CDIB - Haskell Endangered Legacy Project

CDIB:
Corruption, Deceit/Disenrollment*, Identity and Bureaucracy in Indian Country
(*still don’t know which one I prefer Deceit or Disenrollment, your thoughts?)
Cedric Sunray
“A work-in-progress rough, rough draft”
July 2010
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-yakoke
Niigan, Tdohasan and Kowi
Only God Can Define You
Chi hullo li, Chi hullo li, Chi hullo li
Chi hullo li na bilia chi
Aki
Ahaun Tone Gope
Aim own paydle doe
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DISCLAIMER:
The author of this book does not speak for any tribe, any of my employers or any Indian people
directly. If someone perceives that I speak for the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians where I am
enrolled then that is their perception, but it is not a fact. The MOWA Choctaw have elected
leaders that officially speak for the tribe and I am not an elected official. If someone believes I
am speaking on behalf of any other tribe or tribal organization then they would be wrong again.
If anyone believes that I speak for my current employer, then they are sadly mistaken. I work in
an athletic department and this book has nothing to do with athletics. I speak only for myself
and my immediate family. My wife also speaks for our immediate family as well. But this book
is filled with my words and they are not to be misconstrued as anyone else’s. I have not sought
the blessing of anyone or any organization in writing this book. The words expressed here are
mine and mine alone.
People spoken about in this book have attempted to have my employment terminated on various
occasions in the past. So let us make this clear, I am expressing my views. Unfortunately for
them, they realize that there is a large silent majority out there who I am also speaking for. I
have been a repository for many people adversely affected by the so-called Indian identity police
and corrupt federal recognition system. Due to work, family and other circumstances they are
unable to directly engage those who belittle them and their communities. I haven’t received a
few emails and letters over the last decade. I have received thousands of emails which are neatly
ordered in folders and saved on our desktop. Rest assured, if someone sent it, I have it and I have
quick access to it.
I realize I don’t fit the profile of what they perceive as a “wannabe”. I don’t have an “Indian
name”, I don’t dye my hair, run any kind of ceremony, powwow dance, talk stoic, wear “Indian”
paraphernalia, belong to a new age revolutionary “Indian” organization, have any claims to
royalty in my family or need some federal tribes approval to assert my identity. There was not
supposed to be people like me willing to stand up against narcissists and hateful people. We were
supposed to be want to be on their side and assist them with their platforms so they would accept
us. That was not in the plan. The original plan was for a bunch of white Indians to run around
belittling others and everyone was supposed to buy into it or be silent to insure job security and a
place in Indian Country. It wasn’t supposed to be the guy who holds enrollment with both a state
and federal tribe; a guy who has lived for many years and in many communities in Indian
Country. I wasn’t supposed to be so persistent. I was supposed to be scared or something. I was
supposed to feel threatened. But now I am accused of being aggressive or even worse violent or
crazy. Please remember these things when reviewing this book. I have never cheated on my wife
or any former partner. I am a committed father. I have never harassed or threatened any woman.
I do not drink or do any form of drugs and these things have never been a part of my life. Don’t
even bother searching for screw ups based on any of these things. One will not find them, no
matter how hard one looks. I have been a certified public school, private school, reservation
school and university instructor for well over a decade. I have been in many physical altercations
with other men over the years, but hopefully I am allowing that to subside. I view fighting as
“just a part of life”. If it occurs it occurs. I have accepted no grant funds, have written none of
this on company time, received no fellowship from a university, etc. to assist in the writing of this
book. No one is paying me. The book first began in 2005 and five years later it is not nearly
complete. It is a collection of my crappy newspaper articles, poor scholarship and the
contributions of others. With a wonderful marriage, three children and a job, as well as many
other community commitments, I simply had to pull the plug and leave it where it is. I write
mostly during the late evenings in order to make sure that this type of writing does in no way
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detract from my family and our time with one another. Maybe someday, when I am much older
and wiser, I will revisit this book and see what can be made of it. But for now, I have to close
down the shop not only for my family and I, but so that people being injured in the identity wars
in Indian Country can have some truth to defend themselves with. This book had to be free. This
book is about access. Though I have taught at six universities, I don’t care about having a book
credit to boost a career or seem more scholarly. That is not why I write. I write for social justice,
but I live for my family. We first put this book up on line in 2006-2007 and then took it down to
do some updates and corrections. We were blessed with another baby and so three years later it is
finally coming back on-line. Sorry for the delay. It has not been edited or looked over again and
again. If you find some contradictions in this manuscript, then good for you! Let me know or
don’t let me know. The grammar and spelling is horrible and the flow of the manuscript is even
worse. Fortunately for me, most people engaged in Indigenous identity issues are more
concerned with content then with a story. Many points are repeated too many times, but hey, I
don’t have time for a rewrite. I can’t do any more work on it so I am handing it over. Please
don’t ask if anything can be copied, quoted or anything else of that nature. I believe that once
you place your words out into the world, they belong to everyone. I here and now give anyone
taking the time to read this full permission to use all of its contents. Quote away! Photocopy,
download and spread it all around. What people need to understand is that I have personally
approached the individuals mentioned in this book on numerous occasions in person, mail, email,
at conferences, etc. And of course, there are many things I wish I could have had time to better
explain or add, but at least you are getting it raw. This is the day and age of the internet. Nothing
can be hidden. Nothing. Anything a person has done in their lives, anything they have said, any
contradictions they have lived, any crimes or other offenses they have committed can be brought
up in about five minutes with a few clicks. There is no escape from one’s past and one’s entire
life is up for trial when they take stands on issues or attempt to manipulate facts. That is just how
it is. Remember this; nothing I write here is politically motivated. I do not belong to any of the
tribes the people of whom I speak negatively of. I have no means of gaining in any form from
writing this book. My family can only lose by the writing of this book. I am not vindictive or
claiming “sour grapes”. I am not upset or angry, though it may seem so when you read some of
this. I have a great life to say the very least. I am fortunate to have a wonderful marriage to a
highly intelligent, beautiful and educated woman. I have three great kids, a comfortable home,
great job and the support of some wonderful people. No matter how anyone reacts to this book,
these constants will never change. Even so, I have to engage the type of corruption you will see
in these pages. An academic press would never publish a book like this. It goes directly for the
throat. Sometimes that is what is needed. There are hundreds of pages of supporting hard copies
that I hope to upload over the next year to this website that directly relate to this book. The
footnoting in this book has not been edited. So you will find information after the quotes or at the
end of chapters and all the places in between. There is no rhyme or reason to it all, but it is there
if you look. No time to be professional in terms of editing, so you have my sincere apologies.
For the content, however, there will be none. I have met some truly incredible people on this
journey; some real warriors. I am not going to thank anyone or tell anyone how much I
appreciate them. Why would I want to “name drop” to protect myself or bring legitimacy to
myself? Why would I want to associate others with this book when it will be viewed as highly
controversial and aggressive in its tone? I have no problem taking bullets for others as well as for
myself. So in the end, if you feel the need to, fire away. Now enjoy CDIB: Corruption,
Deceit/Disenrollment, Identity and Bureaucracy in Indian Country.
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CDIB:
Corruption, Deceit/Disenrollment, Identity and Bureaucracy in Indian Country
CONTENTS
6-10
Introduction
11-22
Wannabe
23-51
We Also Danced: State Tribes and Indian Boarding Schools
52-67
Federal “Recognition”
68-72
Will the Choctaw Nation Please Stand Up
73-120
From Social Reality to Legal Fiction: The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians
121-131
This Is Not Your Land and These Are Not Your Ancestors
132-155
The Gold Standard: The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
156-174
Good Neighbors: The Poarch Band of Creek Indians
175-202
Sitting on the Fence: The Jena Band of Choctaw Indians
203-272
CON Artists: The Contemporary CNO (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma)
269-272
Crackers in Our Soup: Lobbyists
273-280
USET: Undermining South and Eastern Tribes
281-298
Other Stuff
299-313
We Wish You Well: The Politics of Disenrollment
314-362
Indigenous Identity?
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INTRODUCTION
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“Mr. Weaver, Mr. Weaver. Wake up Mr. Weaver!” Tired from an all night
baseball trip against another no name school, Gallasneed Weaver’s head rose from his
desk, a little weary from the drive, but more weary from the life he had experienced in his
short 20 years. “Mr. Weaver, would you mind listening to what I am teaching the class?”
The teacher’s voice cried out. “Sorry ma’m”, was his only reply.
The year was 1953. The place was a small Indian high school and college in the
green country of northeastern Oklahoma.
Bacone Indian School was founded in 1880 to “educate” the Indian people of
North America. It was also only one of a few options for an accredited education offered
to the Choctaw Indians of southwestern Alabama. The local and regional high schools
and colleges wouldn’t accept them. That included what were then termed “colored”
schools.
Gallasneed Weaver had followed the lead of Carol Johnston and Murphy Reed
who had made the long trek from Alabama to attend the high school from 1951-1955 and
the junior college until they graduated in 1958. It was their escape from Jim Crow. It
was their escape from a place that existed only in black and white. And yes, a place
where his people had been marginalized and impoverished since the federal government
forced the majority of Choctaws on a mass exodus to Oklahoma in 1830.
In the 1950’s, the only white students attending Bacone were the sons and
daughters of faculty members and administrators and a few local whites from the nearby
town of Muskogee. Blacks were prohibited. The goal of the school was to assimilate
Indian people into mainstream American society. Young students were brought there
from all over Indian Country. From Florida to Maine to California, they found their way
to the small school with the big mission.
Little did Gallasneed Weaver know, over 50 years later, the very identity of his
people who attended the “Indian only school”, who were segregated in the rural south
due to their Indian race, and who had maintained a distinct culture and language since
before memory, would have that very identity called into question.
The casino era was coming. New power would be placed in the hands of a nearby
federally recognized tribe and a close neighbor would suddenly find themselves in the
federal big boy’s club and able to turn their backs on the very people who supported
them. The growth of lobbyists in Washington D.C. would also play a huge role in what
was to come next. The Choctaws of Alabama, now officially known as the MOWA Band
of Choctaw Indians, would become one of the BIA’s greatest victims. They would
become the poster children of all that was wrong with the federal recognition process.
But that story comes later.
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During the same year of 1953 on Bayou Dularge in the southernmost section of
Louisiana, Marie Verret readied her children for school. During most of the year, her
family lived offshore, while her husband trapped, fished and hunted. In order to
sporadically attend school, they would take a boat to the mainland to catch the bus as it
rolled towards the Baptist Church Missionary School. Dove was 7 years old.
The only whites in the community were the bus driver, the church pastor and his
wife. The kids would cram grades 1,2, 3 and 4 into one room and grades 5 and up into
the other. The Indian children weren’t allowed to attend school with the whites or blacks.
The toilets were outside, but no-one seemed to care. Dove attended, when able, for two
years and then was sent to the Catholic Indian school run by Mr. Aguilar and the nuns.
Whenever she opened her mouth, she was hit. “We only speak English in here!” Dove
didn’t know English. Her family only spoke the Houma French dialect. A local dialect
of French, with Choctaw and other words mixed in that has remained as a primary
language of the Houma people to this day. It existed nowhere else in the world. But that
didn’t matter. The bayou was the world of her people. “I learned how to take a beating in
there”i, she remembers.
At age 12, her cherished father Victor would pass on. The social services showed
up to her mother’s home “down the bayou”, as the Houma say. They asked her to give
up her children so that they could be better cared for by white families. She showed them
her shotgun in the living room and they never returned. Even so, a questionable fire soon
engulfed their home and burnt it to the ground. Marie Verret loaded up her children and
moved to Grand Caillou to be near her mother. Dove would enter her third Indian school
in Dulac. The abuse continued. At 13, her hand was cut open from a beating with a
teacher’s ruler. She struck back, sending the teacher toppling over the student’s desks.
It would be the end of her “formal” education.
Now at 62, the woman with the 5th grade education, travels around the country
telling all who will listen about her people, the Houma. “When we was growing up, noone ever heard of federal recognition. Hell, we hardly ever saw a white or black person.
Then some white people in Washington D.C., some even claiming to be Indian, told us
that we weren’t a tribe. Can you imagine, white people telling a bunch of brown Indians
who can barely speak English, that they aren’t a tribe? I tried to explain to my elders that
the white people said that we weren’t Houma. They had a hard time understanding what
I was telling them. Some still don’t understand what the Indian Affairs meant by that
statement. Then I told them what it meant was that we wouldn’t be getting any help for
health care, education or housing. They all laughed and said, ‘We never have before.
That is how the whites are.’ “ii
In 2011, Indian Country has become a microcosm of all that is wrong with current
systems of belief present in western societies. People, who never were considered, or for
that matter, who never considered themselves Indians, are now in charge of multi-million
dollar gaming enterprises. People who never were considered Indian by the very tribes
they now find themselves enrolled in are now making decisions as to who is and who is
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not Indian due to their positions within the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
White businessmen and lobbyists have become the power dynamic and new
“Lords of the Plains”. They have assumed the job description of hired guns for tribal
governments and scapegoats when it all goes wrong. They have become the
contemporary leaders of the divide and conquer mentality that for so long was common
policy in Indian Affairs.
Some tribes are terminating the enrollment status of some of their own tribal
citizens and others are dropping blood quantum requirements to all time lows. They are
creating Indians out of thin air. The CDIB (Certificate(of) Degree of Indian Blood) has
become the new identifier of Indian identity. So powerful has the little government issued
card for “federally recognized Indians” become that such things as language, clan, blood,
land and governance are no longer necessary for Indian identity to be established.
Throughout North America, tribes like the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, are
enrolling tribal citizens as fast as they can, under the guise of sovereignty, while in their
case, terminating the enrollment of those with black ancestry. Local newspapers speak of
“recruitment drives.” No culture required. A genealogy sheet is now the most sought after
evidence around. People are embracing a culture that many knew nothing about until
Aunt Betsy did some research at the library.
All the while, some real identifiable Indian communities are being left out. They
don’t have the big money. They don’t have the high levels of education as some of their
white counterparts. They don’t have the casino money at their backs. They continue
their marginal status due to years of government policy aimed at eradicating their
remnant communities. And now their enemy isn’t only the federal government, but the
tribes the federal government deems fit for governance. You are about to meet those who
are the perpetrators and also those who have fallen victim to the circus atmosphere that is
contemporary Indian Country.
Why do you need to know this story from a much different and non-corruptible side?
Creek artist Craig Womack sums it up in Art as Performance, Story as Criticism:
Reflections of Native Literary Aesthetics, which discusses the disenfranchisement of
Creek Freedmen (the descendants of Creek slaves many of whom intermixed with Creek
Indians) from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma.
“Not enough Indian artists are talking about the things that matter. Novelists, literary
critics, and musicians-such as myself-have a responsibility to deal with the real world,
not solely mysticism regarding love of earth and respect for all relations. One must also
evaluate whether or not such philosophies are ever enacted. To conclude we should say
nothing about these matters because we are ‘only’ artists could produce a silence with
disastrous results-and perhaps it already has…Too much Indian writing and criticism
remains easily within the safety zone. Where is the risk, the vulnerability? “ (p. 113-114)
I don’t like people who attempt to humiliate and belittle others; people whose own closets
need a serious cleaning and even disinfecting. A bunch of folks are about to see what
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happens when they attempt to turn communities and people from social realities into
legal fictions and social fictions into legal realities. Sit back and enjoy. The uncovering
of a horse and pony show of epic proportions is coming your way.
i
Verrett, Morning Dove (enrolled United Houma Nation tribal citizen); Interview,
1/20/06
ii
Verret, Morning Dove (enrolled United Houma Nation tribal citizen; Interview; 1/20/06
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WANNABE
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I was not raised by white southerners who later “found themselves” as Indians. I would
say that I wish I had known more about my Indian or Scottish heritage when I was
growing up, but then I wouldn’t have been able to take this journey. The most important
part of my life hasn’t been the journey; the journey has been my life.
A quick visit to the neighborhood I grew up at in South Florida (far away from our
reservation community and a place where the identity cops would be scared to step foot
in) will confirm this. I didn’t grow up in my father’s home state of Alabama or my
mother’s home province of Ontario, Canada. I grew up primarily with Blacks and
Cubans. I didn’t grow up “Indian” it seems. I don’t descend from a Chief, Council
Member, Tribal Judge or anyone of particular interest or concern to history. My father
was a drug dealer and community activist (quite a combination) who lost his life when I
was four years old. My mother abandoned all cultural aspects of her upbringing by
moving from Canada to Alabama and then to Florida, following my Dad who left her
when I was two.
My mother’s family hails from Ashfield Township in Southwestern Ontario Canada, with
a few others living near the southern provincial borders of this same province and
Manitoba. Her families home community of Port Albert was founded in the early 1840’s
by primarily Scottish men and Ojibwa women. My father’s family hails from the areas of
Northeastern Alabama which bridges the fault line of what could be geographically
determined as Central-Eastern Alabama, as well as Southwestern Alabama. Many of his
family members, including myself are enrolled members of the MOWA Band of
Choctaw Indians. This community descends from Choctaw, Cherokee, and a few other
minor Indian strains as well as non-Indian ancestries. What both these communities have
in common is a history of long term occupancy of interrelated family members from their
historic inception until the present day. While members of my mother’s community are
able to enroll in the federally recognized Metis Nation of Ontario or a federal First Nation
community, most choose simply and understandably to honor, value and identify with
their most predominant indigenous ancestry within the community, that of the Highland
Scot.
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians did not receive state recognition until 1979, only
months after the passing of my father. The community, though of a few divergent
heritages, primarily defines itself as a Choctaw community. While the Highland Scot
Gaelic language was uprooted from my mother’s community prior to World War II and
Ojibwa left behind in the later part of the 1800’s, Choctaw remains a viable, though not
widely used language within this small Choctaw area of Alabama.
My life has been a constant series of reinventions, reevaluations, relearnings,
rememberings and resomethings. Some were planned, others developed during the
course of events and even others occurred over which I had little or no control at all. As I
gain more knowledge about my past, my family and the culture, schooling and situations
that affected their lives and the decisions they made within them, I change over time. I
am not static. We all have a responsibility to grow, to change and to appreciate and value
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such growth and changes within one another. If you are the same person at eighteen that
you are now, you should have concern for yourself. Truthfully, you may need to reevaluate. People are not static. Due to adoptions, fractured families, the recalling of
identity and many other factors which have impacted the indigenous world it becomes
impossible to typecast those around us. As Dominican-American writer Junos Dias
states, “You can contain multitudes”. And of course this containment can lead others to
contain a multitude of opinions. What I have learned clearly is that people perceive you
as they want you to be. They fit you into categories that further their agenda in at times
positive and at other times, negative form. Identity is literally the concept of the one
viewing the individual and not one controlled by the individual themselves. How else in
this few years of life could I have been defined in print by others in such varied ways? “A
hero to the community”, “a criminal”, “a fullblood Cherokee”, “mulatto”, “Choctaw
raised on the reservation”, “Scottish”, “violent”, “a pied piper”, “teacher of the year”,
“the most unselfish of people”, “bad tempered”, “someone not afraid to speak the truth”,
“a man of his word”, “the worst enemy one could ever find”, “son of a drug dealer”,
“community activist”, “fake Indian”, “born and raised in New Orleans”, “born and raised
on the MOWA Choctaw reservation”, “Canadian”, “Cajun”, “part-black”, “wannabe”,
“MOWA”, “linguist”, “academic fraud”, “professional Indian” and the list continues.
This is why identity has become a central theme in Indigenous North America, as we all
attempt to sew back together what once was with the view towards a past utopia, that in
reality, never truly existed.
You will find probably too many footnotes in this book and too much of a bibliography to
sift through. But truly my firsthand experiences are the footnotes and the bibliography.
Unfortunately, contemporary literature forces one to footnote, record and somehow
validate through someone else’s words what it is you are trying to say, even if the person
you quote from may have quoted what they said from another person and so on and so
on. Each aspect of this book, which some will see as self-defacing and at times hurtful to
my own indigenous identity was lived by me. I don’t have the answer to how it all
happened in my few years of life, but it did. It would seem to be a track meet that has
continually occurred day after day and year after year. There would be no argument from
me on this.
There will be people who read this and become extremely angry. There will be others
who simply say “thanks” and still others who will question each line, each statement and
each perceived oversimplification that they encounter. This book is part political
manifesto, identity critique, autobiography, biography of others, but mostly one whose
central purpose is social justice.
“Anthropologists widely agree that identities-even ethnic and racial ones- are socially
constructed…authenticity is not a prerequisite for identity. French draws from this
insight a more sweeping conclusion that, far from being evidence of inauthenticity,
processes of construction form the basis of all identities and may have important
consequences for social justice.” Legalizing Identities: Becoming Black or Indian in
Brazil’s Northeast 2009 The University of North Carolina Press Jan Hoffman French
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This book has been written because collectively, as a society, we should not support those
who attempt to humiliate others. It is one thing to disagree with someone, but it is
completely another thing to attempt to humiliate, belittle and make other’s lives only
worthy of one’s jokes and criticisms. And it becomes even more ridiculous when the
individuals making the negative and demeaning comments are the very personifications
of what it is they are attempting to belittle. If it is not their want to “out” themselves in
light of their unkind words and attacks, then I guess I will just have to bring it to light
myself.
What is written here won’t really matter in some ways when it is all said and done; as in
every given subject there always appears a minimum of two polar-opposite opinions.
Facts are irrelevant when emotion and their need for things which contradict the facts are
more convenient to express. Educated people can actually be the worst in these
situations, as the very education which was pursued to increase knowledge is now used to
suppress, rearrange and redevelop facts.
“There are two basic methods by which man can feed his ego and make himself seem
important. One is by genuine accomplishment. The other is by making a second party
appear inferior… This is the root cause of bigotry and can occur in the most learned of
men, when circumstances are such that ethics can be conveniently shunted aside.
Politics... can create these circumstances.” (When the Great Spirit Died: The Destruction
of the California Indians 1850-1860; William B. Secrest)
People do not agree and life is circumstantial. Many who read this may not agree with
the findings. In fact some will, as previously mentioned, anger by the contents within.
Even so, they will not be able to deny the facts. Accepting them, however, is another
matter altogether. The rebuttals will doubtfully come in the form of books, as writing
books takes a great deal of time and effort. Articles and book reviews, website postings,
etc. will likely become their way of retribution for what they view as slander to their
names. Court cases and lawsuits will become their tools. But in the end the book will
stand and the items involved will be as they have always been, truth. Did that guy just
say truth? Whose truth? That I guess is also negotiable. This is the story of a wannabe,
his real Indian relatives and their journey amongst the politics, identity wars, casino
dreams and cultural lifeways of Indigenous North America. So let us get on with this
very story, as we have a long way to go.
There is an attachment that Indian people have to their land. In the Choctaw language it
is called yakni. It is the binding force. It maintains them. The word yakni contains so
many elements of family that it would be hard to explain. It is not the dirt or something
used to develop something else. It is generations.
In 1803 and 1805, the United States removed this land from the “ownership” of
the Choctaws of Southwestern Alabama, now known as the MOWA Band of Choctaw
Indians. Even with this act, they remained. Further treaties usurped Choctaw title,
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culminating in the final 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which began the removal
process. Even so, they remained along with their cousins in scattered communities across
what are now the states of Alabama and Mississippi. This geographic line would
politically separate the Alabama and Mississippi Choctaw when federal recognition
reached their communities in the 1940’s.
You see, yakni, is what drove me home at the age of 18, and what a generation
previous drove my father home at 17. My last visit to Alabama with my father Cris
Sunray was when I was four. It was just prior to the plane crash that took his life on
December 25, 1978, less than one year before his historic community would gain
formalized state recognition as an Indian tribe. My father was many things. He was born
on a military train somewhere near Fort Bragg, North Carolina. His father, originally
from Alabama, was a career military man who served in World War II and Korea. My
dad’s ideas of the world never sat well with grandpa. My dad comes from a strained
familial relationship. His father was a strong willed person with a propensity to drink.
His mom was caught in the middle between her love for her husband and for her son.
My father developed a difficult relationship with his parents and he drifted theoretically
even prior to being removed from their home. My grandfather had left the history of his
community behind upon joining the service. My father was born a dead ringer with those
that populate the community today, but unlike them, he was culturally bankrupt as a
consequence of having grown up far removed from his parent’s native Alabama. My
grandparent’s were born in 1916 and 1921. Though we did not always agree, I am glad I
had the opportunity to know them. I wish they could have known me as an adult, but life
doesn’t grant all of our wishes.
My mom comes from a long line of Scottish-Canadians, almost exclusively
Scottish-Canadians, with a dash of Irish, and was born in Ontario, Canada. It turns out
the Irish isn’t really Irish however. It is Scots-Irish or better understood as Ulster Scot,
meaning the ancestry of Scottish immigrants who moved to the Ulster Plantation in
Northern Ireland. My mother’s home community of Port Albert, Ontario was begun by
primarily Scottish men and two Ojibwa (Chippewa) women in the 1840’s. Virtually all
of the small community, which my mother’s family still lives in to this day, descends
from these individuals in one way or another. Her ancestry wasn’t revealed to me until I
went to care for her mother at the age of 21. Prior to this, I only knew that my mom was
Canadian. What exactly that meant, was at the time, beyond my comprehension. . If I
had known that my mother was practically a full-blood Scot it would have had a dramatic
impact on my life. Chances are I would be teaching Gaelic on the Isle of Skye at this
time, dancing in the ways of her ancestors. Rooted and secure. Instead I was raised in a
community of people with no biological racial ties to my ancestry and no biological
family ties to either side of my family tree. My mom was the first to break the chain,
despite minor interaction with the local Ojibwa community, of family continuity that
began a thousand years prior across the sea. She was the second of her siblings to marry,
after her older sister Phyllis married a local man, my Uncle John, who also was of local
origin. Mom’s family had consciously stayed amongst their own, safe in their familiarity.
They danced their dances and her uncles sang their songs. If only I had known earlier,
15
how different my life may have been. The greatest teachers, my grandmother and her
brothers were only a long distance phone call away for me as a youth, but I didn’t know I
was supposed to be interested and they didn’t know they were to help me recover from
their absence. After moving to Canada and living with my grandmother, I went from a
deep interest in my Indian heritage to an even more profound interest in my Scottish
heritage. Due to the tribal roll being closed, while the federal recognition petition hung
in the balance, I couldn’t become a full member of the Choctaw community, but the
Scots had no roll and I was Kathleen Crawford’s grandson. That was a seal of approval
anyone would seek within the community. I started reading and listening and visiting
with Great Aunt Mary Crawford, Uncle Horace and the list went on. Grandma took me
to local museums and I was fortunate to accompany her as an invited guest to one of the
most profound book launches in the world of the Canadian Scots. The launch of the
Immigrant’s Guide to North America and its first printed English and Gaelic translation.
