Cherokee Nation Rejects Descendents of Slaves

In a majority vote, the Cherokee Nation has officially ejected slave descendants from their membership.

Cherokees fought so against the racism and greed that forced them from the East to settle in Oklahoma in the 1800's. Now, the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, has voted to reject persons who represent a portion of their very painful history.

The 76.6% vote was taken on a group that is barely known outside Indian country. Many native American tribes owned slaves who were freed after the Civil War in 1866. The Freedmen are descendants of black slaves that were owned by Cherokees, free blacks who were married to Cherokees and the children of mixed-race families known as black Cherokees.

The Freedmen joined the Cherokee migration to Oklahoma in 1838.

This list of descendants comes from the Dawes Commission which was established by Congress more than 100 years ago. It created two separate lists of Cherokees: "blood" and black freedmen.

Approximately 8,700 Cherokee voted on Saturday, reported Principal Chief Chad Smith.

"The Cherokee people exercised the most basic democratic right, the right to vote," he said. "Their voice is clear as to who should be citizens of the Cherokee Nation. No one else has the right to make that determination."

In 1983, a tribal decree denied Freedmen the right to vote in tribal elections on the ground they were not "Cherokee by blood." The Freedmen sued in December and won their challenge against the decree.

That action is what prompted the special election on Saturday, some saying it is the first of its kind.

The decision to be made was officially represented as whether or not voters wanted to amend the Cherokee Nation Constitution to limit citizenship to the "blood" roll in the 1906 Dawes census.

The vote now means that Freedmen can no longer obtain government benefits and tribal services which include housing, scholarships and medical support.

Opponents believe the amendment is blatant discrimination.

"This is a sad chapter in Cherokee history," said Tribal council member Taylor Keen. "This is not my Cherokee Nation. My Cherokee Nation is one that honors all parts of their past."