Freedman Addresses Cherokee Tribal Council in Landmark Meeting.
On Monday March 14, a descendant of Freedmen will address the tribal council of the Cherokee Nation on behalf of the disenfranchised Freedmen.
Ms. Marilyn Vann is a descendant of Cherokees by blood as well as a descendant of persons designated as "Freedmen". She will be given some time to speak to the council about the upcoming vote to approve funding and to give retroactive approval to attorneys hired (without prior approval of the council) to shut down the Freedmen lawsuit. This is an historic occasion, where the status of a portion of the Cherokee community----those designated as "Freedmen" will be allowed to have a voice in an issue affecting them. Since the actions of Swimmer and Mankiller ousted its citizens with African blood in the 1970s, with no opportunity to speak on their behalf, for the first time, a voice from that disenfranchised population will be able to speak for the first time to the governing body of their nation. Ms. Vann, is also a plaintiff in the current lawsuit.The case--an issue of citizenship, but often protested on the basis of race by many in the tribe, will be significant, regardless of the vote that will follow. The event is significant because for the first time, the actual status of Freedmen is being officially addressed to the governing body of the tribe. It should be noted that the presence of persons in the Cherokee Nation, with white blood, Shawnee blood, and Delaware blood---all non-Cherokee blood-- have a presence in the nation today with no protest.
The act of disenfranchisement of persons with African ancestry took place also in the Choctaw and Creek nations, and historically, the Chickasaw Nation fought against their citizens with black blood for decades. This expulsion of black citizens ironically occurred in the years immediately after the Civil Rights movement, where persons fought and died for the rights of all people regardless of color to be treated with equality and dignity. (Similar acts of removal occurred in other tribes in Oklahoma as well with the Choctaws, Creeks and Chickasaws. In recent years, the Seminoles have chosen to join their neighbors and put "racial" distinctions in place.)
However, the fact is--Civil Rights laws were ignored by these Indian tribes, that have continued to receive Federal Funding from the very government that outlawed laws of unequal treatment based on race and color. The continuing system of Indian Nation Apartheid was enhanced in some tribes, when records became "missing", in the 1970s, such as in the Creek Nation. (It is believed by many that a good portion of the "missing" records reveal some African ancestry of persons now prominent in the tribes.) They continue to be missing to this day.
Those who were citizens of the Cherokee Nation 100 years ago, and who had African blood have had a different experience, from those Cherokees with white blood, and years later, Black Cherokee children and grandchildren, now adult, suddenly found themselves removed in their tribes 1970s.
The historical significance of time being allotted to address the tribal council by a person of African ancestry, who also has historical and blood ties to the Indian nation should therefore be noted.