The coming Fall would certainly find me studying Gaelic and majoring in Celtic or
Gaelic studies at a university in Eastern Canada or in Scotland, but that would change
quickly only seven months after arriving in Canada during a family reunion. My great
uncle made an off-hand and racist remark about Indians in reference to my father and I
was too young and full of ego to see through his drunkenness and too unlearned and
immature to realize that sometimes ignorance is curable when approached in the right
ways. And I was definitely too proud to admit that any ignorance he possessed, I
probably possessed tenfold. Then and there I accepted the voices of my great uncle as the
family gospel, even after later being calmed down and spoken to with compassion by his
own daughters and his sister, my grandmother. But I loved her and there exists a special
place in my heart that is reserved for only her. My annual visits with my Canadian
grandmother occurred as a youth and her accent and lifeways, that were shared by the
other members of my mother’s family, (though highly divergent from those of the people
I lived around), never prompted me to ask questions and find out where it all came from.
There were only what I perceived as whites and Indians in the area of my mom’s
upbringing. I had yet to learn that Scots and Ojibwa, the correct terms for those I came
across, did not easily fit into these racial categories. In 2004, my grandma would pass
from this earth as I held her in my arms. She had called my wife and our daughter North
to Canada to say goodbye. The family told me that the bond we shared was one of
complete respect and trust.
My parents met when my father’s father retired in Ontario after the U.S. military
stationed him on an American military base in Newfoundland, Canada. They were
teenagers.
Soon after, the pair found themselves in southwestern Alabama. It was a difficult
place for a couple like them in the 1960’s. They kind of looked like the two usually found
on the cover of a romance novel. My dad was part-Indian, part-white and some say partblack and my mother, a white woman. Of course, she was from a very unique
community dominated by Indigenous Highland Scots with slight Ojibwa ancestry, but
that is another story for later in the book. It was definitely an odd mix in the 1960’s
south. They were the tall muscular guy with long dark brown braids and the blonde
16
haired, blue eyed maiden in distress. A year later, after experiencing some pretty harsh
prejudice, my mom gave him an ultimatum. We either leave her or I leave you. They
were on the road headed to the southernmost point in the continental USA.
Key West prior to its reinvention as a destination place for wealthy northerners
and pleasure seekers certainly wasn’t a place packed with Indians or Canadians for that
matter. It was, prior to the tourist resort boom of the late 1980’s, a place of extreme
diversity with an “anything goes” mentality. It was an eclectic mix of Cuban-Americans,
Afro-Bahamians/African-Americans, White Bahamians, Conchs (the name given to the
generational Key West families that encompassed these ethnic groups), hippies, military
personnel and the occasional Haitian immigrant or displaced northerner. Everyone was
trying to find themselves or get away from themselves during those island days. My
parents were no exception. It was a far cry from the Southern Baptist Churches my greatgrandfather preached in back home in Alabama; the very ones my grandfather
internalized his conservatism from and from whom I draw my church membership and
quarterly annual visits to today. My dad made a living for us by diving for shells and
sponges and selling them to tourists. He then went into construction and finally, just
about the time of my parent’s divorce, began dealing drugs, primarily marijuana. The
island had been founded on such activities and there was barely a local family in town,
that wasn’t connected to the trade in one form or another, either willingly or unwillingly.
The December 1999 issue of National Geographic made the reality pretty clear, “It is not
disputed that back in the 1970s, after the Navy pulled out much of its force, the lower
Keys were kept alive by drug traffic. It was cash-and-carry. Everybody winked…”
Indigenous people were not even on the radar in Key West or in the other community
where we lived for a brief time; Opa Locka near Miami ( a community glorified in Hip
Hop music by the likes of Rick Ross and Lil’ Wayne for its propensity for poverty and
violence; though it is also a place of great culture and people) This community didn’t
exactly reinforce an Indian identity either. If not for my adopted aunt Cheryl, my
mother’s best friend and our next door neighbor in Key West, an incredible and inspiring
woman of Ojibwa (Chippewa) ancestry, it would have been a definite zero, due to my
dad’s passing when I was only four. Cheryl became mom number two and for this both
my mom and I have always been grateful. Eventually she returned to her community in
Michigan not far from the Canadian border. This community of people resides on both
sides of the international border, and like the Mohawks of Akwesasne and other “border”
tribes, it becomes a complex quagmire of enrollment and funding issues due to this
reality. She had gone out to see the world as well, but as she told me, our people always
come home.
You see, my dad was a G; a real G. The type of man that suburban white kids and some
disaffected powwow singing young Indian men attempt to emulate. By the time of his
death, unbeknownst to me, he had amassed a fortune. During my upbringing cliché
stories of him moving up and down the Florida Keys with suitcases of cash would
become commonplace. He owned land in Hawaii as well. The airplane he died in was
17
his own, as well as a fleet of fast boats to pick up drugs dropped from planes in the Gulf
of Mexico. He fronted his enterprises with his End of the Road Construction Company
which employed multitudes of men of many different races and backgrounds. He owned
homes around the island and on the island everyone owed everyone. He was such a G,
that a year after his death, gunman broke into our small home throwing my mom to the
ground and placing a machine gun to her head demanding that she tell them where the
money was. Of course, my mom knew nothing of any money, as she had been divorced
from my father two years prior to his death and never spoke of him. They eventually left
with neither of us being harmed. It would not be the last time a gun was pointed to my
head. Young people, especially Indians, fantasize about this lifestyle that they have only
gleaned from Hollywood films, rap videos and magazines. They have attempted to
identify their poverty with the urban drug culture, but the two truly do not fully connect.
I am the product of this life; a life which removed my father from his responsibility as a
steward and mentor to his son. There is nothing positive about being a G. The end is
never positive. Indian youth attempting to fashion themselves as this are no less
impostors then people running around claiming to be Indians. People of all races sitting
down in tattoo parlors having Chinese script attached to their bodies for life, yet not only
are they not Chinese, but their only contact with someone from China occurs at the
“Asian Dragon” buffet down the road from their house. My body is carved with tattoos,
which I began marking my body with as a teenager. Kiowa, Cherokee, Choctaw, Scottish
Gaelic, and Ojibwa language and art are inked from my wrists to my arms and to my
shoulders. My largest piece appears on the length of my forearm and reads “Am fear a
chailleas a chanain caillidh e a shaoghal”. It interprets from Scottish-Gaelic as “He who
loses his language, loses his world.” The music coming from our vehicle is bathed in
rhythms from Africa, the Bronx, Miami, Scotland, Cuba, Mexico and the occasional
Comanche drum and Yuchi cadence. Appropriation comes in many ways and in many
forms. No race or culture of people has a monopoly on its existence.
My dad traveled far and wide during this time and I stayed within the security of my
mom, content in our one bedroom trailer, which had always welcomed people from far
and wide. He visited Indian and black communities across the South and East, often
leaving behind money for those in need. It was a pattern I would follow throughout my
late teens and all of my twenties. On one such trip, the small commuter plane he owned
disappeared in the mountains of upstate New York. A lengthy FBI investigation and
manhunt followed. When he was located, the FBI said that large amounts of cash and
drugs were found on the plane. My father was 26. He had been under federal
investigation at the time of his death. Six months prior to that day he had changed his
last name from Ray to Sunray, as I was told, as a reflection of his identity and
reaffirmation of the name, which he believed an Indian agent had removed from his
great-grandfather in a time when numerous Indian surnames were being anglicized. I
was sort of confused when one of my father’s old friends showed me that he had made
the change. Many Choctaw people in the east have surnames that sound like first names
such as Ben, John, Taylor, etc. Ray seemed more in line with this conservatism. The
name had stood in our community for generations. It seemed strange to me. Was it
because, as he said, that my dad was reaffirming his culture, or maybe he was becoming a
18
little too “hippy”, or did he have an ulterior motive of disappearing from those who were
looking for him? Such a question had never been fully answered until this past year
when I was 35. It turns out that Ray and Sunray come from the same area of Scotland
and Ireland, along with other related names such as McRae, McRay and Wray. The
Sunray last name has also been found in other European countries. Somewhere down the
line my father had an ancestor who had come from Ireland and this name found its way
down through the generations. My dad’s friend’s theory was right on the reflection of his
identity and culture, but it seems his friend had embellished what culture he was speaking
of. Of course this was one of two of my dad’s old friends who told me he was also
Seminole. The reason was that the only Indians in South Florida were Seminoles and
Miccosukees and one black guy and one Conch who had never been around Indian
communities clearly didn’t have a clue. When I changed my name after graduating from
high school, I knew very little about Indians, Scottish, or Irish people. My name change
came due to a child’s want to glorify and make more of an absentee parent then there
ever really was to make. As a teacher I have found this to be common practice amongst
single parent kids. It is almost always heartbreaking in the end. I didn’t realize that my
name change would cause such a war of words in my 30’s. Somehow my Irish last name
became a serious form of “controversy” for identity cops prowling around Oklahoma.
But that is just another story for later in this book. Cultural identity to me was based on
my full acceptance into the Key West Conch culture; one which accepted my family and
I whole-heartedly and one which I treasure to this day.
It was the summer of 1992. My dad’s sister Biki had just dropped me off at my
first semester of university and pre-season workouts for the university team I had signed
with in Pennsylvania. She had talked to me about our family and our history during our
drive up. She said we had a little bit of Cherokee in us too, and we laughed. In 2005, I
was the Cherokee Language teacher at the local public high school in Tahlequah,
Oklahoma, so I guess she wins. There had always been a kindness about her. She had
made trips to Key West as I was growing up. Two weeks later, at the conclusion of
workouts, I purchased a beat up old car from a local used dealership and drove straight to
Alabama, missing my first week of classes. There were four towns on my list which I
had been told to visit, to in essence discover where my father’s family was from. They
were the towns of Lineville, Ashland, Creola and McIntosh. And that is when I knew I
was home.
My next stop was at one of the old tribal cemeteries that scatter the MOWA Choctaw
lands. There is where I saw the old names. Choctaw words scrawled on stone. Indian
names, now anglicized to fit the will of mainstream America. In the cemetery at Reed’s
Chapel near McIntosh, Alabama lies a part of my grandfather’s lineage, many miles from
his and my father’s resting place on the east side of Alabama in the Lineville community,
where part of the family also had come from. It wasn’t long before I was sitting before
the county clerk making the name change, as my father had done the generation before. It
wasn’t long before I was sitting in the tribal enrollment office making application for
MOWA Choctaw membership. A legal membership my father was denied, due to his
19
premature death just before the community was recognized; a membership, due to the roll
being closed, that I wouldn’t attain until nearly eight years later. But eventually I joined
other member’s of my family on the roll. My grandfather, a single child, had died four
years prior. My great-grandparents were gone before my dad, with the exception of one
great-grandfather who would pass on when I was three. I was my dad’s only child.
Later on I would find out that the government’s assimilation policies directed towards
Indians and immigrants sometimes included the severing or all-together abolishment of
their tribal names. My wife’s family is no different then my own. Names are complex.
Her father was born and raised in the Ponca Indian community of White Eagle,
Oklahoma. Her family name was Waters. This name had been changed two generations
prior from Gives Water. The traditional name being the one which today, as it has in
times past, continues adorning the majority of the families graves in the community
cemetery. My Scottish and Scots-Irish and Irish roots and subsequent names, having
been hidden from me during my upbringing, were slowly being recovered over time.
From then until now, I have traveled around North America living, socializing
and working in various reservation and indigenous communities. I have sat in the
Longhouse of the Seneca Nation in Tonawanda, prayed inside the Midewin Lodges of the
Three Fires Confederacy, danced through the night at traditional stomp grounds in
Oklahoma and Alabama, been an invited speaker at the Canadian Aboriginal
Achievement Awards in Toronto, taught school in the Ojibwa communities of Ontario,
shot baskets at more Indian tournaments across the country than I can count,
contemplated in the sweat lodges of many tribal Nations, fished on the Mattaponi
Reservation, laughed on the reserves of the Pacific Northwest, acted on the Aboriginal
Peoples Television Network, took to the airboats on the Seminole and Miccosukee lands
in the Everglades, built brush shelters in Houma bayous, scored a goal during shinny
games with the Ponca, gazed in respect at the Gourd Dances of the Kiowa Tribe, played
stickball at the World Championships in Choctaw, Mississippi, participated in the
reclamation of the Hiawatha First Nation Serpent Mounds Provincial Park from federal
authorities and traveled to more powwows than I could possibly remember, amongst
other things. I have traveled through the Scottish communities of Ontario and other
locales, visiting their festivals, book releases and learning their cultural teachings. I have
spoken, debated and contemplated in the academic circles of Indian, Scottish and Irish
professors and students. These travels have brought joy and tears and most importantly
understanding. They opened my mind to the possibilities and battles which await our
small Choctaw community. An elder from back home told me I had lived 3 lives by the
age of 32. Now that I am 36, I may have lived another. Maybe she is right. But I don’t
feel tired. Over 100 Indian communities and ten or so Scottish communities later, I have
had my opinions changed, adjusted or affirmed. I have reinvented my life many times in
keeping pace with the knowledge and lessons I have gained from place to place and
learning experience to learning experience. In places, where I had assumed that
“wannabes” occupied, I have found caring and cultural Indian people such as the
Landers, Campbells, and Faulk families in Northeast-Northcentral Alabama. In other
locales where I had figured to find only Indians, I have run across people whose only
20
connection to “Indianess” was the CDIB card they held in their wallets and only pulled
out in times of financial benefit. But no matter where I have lived, from the Indian
communities of Canada to the capitol of the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, I
have always returned to one of my most beloved of homes. This home has always
existed amongst the red clay of Alabama. On each trip back, a collective sigh of relief
overcomes me when our vehicle crosses the line which separates our reservation from the
rest of the state and nation as a whole. It is the same feeling my wife experiences when
we drive through her mother’s Kiowa allotment near Carnegie, Oklahoma or her father’s
Ponca Indian community of White Eagle. Her people originally came from the North,
but Oklahoma is home now. Her brother took his family on a trip to visit those Northern
hills so they could better understand from which home they originally came.
And that is where the difference lies. I am not the same as the people within
whose tribe I am enrolled. I was not raised with a cultural awareness of what it means to
be Choctaw or Cherokee or Scottish-Canadian or Irish or English-American or Ojibwa
for that matter. I was not raised within the community that has nurtured the MOWA
Choctaw people for generations. My identity was that of a Conch. That was the name
given to the clannish and nepotistic local population of people whose families had come
from the Bahamas and Cuba in the mid-1800’s, to the small island of Key West. My
Scottish ancestry was never spoken of and my Indian ancestry was resigned to old
photographs of my father, grandfather and great-grandfather and the remarks of the old
black women in the community saying, “ooh your daddy was one fine Indian man!”.
Sure, grandpa told me stories and spoke the bits and pieces. That though, does not an
Indian make. My call home wasn’t prompted by identity, but first to find out what
identity or culture even was. Only to find I had been living amongst it since day one.
Since first leaving Key West at the age of 18 I have returned there with my wife
and children to live in the community where I felt most comfortable, Bahama Village.
Bahama Village is the black section of the island, where many of my friends and adopted
family inhabit. It is where I earned my stripes while growing up. I returned because I
saw a need. There was a need to teach in the local school and provide opportunities for
the youth in the community. It was the same need that had taken me around North
America over the previous fourteen years. The travel had produced numerous
opportunities for others and much learning for myself. Numerous articles including me
had been written by others, almost all containing inaccuracies. Newspaper reporters had
only heard what they wanted to hear. They attached me to the communities were I lived
in hopes of creating a story of the local boy who “done good”. But there was a sincerity
in their writings and so where they erred, who should criticize? Not me. All that
mattered were the factual statements. The factual statements were that the youth in the
various communities were progressing. That was the point of the articles in question.
Newspapers made retractions of various points at my request. But as we know, 99% of
retractions are not read by original readers of articles and therefore they are created out of
the good will of others, but will never truly change the words of the original writing.
Various state recognized and non-recognized tribes, as well as one federally recognized
tribe had given me enrollment cards or “adopted me” along the way for my sincere
21
participation in their communities and lives of their families. And of course, due to
legalities and restrictions in the MOWA Choctaw Constitution, I had to rescind the legal
enrollments, but it was the thought that counted and is appreciated to this day. Maybe I
touched them in some way and maybe they touched me in some way. We are all looking
for heroes. Hopefully, we were that to one another. I know they were that to me.
I returned after my visit home to Alabama, because I witnessed a need. The white
boy from Florida was following dad. My dad’s culturally adopted sister, Dove Verret of
the United Houma Nation, would become one of my life’s greatest mentors. I am a
MOWA Choctaw by membership and ancestry, not by upbringing. If I could change my
life, I would not be naïve or pretentious enough to say, “I would change nothing”; for I
would. I would long for knowing. This is what I missed most as a child and teen. There
was no sense of history, tradition and the foundation that such a knowing creates. I
understand it washes over you and submerges you in its grasp, for better and for worse. I
was lost on its value, yet crippled by its absence. This in itself is further proof as to why
this story isn’t about me. It is partly about those real Choctaws that inhabit southwestern
Alabama, as well as other real Indian communities who “lack” federal recognition. It is
about the corruption, deceit, liars and fools they have encountered. This one is about
those born, bred and discriminated against people who have maintained.
22
WE ALSO DANCED: STATE TRIBES and INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS
23
Eleanor Cook rolled out of bed, nervous, but excited about what the future held that day.
Shunned from attendance at the local white and black schools of rural Virginia, state
officials and Bureau of Indian Affairs representatives had informed members of six of the
state tribal communities that they would be sent out for an accredited high school
education at Bacone in Oklahoma, Haskell in Kansas and Cherokee in North Carolina.
As the pick up pulled away from the Pamunkey reservation she readied herself for a
thousand mile journey, which would begin momentarily from the train station in
Richmond, Virginia. The year was 1944.
Annawon Adkins knew that she wanted to go beyond the final grade offered by her little
Indian school in her Chickahominy Indian community. Eighth grade would not enable
her to pursue the many dreams she had developed in her mind over the years. Like
Eleanor, she would take the long journey and end up her classmate at Bacone, an all
Indian school in far off Oklahoma. Four years later in 1949, she would accept her
diploma and jump on another train waiting to take her home to her beloved Virginia.
This same year would mark the admittance of Pecita Norwood into another boarding
school, Haskell, some 1,300 miles away from her home in Delaware. A member of the
Nanticoke tribal community, she too was prohibited from high school education due to
the segregation based policies of the day. In Kansas she would attend school with
another member of Eleanor Cook’s Pamunkey community, Kenneth Brady, who had
begun school there two years earlier.
In 1950, Murphy Reed and Carol Johnston, members of a small Choctaw community in
Alabama, now known as the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, would also take the
journey out west in an attempt to free themselves from the Jim Crow South. They would
be followed by Gallasneed Weaver and many others intent on breaking the chain of
poverty and prejudice, which had enveloped their home environs.
Not a year later Pearl and Edith Custalow would show up on the steps of Cherokee
Boarding School in North Carolina in an attempt to begin a high school course of study
unavailable to them back home on their Mattaponi and Pamunkey reservations.
Reservations which had been established in the 1600’s by the British Crown and which
had been continually inhabited ever since.
Many members of the MOWA Choctaw, Nanticoke, Chickahominy, Chickahominy
Indians Eastern Division, Pamunkey, Rappahannock, Mattaponi, and Upper Mattaponi
attended these schools prior and after the attendance of these brave 13 and 14-year-old
students. They became integral parts of the legacies of these institutions. A legacy
which has all but been forgotten in the new area of federalization that has swept through
Indian Country; an era which has proclaimed that only members or citizens of “federally
recognized” tribes are to be considered Indian any longer. This irony that places these
former students and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren at the mercy of
24
federal bureaucrats and those whom, many of which, have never lived the Indian
boarding school experience themselves. This was the same federal bureaucracy, which
sent them to these schools and issued them blood degrees from the beginning. Today,
these Indian people, who grew up in schools such as Haskell, witness the prohibition of
attendance of their own tribal members at their alma maters. While Bacone has insured
admittance for these tribal communities continuously, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has
simply turned its back on people who attended Haskell when the school required a
minimum blood quantum of 1/4 to attend. Now these communities watch as people from
tribal nations in Eastern Oklahoma and elsewhere send kids to this Bureau of Indian
Affairs subsidized school with blood quantums dipping in to the 1/1,024+ ranges.
The disrespectful nature of this action would seem unfathomable to any rational person
reading this, but unfortunately, it is reality. Not a reality based on blood or familial
connection, culture, generational boarding school attendance, residence on historic
reservations and logic, but rather one based on politics, historical revisionism and
ignorance.
There are members of federal tribes today who attempt to “throw the baby out with the
bath water” in their zeal to invalidate and humiliate Indian people from “non-federally”
recognized tribes. Many of these doing the attacking are little more than far away
descendants who they themselves were not raised in Indian communities and who only
by chance and genealogical training have been able to attach themselves to some
federally recognized descendant based tribe. None of them would stand in front of any
alumni from these eight tribal communities and preach the rhetoric that they now are so
ready to place out for public consumption. It is despicable behavior and it happens in the
most learned of people.
Those who are intent on believing that the attendance of these tribal members, which
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma citizen and Director of the Office of Federal
Acknowledgment Lee Fleming labeled as “mistakes”, of these small Indian communities
did not attend Indian boarding schools run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the
American Baptist Mission are simply living in denial. They are attempting to support
their failed hypothesis that all “non-federally” recognized tribes are “illegitimate and
improper”. These exact words were used by Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma tribal council
member Cara Cowan-Watts in an email that she circulated on 1/28/09, in relation to what
she terms “state groups”.
If many members of the Haskell Alumni Association, Haskell student body, Haskell
Board of Regents, Haskell Faculty, Haskell Employees and Haskell Administration had
their way, the descendants of these alumni would have a continued seat at the table.
Unfortunately, Haskell Indian Nations University, due to the strangle hold placed on it by
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, is the only college in the country where such educational
leaders and integral parts of a university education, their decisions and their opinions
have little to no say in the food to be served, much less the seating arrangement.
25
I have not only been able to hear these stories, but also to live them. As a former Haskell
student and a member of two varsity athletic teams, I was given a front row seat. After
one completed semester at Haskell I had been accepted to attend the University of Kansas
just down the road and was to be transferring shortly. University of Kansas students, due
to a cooperative agreement with Haskell, are allowed to take classes at Haskell and
therefore, I was back within the Haskell community the following semester.
In January of 2008, my wife and I founded H.E.L.P. (Haskell Endangered Legacy
Project). It was created to insure the legacy of eight specific “non-federally” recognized
tribal communities:
[Alabama]
MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians
[Delaware]
Nanticoke,
[Virginia]
Chickahominy
Chickahominy Indians Eastern Division
Mattaponi
Upper Mattaponi
Rappahannock
Pamunkey
In actuality it has served a greater purpose for other disenfranchised communities as well.
In 1993, fifteen years before the founding of HELP I was a no nothing eighteen year old
second semester college student-athlete attending Marymount University in Arlington,
Virginia after a first semester disaster at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, which
caused a transfer. The disaster I speak of consisted of me intervening in a domestic
dispute between another student-athlete and his girlfriend. The star football player ended
up with a broken arm and a broken nose and I ended up with a complimentary evening in
jail and a subsequent guilty verdict in court. The football player got to skip out on his
senior season for his troubles. At the beginning of the semester I began going by my
“new” last name of Sunray after debating whether or not to do this while attending
university in Millersville, PA. This made things complex in admissions as my files had
been sent over as Ray, but now I was under the S sections. Hey, R and S are close in the
filing system aren’t they? I better get back to the story. So as the semester started I met
up with some local Indian people who told me about some of the tribes who still
maintained communities in Virginia. How I met them was literally by pulling over a guy
named Frank Green who had a “Cherokee and Proud” license plate on his vehicle. I
drove up next to him at a stoplight, rolled down my window and asked him about it and
he pulled over. I told him we had some Cherokee ancestry in our family as well. Frank
laughed and unfortunately at the time I did not know why. I found out soon enough. A
longtime friendship evolved from that incident. So that coming weekend they were going
to go down for a social visit to a Virginia reservation community and they asked if I
26
wanted to come along. Eighteen with a new last name in tow, I was feeling like this
revisited connection to my father was of great significance. Within a couple of days I
was sitting on the Mattaponi Indian Reservation east of Richmond, getting to know these
Indian people who had endured four hundred years of colonialism. Of course at the time
I had no idea how to spell colonialism, much less be able to define it. In essence, my
“new” name epiphany was meaningless in comparison to the lessons I would soon learn.
One of the first folks I met asked if my name was a “hippy” name. I told him that I had
no idea, but that it certainly could be. A couple of weeks later, I found myself again
trekking down to visit the Pamunkey Indian Reservation nearby. Like my father’s
community (MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians; a tribal community who claims descent
from Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek and some minor Apache ancestry due to the
internment of Geronimo’s band for seven years adjacent), which I had only visited the
summer prior for a brief time, there was talk of Bacone and Haskell amongst the people.
They shared experiences of their attendance there, amidst other engaging conversations.
These communities all shared a common bond. This bond was the legacy of Indian
boarding schools. These schools would serve as a catalyst for my search and the issues
they provoked would lead me towards wanting a better understanding of their impact and
their histories and thus the histories of the people they impacted. Many detours, or more
truthfully support pieces, would make this ongoing project last through these past
eighteen years, with many more to come I am sure.
In 1994 after one year at Marymount I moved to my mom’s home community in Canada
to live with my grandmother and eventually enroll at Trent University. Living and
teaching in First Nation’s communities in Canada, visiting Indian and Scottish descended
communities around North America, participating in the ceremonials, church services and
social gatherings of these communities, and more importantly, being blessed by the
people and the experience they provided for me, led me back to the schools. After
suffering a severe knee injury during my third college athletic season, I was unable to
play ball for a while. At the age of twenty-six I left Canada and came back to school at
Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas with the hopes of completing a
degree in Education. While there I was able to search the archives of the school and
begin to have a better understanding of the attendance and meaning for those from these
“non-federal” communities who attended. I had heard the stories previously from some
of the former attendees and viewed a few yearbooks, but now the larger picture was clear
and understandable. I was sitting in the same classrooms they had learned in and I was
socializing in the same dormitories where they had laid their heads at night. I was
shooting baskets on the same court where so many incredible games had taken place and
finally I was playing in Haskell Stadium where legendary teams had taken the field
generations before. I began to understand, while in the midst of a boarding school system
whose intention it was to assimilate American Indian children, why there was still such a
pride in the friendships made and experiences received. It had become clear.
