PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release:

Media Contact:  Anthony R. Douglas,

                Director of Legal Redress

                Oklahoma State NAACP

                405.720.7678 / Fax: 720.5951

Today, the Oklahoma State NAACP denounced the controversial vote of the Cherokee Tribe that disenfranchised the Cherokee Freedmen, calling it an act of racism and discrimination.

Oklahoma State NAACP Director of Legal Redress Anthony R. Douglas, several members of the Oklahoma State NAACP and local NAACP Chapters announced their support for H.R. 2824 legislation introduced by Congressional Black Caucus Member, U.S. Representative Diane Watson, and 23 of her Congressional colleagues. H.R. 2824 when passed would restore to full tribal citizenship those Cherokee Freedmen wrongfully disenfranchised by a tribal vote held March 3, 2007.

“The Cherokee Nation’s action is an attempt to return Oklahoma to a Jim Crow State,” said Douglas.

The H.R. 2824 requires the United States government sever all ties with the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma – until the Cherokee Nation recognizes the Rule of Law and reverses its decision, and once again recognizes the full rights of the Cherokee Freedmen, or Black Cherokees, and give them full rights as members of the tribe. The bill blocks the tribe from receiving federal funds or participating in Indian gaming until it comes in compliance with the law pertaining to the freedman’s legal treaty rights.

The National NAACP supported H.R. 2824 by Resolution signed by Dennis Courtland Hayes, Interim President & CEO and Julian Bond, Chairman National Board of Directors, during their national convention. The NAACP is concerned about the negative implications of the Cherokee Freedmen ouster. Douglas said, “the disenfranchisement of the Cherokee Freedmen means they lose access to vital health, education, housing, and welfare benefits in U.S. federal programs, made available to members of federally recognized Indian tribes and nations.

  It is clear that the freedmen disenfranchisement is a matter of racial discrimination as all persons listed on the “freedmen” section of the Dawes Indian Rolls were persons of African ancestry, mostly descendants of former slaves. “When the Cherokee Nation stripped the Indian Freedmen of their citizenship and nationality, they also stripped them of their legal identity,” Douglas said. “They can not use Plessy vs. Ferguson segregationist tactics as a means to justify their actions.” Douglas said, “There is no place in 2007 for the descendants of slaves to be treated this way and to be ‘barred at the schoolhouse door’ at a time when the Cherokee nation and others of the Five Civilized Tribes become prosperous due largely to the unpaid labor of their ancestors who also came over the Trail of Tears during the 1830s.

Angela Molette, President, Enid Chapter NAACP asked U.S. Representative Watson, “How can the Indian Freedmen be stripped of their citizenship and nationality without having committed treason, sedition, high crimes, terrorism or attempting to overthrow of the Government? The Indian Freedmen have committed no crimes but are being treated as criminals in their own country.”

Marilyn Vann, President of the Descendants of Freedmen Association of the Five Civilized Tribes Association and member of the Oklahoma City Branch of the NAACP
said, “The freedmen peoples will not rest until our rights are fully restored. We will use all legal means – including demonstrations, the federal courts, and advocacy before the U.S. Congress until our legal treaty rights are enforced as promised by the U.S. government and the Cherokee Nation in 1866.”

Plans to continue showing support for the H.R. 2824 in the upcoming months include: attending Congressional hearings on the bill, and petition drives to members of Congress.

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