This has been an unusual week with an unusual amount of news stories concerning three tribes in Oklahoma: the Cherokees, the Delawares, the Keetowahs, and one little girl. When the Supreme Court ruled that the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) did not apply in all cases, the native world waited for the other shoe to drop. And it did when the South Carolina Supreme Court directed a Family Court to finalize the adoption of Cherokee Nation member Veronica Brown by a non-native South Carolina couple. An Oklahoma-based Indian tribe has purchased 87 acres near Lawrence, Kansas but has not yet announced any plans for the land. The Delaware Tribe of Indians said in a news release that it might use the land along the Kansas Turnpike for housing, child care and a medical clinic. A representative of the tribe said in March that the tribe was considering moving its headquarters from Bartlesville, Okla., because of restrictions it faces in Oklahoma. The Cherokee Nation has filed a request for a federal injunction to prevent the U.S. Department of the Interior from placing land of a rival tribe into trust, a move that would recognize the parcel as Indian land. The petition filed Tuesday in Muskogee federal court claims the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians is operating an illegal casino on about 2 acres in Tahlequah, the capital of the Cherokee Nation.Get the Story:
This Was The Week That Was For Oklahoma's Natives (KGOU 7/26)
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