Eventually I would complete my Master’s Degree up the road at the University of
Kansas, but more importantly I had met the woman of my dreams and now my wife,
Ahaun Tone Gope (Randi Waters). Both of her parents had attended Haskell in the
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1960’s and they attended school with some of the members of these non-federal tribes.
Her dad was a heralded athlete at the school and I saw his name numerous times while
researching the archives. Little did I know, I would be meeting this man a year later and
eventually marrying his daughter. That is how important these schools are to the legacy
of our families.
We decided to move to Key West, eventually purchasing a home back in the Bahama
Village neighborhood of the island near the Frederick Douglass Community Center,
where I remember many nights as a youth playing game after game. I was home.
It was an incredible couple of years participating in and developing community
empowerment events and teaching and assisting in the revitalization of one of our area
elementary and middle schools. But Oklahoma was calling. My wife was to return home
to her Kiowa and Ponca roots and I was to teach and coach at one of my tribal
community’s alma maters, Bacone. While there I was able to continue researching the
boarding school experience. Book by book, drawer by drawer, page by page, I was able
to piece as much of it together as I could. I will always be grateful to Bacone for giving
me complete access to these materials and to this story. And like at Haskell, I was able to
walk the same hallways and sit in the same classroom buildings as my community
members. I was able to laugh with my own communities’ younger tribal members who
made the long trek out their, as their parents and grandparents did, to attend school there
during my tenure. I was nearing the end of the puzzle. I would find over time that these
eight tribal communities had the largest attendance of any other “non-federally”
recognized tribes. Yes, there were indeed others. At Haskell, Ojibwas (Chippewa) from
Canada and Abenaki from the Northeastern United States had attended and at Bacone
tribes who at the time were not “federally” recognized, such as the Mashpee Wampanoag
and Pequot, as well as the San Blas from Latin America, had found a home. I also saw
irregularities in policy, while the ¼ blood quantum for admission was rigorously enforced
at Haskell, an exception was made for Cherokee students from Oklahoma with blood
listings placed as low as 1/32. Over the next few years I would work for the tribal
language departments of four tribal nations, while contracting with three others located in
Oklahoma and teach and coach at a local public school.
Fast forward ahead to the Fall of 2008 where I would meet with the Bacone College
President and his support staff to speak about the eight tribal communities and their
legacy at the school. The support was clear and so during that same Fall, I would board a
plane from Oklahoma City to Baltimore, Maryland with video camera in hand and rent a
car to drive out into rural Delaware and Virginia. My first stop would take me to the
Nanticoke Cultural Center near Millsboro. There I would meet someone who I had only
seen in the Haskell yearbook pictures, which I now held in my hand. Her name was
Odette Wright and she had attended Haskell back in the 1950’s. She greeted me like she
had known me all my life, though we had only communicated via phone and email for
some time. We looked through the documents housed at the cultural center and then we
headed towards the community center, where she said a group of Nanticoke Haskell
alumni would be awaiting our arrival. There in the parking lot I noticed a vehicle with a
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purple and gold “Haskell alumni” plate affixed to the front. She didn’t need to tell me
her name, nor did those who were waiting inside. I could name each one of them by face
after years of viewing their pictures in yearbooks, paper clippings, sports and club photos,
etc. Pecita Norwood Lonewolf was the one sitting in the driver’s seat of the truck. She
had acquired her Lonewolf name via marriage to a Kiowa man she had met during her
time as a student at Haskell. Interestingly, like myself and Pecita, numerous other
members of these eight tribes had married Kiowas, so we all assume that Kiowas have
great taste. Their children and now grandchildren, would all attend the school. During
the relocation period of the time, when the Bureau of Indian Affairs was moving tribal
people out to urban areas, she would be relocated to California. After eighteen years of
working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and enduring the passing of her husband, she
would return to her beloved community in Delaware. This story was not uncommon
amongst her tribe. She was now assisting with the teaching of the Nanticoke language to
tribal members.
After walking inside and setting up the piles of documentation I had carried from
Oklahoma, the introductions continued. Like Odette and Pecita, everyone made me feel
comfortable and welcome. We all had stories to share and the laughter began. That same
evening I began my drive down to the six tribal communities that hugged the tidewater
and rural countryside of far eastern Virginia, but first I would need to make a pit stop at
the Library of Virginia, where I was able to spend some time looking through the
extensive records the state had managed to keep over all of these years regarding the
attendance of the local Indian populations at various Indian boarding schools. Like
Haskell and Bacone, it was another gold mine of information. A bunch of copies later
and I headed to the Rappahannock Cultural Center where the six communities
(Mattaponi, Upper Mattaponi, Pamunkey, Chickahominy, Chickahominy Indians Eastern
Division, and Rappahannock) would be congregating. This was a fitting place, as the
first student from Virginia to be contacted to attend Haskell in the early 1940’s was
Rappahannock. One of her descendants would be attending Bacone during the 20092010 school year. It was great to see everyone and I was appreciative of them inviting
me to tell their story. That evening I would meet with Kenneth Custalow, his wife and
other community members on the Mattaponi reservation. His home overlooked the
beautiful Mattaponi River, where many years prior I would spend my days away from
college fishing, I mean, feeding the fish. Sharon Sun Eagle, who lived on the opposite
side of the small reservation, had come over and sat out in the front yard. She
remembered me from many years prior, though she admitted it was different seeing me
without my long braids hanging down. While a student at Haskell in 2001, I had them
cut off at center court during halftime of one of our basketball games as a donation to an
American Cancer Society project which made wigs for children that had lost their hair
during chemotherapy. Later on when my mom saw me, she told me that my father was
rolling over in his grave. He had always sported braids and she had a definite preference
for this. Sorry mom. From her seated position, Sharon sang a prayer song on her hand
drum. There was nothing planned or out of the ordinary about it. She just felt like
singing and so she did. The Algonquian language filled the air. She, along with
members of the area tribal communities had been actively working towards the
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revitalization of the coastal Algonquian tribal language. Fifteen years prior, I recalled
that she had told me that she and her late husband John Sun Eagle, who was born and
raised on the reservation, had wanted to publish a book on the language, if only a
coloring book of some sort. Prior to leaving this very evening, she would place that book
and an accompanying CD in my hand. It had been published just a month or two prior to
my arrival. As a language fanatic, I don’t think I was able to take the smile off of my
face on the entire drive back that evening.
Kenneth Custalow had attended Bacone and received an opportunity to attend Haskell as
well. He recalled his days at the school, as I listened intently on the porch of his two
hundred year old home. One must remember, that both the Mattaponi and Pamunkey
tribes became reservation-based tribes in the mid-1600’s when they signed treaties with
the British Crown. There has been an unbroken and direct bloodline residency on these
reservations now for eighteen generations; a residency that far exceeds any other tribal
communities in North America. Since my last visit little had changed, in fact, little had
changed since the visits of many people who came many generations ago. But this does
not mean the people are not progressive. In fact, quite the opposite tends to be the case.
The people here have worked hard to protect this place. The addition of a new and
modern fish hatchery was barely noticeable along the tranquil river. But what seems
tranquil isn’t always so. The Mattaponi had been fighting for years to protect this river,
which has continued as essential to the livelihood and legacy of their community. This
fight continues today and will continue for many generations as indigenous people hold
steady to their cultural values. The Indians of Virginia have not had the prettiest history
in relation to colonization, but that story has been told by countless others who fully
understand what contact has meant to them, so my limited knowledge certainly wouldn’t
do it any justice. Ken Custalow didn’t talk about this story on this day, rather he told of
his boyhood growing up on the reservation and eventually being sent to Indian school in
Oklahoma. He recalls the many times tourists would drive all the way down from
Washington D.C. in their big, shiny cars looking for “Indians”. They would arrive on the
reservation in search of “teepees” and “wigwams” and possibly buffalo, only to be
disappointed by tribal members living in wood framed homes and fishing on the river.
One time he and his buddies decided that they would give the curiosity seekers what they
were looking for, so they cut of their pants to look like some kind of crazy breechcloth
and took some berries and smeared them all over their faces. They grabbed some
handheld “weapons” and hid in the bushes. Right down the road appeared one of those
big, shiny cars from the city and as it passed they rushed out of the brush with hands held
over their mouths making the kind of whooping noise only heard in the stereotypical
renderings of Indian ‘savages’ on horseback. He told me that car spun around quicker
than anyone had ever seen and was headed back down the road from whence it came. He
also told me that his parents and the parents of all those involved would have whooped
them bad had they found out. His love of creative expression evolved into his love of
education; something he sorely wanted. He embraced Bacone High School when the
time presented itself. He was off to Oklahoma. Those stories continued as a wonderful
meal was prepared. A beautiful flute, which he hand crafted, was placed in my hand. I
drove off the reservation late in the night, probably somehow reminiscent of those big,
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shiny city cars, which occasionally still show up on the banks of the Mattaponi River.
The following morning I stopped by tribal lands held by the Upper Mattaponi
community, who are considered a politically separate entity from the Mattaponi.
Kenneth Adams was there working on renovations to their historic Indian school. The
Sharon Indian School was the community held school, which ended in grade eight and
from which the boarding school students transferred. Ken’s siblings all attended the
boarding schools and he recalls taking them down to the train station at the end of
summer each year as they began the long trips out west. Integration occurred just as his
time to begin the long trek was to come and he attended high school locally, as one of the
first Indians in the area to have been given an opportunity for a public school education.
After talking, he took me the distance of the gravel parking lot to the church where many
of the Upper Mattaponi had been attending for generations. This is a common theme
amongst small tribal communities. We typically have historic churches which serve as
the backbones of our community. My church, Reed’s Chapel Indian Baptist in Alabama,
was founded in 1820 as a brush arbor and a permanent site was built in 1850. My greatgrandfather served as a Southern Baptist preacher and wrote an extensive history of the
Southern Baptist congregations in our home area prior to his passing when I was two or
three years old.
One of the Upper Mattaponi residents living adjacent to the church came out of their
home with the key to allow us inside. The black and white photos going back nearly 100
years adorned the walls. Brown faces in their Sunday best staring back at us through the
pictures. Ken could name them all, but it was their story that seemed to captivate the two
of us more. He directly descended from those who prayed here on those days so many
years ago. He was related to those who stepped foot on the train each year in preparation
for the coming Fall.
My next destination would be a short, winding drive to the Pamunkey reservation. Just
prior to hitting the reservation line, I saw an Indian family standing in their front yard
cutting down a large tree. I thought I would stop and see if they knew anyone who
attended any of the boarding schools. I inquired about this to one of the younger family
members present. It turns out they were Mattaponi and Eastern Chickahominy and he
told me that his mother attended an Indian school in Oklahoma. His sister went inside to
get her and when she saw me and was told why I was there, she invited me in and told me
of her boarding school days. She had attended Bacone back in the 1940’s and her
memories of the time were as clear as if they were happening as we spoke. I pulled out
my documents and was able to show her a picture of herself and her classmates in a
school newspaper from that time. She told me she had only one thing from that time that
she had been able to keep all these years. She went to her back room and brought back a
class picture with her. I then asked her if I could take her picture. The answer was yes
and it is one of the most remarkable photos I have in my possession. A video could never
do her justice. This photograph sums up her experience and her heartfelt memories of
boarding school. She was and is so very beautiful and gracious. She told me simply, “I
thought they had forgotten about us.” I told her that I was here so that they never would.
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Her children informed me that this visit had made their week and their mother asked me
to return. I promised her that I would and I was back on my way to the reservation where
I was greeted by the current Chief and members of his family. Many of his family
members had also attended Haskell and Bacone. They had an incredible collection of
memorabilia from those days, which they pulled out of shoe boxes and closets. Club and
sports items from Haskell filled a table and the morning seemed to quickly pass. After
some more videotaping and some goodbyes I headed back to Rapphannock where they
were having a cultural gathering. I spoke and laughed with more people that day than I
can count. Realizing it was past time to leave, as I would be missing my flight, I said my
farewells and took off back to Baltimore. I think I saw my plane flying over me as I hit
the beltway. A night lying on terminal chairs wouldn’t be so bad after all. By the time I
got home the following afternoon, I had my three wonderful children awaiting my
arrival. They weren’t use to me being gone for any length of time outside of a normal
work day, so I was nearly tackled. They had a million questions; questions, which I now
had more answers for then when I had left. But first, I looked up at my wife. She didn’t
have an expression of what I would expect of someone who was “single-parenting” for a
few days, would have. It was an expression of pride in what had just been done. She
hugged me for a long time and then left me to the needs of our babies. She is the greatest
“teammate” a man could ever pray for.
The following month my wife and I would see many of the people I had visited in
Delaware and Virginia, and a few new and familiar faces, at the Haskell Alumni
Association gathering in Oklahoma City. Kenneth Bradby’s son Frank and his children
(Kenneth was a former Haskell graduate) would make the long drive from Virginia for
the event. Many Nanticoke families were also present from Delaware, as well as those
who never left Kansas after attending, or who moved one state south to Oklahoma. We
spoke to all those gathered and the Haskell Alumni Association Chapter in Oklahoma
decided to support our efforts. Many of the members of federal tribes attending, did not
know that their friends and former classmates where members of “non-federally”
recognized tribes. And they certainly did not know that many of their children and
grandchildren could not attend their alma mater currently. Haskell was a school for
Indians and the feelings of those in attendance were first one of shock and then
resounding support. It was clear, the project must proceed.
Not long thereafter, Chief Kenneth Adams of the Upper Mattaponi flew into Tulsa and
met up with me for a trip to visit members of the Haskell Indian Nations University staff
in Lawrence, Kansas. John Edwards, former Governor of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe
and his wife Tewanna Edwards, the niece of one of the World War I Choctaw Code
Talkers Otis Leader met us at Haskell for the meeting. John, now a pastor in Oklahoma,
was a friend and classmate to many of those who were a part of the H.E.L.P. project and
he felt called to assist. His wife Tewanna had been drawn to the project as well as a
former boarding school attendee. The meeting was wonderful for all involved and we
looked forward to the participation of the eight tribal communities in the 125th year
Haskell celebrations in 2009, but unfortunately due to an ongoing leadership dispute at
Haskell, the HELP project became a low priority for the administration.
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Two months later, December 2008, we would head to the MOWA Choctaw community
in Alabama and the final leg of filming. The fellowshipping and visiting would continue.
On the way down we would stop over to see Aunt Dove, her husband, daughter,
granddaughter and Michael Dardar. It would be an early Christmas. As we bit down on
Shrimp Po’Boys, we discussed the issues of the day. The United Houma Nation, of
which both are enrolled members, also attended Indian boarding schools scattered
throughout Louisiana and ran by various church denominations. The Bureau of Indian
Affairs also assisted in funding a school for them a few generations back. The MOWA
Choctaw people shared attendance with them at one of these schools, Acadia Baptist.
Much of their tribal lands have repeatedly been submerged underwater by the continual
threat of hurricanes in recent years. Their community members have been displaced, but
to talk with these community leaders, you would never know it. More recently the
massive oil spill in the Gulf has annihilated not only the occupations tied to fishing and
oil work, but disrupted an unbroken chain of cultural understanding tied to the land and
water of Louisiana’s lower bayous. Even so, their spirits and resolve are ever present and
generously shared. Both had experienced the loss of their homes, one of which, is never
to return. The camera picked up some of these thoughts and we were gone the following
morning, headed to Alabama. As we drove through New Orleans, our daughter filmed
everything she saw from the passenger seat. New Orleans, like the Houma communities,
was still in bad shape. Closed businesses, destroyed homes and in consequence,
destroyed lives were not just visual, but spiritually felt around us as we proceeded on.
Our last visit to New Orleans was only a few months after the first major hurricane.
Things had not changed as much as some would have us believe.
By noon we had arrived at the Reed’s Chapel community near McIntosh, Alabama. That
evening families readily came into historic Reed’s Chapel Church, ate, told stories and
allowed me to videotape their thoughts on the boarding schools. Former students, and
family members of students, who attended Haskell, Bacone and Choctaw Central, were
all in attendance. One community elder, Gladys McKay Niehl, told us of her true love at
Bacone. It wasn’t any subject or member of the opposite sex. Raised in a strict Southern
Baptist family, she looked forward to weekends at Bacone when she could take off her
shoes and dance through the night at the gym with her other classmates. She said “Thank
goodness for American Baptists!”. (the denomination which leads Bacone) That evening,
“Halito” was heard around every corner and a youth leadership award was handed out to
one of our young local public school history teachers. It was named after Frank
Johnston, Jr., who had attended Bacone and lived in Oklahoma for many years after his
graduation. At the time of this book’s publication two more annual banquets have been
hosted and the work of our youth has been highlighted. Frank had more recently returned
and died unexpectedly at home. It was a great loss to the community. The following
morning the sound of Choctaw hymns filled the church. His gravesite is located only
twenty yards away from the windows that line the side of the church. His grave is
adorned with signs of his love of music and his pride in being Choctaw. He would have
been pleased. A new pavilion, playground, and walking track had been erected at the site
since my last visit a year prior. The refurbishment of the schoolhouse was next on the
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list. It had been the longest time I spent away from the community in ten years. It was
good to be back. Our daughter had been traveling to the community with me for years.
She always experiences a peace there that I can’t quite explain. She wanted to film her
family members and she wanted to be filmed. She wanted to dance her way around the
community. She couldn’t dance her way into their hearts, because that had already
occurred so many years before. Now that line may be cheesy, but oh how true it is. The
time had come to head back to Oklahoma, to work and to school.
Unlike me, my children are being raised up with their cultural heritage intact. They are
secure in who they are and are filled with pride concerning their identity. They are a
product of the Indian boarding schools and their current adaptations as
universities/colleges, as many of their older family members, including myself, attended.
But they receive the best of this experience minus the difficulty and uncertainty that faced
their relations.
Our daughter listens to these boarding school stories intently, as our two sons also will, as
they grow older. And if anyone outside of our eight communities tells them the story
without a mention of our participation, like the elder who remembers her weekends at
Bacone, they will simply remind them…..”We also danced”.
While the boarding school experience is one that has been more recently written about
and discussed, there has been a constant omission to the literature of this very important
piece of Indian history and the legacy it has left for these few “non-federally” recognized
American Indian communities in contemporary times. As mentioned previously, this
omission has been lost in what we are calling the “new federalization of Indian Country.”
It is an oft-repeated belief in the federal Indian bureaucracy, national tribal organizations,
academia and other institutions who have been viewed as the foremost decision makers in
many issues which effect Indian people, that Indian identity, or should we say true Indian
identity, comes in the form of enrollment with a federally recognized tribe or nation.
This contemporary view has led to the further disenfranchisement of a small number of
physically and culturally identifiable tribal communities who endured and endure the
social reality of being Indian, while also enduring the problematic struggle of living as
legal fictions in terms of federal Indian policy. While none of these eight tribal
communities are existent as “federally” recognized tribes, they have long been
recognized by the federal government as Indian communities. Their admittance and
attendance at schools run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which are exclusive to tribal
people recognized as Indians by the same branch, is clear acknowledgment of this. Even
the Christian mission run Bacone in Muskogee, Oklahoma has close ties to the federal
boarding schools and had followed many of the guiding principles established in the
federal system throughout its history.
The attendance of these communities at the schools has spanned nearly four generations
and accounted for close to 170 attendees. This is a staggering number in relation to the
enrolled populations of these communities. Due to the sheer numbers, there is virtually
no living tribal member/citizen within these tribes who does not have a relative who
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attended these schools. If it were not for these schools, the formal education of those that
attended from these communities would have ended in the eighth grade as most were
prohibited from attendance in the segregated school systems of the rural South. These
schools were the only opportunity provided for these community members to advance
their educations. Their involvement in their alma maters has continued to this day
through continued attendance at Bacone, service on the Bacone Board of Trustees and
teaching and coaching within Bacone’s academic and athletic programs. Haskell
involvement has continued in the form of teaching and other employment opportunities at
the school for former students of these tribes and through continued attendance at athletic
events and annual class reunions hosted by the Haskell Alumni Association. Attendance
as students has been stymied due to the current requirement, which limits admittance to
members/citizens of federally recognized tribes. Due to a sizeable amount of
intermarriage with members of these tribes and federal tribes, some community members
have been able to continue their attendance at Haskell through descent from a federally
recognized parent or grandparent. There are currently Nanticoke descended students
attending Haskell, due to having a parent or grandparent who are enrolled with a
federally recognized tribe, and there are MOWA Choctaw, Rappahannock, Houma and
Chickahominy descended students attending Bacone. Currently, two tribal leaders from
these eight communities, one an Upper Mattaponi and the other a Chickahominy, serve as
members of the Bacone Board of Trustees, as well as a tribal member from the staterecognized Eastern Pequot in Connecticut.
During the time of attendance of many of the members of these tribes at Haskell,
enrollment was limited to Indians of ¼ or more Indian blood quantum. The lowest blood
quantum of any enrolled student from these eight communities attending these boarding
schools, as cited by the BIA, was ½. This admission requirement continued to be listed
throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s as Haskell changed over to a junior college
format, though this requirement was not fully enforced during this time period. With the
establishment of a four year university at Haskell in 1993, this blood quantum
requirement became obsolete and students whose blood quantum has been recorded as
low as 1/1,024 (Cherokee) have attended the school since this time, though they exist in
the minority of current students. Enrollment in a federal tribe/nation has become the lone
marker of Indian status in relation to admissions at Haskell. This new philosophy on
Indian identity has its roots in the growing assertion and proliferation of tribal
sovereignty throughout much of Indian Country. Unfortunately, for the alumni and
descendants of alumni from these eight communities, this same political sovereignty
solely held by federally recognized tribes/nations has been used as justification for their
dismissal from the student body politic of Haskell.
In 2005, members of Congress asked Lee Fleming, current Director of the Office of
Federal Acknowledgment within the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma citizen, to attend a meeting on the MOWA Choctaw Indian Reservation near
Mt. Vernon, Alabama to explain to the community that they no longer had any recourse
for acknowledgment through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Mr. Fleming, in his capacity
as Director of the Office of Federal Acknowledgment, is tasked with determining the
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legitimacy of petitions for federal recognition. While a video camera rolled, Mr. Fleming
responded to a question posed concerning his belief on why members of these tribes, who
attended federal Indian boarding schools for nearly four generations and who have
documentation from the Bureau of Indian Affairs attesting to their Indian blood quantum,
were even able to attend these schools, in light of the current opinion of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs that they are not to be considered Indian? His reply, “Sometimes the
federal government makes mistakes.”
Institutional integrity should be a prized possession of these namesakes of Indian
education. Bacone is working strongly towards this goal in terms of its responsibility to
Indian alumni, staff members and students. The same can not be said for Haskell in
relation to those families who are members of state tribes. But is it really Haskell who is
stopping the reintegration of these students into the school? With the response given to
me by Bureau of Indian Education administrator Stephanie Birdwell, after I inquired to
these issues, it seems that Haskell leadership has no say in the decision.
In January of 2009 Stephanie Birdwell responded to our inquiries with this letter:
United States Department of the Interior
Bureau of Indian Education
Washington, D.C. 20240
January 06 2009
Haskell Endangered Legacy Project
1615 North Union Avenue
Shawnee, Oklahoma 74804
Dear Mr. Sunray:
Thank you for your letter of November 21, 2008. Based on the documentation and
information enclosed with your letter, the Haskell Endangered Legacy Project (H.E.L.P.)
consortium’s support of Haskell Alumni promotes a valuable effort in showcasing the
rich history that the respective “non-federally” recognized tribal communities have
played in the Haskell legacy.
Enrollment and attendance at Haskell Indian Nation’s University (HINU) is a matter of
Federal Regulations. These regulations provide the “rule” for enforcing the
corresponding law and statute. Thus, the decision to allow students admission to HINU
that do not belong to federally recognized tribes has already been determined by law, and
is, therefore, not a policy call. HINU operates under these federal guidelines, and
functions under the approval and oversight of the governing bodies and administration of
the BIE.
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With respect to the context of our conversation referenced in your letter; no provisions
were cited or extended to H.E.L.P. for disregarding or circumventing federal regulations
or statute. The nature of our discussion provided a commitment by my office to review
this issue and evaluate the current status of HINU’s enrollment limitations.
The responsibility of the BIE, its officials and employees, is to enforce the directives of
the Department and the Administration and implement the laws enacted by Congress.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Birdwell
Deputy Director
Policy, Evaluation and Post Secondary Education
The Bureau of Indian Education posted the following biography of Stephanie Birdwell:
Birdwell is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Her federal career
began in 1996 as a social worker at the BIA Northern Pueblos Agency in Espanola, N.M.,
where she rose to the rank of Southwest regional social worker in the BIA’s Southwest
Regional Office in Albuquerque. While there, she served as the bureau’s acting deputy
regional director for Indian services from October 2005 to January 2006.
In October 2006, Birdwell joined the Office of Indian Services staff at the BIA’s
headquarters in Washington, D.C., as human services program officer, a position she held
until May 2008. From July to December 2007, she also served as acting assistant to the
deputy director for Indian services. In December 2007, she became acting assistant to the
deputy bureau director for the BIA’s Office of Trust Services. She joined the BIE in June
2008 as the acting deputy director for policy, evaluation and post secondary education.
While that is a nice federal career, anyone reading this could have just stopped at the first
line. “Birdwell is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.” That sums
up the story all around for non-federal tribes. She has also worked on writing
assignments with Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Principal Chief Chad “Corntassel”
Smith who is the nation’s largest advocate against state-recognized tribes and who has
more recently spent a great deal of time attacking the state-recognition process of tribes
in Tennessee. Ironically, Chief Smith was not raised in Oklahoma and lived for many
years of his early life in Tennessee where he attended both high school and college for a
period of time. In speaking with colleagues of Stephanie Birdwell, I was advised that
they have literally had to “teach her how to be Indian” since coming to the Bureau of
Indian Education. Stephanie is physically identifiable as white, like so many other
“Cherokee” bureaucrats who have become the dominate players within the Bureau of
Indian Affairs. It is not to say that she has not done many good things for people over the
course of her career, but it is to say that in matters of disenfranchising historic Indian
communities, she should be far removed from the process. My conversations with her
via telephone where at first positive and then became the type of conversations people
have when you know others have bent their ear and told them to get in the trench and
37
cover up. These conversations have become so frequent with me and lobbyists and
corrupt tribal leaders that they are almost normalcy at this stage.
