Cherokee Nation Expels Descendants of Freedmen

(Tulsa, Oklahoma) Before the Civil War, some members of the Cherokee tribe owned slaves who were freed with the Emancipation Proclamation. The freedmen were absorbed into the Cherokee Nation as citizens.

Consequently, for 150 years the Cherokee Nation has been defined as those with Cherokee blood and those who are descendants of freed slaves. However, there's been a change.

The Cherokee Nation acted this week after its Supreme Court upheld the results of a 2007 special vote to amend the Cherokee constitution and remove the slaves' descendants and other non-Indians from tribal rolls.

What this means is that the descendants of slaves will no longer be able to collect the benefits provided to Cherokee Nation members, including medical care, food stipends, homeowners' allowances and others.

Naturally, those stripped of their citizenship are perturbed.

"This definitely is a setback for our freedmen people because we were all eager to vote in the upcoming election," said Marilyn Vann, president of the Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes.

"The attitude is more like, `We can't put them in chains, so we'll do anything we can to take away their rights.' It's a matter of racism and politics."

It appears the controversy has devolved into a red man, black man racial issue.

Tip: slwlion