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August 23, 2011
Freedmen booted from Cherokee Nation
By Teddye Snell
The Norman Transcript The Norman Transcript Tue Aug 23, 2011, 01:54 AM CDT
Freedmen booted from Cherokee Nation
By Teddye Snell
The Norman Transcript The Norman Transcript Tue Aug 23, 2011, 01:54 AM CDT
NORMAN — The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court on Monday upheld a constitutional amendment that requires all tribal citizens to have at least one Indian ancestor on the federally authorized Dawes Rolls.
The ruling, effective immediately, ends the citizenship of about 2,800 Freedmen descendants who enrolled in the tribe between 2006 and 2007 under a March 2006 CN Supreme Court ruling.
The amendment, passed March 3, 2007, has been the target of litigation by descendants of the Freedmen, who claim the Treaty of 1866 between the U.S. and the Cherokee Nation created citizenship for the Freedmen and their descendants. Since 2007, the 2,800 Freedmen descendants have kept their rights of citizenship until the resolution of this case.
Cherokee Nation Attorney General Diane Hammons explained the decision to tribal councilors during a regular meeting Monday night.
“The court has ruled the Cherokee people could exercise their right to amend the constitution, and that the court cannot interfere with that right,” said Hammons. “If the Cherokee people decide to amend their constitution to require a blood quantum, they have the right to do so. For instance, I am a quarter Cherokee. If, in the future, the constitution is amended to allow only half-bloods as citizens, then I would no longer be a citizen.”
The ruling emphasizes that citizenship for Freedmen descendants who do have an Indian ancestor on the Dawes Rolls remain eligible for citizenship.
Hammons referred councilors to page 8 of the Supreme Courts findings, which states: “The Cherokee Freedmen were never afforded citizenship in the Cherokee Nation by the Treaty of 1866. A fair reading of the Treaty of 1866 indicates that it was an expression by the parties that the Freedmen would be treated as equals to the citizens of the Cherokee Nation under the federal law as it existed at that time.