The letter of response was sent only after a massive collection of documentation was sent
to the BIE showing the attendance of these “non-federal” communities to be a factual and
lengthy history in their schools. A paper I wrote as a student at KU back in 2002 is just a
tip of the iceberg in terms of attendance. I focused it primarily on the Nanticoke and
Pamunkey as it was a short assignment paper. I include it here.
“As I sat and listened in our classroom, visited by elders, I was struck by a remark. One
of the older gentleman said that we were here, because they and their parents, in
particular, had gone through much pain at Haskell. There was good, he mentioned, but
overall the process was assimilative and difficult. He went on to say that those people
who came before us, made it possible for their tribe’s members to attend today and that it
is their right to attend because of what they had experienced.
So the question remains, do their tribal descendants have the opportunity to attend today?
For the most part the answer is yes, but that is not the whole story. As we scrape through
the archives we see that, though few in number, Indian people from non-recognized tribes
attended Haskell in the past. Their current community members, however, cannot.
The current Haskell enrollment policy was stated first after Haskell’s change to a Junior
College in 1973, The Haskell Student Handbook reads,
“Students enrolling at Haskell Junior College must be either (1) an official member of a
tribe eligible for BIA education benefits; or (2) at least one-fourth degree Indian blood
descendant of an enrolled member of a tribe eligible for BIA education benefits.”
We can infer from this statement that ¼ is the benchmark for “Indian” designation. Even
though there are students currently at Haskell with very little Indian blood (1/256 and
beyond), they are from federal tribes with little blood quantum requirement. Why
doesn’t the bureau just say “a descendant of a federal member” instead of ¼? The reason
is clear. They feel an Indian is ¼ or more Indian blood. Was Haskell really intended to
educate someone who is 1/256 Indian by blood? Did they intend to educate citizens of
Indian Nations or blood Indians? Their policies tend to lean towards blood Indians,
historically.
Prior to the 1920’s, no blood degree was required to attend Haskell Institute. The reason
was simple. They rarely received any Indians for enrollment that were not at least half
Indian blood. These were days when the majority of Indians were still a “visible
minority”. Because of this, a blood quantum requirement would have made little sense.
Due to the increase of intermarriage and pressure from descendant based federal tribes
this policy was changed. The government was now dictating who was and who wasn’t an
Indian. This is significant for a variety of reasons. The Catalogue of Haskell Institute in
the school year of 1925-1926 mandates, “Indian youth…who are not less than one-fourth
Indian are eligible for enrollment at Haskell…” The 1959 Haskell Handbook reads,
38
“Requirements for Admission To The High School Division 1. At least one-fourth degree
Indian blood.” The handbooks and catalogues from the 1920’s through the late 1960’s
all make this statement. “Highlights of Haskell Institute: A Brief Sketch of the Half
Century of Indian Education at Haskell Institute”, written by Rev. William P. Ames,
declares, “In the year of 1935…only students who were of one-fourth Indian blood or
more were now eligible for enrollment.” In noted historian Helen C. Rountree’s book,
“Pocahontas’s People: The Powhatan of Virginia Through Four Centuries”, she writes:
After Coates became active in the affairs of the tribes in 1942, he put some serious
pressure on the federal Office of Indian Affairs to admit at least the reservation youth in
Virginia to federal Indian boarding schools. The office’s initial response was the usual
one; the federal government had no responsibility for the Virginia reservations, and ‘the
situation seems to be one which requires the cooperation of state and local authorities.’
However, D’Arcy McNickle, one of the staff of the office and himself a Flathead Indian,
visited the Indian-descended people of Amherst County in January 1945, after which he
began to pressure his superiors to admit that group’s children to the school at Cherokee,
North Carolina….Director of Education Beatty decided that the children of the Virginia
reservation tribes could enroll in high school courses at Cherokee, with alternative
placements at Haskell in Kansas…
Beatty notified Speck that the reservation children would be accepted at Cherokee and
Haskell. In the end the Pamunkey, Rappahannock, Mattaponi and Chickahominy (all
Virginia tribes) were admitted to the schools. Other “non-recognized” Eastern tribes
were also admitted, including the Nanticoke in Delaware and Choctaw in Alabama. A
review of “The Indian Leader” for many years bears out the Pamunkey and Nanticoke
presence as follows:
1950
1951
1952
1953
p. 20 Kenneth Brady (Pamunkey) Lester Manor, Virginia
p. 26 Curtis Wright (Nanticoke) Millsboro, Delaware
p. 16 Kenneth Bradby (Pamunkey) Lester Manor, Virginia
p. 8 Wilson Harmon (Delaware) Millsboro, Delaware
p. 8 Carmelita Johnson (Nanticoke) Wilmington, Delaware
p. 12 Douglas Wright (Nanticoke)
p.11 Marvin Johnson (Nanticoke)
p. 12 Pecita Norwood (Nanticoke)
p. 18 Douglas Wright (Nanticoke)
Haskell Institutes Memo Calendar for 1955 lists Marvin C. Johnson as ½ Nanticoke.
1955
1957
p. 9 Pecita Norwood (Nanticoke)
p. 29 Vincent Street (Nanticoke)
p. 22 Jean Annette Johnson
p. 23 Laticia Odette Norwood
p. 23 Robert Sylvester Jr. Norwood
p. 26 Conchita Wright
39
p. 39 Marlene Norwood
p. 46 Cecile Harmon, Joseph Harmon, Leon Harmon, Geraldine Jackson
p. 47 Charles Wright
*all Nanticoke
1958
p. 22 Marlene Norwood
Haskell’s Memo Calendar for 1960 lists Lillie Wright as ½ Nanticoke.
1960
p. 29 Cecile Harmon, Joseph Harmon, Geri Jackson *all Nanticoke
p. 33 Charles Wright
The 1965 Memo Calendar reflects direct contradiction in the Haskell policy of 1/4th blood
quantum. The following students are listed: John Owle 5/32 Cherokee, William Beck
3/64 Cherokee, Brenda Rose 1/32 Cherokee.
1965
Judy Gail Pierce (Abenaki/Abeneki) Salamanca, New York
Even students at Haskell were speaking about the blood quantum issue. The Guides Club
published a chapel program on Sunday, March 3, 1940 which declared,
“ 183 are full-bloods, and 138 are ¾ degree of Indian blood. No student is enrolled who
has less than one-fourth degree of Indian blood.”
The “Learn to Earn at Haskell” publication of 1947 lists Nanticoke under the heading
“Tribes Represented”. Another “Learn to Earn at Haskell” publication lists Pamunkey
under the same heading, though a date is not listed. On page 15 of this same publication
it states Haskell’s mission, “Haskell has served as an educational institution for many
years to prepare Indian youth for assimilation into major culture.” Indian youth is the
key phrase here. Pamunkeys and Nanticokes were obviously considered Indian. In the
1955 publication, it lists both tribes under the new, yet same heading, “Representative
Tribes”. Things only become stranger when “The WPA Guide to 1930s Kansas”, which
has no publication date, lists Haskell’s intent.
“Haskell was opened in 1884 as one of three non-reservation boarding schools provided
by an Act of Congress in 1882. The purpose of the institution, according to its founders,
was to ‘provide an opportunity for the American Indian to acquire an education which
would fit him for useful citizenship’.”
Interestingly, Indians were not citizens of the United States until 1924 and for the
Navajos and a few others they were not citizens even at this time. Another publication by
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, entitled “Orienting New Employees in the Branch of
Education” creates a chart on page 14 entitled “Distribution of Indian Population and
Diversity of Living Conditions”. It lists Indians living in states where even the Bureau
does not recognize federal tribes, or only a few. States included in the 1950 list are
Alabama (928), Delaware (0), and Virginia (1,056). O Indians in Delaware? I guess they
40
were all at school in Lawrence, Kansas. Another publication, “Haskell Institute USA”
was written by the Writers’ Sub-Committee of the 75th Anniversary Celebration
Committee and took into account the years between 1884-1959. Enrollment decisions
were summed up on page 12 as follows,
“The decisions on enrollment at Haskell cannot be explained without becoming involved
in detailed criteria. Suffice it to say that a determined effort is made to extend the limited
facilities and opportunities to the individual students who need them most.”
Valid, non-recognized Indian communities are primarily impoverished and well below
the average economic levels of many of their federal counterparts.
1970 Haskell Indian Junior College Catalog is identical to the 2001-2002 version in its
clarity of enrollment procedure.
“Students enrolling at Haskell Indian Junior College must be either (1) an official
member of a tribe eligible for BIA education benefits; or (2) at least one-fourth degree
Indian blood descendant of an enrolled member of a tribe eligible for BIA educations
benefits.”
With a million and one “wannabe” Indian “communities”, corporations, clubs, hobbyists
and others vying for Indian programs, I can understand a restrictive policy. However,
this is completely wrong and unjust when valid non-recognized Indian communities are
not allowed admission. Members of these communities, were as the visiting elders
mentioned, “building blocks for what Haskell has become today and their descendants
should reap the benefits of their sacrifice.” There is no moral justification that will
continue to allow our people to be further discriminated against in this educational
system, which was accessible to our people in former years. In 1955 Marvin C. Johnson
was listed as ½ Indian. At the very least, his children could be ¼ Indian. This fits any
historical criteria for admission. Are we to say that a Haskell alumni’s children who fit
the historical and contemporary guidelines for blood quantum are unable to attend school
at Haskell, even though someone whose blood quantum is 1/2000 and something
currently is? Was this the intent of Haskell’s Indian education program? The Self-Study
Report published by Haskell Indian Junior College in May of 1973 defines the school’s
objectives.
“The goal of Haskell Indian Junior College will be to provide an educational process for
Indian people: the reservation Indian; the urban Indian; the rural Indian; the identity
seeking Indian; the contemporary Indian; the traditional Indian; the educationally,
socially, and the geographically isolated Indian; the full blood Indian; the less than full
blood Indian; the non-English speaking Indian; the English speaking Indian. Haskell
must identify more closely with the Indian communities.”
We paid the price alongside the others. Why now have our own people left us outside the
circle?”
41
Prior to this engagement with Stephanie Birdwell, a meeting with the now President of
Haskell, Chris Redman was also undertaken at the BIE offices in Oklahoma City, as well
as the before mentioned visit to Haskell. This visit included those with direct experience
with this issue from their viewpoints as elder tribal leaders and former Haskell and
boarding school attendees. Dr. John Edwards (former Governor of the Absentee
Shawnee Tribe), Tewanna Edwards (Chickasaw/Choctaw and niece of Choctaw Code
Talker Otis Leader) and Chief Kenneth Adams (Upper Mattaponi) made the trip to
Lawrence, Kansas with me to show the administration the alumni interview videos and
documentation from the eight tribes involved. The former Haskell President called in
sick just minutes before the meeting, leaving her staff to fulfill her commitment. Like
usual, everything was cordial and professional. Ideas were exchanged and since that time
nothing else has transpired, with the exception of an email contact from one Haskell staff
member who agreed with our stance. However, the staff member asked us to hold off a
while as the school was working through turmoil at the time and our issue would have to
be dealt with at a later date. Numerous emails, phone calls and mailings have rarely been
replied to and when a reply existed it was only to inform us that things were moved on to
another level of bureaucracy. One email from the Haskell librarian remarked about what
a useful research tool the website was that we had posted in January of that same year
and shared with the entire faculty, administration and staff of both Haskell and Bacone.
Aside from this, there was nothing else forthcoming. It seems our elders and legacy are
not a priority. This seems highly ironic, as the Haskell President at the time, Dr. Linda
Warner, had this to say about alumni and legacy in a Diverse Online article march 28,
2008 22: 32 Returning Home by Patricia Valdata www.diverseeducation.com.
“As part of our tribute to female college presidents, Diverse talks with Dr. Linda Warner,
president of Haskell Indian Nations Unversity…..DI: What was the appeal of this
position? LW: It was kind of like returning home for me. I had worked here in
admissions for five years. My children and mother attended Haskell. I want my
grandchildren to attend the school as well.”
So that translates to us as, “but not your grandchildren.”
All Boarding School alumni were in agreement that all of these decisions to prohibit our
full participation were improper. Mrs. Birdwell did not have any knowledge of these
state-recognized communities or their histories of boarding school attendance. Now, I
realize that until the HELP website went up and this book came out, the majority of
people within Indian Country did not understand this history due to ignorance not malice,
but as an administrator for the federal Indian education program I don’t find this
acceptable.
But the complex set of personalities guiding these decisions and the dysfunctional
relationship evident between the BIE, BIA and Haskell were surfacing.
HINU leader bypassed for Indian bureau post Lawrence Journal World 5/8/10
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By Mark Fagan
May 8, 2010
The president of Haskell Indian Nations University won’t be going to Washington to
serve as director of the Bureau of Indian Education.
Linda Warner, one of several finalists for the job that oversees Haskell, learned Friday
that the director’s job would go to Keith Moore, chief diversity officer for the University
of South Dakota.
Moore starts his new job June 1.
“Keith Moore has served Indian country as a dedicated educational administrator for
many years,” said Larry Echo Hawk, the U.S. assistant secretary for Indian affairs, in a
statement announcing the hiring. “I will rely on him as part of my senior management
team as we move forward to improve the quality of education in Indian country.”
While Warner retains the title of president at Haskell, she has been working off campus
since September. The bureau detailed her to a temporary assignment at Southwestern
Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, N.M., before being sent in January to a
regional bureau office in Oklahoma City.
Contacted at the office Friday, Warner said she could not comment on Moore’s hiring,
citing instructions from her boss to not speak to the media. Warner’s boss, Stephanie
Birdwell, the bureau’s deputy director for policy evaluation and postsecondary education,
said this week that the new bureau director would determine whether Warner would
remain as Haskell president, or whether someone else would take over.
Thursday, members of Haskell’s Board of Regents approved a resolution declaring a vote
of “no confidence” in Warner. The regents threw support behind Haskell’s acting
president, Venida Chenault, to continue serving as president until a permanent president
could be chosen.
Haskell’s leadership situation has been a point of concern for U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, RKan., and other members of the state’s congressional delegation, who have met with
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to push for answers regarding finances, personnel issues
and other matters at the Lawrence campus.
In a statement, Salazar said he was “pleased” with Echo Hawk’s “efforts to strengthen his
management team” by hiring Moore. Moore has been chief diversity officer at South
Dakota since August of last year. During the previous four years, he worked as Indian
education director for the South Dakota State Department of Education.
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The Bureau of Indian Education oversees Haskell and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic
Institute, and administers financing for 183 elementary and other American Indian
schools that provide education for 42,000 students.”
It seems now that the culturally non-Indian Stephanie Birdwell was now the decision
maker for the identifiable Comanche Dr. Linda Warner. Does this sound familiar to
anyone in Indian Country?
So did Stephanie Birdwell’s response letter to us have to do with her “tribe’s” stance
against state-recognized tribes, inner Haskell University turmoil, blatant ignorance or a
correlation of the three? Was Dr. Linda Warner’s failure to meet with us related to BIE
intervention or was she truly sick enough to leave elders who traveled a great distance to
meet with her without her consultation? After receiving this response letter, three letters
seeking admission to Haskell were sent by the descendants of two former BIE funded
school student’s children and grandchildren as well as a former Haskell Institute graduate
herself. There has been no response to all three inquiries despite repeated attempts
through email, phone calls and mailings to have the issue addressed.
In another meeting related to Haskell in 2010 which occurred at the Indian Health Service
complex in Oklahoma City, alumni once again stated support of all Haskell alumni and a
belief that the former attendee’s tribal community members should be able to attend. The
moderator spoke directly to me when he said that he would not be able to answer any of
the questions I posed as he was there solely to listen. It was clear that the BIE staff there,
which included Chris Redman, were clearly uncomfortable with my remarks and the
voluminous proof that I brought along with me. The theme of the event was posted on
the Haskell website as,
“The Bureau of Indian Education in collaboration with Haskell Indian Nations
University and the Haskell Indian National Board of Regents will be facilitating a series
of regional dialogue and informational sessions….”
The purpose of the dialogue and information sharing sessions is to:
- Share successes, accomplishments, and challenges faced by students and alumni
of Haskell
- Listen and learn from students, alumni, tribal leaders, program managers,
educators, national organizations, and potential partners how Haskell graduates
have strengthened tribal government and economic development in Indian
Country.
Well, we were able to share, but it is clear that no learning was taking place. I guess the,
“if I act like it is not happening, then it is not happening” moniker has been firmly
utilized. When a Haskell Institute graduate seeks admission to Haskell Indian Nations
University and cannot receive a response, I think we have hit rock bottom in terms of
federal malfeasance. Odette Wright, the graduate spoken of, is the director of the
Nanticoke tribal museum, a Haskell grad, someone the BIA listed as ½ Indian by blood
and an elder. Shouldn’t that qualify her to pursue a bachelor’s degree? I guess that is
44
not enough to garner a response from the feds. Common mainstream professionalism
would at least ensure a form letter denial of some type was produced.
And the Warner, Birdwell, Redman flip flop continued.
Lawrence Journal World
By Mark Fagan
May 20, 2010
Chris Redman is back for a second term leading Haskell Indian Nations University.
Redman returned last week as acting president for the four-year school for American
Indians in Lawrence. His appointment is expected to run through summer school, for
which the university has a record enrollment of about 300 students.Redman splits his
time between the Haskell campus and a regional Bureau of Indian Affairs office in
Oklahoma City, where his duties as an education specialist include working with 37 tribal
colleges supported by the bureau.
Linda Warner retains the title of Haskell president, although she has not worked on
campus since September. She remains detailed to a temporary posting at the bureau’s
office in Oklahoma City.
Redman first served as Haskell’s acting president after Warner was sent to handle
accrediting work at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, N.M.; that
duty ended in December, just before Warner was sent to Oklahoma City.
Late last year, the acting president’s role at Haskell had gone temporarily to Dan Wildcat,
the school’s vice president for academic affairs. Venida Chenault, vice president for
university services, served as acting president from January until last week.
Haskell’s Board of Regents voted May 6 to express “no confidence” in Warner, and to
instead support Chenault as acting president until a new president could be appointed.
The Bureau of Indian Education isn’t expected to decide on who should be Haskell
president until after Keith Moore starts work as bureau director, effective June 1.
Redman attended this month’s meeting of Haskell’s regents in Lawrence, but deferred
questions to Stephanie Birdwell, the bureau official who oversees Haskell and approved
Redman’s latest posting as acting president.
Haskell’s leadership situation has been among several issues that have drawn the concern
of U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and U.S. Reps. Lynn Jenkins, RKan., and Dennis Moore, D-Kan.
45
Earlier this year the lawmakers sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, decrying
what appeared to be “no clear line of authority” at either Haskell or the bureau, a
situation that had led to “chaos and confusion to the detriment of HINU employees and
the students, who are our primary concern.”
Surely Warner, Redman, Birdwell and other BIE reps never discussed the concerns of the
HELP project privately, wink, wink. It was all above board I am sure. Especially in
light of how supportive all three were in terms of supporting these disenfranchised
communities initially.
A first step towards reconciliation and responsibility should begin with education and the
institutions which promote it. When our educational institutions cannot own up to their
own historical realities how can we possibly expect lawmakers to be responsible? It
seems I have more questions than answers.
So with former boarding school attendees from federal tribes lining up in support of their
former friends and classmates, such as former Absentee Shawnee Tribal Governor John
Edwards and his wife Tee, an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation and of Choctaw
descent, it made no difference. We will always be indebted to these two as well as
countless numbers of others. But where ever there exists a John and Tee there also exists
a David and Richard. In 2007, I was approached by Dr. Richard Allen, a Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma citizen and Navajo Nation citizen (but that is another story alltogether), who amongst other comments told me that Bacone was not an Indian school
and these tribe’s attendance at the school did not validate them as Indians. This was also
explained by another Cherokee citizen and self-defined Cherokee Nationalist David
Cornsilk in a telephone call in 2008, as well as in an on-line posting and then solicited
subsequent emails to me in 2010. Aside from the clearly racist propaganda of his speech,
which only serves to further invalidate his position to any one of a rational nature, his
green eyes, light skin and light hair further complicate the issue. The perceived inherent
superiority of the individuals making the statements is at best laughable, but more so
highly irresponsible. David’s outside appearance is the epitomy of white entitlement in
his daily life, yet he continues to manifest himself as a “super Indian”, “judge of Indian
identity” and “guardian of the Indian” in his cyberspace world. A posting in Indian
Country Today concerning an article written about the state-recognized Houma tribe in
Louisiana and their struggles with the former hurricanes and now the devastating Gulf oil
spill decries an all-time low in judgment.
State recognized tribes face greater oil spill risks
By Rob Capriccioso
Story Published: Jun 4, 2010
46
3:40 PM David Cornsilk wrote ...
If these groups the state of Louisiana so freely call tribes actually had proof of tribal
identity, they would have been recognized by the federal governments. While some, like
the Houma, do descend from an Indian or two, most are nothing more than social and
fraturnal organizations that are not tribes and are not made up of Indians. I direct anyone
with questions about these groups to read their petitions for federal recognition and the
reasons for their denial. The federal government should do whatever is necessary to hold
BP accountable and provide assistance to those negatively impacted by the oil spill. But
the government should not allow these culture clubs to use this horrific ecological
disaster as a springboard to an undeserved federal status.
David formerly worked for Bacone College which further ensures his statements to be
self-serving in promoting his continual agenda. He clearly understands the Indian
identity and history of Bacone which are illustrated in the coming quotes. Worse, some
of his own blood relatives are enrolled members of the MOWA Band of Choctaw
Indians, who he claims are not Indians. Dr. Richard Allen is discussed later in the book in
the Chapter dedicated to the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
In another student developed book for Haskell which lists no date of publication, but is
contained in the archival section of the university, author Mary Louise Morris wrote a
description of Bacone College that stated, “ Bacone is the only institution of higher
learning in Oklahoma exclusively for Indians…”
p. 75 “For Indian children to get a high school education, they had to leave the state.
Some went to Oklahoma, where they attended Bacone College in Muskogee….”
-from They Say the Wind Is Red
From the book Boarding School Blues; Revisiting American Indian Educational
Experiences
Edited and with an introduction by Clifford E. Trafzer, Jean A. Keller, and Lorene
Sisquoc, University of Nebraska Press, 2006
p. 235 For many years now, American Indian students have attended certain schools, and
over time their families have developed a loyalty to Sherman, Haskell, Chemawa,
Riverside, Bacone, Hampton and other schools.”
From Indian Orphanages Marilyn Irvin Holt University Press of Kansas 2001
p. 207
“Between 1920 and 1925 almost $1 million filled Bacone’s endowment fund. In light of
Indian victimization at the hands of guardians, attorneys, and Oklahoma probate courts,
Commissioner of Indian Affairs Burke endorsed Bacone’s plan.”
p. 156
.. spurred on by Reverend Joseph S. Murrow, a major figure in Baptist mission work in
Indian Territory. Murrow was a board trustee for Indian University (later known as
47
Bacone), which was first located in the Cherokee Nation and then relocated to the Creek
Nation through Murrow’s persistent efforts to gain Creek approval and monetary
support.”
p. 172
…was the American Baptist college of Bacone Indian University. First established at
Tahlequah in 1879, the school was known as Indian University. The Baptist goal was to
have a university for all Indians, although in its early years the offerings were equivalent
to a high school curriculum. The Reverend Almon C. Bacone, for whom the school was
named, was among the organizers and the first president; Joseph Murrow was president
of the board of trustees. The school was moved from the Cherokee Nation to Muskogee
when the Creek Nation agreed in 1881 to give land, money for construction, and funds
for student support.”
p. 177
“ Alexander Lawrence Posey, as just one example, served for a short time as Creek
Orphan Home superintendent. Called the “Creek Poet” for his literary prowess, he was
educated at Indian University [Bacone] and was a member of the House of Warriors, the
lower branch of the Creek legislature.”
p. 67 from Going Indian
“These different kinds of schools-subscription, national, Christian, boarding, and publicdo not in any way exhaust the educational experiences reported in the interviews. Many
of the people finished high school in one of these systems and went on to Indian colleges
like Bacone or Henry Kendall College in Muskogee….”
If Bacone was not an Indian school somebody better tell all the Indians, because until
1951 no whites were even allowed attendance. (article from Muskogee Phoenix). And at
this time an into the sixties blacks were still prohibited from attending which makes both
David Cornsilk and Richard Allen’s statements about MOWA Choctaw and other “nonfederal” Indians being black pretty self-serving to say the least. If they were black, they
could not have attended under any circumstance. But these gentleman are invested in
years and years of a failed hypothesis and at their advanced ages, the old cliché, “you
can’t teach an old dog new tricks” certainly comes into play; with “tricks” being the
appropriate word.
But the reality of boarding school was not exclusive to these eight state tribes.
Communities in North Carolina and Louisiana also attended Indian boarding schools.
Though these schools were not formally operated by the federal government and did not
educate members of federal tribes like Bacone, Haskell and Cherokee did, they were
nonetheless recognized officially as Indian schools by both the feds and the state in which
they were established. I quote liberally to give a full understanding to the reader of the
situation within North Carolina:
48
“In 1971 the State of North Carolina proposed tearing down the Old Main building at
Pembroke State University (now the University of North Carolina at Pembroke). Old
Main, built in the 1920s, is the oldest surviving building at the school, which began as a
place to educate American Indian students and opened through the efforts of WaccamawSiouan educator W. L. Moore in 1887 as the Croatan Normal School. The building for
many years served as a gathering place for plays, meetings, and funerals for the Lumbee
Indian community. Lumbee educator Danford Dial protested the idea of destroying the
building by picketing with a large stop sign, starting a petition, and appealing to school
and state administrators. Dial wanted the building preserved because “our modern
education among the Lumbee Indians started with Old Main graduates . . . these people
really did lay the foundation for Indian education all over the county, in the various
Indian communities, and Indian centers. And to me, I thought this had a reason for
making Old Main a historical building and a historical site.” Eventually, many outside the
Lumbee community came to understand the importance of Old Main as a symbol of the
history of Indian education in North Carolina, and the building was restored. The
academic Department of American Indian Studies, organized later, is currently housed in
the building. American Indians felt the importance of preserving Old Main as a symbol
of education far beyond the Lumbee community, in communities such as the Coharie,
Haliwa-Saponi, Sappony, and Waccamaw-Siouan. The school opened as a place to train
Lumbee teachers, but those who graduated with normal (or teaching) degrees after 1928
also went out to teach in other Indian communities. Although these other communities
had schools, in many instances beginning in the mid-1800s, the schools often had
had no Indian teachers. The system of segregation in North Carolina and other places in
the United States mandated that students of different racial groups attend separate
schools. The Office of Archives and History, N.C. Department of Cultural Resources
Croatan Normal School trained additional Indian instructors who were hired to teach at
segregated Indian schools. The Sappony tribe in Person County, North Carolina, and
Halifax County, Virginia, also founded a school in 1887, holding classes in a church
building. In 1888 the school moved to a new building on land donated by tribal member
Green Martin. A later school, the High Plains Indian School, located in Person County,
took in students from Halifax County, Virginia, when that state refused to support a
school for the Sappony. The High Plains Indian School closed when the Person County
school system desegregated in 1962. Some schools in smaller Indian communities in
eastern North Carolina did grant high school diplomas, but many did not. The law
required that Indian education in the segregated system be equal to that of the white
community, but in reality, the local, county, and state governments often underfunded
Indian education. To help Indian students gain a full high school education, the state
opened the East Carolina Indian School in 1942 in the Coharie Indian community of
Sampson and Harnett counties. This school was proposed as a boarding school where
students from the Coharie, Sappony, and Waccamaw-Siouan tribes could earn a high
school diploma. The money that the state provided to build the school did not include
funds for a dormitory to house students, so families in the Coharie community boarded
the students in their homes. This school graduated students from seven North Carolina
counties until 1965, when the schools in Sampson County desegregated. The U.S.
