Opinion | Trust

George Wickliffe: United Keetoowah Band fights for its rights

Thursday, January 30, 2014

George Wickliffe is the chief of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.

While campaigning for the office of Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Bill John Baker promised to work with the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.

The United Keetoowah Band administration believed Baker. While UKB tribal members are unable to vote in Cherokee Nation elections, our members have brothers and sisters who are members of the Cherokee Nation. Because of their support, we feel that UKB had a lot of influence in Baker being elected and we were very delighted he achieved the office of principal chief.

Unfortunately, Baker’s promise was broken when the Cherokee Nation filed an injunction to prevent the UKB from acquiring 2.03 acres in trust for the Keetoowah Cherokee Casino. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was prepared to acquire the property and would have done so were it not for the Cherokee Nation's actions.

This injunction caused the closure of Keetoowah Cherokee Casino and resulted in the loss of approximately 200 jobs for the UKB.

In order to keep the Keetoowah Cherokee Casino from closing, Baker offered the UKB two options publicly. The UKB administration was ready to negotiate and a majority of our council voted to negotiate.

However, negotiations failed within a week because the Cherokee Nation actually wanted the UKB to give up all our jurisdiction and rights as successor-in-interest to the historic Cherokee Nation. That's something we would not do and will never do.

At every turn, Baker and his administration have blocked efforts by the UKB to achieve fairness for the Keetoowah people. However, we have scored other victories, including a decision from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to continue our housing program.

We also won a recent decision from the Interior Board of Indian Appeals. Once again, the BIA was ready to acquire a 76-acre community services parcel in trust for the UKB, but the Cherokee Nation continues to slow us down.

Speaking for our Keetoowah people who have been hurt by such cruel treatment, I will not in any way endorse Bill John Baker’s campaign again. And we will continue to fight to resolve the trust status of our casino and our community services parcel.