society based on their long history in the tribe before and after forced removal, with a history of intermarriage and active members. In addition, they cite as precedent the legal history, such as the Treaty Of 1866, the 1894 Supreme Court case of Cherokee Nation vs. Journeycake, and the 1975 Cherokee Constitution. Ruth Adair Nash, a Freedmen from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, carries her Cherokee citizenship card she was issued in 1975.

Some Cherokee by blood have pushed to garner full citizenship for Freedmen. David Allen Cornsilk, editor of the independent newspaper The Cherokee Observer and founder of the Cherokee National Party, was the lay advocate for the Lucy Allen case. He sees the issue of honoring the 1866 treaty as an issue of sovereignty. Other non-White Cherokee have expressed solidarity with freedmen due to their similarities of religion (Southern Baptist) and the sense of community (albeit African American) found among freedmen.

In a June 2007 message to members of United Keetoowah Band Of Cherokees, Principal Chief George Wickliffe expressed his concern about threats to sovereignty by this case. He said that the Cherokee Nation's refusal to abide by the Treaty of 1866 threatened the government-to-government relationships of other Native American nations, which had struggled to make the US live up to its treaty obligations.

Supporters of the Freedmen descendants note that the Cherokee have historically included as members other non-Cherokee or people of partial Cherokee ancestry, adopting captives into the tribe. The Delaware and Shawnee tribes, two non-Cherokee tribes, are members of the Cherokee Nation via the Delaware Agreement of 1867 and the Shawnee Agreement of 1869. Another issue is that of a tribe's breaking a treaty protected by Article Six of the United States Constitution. Daniel F. Littlefield Jr., director of the Sequoyah Research Center at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, stated that the Treaty of 1866 granted freedmen their rights as citizens, and the case should not be made into a racial issue.

Race is another issue. Taylor Keen, a Cherokee Nation tribal council member, said,

"Historically, citizenship in the Cherokee Nation has been an inclusive process; it was only at the time of the Dawes Commission there was ever a racial definition of what Cherokee meant. The fact that it was brought back up today certainly tells me that there is a statute of racism."

Cherokee Nation citizen Darren Buzzard, one of the circulators of the 2006 petition, wrote a letter to Cherokee Councilwoman Linda O’Leary, with passages which many observers deemed to be racist and bigoted. Circulated widely on the Internet, the letter was quoted in numerous articles related to the Freedmen case.

Chuck Trimble, former executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, criticized the Cherokee Supreme Court's 2011 ruling for what he called "the Cherokee Dred Scott decision," for depriving people of citizenship.