49
Supreme Court ruled in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka [Kansas], that
segregation was unconstitutional and must end “with all deliberate speed.” North
Carolina used a school choice program called the Pearsall Plan to avoid real
desegregation. This program allowed communities to start schools with state money if
their local school desegregated. During the wrangling over segregation and
desegregation, the Haliwa-Saponi tribe in Halifax and Warren counties pushed to
establish a school in a system where there were only schools for black and white students.
Under the leadership of Chief W. R. Richardson, the Haliwa-Saponi started a private
school using the Pearsall Plan. The school was eventually merged into the Warren
County school system, and closed following countywide desegregation in 1969.
By the early 1970s, education in North Carolina was no longer segregated by race, and
the American Indian schools closed. Indians lost these community centers, as local
control of schools passed to the counties. The Cherokee in the Mountains maintained
their federally supported school on the Qualla Boundary reservation, while Cherokee
students living in outlying communities attended local public schools. Today, many
former Indian school buildings have been transformed into commu-nity centers and tribal
offices, but the Haliwa-Saponi school building in Hollister is being used as a school
again. The tribe in August 2000 opened a state charter school that integrates Indian
culture into the basic curriculum.
Croatan Normal School is now known as the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
The school began granting four-year college degrees for Indian students in 1940. From
1940 to 1953, it was the only state-supported four-year college for Indians in the United
States. In 1954 the school desegregated completely, and in 1972, as Pembroke State
University, it became part of the new University of North Carolina System. The General
Assembly passed a law in 2005 that designates the university as “North Carolina’s
Historically American Indian University.” The first Lumbee leader of the college was
English E. Jones, president 1962–1972 and chancellor 1972–1979. Indian education in
North Carolina has come a long way since the Coharie began a subscription school—
where parents paid tuition to the teacher for educating their children—in their Sampson
County community in 1859. There are now many more American Indian professionals,
many of whom attended segregated schools, including Dorothy Stewart Crowe
(Sappony), a member of the N.C. Advisory Council on Indian Education; Dr. Louise C.
Maynor (Lumbee), the chairperson of the N.C. Advisory Council on Indian Education;
and Dr. Ruth Dial Woods (Lumbee), a former member of the University of North
Carolina Board of Governors. American Indians in North Carolina remain concerned
about education in their communities and continue to remember the hard-fought battles
won so that Indian youth could receive a good education. The Old Main building still
stands, a reminder of that history of education. As Lumbee activist Janie Maynor
Locklear has said, “This building is very definitely a part of our heritage, our culture, our
very being, and our very beginning.”
At the time of this article’s publication, Jefferson Currie II was an assistant curator at the
N.C. Museum of History. He is a member of the state’s Lumbee tribe and has done much
research on American Indian history
50
Laying the Foundation: (page 1-3)
American Indian Education in North Carolina
By Jefferson Currie II
From Tar Heel Junior Historian 45:1 (fall 2005).
Page 3
3
©2006 North Carolina Museum of History
Office of Archives and History, N.C. Department of Cultural Resources
The Houma experience while not identical is still indicative of the boarding schools.
Dove Verret, an enrolled member of the United Houma Nation and my aunt clearly
remembers her boarding school experience:
“I attended three schools. They would hit us for speaking our language. They were mean
to us. Eventually a threw a teacher of a desk when I was thirteen and I was removed
from the school. Years later they had a reunion at our school in Houma. All the old
teachers and administrators and our own people were there. People were trying to be
polite and give out things to them. After listening to it for a little while I stood up and
said what really happened. I let them know how they hurt our people.” “The BIA built
us a school down Houma way, but that was before my time. It lasted a few years and
then the funds run out.”
(Interview December 2006, Dove Verret)
On March 19, 2008 a draft organizational letter was sent out to the eighteen “nonfederal” south and eastern tribal communities who occupied historic state recognized
reservations and/or attended all-Indian boarding schools in order to bring these
communities together for a meeting concerning the treatment of their legacy by federal
bureaucrats and a minority of federal tribes. Though the gathering of this entire group
did not occur due to a variety of factors, the eight boarding school tribes, three of which
also occupied state reservations, did gather together and we have continued our
association based on our shared and concurrent experience. The Haskell Endangered
Legacy Project located at www.helphaskell.com is the legacy of this historic meeting.
Our last mailed correspondence to Haskell concerning the enrollment of the three
applicants with historic ties to Haskell was sent on August 5, 2009 to the Haskell
Enrollment Office. We were assured in two subsequent phone calls that we would
receive word on these applications. The staff was always positive in tone and willingness
to review these documents in each case, but we understand the BIE has blocked
everything. And this is where the chapter closes.
51
FEDERAL “RECOGNITION”
52
The Chief of the Alabama Choctaw, Wilford Taylor spoke on the difficulties facing the
MOWA Choctaw before the United States House of Representatives’ Committee on
Resources on March 31, 2004.
“… Thank you for granting me the opportunity to testify on the federal
recognition and acknowledgement process by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
The Choctaw Indians of Mobile and Washington Counties, Alabama (MOWA)
are the descendants of American Indians who occupied this territory prior to European
discovery. We selected the acronym, MOWA, to represent our modern day geographic
location. We live in an area transected by the county line between south Washington and
north Mobile Counties. Although the State of Alabama legislature officially recognized
the MOWA Choctaw as a tribe in 1979, and an official recognition proposal was
approved by a U.S. Senate committee in 1991, the Bureau of Indian Affairs later denied
our petition for Federal acknowledgement.
The criteria for Federal acknowledgement, which a petitioning community must
satisfy, was designed to provide a uniform and objective review. However, the immense
latitude granted to and demonstrated by the agency in its evaluation of the evidence
submitted has clearly yielded arbitrary and subjective decisions. One example is the
radically different standards applied in evaluating the petitions of the MOWA Choctaw
and Jena Choctaw. The oral histories of our venerated elders were discounted as
“allegations” while the oral histories of the Jena Choctaw were described as even more
reliable than written records. Identical types of written documentation that were required
to produce for the BIA were characterized as an impossible and unreasonable expectation
for the Jena Choctaw. Our petitions were evaluated within just months of each other. In
all fairness, the same criteria should have been applied.
The Federal recognition process was designed to take two years, but in reality, the
process often places a petitioning group in an endless “loop” of research and expense
that, for most tribes is overwhelming. It took seven years for our initial petition to be
processed. It took ten years for the final determination report. If you include the years
needed to undertake the research the BIA requires for documentation and our continued
fight today, my people are in the twenty-third year of this process.
Although it is obviously not practical for me to present to you today my tribe’s
entire struggle with the recognition process, it is spelled out in detail in my written
testimony. Therefore, please allow me to share with you just a few comments of
independent experts from across the country regarding our failed effort to achieve
recognition.
In the words of well-known and renowned Native American legal scholar and
member of the Standing Rock Sioux, Professor Vine Deloria, Jr. writes ‘The Federal
acknowledgement process today is confused, unfair, and riddled with inconsistencies.
Much of the confusion is due to the insistence that Indian communities meet strange
53
criteria which, if applied to all Indian nations when they sought to confirm a Federal
relationship, would have disqualified the vast majority of presently recognized groups.
He further writes, ‘The MOWA Choctaws have a typical profile for Southeastern Indians.
Their credentials are solid and the historical data that identifies them as Indians extends
back to the days when they were integral villages in the Choctaw Nation…..the
fragmentation of the Five Civilized Tribes before, during and after Removal makes their
history a fascinating story of persistence and survival but certainly does not eliminate
them from the groups of people that should rightfully be recognized as Indians.’
The federal acknowledgement process was originally designed to be fair, objective and
neutral. Today, the process is dehumanizing and insulting. As American Indians, we are
the only people in this country who have to prove to the United States government who
we are. I strongly believe that as long as the BIA has the power to serve as judge,
advocate or adversary, the issues we discuss today will never be resolved and the
recognition process will continue to be widely held in contempt.
Thank you.”ii
Dr. Richard W. Stoffle, Ph.D., an anthropologist from the University of Arizona
wrote to us in response to the BIA decision to deny recognition saying, ‘I can only
express my deepest disappointment in the BIA’s decision. As someone who has
reviewed your petition at length and has talked with your elders, there is no just argument
against recognizing your status as an American Indian tribe… After working for 27 years
with more than 80 American Indian tribes, it is my considered opinion that the MOWA
Choctaw people are a persistent tribal society. It is difficult for me to understand how
that point could have been missed by the BIA.’
Dr. Kenneth York, Ph. D. and Member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw
Indians, after critical review of our evidence writes, ‘It is my belief as a member of
MBCI that members of the MOWA Band are descendants of the Great Choctaw Nation
which was disbanded by the U.S. Government during the Indian Removal Period. It is
my professional opinion that the MOWA Band has provided documentation regarding the
history, culture, and ancestral relationship as well, if not better, as any tribal petition in
recent years.’
Dr. Loretta A. Cormier, Ph.D., an anthropologist at the University of Alabama at
Birmingham recently wrote, ‘As you are well aware, I have had the opportunity to work
among the MOWA Choctaw over the course of the last three years and have researched
your cultural history. Let me say unequivocally that I have no doubt that the MOWA
Choctaw are an American Indian community. I am astounded by the BIA’s denial of
your Federal recognition and find the technical report they prepared to be seriously
flawed in terms of its historical, cultural, and even logical analysis of MOWA Choctaw
history.’
The work and words of these individuals, and many other informed professionals,
54
should provide ample support to prove that the BIA’s recognition process is, flawed and
riddled with inconsistencies. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, as a federal government
agency, has a duty to make decisions on a rational basis, which are neither arbitrary nor
capricious. I find it quite disturbing that the BIA can selectively ‘pick’ and ‘choose’ the
evidence it uses to deny a petition and, at the same time, not even consider, or in fact,
totally and completely disregard stronger, more solid and compelling evidence that it
normally uses as support to acknowledge other tribes.
What were the factors? How had a distinct and identifiable Indian community
been denied its inherent rights? The mystery was no mystery at all. It existed in the
greed of old allies and even older family. Their neighbors had undermined them, while
all the while smiling in their face.
This is a reality shared by the Lumbee in North Carolina as well. Experts on Indian
history are refuted unless the expert agrees with the views of the Office of Federal
Acknowledgment and the gaming lobbyists which control national Indian politics. Dr.
Jack Campisi and noted expert in Indian studies made the following comments before the
United States House of Representatives Committee on Resources,
DR. JACK CAMPISI
Associate Professor, Wellesley College, retired
researcher for the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina
Testimony
Before the Committee on Resources
United States House of Representatives
Legislative hearing on H.R.898, "To provide for the recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of
North Carolina, and for other purposes."
April 1, 2004
“The Lumbees made frequent attempts over the course of the next fifty years to
receive assistance from the United States. In 1899, Congressman John D. Bellamy
introduced legislation to provide educational assistance for the Croatan Indians (as the
Lumbees were then called). Again, in 1910 and 1911, legislation was introduced in
Congress to change the Tribe's name and to establish ". . . a school for the Indians of
Robeson County, North Carolina." To secure information on the Tribe, the Indian Office
sent Charles F. Pierce, Supervisor of Indian Schools, to investigate. He reported
favorably on the Tribe, finding ". . . a large majority as being at least three-fourths
Indian."' He described them as being law abiding and industrious and "crazy on the
subject of education." Pierce had no doubt that the Lumbees were Indians, or that they
were a tribe. Nor did he doubt that federal educational assistance would be beneficial.
He opposed the legislation because, in his words, "[a]t the present time it is the avowed
policy of the government to require states having an Indian population to assume the
burden and responsibility for their education, so far as is possible." After lengthy
deliberations, the bill passed the Senate, but not the House, because the chairman of
the House committee felt that the Lumbees were eligible to attend the various Indian
55
boarding schools…….”
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has a provision in place which disallows the Lumbee from
going through the federal acknowledgment process. Their petition through this process
would surely fail as the Director of the Office of Federal Acknowledgment’s “tribal”
nation has actively sought to stop their attempts at federal recognition in solidarity with
the North Carolina based Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
OFA even shows in its own publications that the current corrupt and highly influenced
process they subscribe to is ineffectual,
[Federal Register: May 23, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 101)]
[Notices]
[Page 30146-30148]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23my08-92]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Office of Federal Acknowledgment; Guidance and Direction
Regarding Internal Procedures
AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
56
SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs of the Department of
the Interior is providing guidance and direction to Office of Federal
Acknowledgment (OFA) staff for managing recurring administrative and
technical problems in processing petitions for Federal acknowledgment.
This guidance and direction does not amend the acknowledgment
regulations at 25 CFR part 83.
DATES: Effective Date: The guidance and direction defined by this
notice are effective on May 23, 2008.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: R. Lee Fleming, Director, Office of
Federal Acknowledgment, MS 34B-SIB, 1951 Constitution Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20240, telephone (202) 513-7650.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Introduction
The Department publishes this notice in the exercise of authority
under 43 U.S.C. 1457, 25 U.S.C. 2 and 9, 5 U.S.C. 552(a), 5 U.S.C. 301,
and under the exercise of authority that the Secretary of the Interior
delegated to the Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs (Assistant
Secretary) by 209 Department Manual 8.
This notice supplements the notice published in the Federal
Register (70 FR 16513) on March 31, 2005, entitled ``Office of Federal
Acknowledgment, Reports and Guidance Documents, Availability, etc.''
This notice provides the OFA with guidance and direction regarding
management of recurring administrative or technical problems in
processing petitions for Federal acknowledgment. This guidance and
direction is based on interpretation of the acknowledgment regulations.
57
This guidance and direction does not change the acknowledgment
regulations, but will assist in making the process more streamlined and
efficient, and improve the timeliness and transparency of the process.
The expedited process for reservation based tribes is also nonsense, as there are currently
tribes which meet this criteria as OFA describes it, yet they have no recourse and
certainly are not having their petitions expedited. If this were the case, communities such
as the Eastern Pequot, Schagticoke, Poospatuck, Pamunkey, MOWA Choctaw and
Mattaponi would already be “recognized”. The recent Shinnecock decision in 2010 is no
proof of a working process for historic reservation tribes. The Shinnecock needed thirtytwo years, millions of dollars in gaming backers funding and a federal lawsuit prior to
their current positive determination.
IV. Expedited Processing
If a preliminary review indicates that the group appears to meet
criteria 83.7(e), 83.7(f), and 83.7(g), subject to a full review under
the criteria on active consideration, OFA should recommend a waiver of
the priority provisions in the regulations to move to the top of the
``Ready'' list (1) any group that can show residence and association on
a state Indian reservation continuously for the past 100 years, or, (2)
any group that voted in a special election called by the Secretary of
the Interior under section 18 of the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA)
between 1934 and 1936, provided that the voting Indian group did not
organize under the IRA. This waiver of the priority provisions should
be recommended only if a preliminary review indicates that a
predominant portion of the group's current members appears to descend
from a representative portion of persons on a 1910 or earlier
governmental or tribal list of the residents of the State reservation,
or that a predominant portion of the group's current members appears to
descend from a representative portion of a list of voters on the IRA.
This provision is for purposes of priority placement on the ``Ready''
58
list and does not revise the required evaluation under the criteria.
Dated: May 16, 2008.
Carl J. Artman,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. E8-11603 Filed 5-22-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-G1-P
OFA continuously states that their process for acknowledgment is needed to prevent
fraudulent tribes from gaining access to a government-to-government relationship with
the United States. They say that state recognition criteria is far less scrutinizing in its
regulations. As an example I am going to list the current regulations established by the
Alabama Indian Affairs Commission in regards to the recognition of tribes. This process
has not recognized a tribe since 1980, while the federal process certainly has. To me, as
there have been numerous claimants and petitioners for state recognition in Alabama
since 1980, this clearly proves that the state recognition process, in at least Alabama, is
actually more impenetrable then the federal process. Like the Office of Federal
Acknowledgment’s relationship with Congressional recognition, there have been two
tribes recognized in Alabama since 1980 that did not meet the regulations as set forth by
the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission. These tribes went to the state legislature,
which would be the equivalent of a federal petitioner being recognized through the
Congress, as opposed to the BIA. The regulatory guidelines are as follows:
Alabama Indian Affairs Commission
Administrative Code
Chapter 475-X-3
Procedures and Criteria for the Recognition
of Indian Tribes, Bands, or Groups
Table of Contents
475-X-3-.01
475-X-3-.02
475-X-3-.03
Procedures for Recognition
Types of Recognition
Criteria for Recognition as a Tribe, Band or Group
475-X-3-.01
Procedure for Recognition
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(1)
Petitioner shall submit to the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission a
petition requesting state recognition which contains the information described below.
The petition must indicate the type of recognition sought as specified in Rule No. 475-X3-.02 of these regulations.
(2)
A decision in favor of recognition must be rendered by a three-fourths
(3/4) majority vote of the commission members. The time period in which the
commission may process and render a decision on the petition shall not exceed fifteen
(15) months from the date of receipt of application by the commission.
(3)
A decision of denial may be timely appealed. Such appeal for
reconsideration must be made not later than 30 days from the date of the commission
decision. The request for reconsideration shall specify one of the following categories:
(a)
Appeal with New and/or Additional Evidence:
1.
Petitioner shall prepare an appeal of petition which presents new or
additional evidence not previously presented to the commission for consideration.
Petitioner shall have 90 days from the date of the request for reconsideration within
which to submit said new or additional evidence.
(b)
Appeal without New and/or Additional Evidence:
1.
Petitioner shall prepare an appeal of petition stating specifically why the
commission should reconsider its decision. Petitioner shall have 30 days from the date of
request for reconsideration to present its case for reconsideration.
(c)
In either of the above situations, the petitioner appellant must be afforded
a hearing within 90 days of receipt of such documentation as stated in (a) and (b) above.
The commission shall thereafter render its decision not more than fifteen (15) months
from the date of such meeting.
(d)
475-X-3-.02
All notices called for shall be in writing by certified or registered mail.
Types of Recognition
(1)
An “Indian Tribe, Band, or Group” is a population of Indian people related
to one another by blood through their Indian ancestry, tracing their heritage to an Indian
tribe, band, or group indigenous to Alabama. No splinter groups, political factions,
communities or groups of any character which separate from the main body of a tribe,
band, or group currently recognized by the State of Alabama may be considered for
recognition by the Commission.
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(a) Splinter groups are ineligible to make application for state recognition.
Splinter groups are defined in the Glossary for the recognition criteria as “an individual
member/former member or group of members/former members who have relinquished
membership in a federal or state recognized Indian entity to start or participate in a
parallel or similar Indian entity.”
(b) A group, as a religious sect or a political faction that has broken away from a
parent group.
475-X-3-.03
(1)
Criteria for Recognition as a Tribe, Band or Group.
Petitioner must meet all criteria as specified in this section.
(2)
Petitioner must present a list of at least five hundred (500) members who
reside in the state of Alabama, of the tribe, band, or group (list must be inclusive by name
and physical address), unless the requirement is waived by affirmative vote of threefourths (3/4) of the membership of the commission.
(3)
Petitioner must present evidence that each of its members is a descendant
of individuals recognized as Indian members of an historical Alabama tribe, band, or
group found on rolls compiled by the federal government or otherwise identified on other
official records or documents. Copies of ancestry charts with certified copies of birth
certificates or other official documents that clearly link petitioner to ancestor for each
member must accompany the petition. Each chart must bear the notarized signature of the
individual to whom it pertains.
(4)
Petitioner must present satisfactory evidence that its members form a
kinship group whose Indian ancestors were related by blood and such ancestors were
members of a tribe, band, or group indigenous to Alabama. This evidence may be the
equivalent of the ancestry charts required in Section 3 above.
(5)
The petitioner must swear or affirm the following:
(a)
No individual holding or eligible for membership in a federally or state
recognized tribe, band or group may be accepted for membership in the petitioning
group.
NOTE: This requirement is for the protection of members of federally or state
recognized tribes who might otherwise forfeit services by becoming members of a nonrecognized tribal group.
(6)
Evidence must be presented that the petitioning tribe, band or group has
been identified with a tribe, band, or group or Indian community from historical times
(200 years) until the present as “American Indian” and has a currently functioning
governing body.
61
(a)
Ancestry charts must be verified and approved by written
acknowledgement of a Certified Genealogist (CSL) who is a non-member of the
petitioning tribe, band, group or Indian community.
(b)
credentials.
Genealogist must submit a copy of current licensure and documentation of
(c)
Tribal history is a requirement. It may be prepared and written by the
tribe, but it must be validated by a certified historian and/or anthropologist.
(d)
Historian must submit a resume’ of prior work along with documentation
of credentials.
(7)
Petitioner must include a statement bearing the notarized signatures of the
three highest ranking officers of the petitioning tribe, band, or group certifying that to the
best of their knowledge and belief all information contained therein is true and accurate.
Authors: Criteria Committee modified and adopted by the Alabama Indian Affairs
Commission.
Statutory Authority: Code of Ala 1975, § 41-9-702.
History: Adopted 6/5/03
As anyone can see, these regulations are no less strenuous then the federal process.
Attempting to invalidate a state recognition process such as this is pure political
maneuvering on the part of the Office of Federal Acknowledgment in order to place
themselves as power brokers in terms of identity recognition.
But first all concerned need to understand that federal recognition does not determine
Indian identity in any way, shape or form. It plainly designates a nation to nation
relationship between two sovereign entities. There are legitimate Indian communities
who lack federal recognition and predominantly non-Indian communities or descendant
Indian communities who have federal recognition.
Federal recognition is also completely dependent on political lobbying, gambling efforts
and where you fall in line in the determination process.
“Who are the Indians and who gets to decide?”, has never been answered. You see, we
cannot define ourselves, much less fight the battles directed at ourselves. What does it
mean to be a Cherokee, Choctaw or any other tribal person for that matter? Who
qualifies? What are the parameters? It seems today, that parameters no longer exist. The
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has nearly 300,000 tribal citizens. The majority of these
do not resemble Indians physically, culturally or linguistically. Even so, some of this
tribe’s employees and elected officials publicly attack other tribe’s identities and
histories. They question their very existence. It has become almost comical.
62
The United South and Eastern Tribes (a national organization representing federally
recognized tribes in the South and East) continually battles against tribal communities
seeking federal recognition. This is interesting as this consortium of over 20 tribes has
some communities within its midst that have not spoken their tribal languages for nearly
200 years and may have only a handful of physically identifiable Indians amongst their
enrollment. On top of this, many of them did not go through the OFA (then BAR)
federal acknowledgement process themselves and could not pass through the never
ending changes to the process today no matter how hard they tried.
To trace the irony further one would have only had to have witnessed the 2005 National
Congress of American Indians meetings in Tulsa, Oklahoma where a large group of nonfederally recognized Indians spoke their case in an open forum. Chickahominy, MOWA
Choctaw, Muwekma Ohlone, Nanticoke and others voiced their displeasure with the
federal acknowledgement system. In a room nearby federally enrolled Indians were also
holding deliberations. What was so profound was that the first group of “nonrecognized” people were all identifiable, brown Indian people and the second group of
federally enrolled Indians was primarily physically Caucasian.
Now I am not saying you can’t look white and be of Indian ancestry, I am a perfect
example of that, but I am saying that you can’t judge the identity of others when the
majority of your own tribe’s citizenship is white or when your tribe belongs to a national
Indian organization which has numerous low-blood quantum Indians within its
membership. That just makes good common sense. Sometimes being just towards
others is still a good thing.
While the Mattaponi, MOWA Choctaw, Pamunkey, Nanticoke and others may not be
nations in some people’s eyes, they are certainly bands of Indian people who attended
segregated Indian boarding schools such as Haskell Institute, who were and are
discriminated against because of their Indian identity, who live on historic reservations
and have continued as communities in the same areas their people have always
maintained since the beginning.
So while large descendent based federal tribes and affluent casino tribes continue to put
their full-blood citizens or mixed-blood descendants dressed in Plains Indian style regalia
on their postcards and marketing literature, while degrading tribal communities who in
fact have many more Indians per capita on their rolls than they, we have to truly wonder,
“what is their true agenda”.
Sovereignty is not a guise to turn non-Indians into Indians and it is not a smoke screen to
justify the removal of thousands of citizens from tribal rolls to allow for more gaming
revenue distribution or to satisfy the racial bigotry of a largely “white” tribal citizen base
as in the case of the Cherokee Freedmen. Sovereignty should be respected.
63
Indian identity is based in land, blood, community kinship systems, language, cultural
practice and historical marginalization from the mainstream of American society. The
majority of members of groups such as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma are social
fictions turned into legal realities, while the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians is a social
reality the federal government has attempted to turn into a legal fiction. And then there
are the newly federally recognized Mashpee Wampanoag who for years were a social
reality that BIA/OFA had turned into a legal fiction. After 15 million dollars, as well as
heavy paid lobbyist influence, they are now legal realities.
You see, the Mashpee Wampanoag didn’t earn federal recognition. It was purchased.
$15 million dollars, Jack Abramoff’s old lobbying firm, and a future casino deal
guaranteed their approval through the BIA’s Office of Federal Acknowledgment. You
see, the Mashpee Wampanoag didn’t earn federal recognition. It was bought.
