The Obama administration is warning the
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma that excluding the Freedmen violates an 1866 treaty.
Assistant Secretary Larry Echo Hawk said the
Bureau of Indian Affairs never approved a change to the tribe's constitution that disenrolled the Freedmen, who are the descendants of former slaves.
He said the tribe's upcoming principal chief election, in which the Freedmen won't be able to vote, won't survive federal review.
"The [Interior] Department's position is, and has been that the 1866 Treaty between the United States and the Cherokee Nation vested Cherokee Freedmen with rights of citizenship in the Nation, including the right of suffrage," Echo Hawk said in a
letter to acting Chief Joe Crittenden.
The tribe is set to vote on September 24 in a make-up election between incumbent
Chad Smith and challenger
Bill John Baker.
The Freedmen have asked a federal judge to restore their voting rights.
Judge Henry
Kennedy will hold a hearing in the case on September 20 at 2pm in Courtroom
27A - 6th Floor of the
federal court in Washington,
D.C.
Echo Hawk's letter was filed as part of the lawsuit,
Vann v. Salazar.
"On September 9, 2011, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs (AS-IA) Larry Echo Hawk wrote a letter to S. Joe Crittenden, Acting Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, notifying him that the United States Department of the Interior will not recognize any action taken by the Nation that does not accord its Freedmen members full rights of citizenship, including the right of suffrage," government attorneys wrote.
Get the Story:
Bureau of Indian Affairs Says Cherokee Nation's Freedmen Ruling May Violate Law
(KFUL-TV 9/13)
Federal agency warns Cherokees on excluding freedmen
(The Tulsa World 9/13)
Cherokees, HUD at odds over Freedmen
(The Sequoyah County Times 9/12)
Cherokee Nation Supreme Court Decision:
Cherokee
Nation Registrar v. Nash (August 22, 2011)
Related Stories:
Lawmakers want HUD to restore funding to
Cherokee Nation (9/12)
HUD won't release
funds to Cherokee Nation in Freedmen flap (9/8)
Judge sets hearing on Freedmen motion for Cherokee
election (9/6)
Freedmen eye lawsuit in
federal court over Cherokee election (8/30)
Freedmen seek appeal for loss of Cherokee Nation
citizenship (8/29)
Jay Tavare: Divide
and conquer -- disenrollment among tribes (8/25)
Turtle Talk: Tribal courts, treaty rights and
treaty rights disputes (8/25)
Cherokee
Freedmen lose right to vote in upcoming chief election (8/24)
Decision allows Cherokee Nation to remove Freedmen
from rolls (8/23)
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