The question arises…were they worthy of such recognition. Worthy seems such an odd
question in relation to this sort of recognition, as the term worthy certainly has nothing to
do with the process. Petty little things like historical realities, cultural characteristics,
language retention and traditional governance have nothing to do with “achievement” of
such status.
As was previously mentioned, who you know, where you fell in line and how many
politicians, lobbyists and dollars you bring to the table have everything to do with the
results. You see they didn’t earn recognition.
A government bureaucracy in Washington D.C. doesn’t define the Wampanoag. This
sovereign community existed long before Washington and will live on long after the
Office of Federal Acknowledgment is abolished. This status which has now been
bestowed on the Mashpee people doesn’t even qualify as a “feather in their cap”. The
generations of discrimination they have faced, community loss of lands, attacks on their
traditional culture by outsiders and the manner by which they stand strong in the face of
such adversity is what qualifies them as self-governing Indian people. This what defines
their existence. This is what makes them so very real. Mashpee elder Ramona Peters,
was quoted in Indian Country Today as saying, “We’ve been free until maybe next year,
when we’ll be wards of the government again.” (Indian Country Today May 24, 2006
“Mashpee Wampanoag ponder federal recognition status”)
Mashpee were always Indian. They didn’t suddenly become Indian now that the BIA has
“approved of” their tribe.
Their tribe simply played the game better than other tribes, the BIA, the lobbyists and the
very politicians who in years to come will be lined up outside of their casino looking for
handouts. You see, the Mashpee didn’t earn federal recognition. And the real reason for
that is simple. Federal recognition is nothing worthy of being earned.
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According to Alex Koenig and Johnathon Stein there are currently 62 state recognized
tribes. Federalism and the State Recognition of Indian Tribes: A Survey of State
Recognized Tribes and State Recognition Processes Across the United States 11/20/27
This is a drop in the bucket in comparison to nearly 570 federal tribes.
An article in Indian Country Today by Gale Toensing truly describes the reality of the
federal recognition process,
Tribal leaders: 'Flawed' BIA process has worsened
October 12th, 2007 By Gale Courey Toensing / Indian Country Today
WASHINGTON - The BIA's unprecedented Columbus Day 2005 decision to reverse its
own previous determinations and withdraw federal acknowledgement from Connecticut's
Schaghticoke and Eastern Pequot tribal nations has become emblematic of what is wrong
with the federal recognition process, tribal leaders say.
The BIA decision took place at the height of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, with its
unfolding revelations about political influence, corruption and deceit among elected
officials and appointees. But political influence is only one problem in a recognition
process burdened by lethargic slowness, inflexible criteria, expensiveness and a culture
not geared to serving the tribal nation, tribal leaders say.
Things haven't improved much in the past two years. Some tribal leaders say the situation
has actually worsened since then.
''Because of the political backlash to the Schaghticokes' recognition, I think there is a lot
more resistance to all groups in the recognition process,'' John Sinclair, president of the
Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana, told Indian Country Today.
The Little Shell Tribe's quest for acknowledgement began in 1935, but the tribe is now
seeking acknowledgement from Congress. The tribe received a proposed positive finding
from the Interior/BIA in 2000, but was also asked to submit more documentation.
''We now find ourselves in an uncertain situation where we fear that the department may
reverse its finding even though we have submitted thousands of pages of additional
evidence'' and no one has objected to the tribe's acknowledgement, Sinclair said.
The problem is the conflation of federal recognition with casinos, Sinclair said.
''Both gaming and anti-gaming interests are lobbying politicians in order to prevent more
tribes attaining recognition and opening new casinos. The Little Shell, who have no
current plans to open a casino, are held back in the process because of efforts to stop the
Schaghticoke recognition.''
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Ann Tucker, chairman of the Muscogee Nation of Florida, said she had an epiphany after
attending a hearing about STN's petition.
''I listened closely to the Office of Federal Acknowledgement's statements and really
understood that no matter how long we waited, how hard we tried, how many pieces of
paper we filed, all it really took was one of numerous types of anti-Indian influences to
single-handedly destroy everything we had worked generations for. We came to the
conclusion that the only way we would succeed was to take our case to Congress,
government to government,'' Tucker said.
From a national standpoint, Tucker added, ''Tribes who do not have first-hand experience
with the recognition process have been furnished an excellent example by the STN
debacle of what it is like to be fighting in these trenches.''
Since the BIA process was institutionalized in 1978, only 16 tribes have been recognized
through the BIA while Congress has acknowledged 28 tribes. More than 300 tribes are
seeking federal acknowledgement.
On paper, the review process takes 25 months. In reality, the process takes around 15
years, Lee Fleming, the director of the Office of Federal Acknowledgement, testified at a
recent Senate hearing.
The seven mandatory criteria are too unyielding, Sinclair said. A tribe could be denied
acknowledgement if it lacks documentation for one criterion for a short period even if it
provides documentation for the years before and after that period, ''even though the
documents cannot be found due to the fact that government agencies kept no records for
whatever reason and the petitioner was unable to keep records due to racial and poverty
conditions.''
The process views Indians as a homogenous blur, Tucker said.
''Tribes live in different places where different things happened in our history - in our
case, Jim Crow laws. You cannot standardize Indians and say that we are all alike and
have to be judged alike without regard for the places we have had to survive,'' Tucker
said.
Tucker also questioned the integrity of a long and expensive process that ''can be reversed
along the way by outside interests'' that may have financial or other biases, and the
impossibly expensive process for tribes without resources.
Ron Yob, chairman of the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians of Michigan, said
nothing has changed for years.
''Just yesterday I was looking back at some stuff from 1994 when the Little River and
Little Traverse bands were recognized and some of the comments were about how flawed
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the BIA process was back then and it was almost the same words as now. I don't think
anyone has ever favored the recognition process,'' Yob said.
All three tribes have been in the BIA process for decades and have also turned to
Congress where their requests have also languished.
Grand River Bands has been waiting seven years for acknowledgement legislation.
''We're just not the priority, I guess. We're kind of always on the back burner and it's just
hard to move ahead,'' Yob said.
The leaders had mixed feelings about the idea of an ''independent'' commission to
administer federal acknowledgement.
''A separate commission could be effective, but the entire process needs to be streamlined
and modified to accommodate the situations that tribes in the current process find
themselves,'' Sinclair said.
Asked if it was possible for indigenous peoples to free themselves of the political
influence that has been embedded in the relationship between the tribes and the dominant
culture from the earliest days of genocide and conquest, all three leaders expressed hope
and the need for solidarity.
''With the U.S. government's plenary powers, I don't see how tribes can be completely
autonomous, but I see tribes moving more and more towards independence and selfdetermination. One thing that has to happen is that tribes need to stop working against
other tribes, recognized or otherwise. The attitude is that we have the few crumbs that the
federal government doles out and we're going to undercut other Native people in order to
keep it instead of working together towards a common goal. This attitude has held back
Native people since the Europeans came to this continent,'' Sinclair said. (end of article)
Who are Nations? Who are Bands? Who are just groups? Who know their historic
clans? Who live on Indian reservations? What about allotment lands? And who are the
Indians and who gets to decide? We have about as good a shot of agreeing on this as
hitting it big on the slot machines. And as it stands now, it seems the owners of these
machines hold all the chips.
ii
“Testimony Before the Committee on Resources United States House of
Representatives” Wilford Taylor; Hearing on the Federal recognition and
acknowledgement process by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, March 31, 2004
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WILL THE CHOCTAW NATION PLEASE STAND UP
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As my car left the red clay hills which make up the Mississippi Choctaw reservation in
June of 2007, a collective sigh of aiali (justice) and relief overtook me. It was the same
feeling that was plainly visible in the expressions of many of the Mississippi Choctaw
people who I had spent the last two days with. The reign of Phillip Martin and his
administration composed of numerous non-Indians had ended. In its place was change
and renewal. A break from the lobbyists in Washington D.C. was talked about. More
jobs for Choctaw community members were expected.
To understand the effect one individual could play on the larger Choctaw Nation, most
people have only to think about where the Choctaw Nation extends. The majority one
talks with may remark about the Choctaw Nation being located solely in Oklahoma,
while some others offer up Oklahoma and Mississippi. Very few talk of the communities
outside of these areas. Of course, the communities outside of these areas don’t currently
own and operate gaming facilities, the seeming prerequisite for publicity these days in
Indian Country.
So the question becomes who is the Choctaw Nation? It is important for us all to
understand who the Choctaw Nation is. Not the nation as defined by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, but the one defined by cultural, linguistic and historic values. There is a
need to understand the real location of these communities inhabited by the descendants of
those torn apart. The Choctaw Nation is comprised of those descendants of the Choctaw
people who were dispersed following the signing of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek
in 1830 and some previous migrations. These current communities cover 6 states and are
comprised of eleven bands with varying degrees of interconnectedness.
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians are located in southwestern Alabama near the
Mississippi state line. This reservation based community of approximately 3,600 tribal
citizens has remained on lands held by their ancestors since the Choctaw treaties
extending from 1803 to 1830. The main reservation lands are surrounded by ten smaller
communities which compromise the homes of 93% of the tribal population. The
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians are located in 8 communities and one additional
uninhabited community (Ocean Springs) spread out across the state of Mississippi.
These communities including Bok Chito, Standing Pine, Conehetta, Crystal Ridge, Bok
Homa, Red Water, Pearl River and Tucker are home to over 10,000 Mississippi Choctaw
Citizens. The West Tennessee Choctaw live on 172 acres of reservation land in Eastern
Tennessee and are enrolled citizens of the Mississippi Choctaw. This community formed
in the middle part of last century as Choctaw families moved to the area in search of
employment. The Bayou Lacombe Choctaw are located not far from the Mississippi State
line near Lacombe, Louisiana. This particular group was heavily studied by
anthropologist David Bushnell in 1910 and again by other academics in 1953. A group
of approximately 100 tightly knit descendants of these Choctaws studied still remains in
the marginal and previously isolated lands of this Southeastern Louisiana community.
South of this community lies a Choctaw related community which was devastated by the
recent Hurricanes. The United Houma Nation, with a population of 17,000, has
continued their lives in the southern bayous of Louisiana for many generations. To the
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northwest, the town of Clifton, Louisiana is home to approximately 500 Choctaw Indians
who are known for their basket making skills. A little further north, the Jena Band of
Choctaw Indians make their home near Trout, Louisiana. Their population stands at
around 250. On the far western side of Louisiana, near the town of Zwolle, is the
Choctaw-Apache of Ebarb community. These people of mixed Choctaw, Apache and
Spanish descent number nearly 3,000. Occupying 10 ½ counties in the Southeastern
Oklahoma, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, with a population approaching 200,000 is
by far the largest contingent of Choctaw in the United States. Within their midst are also
communities of Choctaw Freedmen who stood side by side with one another throughout
the tribe’s history. In California, due to relocation programs aimed at Choctaws in
Oklahoma, the Okla Chahta Clan of California was formed to bring together these
families which number over 20,000 individuals. Other related communities to the
Choctaw include the Coushatta of Louisiana, Alabama-Coushatta of Texas and
Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma.
As one can see, the Choctaw Nation is much more diverse than what many imagine. And
this diversity has caused decades of cultural sharing as well as infighting. Battles over
issues of blood quantum, federal recognition, cultural & language retention, historical
alliances and of course gaming, have caused lines of division not unlike those faced by
communities across Indian Country. The architect of many of these divisions, the late
Mississippi Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin, watched his meteoric rise and pronouncement
as an economic powerhouse crumble in recent times due to his close association with
non-Indian lobbyists, politicians and anthropologists who reeked havoc on neighboring
Choctaw communities by overturning federal recognition petitions and postponing land
in to trust applications.
So in June of 2007, on the day he conceded victory to his challenger Beasley Denson, we
watched the opening rounds of the annual stickball tournament across the street from the
tribal complex and office where he led his tribe for seven terms. While standing there,
numerous community members approached me with outstretched hands and words of
greetings and thanks in our Choctaw language. Many people in the Mississippi Choctaw
& MOWA Choctaw communities, as well as numerous Indian people from various tribes
across the nation, had spent a great deal of time over the past few years, advocating for
the rights of the Mississippi Choctaw people and exposing the fraud committed against
the MOWA Choctaw community 120 miles to the southeast who were thought to be
possible competition in the gaming industry. For years, the same tactics were played
against the now federally recognized Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in Louisiana.
Twelve years after their federal recognition, they are just now being able to take land into
trust for the purposes of economically and socially growing their community.
While Jack Abramoff, J. Steven Griles and a host of others associated with Chief Phillip
Martin’s administration are now serving jail terms or awaiting trial (Jack was released in
June of 2010), Mr. Martin had been able to use the tribe’s federal immunities to ward off
investigations into his role in the matter. Of course, little of this matters now as power
had been rested from his hands and in 2010 he passed on from this earth.
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And so the stickball games ended that June evening and we headed back to our hotel
room for the night in preparation for day two of the Choctaw Spirit Language & Culture
Seminar, which we had been invited to speak at. The theme of the conference discussed
the unification of Choctaw people. As I sat down with one of the Mississippi Choctaw’s
current council members and we discussed a new future for our two communities, the
theme seemed only too fitting. You see, sometimes the unification power of one man’s
leadership is only found…..through his absence.
A further breakdown of these Choctaw communities is provided here:
ALABAMA
Band: MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians
Main Town(s): McIntosh, Calvert, Mt. Vernon, Citronelle
Communities (Mobile County): 27-Mile Bluff/Kunsly, The Level, Tassie Byrd, Marvin
Rivers, Coon Byrd
Communities (Washington County): Tibbie/Okatibbaha, Reed’s Chapel/Kunshak,
Caretta/Nanih Chaha, Isaactown, Charity Chapel, Fairford, Snow Corner, Hill Springs,
Magnolia, George Fields, Bo Reed, Luketown, Choctaw Ridge, Pat Lane Circle,
Sanctown, Rubyville
TENNESSEE
Band: West Tennessee Choctaws (Lauderdale County Choctaws and Memphis
Choctaws)
Main Town(s): Ripley, Golddust, Henning, Memphis
CALIFORNIA
Band: Okla Chahta Clan of California
Main Town(s): Bakersfield
MISSISSIPPI
Band: Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
Main Town(s): Choctaw, Philadelphia, Laurel, Pascagoula
Communities (Mississippi): Pearl River, Bogue Chito, Tucker, Red Water, Standing Pine,
Conehatta, Crystal Ridge, Bogue Homa, Ocean Springs
Band: Bayou Lacombe Choctaw
Main Town(s): Bay St. Louis
LOUISIANA
Band: Jena Band of Choctaw Indians
Main Town(s): Jena
Band: Clifton Choctaw (descendants spread also into East Texas)
Main Town(s): Clifton, Gardner
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Band: Choctaw-Apache of Ebarb
Main Town(s): Ebarb, Zwolle
Band: United Houma Nation
Main Town(s): Golden Meadow
Band: Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw of Louisiana or Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of
Muskogees (formerly enrolled as United Houma Nation)
Main Town(s): Zachary, Bayou LaFouche, Grand Caillou/Dulac, Isle de Jean Charles
*formerly part of United Houma Nation
Band: Bayou Lacombe Choctaw
Main Town: Lacombe (Goose Point), New Orleans
Band: Point Au Chien Tribe
Main Town(s): Montegut
*formerly part of United Houma Nation
OKLAHOMA
Band: Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Main Town(s)/Counties (jurisdictional area):
Durant/Bryant; Atoka/Atoka; Coalgate/Coal; McAlester/Pittsburg; Hugo/Choctaw;
Antlers/Pushmataha; Wilburton/Latimer; Stigler/Haskell; Poteau/Leflore;
Idabel/McCurtain
*THE COUSHATTA of LOUISIANA and the ALABAMA-COUSHATTA of Texas are
closely related tribal communities to the Choctaw Nation.
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FROM SOCIAL REALITY TO LEGAL FICTION:
THE MOWA BAND OF CHOCTAW INDIANS
73
I would like to start it all off by presenting to you a hypothetical scenario about a
group of let’s say…people, living in a certain geographic locality, let’s
say……southwestern Alabama….claiming a tribal lineage of a certain tribe…..let’s say
Choctaw….who have lived in that area since, let’s say…..before the time of the 1830
Choctaw removal. We could give them a fictitious name, let’s say…..the MOWA Band
of Choctaw Indians. So let us take a look at who these people really are, hypothetically
of course. And let’s pretend they are petitioning for federal Indian recognition. Here is
their made up background to help us in our discussion.
These people referred to as the MOWA Choctaw have lived in a racially defined
community since before the forced removal of the Choctaw people to Oklahoma in 1830.
Their grave markers list names of individuals in their traditional language and can be
traced back to the early and mid-1800’s.
This community of people has been defined as “Indian” on numerous historical
and contemporary documents with an attachment of “mulatto”,“black” or “Cajun” also
mentioned. These people do not speak French or have any recollection of the French
language being used in their community. However, they have retained some of the
Choctaw language. In 1835, 5 years after the removal of the Choctaw from Alabama and
Mississippi they built the Weaver School for Indians by Indians under the auspices of the
U.S. Government. In the late 1800’s a large segment of the population made application
to the Eastern Cherokee rolls at a time when being Indian was certainly not a positive
experience. Significant places within the community hold names like Nanih Chaha,
Kusha and Kunsly.
A renewed missionary influx came to the community in the 1920’s with a focus
on “educating Indians”. In 1994, one of the school’s original teachers, at the age of 95,
explained to the government how she was there to teach the Indians. Baptismal,
military, birth and death records were sometimes listed with the term “Indian”. Southern
Baptist literature listed the people as Indian.
The Choctaw language was still fluently spoken by some members of the
community into the 1980’s. Attendance at all-Indian boarding schools such as Bacone in
Muskogee, Oklahoma began in 1951. This was due to the surrounding communities
disallowance of admission, to the white or “colored” schools in the State of Alabama
because of their race. A third caste school system was organized by themselves on a
small scale basis throughout their history, but lack of accreditation made it an unattractive
option for those who wanted to continue on in education. They also had a couple attend
Haskell Institute, an Indian boarding school and now university exclusive to members of
federally recognized tribes. In their midst were married individuals from numerous
federally recognized tribal communities.
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Not until almost 1970, would they be allowed employment outside of the forestry
and turpentine industry of southwestern Alabama. The excuse given to them in the
1960’s was that they only had bathrooms to accommodate whites and blacks and none for
Indians. Their community members had been receiving Indian scholarships for
university in the 1970’s prior to their designation as a state recognized tribe, which would
come in 1979. They would be the first tribe to receive such designation in the state of
Alabama.
The MOWA Choctaw would continue their tradition of Indian stickball
throughout the summer months. This tradition that had rarely been interrupted since
before the time of Indian removal. They would have craftspeople within the community
still responsible for the creation of these items and their bid for federal recognition, which
began in the 1950’s would be reinvigorated. In 1980, their communally held reservation
lands would be officially designated by the state of Alabama and their never terminated
rights as Choctaw citizens would be reaffirmed by the State legislature.
They also attended high school at Choctaw Central on the nearby Mississippi
Choctaw Reservation beginning in 1981 and continuing on until 2002. This school is
exclusive to members of federally recognized tribes. The MOWA have an Indian
Housing Authority funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Office of Native American Programs, membership in the National Congress of American
Indians, Tribal Police Department authorized by an act of the Alabama legislature, active
and salaried full-time tribal chief and administrative staff, tribally sponsored
medical/dental clinic which includes a Medi-Vac helipad, Industrial Park providing
employment and a source of income for the MOWA and their members, established
contractual business relationships with private industry, tribally sponsored Head Start
Program, Federal Title IV Indian Education Program in two separate public schools (one
of which is the 98% Indian Calcedeaver Elementary; the contemporary Weaver School
built in 1835), Community activity buildings and recreational facilities, tribal scholarship
program dedicated to the field of medicine, an Indian museum and library outlining the
history of the community, and a tribal member owned and operated credit union.
Aside from this the tribe has hosted its 30th annual community Indian pow wow,
which is accompanied by Choctaw social dances and our annual Choctaw pageant. The
people also maintain a stickball field at Reed’s Chapel community. Furthermore, the
community is located 50 miles east of the Bogue Homa Mississippi Choctaw community
in the original Choctaw Nation lands. The reservation contains one of the oldest
ceremonial grounds in the East as well. Beyond this, the MOWA people are physically
and culturally identifiable as Indian people. With very few surnames present in the
community, there has been a long history of continuous community intermarriage
evidenced. Typical health characteristics of identifiable Indian communities are present
amongst the MOWA Choctaw. These people also have support letters from the National
Congress of American Indians, federal tribes such as the Tunica-Biloxi, numerous field
professionals i.e. anthropologists, linguists, ethnologists, etc. and the most prolific Indian
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writer in history Vine Deloria, Jr. Even professionals from two neighboring tribes
opposed to MOWA Choctaw recognition, have written letters of support and the former
head of Indian Affairs, who denied the MOWA Choctaw their recognition, is no longer
involved in the process and is an advocate for the very people whose hopes he dashed.
And most importantly, they have never had a casino backer supporting their bid for
federal recognition and have voted down the possibility of ever establishing a gaming
venue, even though they realize that hiring one pushes a tribe through the federal process
much quicker.
So with this hypothetical scenario in your mind, now it is time to choose. I know,
I know, it is a lot to digest at once. Are these people Indians? If you said no, you would
be correct. Or at least you would be correct in the minds of Bureau of Indian Affairs
officials, neighboring gaming rich federally recognized tribes and, of course, their hired
lobbyists in Washington D.C. And yes, as you probably figured out in sentence number
one, this is not a hypothetical situation. It is very real.
In 1913, the research prepared in Washington D.C. “Proposed Legislation for the
Full-blood and Identified Choctaws of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama with
Memorial, Evidence and Brief” for the cataloging of Choctaw people who escaped
removal summed up the MOWA Choctaw in Alabama. While some would have people
believe that no Choctaws remained in Alabama, the literature says the very opposite.
“Be it remembered that on this, the tenth day of May 1913, in the parlors of the Great
Southern Hotel, of Meridian, Miss., there was this day held a council of the full-blood
Mississippi Choctaws; that said council is the result of the meetings held in the various
counties of the States of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana by the Choctaw Indians of
said States.”ii
Another document from 1915, “Hearings Before the Subcommittee of the
Committee on Indian Affairs House of Representatives on the Subject of Enrollment in
the Five Civilized Tribes” clearly states,
“The Choctaws live scattered, some of them down on the Pearl River, some of them in
Lousiana and some in Alabama. They are scattered over a vast section in the State of
Mississippi, although most them in a radius of six or seven counties. Now, as I say, there
is not one out of a hundred- not one out of five hundred- of these Indians that can read or
write. Very few of them are able to speak English…..”ii
Welcome to Indian Country, where truth really is stranger then fiction. And
sometimes the old adage that “any news, is good news” does not always apply.
The mentality of “making news off of sound bights” was generated when the
Seattle Times ran an “undercover” piece on the Native American HUD housing program
across the country. In the article, “State by state examples of mismanagement and abuse“
on December 1, 1996,
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“The housing authority for a new, state-chartered tribe, which requires just 1 percent
Indian blood, had money woes and management problems since its inception, yet HUD
gave it large development grants three years running .”ii
Where did the one percent Indian blood perception come from? It is certainly not
in the Constitution of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians. And as one observer
remarked to Renee Cramer on doing her research for the book Cash, Color and
Colonialism,
“….observer mentioned to me that members of the unrecognized Mowa Choctaws, when
you meet them, ‘make a strong case just on visual, and on personal meeting, that
absolutely they’re Indians.’”ii
Frye Gaillard also reiterates the physicality of the MOWA in his book “As Long
as the Waters Flow: Native Americans in the South and East” in reference to our tribal
chief. “ For Taylor, who is visibly, indisputably an Indian, with his dark, copper skin….”ii
Let us forget the academics. A quick look into social reality took me to a local eatery,
located near the MOWA Choctaw community and operated by local African-Americans.
I told them that a government agency in Washington D.C. said that Chief Taylor was a
mulatto. After the three women running the restaurant stopped laughing, they proceeded
to define his identity to me.
“He is an Indian. His whole family is Indians. He couldn’t be anything else, but an
Indian. A mulatto? Are they saying he is black. Son, I’m black. The Taylor family
black? I don’t think so.”ii
The one percent came from the Final Determination finding in 1997 that stated in
reference to one of the MOWA Choctaw’s 5 core ancestors (It’s contents had been
thrown around in the public for over two years),
“As in the Proposed Finding, the BIA finds sufficient evidence to document that
Alexander Brashears was Indian, however, only one percent of the petitioner’s members
trace to this individual. “ii
How in the world does one percent of an Indian communities tracing to one core
ancestor have anything to do with that community requiring 1% Indian blood for
enrollment purposes? This is just horrible reporting and typical of people who have no
concept of the federal recognition process or Indian communities. In the follow up
article, the MOWA Choctaw mention contains the same wording, but now 1% is replaced
with tiny percentage.
In “Sending good money after bad” Wednesday, December 4, 1996 the authors write,
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“In Alabama, the housing authority for a new , state-chartered tribe that required only a
tiny percentage of Native American blood….”ii
Where does tiny percentage come from? The reporting of this article, which
featured numerous federal tribes and their housing authorities, became one of the largest
propaganda tools for the Mississippi Band and Poarch Creek. They continuously
mention the MOWA Choctaw Housing Authority throughout their comments. But the
Mississippi Choctaw found a better way to insure that the same negative reporting would
not happen to them. They didn’t do it the old fashion way through good deed, but rather
they took a more direct route and paid reporters to write glowing articles about their
tribe. On indianz.com, a website dedicated to keeping up with contemporary issues in
Indian Country by listing all national articles concerning Indian tribes on a daily basis,
they wrote,
“A syndicated columnist was paid by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to write columns
that praised Abramoff’s clients, including the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians,
BusinessWeek Online reports. Doug Bandow, a columnist for Copley News Service,
accepted money from Abramoff to write between 12 and 24 articles. One article from
May 11, 1998, called the Choctaws ‘a model for other tribes.’ “ ii
And the reality continues,
“Bandow has since resigned his position as senior fellow at the Cato Institute. His
columns noted his position at the libertarian think tank but not the Abramoff payments.
Peter Farrera, a senior policy adviser at the conservative Institute for Policy Innovation,
also took money from Abramoff and the Choctaws directly. He was paid by the tribe to
write a 1998 book called ‘The Choctaw Revolution: Lessons for Federal Indian Policy‘
and had a column published in The Washington Times that praised the Choctaws.”ii
Checking out the stories confirms it all. In the publication “Editor and Publisher”
12/16/05 Bandow, the syndicated columnist, admits to taking money. The other articles
between the authors are fluff pieces disguised as legitimate journalism.
So the media now becomes the definer of Indian existence. Corruption can be
masked by purchased praise and misnomers can be nationally circulated as fact. The
Seattle Times would not issue a formal retraction, but did admit to taking the matter in
regards to enrollment criteria completely out of context. In the March 2005 edition of the
Choctaw Community News the Mississippi Choctaw launched their new ad campaign
with The Ramey Agency. The purpose is to dispel any “misconceptions or stereotypes”
the public may have regarding the Choctaw people. It is truly designed as an image
builder amongst the now apparent corruption perpetrated by the Mississippi Choctaw
leadership against others and their own people. It will feature print and radio ads. This is
further proof of how money can buy one the image they desire.
And what about the book marketed by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians,
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“The Choctaw Before Removal,” which “documents the vibrant cultural heritage of the
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in historical and ethnographic detail.”ii
It is a good read, but why is there a picture of a Bayou Lacombe Choctaw from
Louisiana on its cover? I thought the former leadership of the Mississippi Band doesn’t
like us “non-recognized” Choctaws.
There has been an ever growing and very large list of professionals supporting our
community. Dr. Richard Stoffle, an anthropologist at the University of Arizona, has been
only one of a great many who have assisted in our battle. There have also been two
specific tribal citizens who have grown up in the politics and racism which has
surrounded our people. The men of whom I speak are Gallasneed Weaver and current
Tribal Chief Wilford Taylor. A Vietnam veteran and life long resident of McIntosh,
Alabama, Chief Taylor has a long history of family occupancy in MOWA Choctaw
territory. He is the great great great grandson of Piamingo Hometah who lived with his
family band in the MOWA community of Nanih Chaha (High Hill) . His daughter would
bare Chief Taylor’s great grandfather Henry “Doc” Eaton in 1852. Tribal elder
Roosevelt Weaver said during an interview in 1983,
“Doc Eaton was a lost boy and the Daughertys picked him up and made a flunky out of
him. He fed cows, hogs, and chopped wood. He was Choctaw. He got lost when the
white people were taking this country. They would run and flee and hide. He was ten or
twelve years old when they got him. He thought white people were going to kill him. He
was fleeing for his life and had to hide to live. He lived in a cave. His father was killed
and thrown in the river. Sometimes he stayed with first one family and then another. He
made ‘hummocks’ (brush shelters) in the woods, hunted, fished, made traps. He talked
Choctaw; he was a full-blooded Choctaw. He was an old man when I was a little boy
seven or eight years old. He come to our house and drank coffee. He lost his hand.”ii
Doc’s daughter, Viney Glovine Taylor, was born in 1890 and state representative
Irvin McRae tried to get her to move to Philadelphia, Mississippi around 1930. Prior to
this, she gave birth to Chief Taylor’s father Leon Taylor in 1922. In 1991, Leon Taylor
stated before the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs,
“We are Choctaw. We want Congress to do the right thing. My great, great grandfather
petitioned Congress, my great grandfather petitioned Congress, my grandfather petitioned
Congress, and my father petitioned Congress. Now I, Leon Taylor, veteran of the United
States Army, petition Congress for our rights under Dancing Rabbit.”ii
Our current chief was born into the Jim Crow south in 1946. He has seen his
share of racism and abuse from the dominant society over the years. He has also seen
firsthand the difficulties facing our tribe in relation to the federal gaming tribes in our
regional area. He has been outspoken in his views and forgiving when needed. In 2000
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the Mobile Register reported his comments,
“ ‘It’s apparent the BIA is never going to recognize us,’ Taylor said. ‘They’re just doing
the job the agency was created for: destroying Indian tribes. In the past, they did it with
muskets, cannons and soldiers. Now, they do it with computer chips and bureaucracy. It
comes to the same thing.”ii
Chief Taylor reiterated in The Birmingham News,
“We were Indians when it didn’t amount to anything,” Taylor said. “If there is any
justice in this country, we should be federally recognized.”ii
Ten year’s prior to the birth of Wilford Taylor, Gallasneed Weaver was born into
the MOWA Choctaw community of Nanih Chaha. The son of Lee and Nancy Weaver,
“Uncle Gallas” as he is more commonly known, would go on to live an accomplished
life, while maintaining a strong connection to his humble beginnings. He would travel
the length of the U.S. via Indian boarding schools, college pursuits and military service.
Upon his arrival home, after marrying Laretta Adair from the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma, he would become, along with his wife, an advocate for Indian rights in the
southwestern Alabama Choctaw community. Gallas would go on to serve as McIntosh
high school principal, Chairman of the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission and nearly
30 years as a Christian preacher at Reed’s Chapel. Laretta would direct the Indian
Education Program for the local MOWA Choctaw schools for over 20 years. They
would have two children and numerous grandchildren.
Their daughter LaGaylis Weaver Harbuck is the current principal of Calcedeaver
School, which was originally constructed in 1835 by the descendants of the MOWA
Choctaw community. The school, which is recognized as the only remaining Indian
school in Alabama, has earned numerous state and national honors. LaGaylus has been a
driving force in Alabama and national education with her take no prisoners attitude
towards education. She has spoken nationally and been featured in numerous magazines
and education periodicals. In the article “Off the Beaten Path: Calcedeaver Defies
Stereotype” in School Boards Magazine Summer 2005 the hard work of Mrs. Harbuck,
her staff, and the community at large is exemplified. LaGaylus embodies where we come
from and where we are going.
“The two-lane blacktop that winds through the upper reaches of north Mobile County
from Alabama Highway 43 would lead most educators to certain assumptions about
Calcedeaver Elementary, a small school tucked in a bend near the Washington County
line. Cutting through miles of timberland, the road traverses rolling hills dotted here and
there with farms. Sparsely populating it are mostly mobile homes and ramshackle, woodframe houses with dirt or gravel driveways. A few of the yards are littered with a
lifetime’s accumulation of junk. The 220 or so children who attend Calcedeaver are
almost all members of the MOWA Choctaw Indian tribe. They live in these homes or on
the nearby reservation. They’re mostly poor – more than 95 percent qualify for the
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federal lunch program.” She grappled with taking our school, whose expectations were
marginal at best, and making the community feel like our abilities were limitless. “…it
was a dream that she had that set the tone for everything that has followed. ‘I’ll be
honest with you. I started praying big time. I had a dream and God showed me that we
would be No.1. So I knew it would happen,’ Harbuck said, her voice breaking. ‘Then the
Reading First grant came out and I said, ‘Oh, this is how you’re going to do it, God.’ I
knew it was mine when we filled (the application) out. I knew we were going to soar.”ii
Soon the school was sitting on top of the county in academic achievement and
ranked 16 in the state. The following year they would rise to number 3.
“Another significant factor: The entire staff, including the P.E. teacher, janitor, librarian
and Title I coordinator, participates in intervention, working one-on-one-often several
times a day….”ii
Our school has become a model program for Indian education. Choctaw language
and cultural activities are required elements inherent within the school program and
Principal Harbuck lives by a simple and effective philosophy. It is a philosophy that has
permeated our small Choctaw community for generations.
“Low income or not, everybody is going to have problems. All I know when I walk into
school is that everybody can achieve, and I don’t accept excuses.”ii
She is a testament to her parents and the MOWA people. Much of the future
progress of our community rests soundly on her shoulders. And like her father, she has
pursued our communities’ federal recognition passionately. She has also watched the ups
and downs of the process.
Our first Congressional Bill S.362 was submitted to the government with a
substantial body of information attached. Within this volume lay the words of community
leader and activist Gallasneed Weaver. His entire submission is included here, as it was
included then. 15 years later his words have still not been heeded and the message
remains completely the same. “Statement of Gallasneed Weaver” on the recognition of
the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians:
“Although our tribe, the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians of Southwest Alabama
has only been recognized by the legislative process of Alabama since 1979, our people
have banned together in a peculiar wooded area of north Mobile and south Washington
County. This area encompasses about 30 miles in diameter and the tribe has resided here
since prior to and at the time of the partial tribal removal in the early part of the 19th
century. Our tribal heritage has been much like the Choctaws of Mississippi, The Poarch
Band of Creeks of South Alabama, the Cherokees of North Carolina and some of the
tribes of Louisiana. They all struggled and survived until our governmental system
recognized that all Indians didn’t go to Oklahoma. Therefore, you can see our tribe as
another link in the chain of social injustice that we would humbly ask this honorable
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committee to address. These fore-mentioned tribes were fortunate to have gotten people
in Washington’s ears at an earlier date and have now removed their tribes from the
poverty lines of tribal status.
Having been born in November 1933, I grew up experiencing, along with my
tribe, the wrath of Jim Crowism upon Indians. We were not allowed to vote or testify in
court and when the Industrial revolution finally came to the rural areas, the industries
here hired the Blacks for certain stratified jobs and the whites for better paying jobs. The
industrial leaders refused to hire any Indian people because of two basic reasons: 1. The
big land owners had hinted to them that we were good at the timber business and that we
shouldn’t be diverted from that business; and 2. They knew, from some past experiences,
the Indian wouldn’t accept the “separate but equal” philosophy and policies of the
Industrial plants. These policies specified different water fountains, rest rooms, dressing
rooms and lunch facilities, and were imposed upon and readily accepted by the Blacks of
this time. Since our people wouldn’t accept such conditions, our tribal work force was
excluded. We only became part of the work force, when former Congressman Jack
Edwards won his election. We found him, not only to be a good politician, but also a
humanitarian. It was through his effective lobby for the inclusion of our tribe as part of
the various companies affirmative action plan, that we became part of the work force. It
was also the Civil Rights laws, implemented during the Kennedy and Johnson
administrations, that helped bring down the walls of Jim Crowism that had been in place
for so long among our people.
Your honor, we can easily see a parallel between this recognition document of the
B.I.A. and the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution was written by many
wise people, but it reflected a white male aristocratic chauvinistic philosophy. But one
thing was good about this document. It provided for change, by amendments. It also
contained the elastic clause “For the good and welfare of our nation.” The Federalist
paper promised a Bill of Rights if the people would adopt the Constitution in its present
form. True to their word, the people were given the Bill of Rights with the first 10
amendments. Later came the 13th, 14th and 15th which freed the Blackman, made him a
citizen and gave him the right to vote. In 1920, there came about another change with the
19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote and opened the door for their useful
participation in the government. Our Constitutional scholar has said the greatest part of
the constitution is the part that provided for change. The 2nd greatest thing is that society
has had the wisdom and fortitude to see the need for change and has made the necessary
changes as the country became aware of such need.
Unlike the implementation of these constitutional changes, the B.I.A. has made no
changes in the document, although they have testified themselves of the need for some
changes. They have continued to perpetuate and stagnate the system. May I call your
attention to some of the basic weaknesses with the BIA process. It has a double standard.
If many of the tribal leaders who helped write the documents should have their rights
taken away from them, they wouldn’t be able to get recertified, re-authorized or
recognized when using the same standards. 2. The scholars of the process know the
weakness of the system, but have done nothing to correct or change the process, as was
done with our Constitution. The B.I.A. has been self-serving and has produced a group
of elite aristocrat-thinking Indian leaders, who have become much like some of the earlier
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Southern aristocratic whites, who tried to defend the ways of the Old South in a system in
which they would say to the Black and Indian, “Washington may have made you citizens,
but we control the powers of the state and you must meet all of our local laws, pay poll
taxes, recite part of the Constitution, and be able to read and interpret the Constitution,
before you register to vote. In the meantime no whites were scrutinized through the same
process. The Federally recognized tribes have grandfathered themselves behind the walls
of the system and they are able to use tax money to hire expensive lawyers and lobbyists
and fly jet planes from place to place to fight against us as well as other worthy tribes.
Such efforts help keep worthy tribes from getting recognized by Congress. The most of
these same tribes were once recognized by Congress themselves. Now they are saying,
let me determine your fate. It’s almost like having the fox guard the hen house. Mr. Bud
Shepard, one of the authors of the B.I.A. policy, who visited our tribe for a pre-study of
our group, stated that he has never seen a more closely knit group of Indians, a people
who have stayed together and preserved their history and culture while enduring great
hardship. He went on to say, ‘If Congress didn’t recognize us, we may have trouble
making it, because of the way the hoops are laid out at the B.I.A. for our tribe and other
tribes like ours to jump through for federal recognition.’ “ ii
All our appeals through the BIA have been denied and our current recognition bill
is sitting around in Washington D.C. waiting for its day. The years didn’t change the
message. This same letter could be written today and hold the same value as it did in
1991. It shows that the Bureau’s constant talk of improvement is only talk. There has
been no action on their part and one can believe that there never will be. The BIA and
their recognition arm are reactionary. They respond only when challenged or when they
are attempting to hide their inaccuracies and poor scholarship. I feel for those working
there. One would have to believe that they enter with the best of intentions. One would
also believe that power and money are very corrupting factors in America and elsewhere.
While Indian Country has had its share of historical and contemporary leaders of
merit within its story, there has been one whose straight forward and no holds bar
approach has left a lasting and positive impression upon our community. Suzan Shown
Harjo is a Muskogee Creek from Oklahoma, former director of NCAI and current
director of the Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C. At the end of each year she
gives out an impromptu list entitled “Mantle of Shame Awards”. Indian Country ran last
years list on December 22, 2005. And the Mantle of Shame Award goes to…..
”Tribal leaders and employees yet to be named for hiring all the above (referring to a
slew of lobbyists who also won ‘awards’) and their attack dogs against other Indian tribes
and people; for giving campaign contributions to their lobbyists’ favorite office-seeker;
and/or for thinking that paying mega bucks to white men gets the best job done for Native
peoples.”ii
It is good to know that some people still have the courage to call a spade a spade.
A problem Modina Waters, former Vice-Chairman of the Kiowa Nation of
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Oklahoma and my wife’s mother, never had. When I spoke with her about her opinion of
our community in contrast to the BIAs, she acted promptly. In response she wrote the
following letter to the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs:
August 14, 2005
Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs
Washington, D.C.
Dear Senators:
Please recommend and support the approval of federal recognition of the MOWA
Choctaw Indians of Alabama. The MOWA Choctaw and their reservation were the first
Indian tribe recognized by the state of Alabama. Federal Recognition of the MOWA
Choctaw is long overdue.
My background includes having served as Vice-Chairman, Kiowa Tribe of
Oklahoma. My 30-year federal career ended with the Indian Health Service. My work
continued as Health Director with the Ponca Tribe at White Eagle Health Center.
Over the years, I have read and learned of the MOWA Choctaw Indians plight for
federal recognition. Here are a people who still live where several generations of their
ancestors are buried. Today, many of them speak Choctaw. They sing their church songs
in Choctaw. All of this and more is supported and well documented by professional
researchers.
In my opinion, the MOWA Choctaw have met all the criteria required for federal
recognition.
Your support and recommendation for federal recognition of the MOWA
Choctaw is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Modina Waters (Toppah)ii
And what else can we say about Dr. Richard Stoffle, Mississippi Choctaw Dr.
Kenneth York, Tunica-Biloxi Tribal Chairman Earl J. Barbry Sr. and Vine Deloria, Jr.?
Professional, honest and did I mention honest? We appreciate these three men more than
we can say. Dr. Richard Stoffle’s professionalism with his research and willingness to
refute our BAR determination, Dr. Kenneth York’s ability to stand up for us as an
enrolled citizen of the very community whose tribal chief is attacking us, Chairman
Barbry’s willingness to support us even though the federal Indian organization (USET)
that his tribal community belongs to, will not and the late Mr. Deloria’s words and
foreword to our history book “They Say the Wind is Red” have shown us that courageous
people continue to surface. And there have been many more who have assisted us in our
plight. To all we owe a large debt of gratitude and yakoke.
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Another yakoke goes to indianz.com. Though they cover all of Indian Country,
their insights, news reporting and honest coverage “regardless of consequence” attitude
keeps corrupt individuals out in the open. Without their daily and updated site, there
would be many gaps in this section and our community is personally grateful for all their
work.
These are excerpts of letters sent from “federally recognized” spouses of MOWA
Choctaw tribal members to the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi Band of
Choctaw Indians and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma following the failed bid for reelection by the late Phillip Martin of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
“…….For nearly a century my husband’s people have attempted to gain federal
recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and have been stopped numerous times
by the powers that be for reasons that have nothing to do with identity. My husband’s
community is no different than any other Indian community in the United States. They
have suffered their share of hardships including schooling at government run Indian
boarding schools and extreme discrimination here in the South. How the government of
the United States does not recognize their existence is beyond any rational thought. My
husband is an identifiable Indian person who is certainly deserving of the same rights
afforded any federally recognized Indian person.
I have seen the negative effects that lack of federal recognition have put upon the
MOWA Choctaw people while raising our children and now grandchildren in this
community. Lack of access to educational and health funding along with limited
economic opportunities have proven very difficult for this community.
There are over 20 different federally recognized tribes present in this community due to a
heavy incidence of intermarriage over the last 50 years. We come from states such as
Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, Mississippi and North Carolina. Why would
so many other Indian people marry in to this impoverished Indian community hundreds
of miles away from our own homes, which has limited resources and employment
opportunities, if the people we were marrying were not Indians? It is a fundamental
question that the BIA chooses to ignore along with the stacks and stacks of
documentation that has been presented to them over the years.
The MOWA Choctaw people would sincerely appreciate your support; as would I.
Sincerely,
Barbara Weaver
Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas
(written July 30, 2007)
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Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Jena Choctaw, Mississippi Choctaw July 30, 2007
My name is Beatrice Johnston and I am a member of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma. I
was raised here in Oklahoma and met my husband Marlon Johnston, while attending
college here in the state. He is from the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians near the
communities of Mt. Vernon and McIntosh, Alabama. For many politically motivated
reasons and due to the poverty of my husband’s tribe they have been unsuccessful in
attaining federal recognition for many years. His brother Todd Johnston, attended
Choctaw Central High School on the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians reservation
near Philadelphia, Mississippi. My husband’s entire family practices and shares their
Choctaw culture not only with their immediate tribal community, but with Choctaw
people across the country. My husband’s niece, Courtney Baker, is currently Miss
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
The fact that his community is not recognized by the federal government as a sovereign
nation is beyond belief. His community is no different than any other Indian community
here in the state of Oklahoma. They have suffered the same prejudices that other Native
people have faced and in recent times have faced opposition from federal lobbyists and
wayward tribal officials. My husband’s community has shown beyond a shadow of a
doubt that they are and have always been a continuous and tight knit Choctaw
community. One visit to their reservation and you would have no doubts as to who they
are if you do not already know. I am asking you to assist them in their struggle which has
gone on and on for just too long. Please assist the women of this community in providing
a better life for their children and grandchildren. Show compassion and dignity towards
their families. I appreciate your consideration of this letter.
Thanking You,
Beatrice Johnston
In the opening section I drafted a “hypothetical scenario” of our community. The
following answers many of these questions.
LABELS
The section authored by the MOWA Choctaw Federal Recognition Committee
bare out precisely the “Indian”, “black”, “mulatto” and “Cajun” monikers given the
MOWA Choctaw and their ramifications in the federal recognition process. Cajuns are a
racially white and linguistically French group of people who inhabit Louisiana. In 2002,
I went to visit a few of their communities and ask them a series of prepared questions
regarding the possible “Cajun” label attached to the MOWA Choctaw people. I also
showed them numerous pictures of our families. They balked unequivocally at the idea
that we could be Cajuns. One gentleman remarked to me,
“I mean you know disrespect, but there aren’t no such thing as a colored Cajun. And if
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you was a nigger we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”ii
The Cajun labeled is addressed in the following article. This is a new posting that came
from the following link: http://alarob.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/cajuns/
11 February 2010
Cajuns? No, Choctaws.
Filed under: alabama, history, politics — alarob @ 2:02 pm
Long time ago wasn’t no folks on them sand flats.… Them Cajans sprung up right out’n
the ground. Some say they come from animals—coons and foxes and suchlike—but that
ain’t right. Just sprung up out’n the ground.
— Carl Carmer, Stars Fell on Alabama (1934)
Detail from an 1850 painting by Phillip Romer of a Choctaw woman in Mobile,
Alabama.
I just discovered that Jackie Matte’s article on the Choctaw Indians of southwest
Alabama has been published online, with her permission, by the Access Genealogy
website.
The article is “Extinction by Reclassification: The MOWA Choctaws of South Alabama
and Their Struggle for Federal Recognition.” The site presents the article attractively and
in a paginated style reminiscent of the original printed article.* All of the footnotes are
reproduced faithfully.
Matte was president of the Alabama Historical Association in 2006. At the annual
meeting in Fairhope she gave a memorable address on the subject of the MOWA
Choctaws and their fruitless quest for federal recognition as an authentic Indian tribe. (In
1979 the Alabama Choctaws coined the name “MOWA” from the names of the two
counties they inhabit, Mobile and Washington.)
Because their identity as Indians was politically and commercially inconvenient, they
were long ago labeled “Cajans” (sic). According to Motte, even John R. Swanton’s
canonical 1948 report The Indians of the Southeastern United States refers to them only
as “Cajun Indians.” The Bureau of Indian Affairs has rigorous documentary standards for
proving the cultural continuity of a tribe — standards that the Alabama Choctaws cannot
satisfy with their mostly oral traditions.
Ms. Matte began inquiring about the “Cajans” while working on a history of Washington
County. She went on to spend hundreds of hours building trust with reclusive Choctaw
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elders and interviewing them. In time she published her findings in a book, They Say the
Wind Is Red: The Alabama Choctaw, Lost in Their Own Land.
She has continued to do research in support of the tribe’s case for federal status, and it
was her 2006 address that first made me aware of the issue.
While I can see the point of the BIA’s protections against too-lenient grants of tribal
status, no such standards are going to provide adequate protection against Abramoff-style
fraud, which uses political connections and bribes in lieu of factual evidence. A corrupt
tribal chairman in Massachusetts, or a squad of sleazy political operators who squeeze
money from Indian tribal governments, should not determine how all Indian petitioners
are treated.
Instead of merely imposing an onerous burden of proof on MOWA applicants and
waiting for them to give up, the Bureau should compare evidence for the applicants’
Indian heritage with counter-evidence favoring other explanations of the historical facts.
In this case it is difficult to come up with a more plausible explanation of known facts
about the “Cajan” community than by allowing their Choctaw origins. It’s not right to
conclude that they might be Choctaw, but then again they might be Cajun, or they might
have “sprung up right out’n the ground.”
* Jacqueline Anderson Motte, “Extinction by Reclassification: The MOWA Choctaws of
South Alabama and Their Struggle for Federal Recognition,” Alabama Review 59 (July
2006): 163-204. ֒
WEAVER SCHOOL
The Bureau says that the MOWA Choctaw community ceased to exist after
removal. And Mississippi Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin said in 1994 that he had no
knowledge of a Choctaw community in southwestern Alabama until 10 to 20 years ago.
Weaver school, located in the MOWA Choctaw community near Mt. Vernon, Alabama,
which is cataloged in the Library of Congress was built for Indians by Indian labor in
1835, 5 years after the partial removal of the Choctaw. How could such a thing be
possible if our Choctaw people weren’t living here? How many more times do we need
to mention this in a textual form?
EASTERN CHEROKEE ROLL
Oh yeah, an almost entire community of individuals is all going to apply for the
same Indian roll at a time when being Indian was an extreme liability?
NAMES & GRAVES
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How would it be possible for traditional communities, not those named on
average state maps, to have Indian names? I don’t mean the tons of towns, cities and
states across the country whose titles were composed from Indian words, but rather those
small “round- the- way” villages named after the people who live within them.
MISSIONARIES
Is it possible that white missionaries who came to a community in 1920, where
they themselves defined everyone as Indian and were sent their to “educate Indians”, and
whose national denominational associations catalogued the people as Indian, and who
received funding from the Indian education segment of these associations to perpetuate
Indian education, could somehow now view the people as non-Indian? An interview with
one of the missionaries in the 1990’s, 70 years after she taught at the school says
absolutely not. Would it be possible for the national Christian denomination known as
the Quakers, under the auspices of its American Indian Branch, to operate an Indian
school to this day in the MOWA Choctaw community if we are not Indians? Is it
possible for that same denomination’s Associated Committee of Friends on Indian
Affairs to presently and exclusively run educational schools for the federally recognized
Seneca Cayuga of Oklahoma, Osage Nation of Oklahoma, Kickapoo Nation of
Oklahoma, and Mesquakie Nation of Iowa, as well as the MOWA Choctaw if these
communities are not Indian?
BAPTISMAL, BIRTH AND DEATH RECORDS
If they say Indian, do they not mean Indian? I am assuming that is the BIA’s
stance.
INDIAN LANGUAGE
I guess Indian language means nothing to the BIA. To me, as an Indian language
instructor and curriculum developer, I feel comfortable in saying that language may be
one of the greatest identifiers of a distinct Indian community as there ever could be. I
also feel strongly, that some Indian communities have a certain distrust of the
government and would not usually be comfortable using Indian language or discussing it
in settings participated in by governmental officials. For communities with large
numbers of speakers this is typically not the case. They are empowered and proud of their
ancestral languages and typically use these dialects to open such meetings through prayer
and introduction. They also tend to be more comfortable using the language in front of
others, because its usage is acceptable and necessary amongst community members. The
MOWA Choctaw community is more indicative of the first example. The last fluent
speakers passed away in the 1980’s and are amply documented in the literature.
Deceased elders such as Creasy Reed, Victoria Chastang, Viney Glovine Taylor (Chief
Taylor’s grandmother) and others are mentioned in the literature. And this is not to take
away from many conversational speakers who remain to this day.
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“He remembers the words that his grandmother gave him- the bits and pieces of the
Choctaw language- and the stories handed down from the nineteenth century.”ii
Chief Taylor’s father Leon Taylor said,
“My mother spoke Choctaw and lived near Calvert……She tried to teach us Choctaw,
but none of us wanted to learn it. She could sing songs and told a lot of stories.”ii
As well, an affidavit signed under oath on September 26, 1974 by Creasy Reed,
Pat Reed, Harry Hunter Reed, Uria Ann Weaver, Danny B. Reed and notarized by Comer
Pringle stated that her father Doc Eaton was a full-blood Choctaw and that his daughter
Viney Glovine Taylor could speak Indian. Dinah Snow talked about her grandparents
Melton and Ellen Snow.
“They spoke to each other in Indian language.”ii
“….some of these elderly Indians are among the very few who can still speak the
Choctaw dialect.”ii
Cultural anthropologist Margaret Zehmer Searcy remarked in her review of the
May 15, 1986 Elder’s Conference on the MOWA Choctaw Reservation which she
facilitated,
“We were disappointed to find out that the last speaker of Choctaw had died recently; but
were glad to know that one tape recording had been made by her, and that it is
available.”ii
This very tape of Creasy Reed, recorded in the 1980’s, was never reviewed by the
BAR. Our community still has some conversational speakers of the language actively
engaged in language revitalization efforts. We also have an outstanding Choctaw
language school program and a summer Choctaw Language Immersion and Sports camp
each summer. We are working diligently, to not return a lost language as so many
communities are doing, but to maintain a language that never disappeared from the
community. There is a difference. And the BIA is well aware of it.
But even the continued existence of our language is challenged by Mississippi
Choctaw anthropologist Kenneth Carleton. In a Mobile Press Register article on
November 26, 1994, the reporter Bill Finch remarked,
“Not even the snatches of Choctaw words that are often heard among the MOWAs are
proof positive of Choctaw ancestry…In the 19th century, blacks, whites and Indians alike
spoke Indian languages.”ii
So now we are supposed to believe that a non-Indian people have passed an
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Indian language down through 10 generations of non-Indians and that they are still
speaking it? Are these people kidding? Most American Indian communities in this
country have been unable to retain their ancestral languages as a language of
communication within their own communities, so how in the world could a non-Indian
community retain a language that they are not even culturally connected to? This holds
especially true for the Eastern United States where some reservation communities have
not spoken their tribal languages for over 150 years. This insinuation is insulting, nonacademic and absurd on it’s best day.
INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS
What non-Indians attend Indian boarding schools? In 1951 Priscilla Murphy
Reed and Carol Lee Johnston entered Bacone Preparatory School (High School), now
Bacone College near Muskogee, Oklahoma. They were followed by Gallasneed Weaver
in January of 1953. In a Tulsa World article dated March 5th, 1950, the newspaper
proclaimed, “Indian School at Muskogee OK’s Proposal to Admit White Students”. The
American Baptist Home Mission Society presented 3 proposals to alleviate the financial
difficulties being faced by the school. Proposal 3 stated,
“Invite a certain number of white students to attend.” (March 5th, 1950) “The proposal
to admit whites is in line with government policy ending strict segregation of the
Indian…. Presently enrolled at the 70-year-old college are 200 Indian students
representing various tribes from over the nation.”ii
A quick look at the yearbooks, newspaper articles and photos from this time show
that integration was slow in coming and there wasn’t really much of a change until the
1960’s and the majority of the school’s students stayed Indian throughout the 1980’s.
The same book shows that the MOWA Choctaw students listed were listed as Choctaws.
In the 1950’s the only whites attending were primarily the children of faculty members
and ones from the surrounding area. Blacks were prohibited completely from attendance.
This begs the question, if the BIA is claiming the MOWA Choctaw are Cajun & Black
how could they have attended Bacone? Also, if the only whites came primarily from the
regional area, how could the MOWA Choctaw be white students attending? Did they just
look at their family members one day and say, “ I have an idea. I was thinking of going
to high school 600 miles away from my family. I thought going to school with Indians
would be cool.” Because, of course, in the 1950’s being Indian was “cool”. Okay,
probably not.
And what about Choctaw Central High School on the Mississippi Choctaw
Reservation in Choctaw, Mississippi. Todd Johnston, Errol Reed, Luke Rivers and Tisha
Rivers all enrolled there and attended classes beginning in 1981. Our last community
member, Sierra Weaver, attended as recently as 2002. They appear not only in the
school files, but in the Society of Distinguished American High School Students, 1982
“JOHNSTON, Todd Donovan
Choctaw Central HS: Philadelphia, MS (2-53) Pres, 4H;Bsbl;Bkbl;Ftbl;4H A; Livingston
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Col;Computer Sci.ii
In Whose Who Among American High School Students 1981-1992
REED, ERROL S; Choctaw Central HS; McIntosh, AL; (S); Pres Jr Cls; cmnty Wker;
Hon Rl; Ed Sch Nwsp; 4-H; FFA; Bsbl; IM Sprts; Bacone Jr Coll; Med Lab Tech.
(p. 362)ii
JOHNSTON, TODD; Choctaw Central HS; McIntosh, AL; (Y); Trs Frsh Cls; Boy Scts;
Chrch Wkr; Cmnty Wker; Hon Rl; NHS; 4-H; Letter Bsbl; Letter Bskbl; Letter Ftbl.ii
Just ask a Mississippi Choctaw who attended Choctaw Central during this time if
they knew and were friends of the MOWA Choctaw students and you would be hard
pressed to find someone who doesn’t know them. As well, the MOWA Choctaw
community has continued our attendance at Bacone to the present.
INTERMARRIAGE
So another scenario is posed. Would it be possible for Indian people in large
numbers to move from all over the country to marry into a rural, impoverished
community with little job opportunities available, if the people they were marrying were
not Indian? Does the average southern town have large members of federally recognized
tribal members married into the community? The following federally recognized tribes
have been and are currently married into the MOWA Choctaw community:
Navajo Nation, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Poarch Band of Creek Indians, Eastern
Band of Cherokee Indians, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Caddo Nation of Oklahoma,
Wichita Nation of Oklahoma, Kiowa Nation of Oklahoma, Ponca Nation of Oklahoma,
White Mountain Apache, Creek Nation of Oklahoma, Otoe-Missouri Nation of
Oklahoma, Paiute, Washoe, and Kickapoo. And those are just the ones off the top of my
head. If I went in to those who are not legally married, the list would double. It is a
social impossibility that this type of intermarriage could happen in a community like
ours, if indeed we were not who we and anyone else with a clear head and conscience say
we are. Any sociologist could verify this reality of life.
CHOCTAW NATION CITIZENSHIP IN ALABAMA
At no point in the history of the Choctaw Nation, has its citizens lost their rights
within the jurisdictional boundaries of the State of Alabama.
Act of 1832
Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Alabama
“Sec. 6 And be it further enacted, That all laws, usages and customs now used, enjoyed or
practiced, by the Creek and Cherokee nations of Indians, within the limits of this State,
contrary to the constitution and laws of this State, be, and the same are hereby abolished.
“ This act did not affect the Choctaw people in anyway. No action has been taken at
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anytime to divest the MOWA Choctaw people of their rights guaranteed under the Treaty
of Dancing Rabbit Creek. The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek Article XIV clearly
states, “…..Persons who claim under this article shall not lose the privilege of a Choctaw
citizen, but if they ever remove are not to be entitled to any portion of the Choctaw
annuity.”ii
The Senate of Alabama reaffirmed this on January 11, 1994.
“Be it resolved by the legislature of Alabama, both houses thereof concurring, That the
Legislature hereby declares that all federal and state acts and judicial decisions pertaining
to the Choctaw Indians within the boundaries of the State of Alabama are
reaffirmed….Be it further resolved, That we further declare that all state and county
agencies shall be bound and subject to all federal and state acts and judicial decisions
pertaining to Choctaw Indians residing within the State of Alabama.”ii
The landmark case of Wall vs. Williams recognized the sovereign rights of
Alabama Choctaws. It stated clearly that the Choctaws did not give up any rights to
inclusion in the Choctaw Nation by staying in Alabama. Unlike the Creek and Cherokee,
The Choctaw could maintain their own council, laws and customs. Eddie Tullis
managed to rewrite his own tribes’ history in the State of Alabama, while excluding the
one tribal nation whose rights had never been terminated. He played the game very well.
EMPLOYMENT
Why were our people not allowed employment in the same establishments that
blacks and whites worked in during the segregation years if we were not Indians?
STICKBALL
I don’t know about you, but stickball doesn’t seem to be a real popular American
sport. Maybe someone can tell me who we ‘adopted’ the game from, since we are not
Indians. Our community has been playing this game for more generations than I can
count.
WHAT’S IN A NAME
Weaver, Snow, Reed, Ray/(Sunray), Rivers, Fields are not fictitious Hollywood
Indian names. They like many names currently attached to Indian people are of
European origin. They are the same surnames that our family members have carried
since our Choctaw names were anglicized in the 1800’s. I had someone from the BAR
question me about our surnames, believing that we had recently legally changed them to
‘sound more Indian’ by ‘using terms from nature.’ They also questioned our community
names of Tibbie/Okatibbaha, Kushak and Nanih Chaha and Choctaw Ridge, believing
them to be contemporary re-creations to make our community sound more “Choctaw.”
That is, of course, until they did some research and found out that those had always been
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the recorded names of four of our communities.
It seems that our story is just trying to be buried under mounds of bureaucracy. I would
draw the reader’s attention to an article I wrote on September 7, 2005, which appeared in
Indian Country Today, which shows how this is a recurrent theme amongst marginalized
people in the North America.
“Ninth Ward shares common fate of forgotten Indian peoples”
The word tragedy can hardly signify the extent of the pain being suffered by many in the
wake of Hurricane Katrina. While America comes to grips with the enormity of the
despair, primarily black people in the previously unheard of Ninth Ward of New Orleans
(one of the country’s most impoverished ghettos) already understand the touch, taste and
sound of generations of poverty. A poverty created by a very real caste system, which
exists here in the United States of America. And Indians are no exception.
Indian Country has its own Ninth Ward of faceless individuals and families who have
been some of the hardest hit over the course of this past week. The BIA won’t be
assisting them anytime soon. The United South and Eastern Tribes won’t be shipping
supplies their way. And by all current accounts, the National Congress of American
Indians has also left them out of the loop. The reason: federal recognition.
The United Houma Nation in Southeastern Louisiana and the MOWA (MobileWashington) Band of Choctaw Indians located just north of the city of Mobile, Ala. have
been forgotten. The United Houma Nation will not receive final word on their petition
before the Bureau of Acknowledgment and Research until September 2006 and the
MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians pending House of Representatives bill 3526 is
currently being reviewed in Washington, D.C.
Though forgotten in legal terms, poverty hasn’t forgotten them. Racism hasn’t forgotten
them. Help, it seems, has. While the federal government and national Indian
organizations intent on assisting federal Indian tribes, many of whom need little
assistance, send money and supplies from one casino-wealthy southeastern tribe to
another, the United Houma Nation’s eastern territory sits submerged under the waters of
the Gulf of Mexico. Homes, vehicles, personal mementos and their traditional lands have
disappeared. From Boothville in Placquemines Parish to New Orleans, Houma Indians
have had their lives turned completely upside down.
When the phone rang Aug. 31st my heart was in my stomach. My Aunt Dove was calling
me to let me know that they had escaped New Orleans and made it many miles north to
Clinton, La. Her beloved pets had not. Many of her irreplaceable photos of tribal history
and family had remained as well. She was alright, though shaken. The previous
evenings had been filled with emotion and non-stop phone call attempts by my wife and
I. Two days later, the Houma’s Vice Principal Chief Michael Dardar would call. He and
his family had also escaped. His words to me were simple: “There is nothing left down
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the bayou. Our home is gone. All the people’s homes are gone.”
News from the MOWA Choctaw reservation, though better, wasn’t that great either.
Tribal citizens had extensive roof and water damage. No electricity or phone service for
a week meant there were no edible foods in refrigerators or contact with the outside. Our
tribal school, they told me, had been closed since the hurricane struck. Needed repairs
are forthcoming.
The MOWA Choctaw and United Houma Nation are one in the same. As communities
of primarily impoverished and identifiable Indian people, we have never had the best of
what America has to offer. The prosperity parade doesn’t march down the roads of our
communities. And neither will assistance. Our lack of federal recognition has placed us
at the mercy of federal bureaucrats and the BIA. We are the neglected of the neglected.
You see, it is easy to forget about people when you marginalize them and pretend they no
longer exist.
Just ask the people in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward.ii
Since this time, Indian people from throughout Oklahoma have trickled into our
communities and NCAI has given both communities $15,000 to help with immediate
needs, through donations they had received for hurricane relief.
Sadly, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians forgot many of their own, in their
southernmost Choctaw community of Bogue Homa (Bok Homa) , during the hurricane
crisis.
“I just wanted to extend my thanks to Shawn ‘Shadowyze” Enfinger for all his efforts in
our time of need. I live in the Bogue Homa community and I personally appreciate your
help. I’m curious though, how did you find out about our little community? During the
first couple days or so after the storm we were all but forgotten about by the larger half of
the tribe. If it were not for our community representative, Berdie Steve, we would have
been left to fend for ourselves. She went to Pearl River to ask for assistance for our
community and they were like ‘Oh yeah, Bogue Homa.’
They had forgotten all about us…… chi yakokeli-thank you-from me to you. Dory
LeFlureii
Of course there was no money to help. That is why they needed assistance from
outside sources? Why when a tribe has such gaming wealth, would one of their own
communities be left out in the cold? In an April 25, 2006 article in Business Week
named, “Choctaws land shady Katrina contract”, the poor, lowly Mississippi Choctaw
leadership and their federal contracting subsidiary IKBI Inc. are now determined to help
the tribal communities that they oppose through clean up efforts. Clean up efforts that
will have them receiving $300 million dollars from the federal government in return.
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“According to e-mails and documents reviewed by BusinessWeek, top Republicans led
by Mississippi Senator Trent Lott have been leaning on the Army Corps of Engineers to
replace AshBritt Inc., the big cleanup contractor based in Pompano Beach, Fla., with
smaller state firms…The Corps thinks it has found the answer: IKBI Inc., the Choctaws’
federal contracting subsidiary. A wrinkle in federal procurement rules designed to help
Native Americans lets the Army forgo the usual competitive bidding process to award all
$300 million in work to the Choctaws as a sole-source contract.
The downside? The Choctaws’ new contracting company has just seven employees and
has never won a federal contract, according to the Small Business Administration.
What’s more, IKBI plans to subcontract much of the work to a large white-owned outfit
in Tennessee…Neither the Choctaws nor IKBI would comment for this story”ii
Multiple ancestries has caused trouble for the MOWA Choctaw community, as this
situation does not fit neatly into the square hole sent out by OFA. While the Cheyenne
and Arapaho, Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara), Tunica-Biloxi and
others exist throughout the country, this situation was used against our people. The
intermarriage of other tribes since 1950 has furthered these accusations. A clear timeline
has been established to sort out these and other issues mentioned.
TIMELINE FOR CHOCTAW INDIANS IN ALABAMA FROM 1813 TO 2010
WHO LIVE IN MOBILE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
For references see: They Say the Wind is Red: The Alabama Choctaw Lost in Their Own
Land by Jacqueline Anderson Matte, with foreword by Vine
Deloria, Jr., Revised Edition, 2002, NewSouth Books,
Montgomery, AL
1813
Forty-five Choctaw families join Creeks to fight against Americans in Creek War
of 1813 (part of War of 1812)
1819
Choctaw village in Mobile and inhabitants described March 31, by James Leander
Cathcart, agent for U. S. Navy, in his daily journal.
1824
Choctaw families in Mobile described and interviewed by Gideon Lincecum,
Botanist, who lived with Choctaw.
1830
Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek to remove all Choctaw Indians West of the
Mississippi River.
1832
George S. Gaines reported “A great number of Chactaw [sic] Indians for many
years past have resided with the corporate limits of this city during the winters
and spring months, and many families remaining through the summer, to the
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annoyance of the citizens. . .”
1835
Indian Schoolhouse, County Road 96 (Old Saint Stephens Road), Mount
Vernon, Mobile County, AL. Built approx. 1835; Owner: State of Alabama. Built
for Government School for Indians by Indian labor. Description: Frame, one
story, wood cypress siding, small porch on the front.”
1836
James Gibson, descendant of Chief Tom Gibson (Eli- tubbee/ Elah-tubbe) listed
on “Muster Rolls of Choctaw Indians,” and in Correspondence from Mobile.
1836-1936 Inclusive– 120 Land Records show ownership and occupation by people
with whose same names are listed on 1910 U. S. Census in Mobile &
Washington counties as “Mixed . . . .the prevailing habits are Indian.”
1838
Investigation into fraudulent land claims. Testimony taken to establish claims
by Choctaws; 7,000 who refused to move west.
1844
George S. Gaines reported “The south eastern Indians known as the Six
Towns under the influence of Capts. Oak-lah-be and Post Oak . . .number about
2,000.
1847 “Since the time of 1830 the Choctaws who remained . . .has been left to follow
there own inclination, the greater part of them leading vagrant lives . . .in the
southern part of Alabama and deriving a precarious subsistence by hunting and
fishing in swamps. . .about 3,000, including 2 and 300 who have wandered off to
the seashore between Mobile and New Orleans..”
1851
“Several hundred Indians were determined to remain in vicinity of Mobile”
6 Nov 1851; reports that “several hundred more Indians have come to vicinity”
27 Nov 1851; “about 500 are assembled. . .” 15 Dec 1851; “petition signed by
Choctaws: 60 men, 45 widows and 4 children.” 29 Dec 1851.
1852
“Petition in behalf of all the Indians of south Alabama of the Choctaw Nation
. . .over 400 Choctaws residing in Southern Alabama and near Mobile, who do
not wish to emigrate but to remain where we are and become citizens.
Signed in behalf of all the Indians of South Alabama of the Choctaw Nation.”
1856
“Census Roll of Choctaw Families, Residing East of the Mississippi River and
in the States of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama made by Douglas H.
Cooper, U.S. Agent for Choctaws, July 26, 1856: Original manuscript: Six
Town clan located in Jasper & Newton Counties, Mississippi and Mobile,
Alabama; list of Choctaw names; recapitulation, showing number of men,
women and children, number of families and places of abode. The Six Town
Clan was comprised of 129 men, 191 women, 194 children for a total of 514
individuals or 96 families.”
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1859
“Gov’t has no intention to make any further removal of Choctaws . . .”
1860
Response to series of letters requesting information on name and residence of
Choctaw Agent, “No such agent has been appointed by the Department. . . ”
1862 Choctaw ancestors of the MOWA remained in Alabama and were recruited
for the Confederacy at the foot of Stone Street in Mobile, Alabama.
The majority of the men were killed, leaving the women and children in south
Alabama.
1870
U.S. Census: Indians identified in Mobile County - 9.
1880 U. S. Census: Indians identified in Mobile County - 19;
in Washington County - 2.
1890 U. S. Census (manuscript burned) population totals only available. Indians identified
in Washington County - 0; in Mobile County - 402 (plus 384 Apaches).
1898-1914 MOWA Choctaw enrollment applications in Mobile and
Washington Counties for Dawes Roll, generated in response to General Allotment
Act, February 8, 1887. (U. S. Statutes at Large, 24:388-91).
1900 U. S. Census, Indians identified in Washington County - 0; in Mobile County - 5.
(Note: MOWA Choctaw ancestor James Laurendine [described as “Indian’’] in Green
County, MS Census)
1907-1909 U. S. Agent, John Beck, enrolled 64 Choctaw families in Mobile and
Washington Counties on Eastern Cherokee Roll (Guion Miller Roll). Ancestors of
MOWA Choctaw Application Numbers 14393, 17390-17395, 41601-41750, 4355143700 Eastern Cherokee Roll (a.k.a. Guion Miller roll).
1909 – 1930s- Indians identified in Birth and Death Records, Vital Statistics,:
Washington county – 12 births, 1 death; and Mobile County, 6 births, 0 death..
1910
U. S. Census, Indians identified in Washington County - 172; in Mobile County –7
Marginal notes designated clusters of families in Fairford, (Precinct 12) and
Malcolm (Precinct 13), ED 14 as: “These people entered as mixed, are composed of
Indian, of Spanish, some of them with French, some with white, and some with
Negro. The prevailing habits are Indian,. Called Cajun.” The original
identification in column, “Ind” was written over with “mixed.”
1917-1918 Mobile and Washington County WWI draft registration cards listing MOWA
Choctaw ancestors as “Indian,” “Indian Citizen,” or of “Indian Dec[sic]ent”
“Decent” was added by Registrar for Washington County, J. B. Cater.
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1918 In the miscegenation case against Percy Reed (State of Alabama versus Percy
Reed), he was found to be the descendant of Rose Reed, described as the “daughter of
Young Gaines and a Choctaw Squaw.”
1919
Choctaw Indians in Mobile and Washington counties “discovered” by Southern
Baptists.
1920 U. S. Census, Indians identified in Washington County - 10; in Mobile County - 12.
1921 – 1955 Thirty-four years of Reports by Baptist Missionaries provide continuous
written documentation to Mobile and Washington Counties to teach
“American Indians of Choctaw heritage, under the overall program of missions to
American Indians.”
1924
Governor W. W. Brandon’s report on “Cajan- Indians” in Mobile and
Washington counties. Hilary Herbert Holmes, “The so-called Cajan Settlements
in Southern part of Washington County, Alabama: A Survey made for Governor
William W. Brandon, 1924.”
1924-1934 Birth and Death Certificates Identifying MOWA Choctaw as Indian in
Mobile and Washington Counties
1930
U. S. Census, Indians identified in Washington County - 0; in Mobile County - 50.
1930s-1990s Several Master’s theses and “scientific studies” done on Choctaw Indians
in Mobile and Washington Counties.
1930-1965 Separate school system established for “Cadians” (Indians) in Mobile and
Washington counties.
1931-1966 Annual Reports of Mission Work Among the Cajan Communities 1931-66 to
the Woman’s Missionary Society and Woman’s Society of Christian Service. Work
among these communities identified by following names: Byrd’s Chapel, Work Among
the Cajans, Methodist Community House, Aldersgate Mission, Mobile County Rural
Center, Calcedeaver School.
1934
Mrs. Elvin Byrd sought federal aid for Indian schools.
1940 U. S. Census - No statistics on Indians
1940-1941 School year. Miss Eva Crenshaw’s Sixth and Seventh grade students of
Weaver School compiled a “History of Byrd Settlement,” “with the help of
some of the oldest people .. . .Mrs. Laura Byrd, Mrs. Irene Rivers, and Mr.
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Book Byrd.” The story of the “woman who swam the river with her baby” is
included.
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians denied federal recognition by the OIA, now BIA
(Office of Indian Affairs/Bureau of Indian Affairs) Shell Oil Company would find oil on
lands held in the Pearl River District and the only way they could take the funds from
these discoveries was to turn the Mississippi Choctaw into a “federal tribe” and take the
royalties from the trust land. In 1944, suddenly the Mississippi Band resident in the state
were transformed into a federal tribe, while Mississippi Choctaw living in Louisiana and
Alabama were cut out of the equation.
1940s Indians from Mobile and Washington counties served in World War II. All
military service records list community members as “Indian”.
1948 “The 3rd major census of Indians in 1930 was the occasion for the ‘discovery’ of two
more Indian mixed groups . . . . These people are centered in the area of heavy
woods and hills about Citronelle in upper Mobile and lower Washington Counties,
and number 3,000 or more.”
1950 U. S. House of Representatives report lists all Indians in U. S. including the Cajans
of Alabama [ancestors of the MOWA Choctaw] under category of “Siouans of the
East.”
MOWA Choctaws sent away to All-Indian boarding schools in Oklahoma and
Kansas (Haskell and Bacone), as they were not accepted to attendance in area
black and white schools. These schools were exclusive to American Indians.
Blacks and whites or any other nationality or race could not attend. This was the
only way they could receive an accredited high school or college education. This
attendance has continued to the current day. Twenty-seven federally recognized
Indian tribes have married into the MOWA Choctaw community since this time.
1950 American Indians across the South, including MOWA Choctaw, joined “Kinsmen of
Indians for Liberty, Reform and Instructions in Civic Affairs” (KILROI). As
Descendants of the Creek Indians, East of the Mississippi River.”
1956 “Prior to 1956 Indians in Washington County were not allowed to vote.”
p. 143, They Say the Wind Is Red
1961 “Alabama and Louisiana both sent representatives to the historic 1961 American
Indian Chicago Conference, which set the tone for Indian activism over the next few
decades.” p. 375 Up From Obscurity
1965 Secured federal assistance for Indian Education in schools. Title IV, Part A,
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Indian Education Program implemented in Reed’s Chapel School, McIntosh,
Washington County, Alabama and Calcedeaver School, Mt Vernon, Alabama. The
Indian Education program continues today in Mobile and Washington Counties.
1976 Choctaws in Mobile and Washington Counties, 4,000.
1979 The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians recognized by State of Alabama. “In 1979,
State Representative J.E. Turner of Citronelle drew up a legislative act that became law,
creating the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians.” P. 150, They Say the Wind is Red
“The MOWA Choctaw, who also lacked a central governmental structure prior to the
1970s, also managed to unify politically the interests of ten kin-based subdistricts of
Choctaws. IN 1979, with the support of state Representative J.E. Turner, the MOWA
Choctaw were officially organized and recognized through state legislation. When Gov.
Fob James formed the fourteen-member Choctaw commission the following year, it
included representatives from both Mobile and Washington counties. James signed a bill
acknowledging the group as a tribal nation, making them eligible for a variety of
programs, and by 1983, the tribe had purchased 160 acres in north Mobile County.”
p. 188, Up from Obscurity
1980
U.S. Census, Washington County, Alabama: Indians - 779
Alabama Attorney General confirms that Choctaw Indians of Mobile and
Washington counties retain their rights as a sovereign tribe.
“Governor Fob James signed into law the bill recognizing the historical rights to
sovereignty of Choctaws of Mobile and Washington counties, Alabama, which
rights were confirmed in 1980 by the Attorney General of Alabama.” p. 150
1981 MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians sought help of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to
provide assistance to be federally recognized. Alabama Humanities Foundation –
awarded a study grant.
Letter from Eddie L. Tullis, Chairman, Poarch Band of Creek Indians to Framon
Weaver, Chairman, MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, June 20, 1981 requesting
“in the spirit of Indian brotherhood, to support our efforts for Federal Recognition. .
.. We as Native Americans must work together to protect our rights. I assure you
that if you assist us with our struggle for Federal Recognition you can count on us
to be there when your petition is ready for consideration by BAR.”
1982 “In 1982 the MOWA purchased 160 acres of land on Red Fox Road….” p.151,
They Say the Wind is Red
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1983 MOWA Choctaw hired an Executive Director as a grants writer; applied for
research grant from the Administration of Native Americans, which they received. Held
organizational meeting for federal acknowledgment research team. Letter of intent to
petition was sent to the Branch of Acknowledgment and Research (BAR), May 19, 1983.
1984 “The MOWA Choctaw, for example, prioritized accessible health care facilities and
constructed a clinic in 1984 after receiving a DHHS grant.”
p. 309 Up From Obscurity
1984-87 Data collection -- research, interviews, writing
Poarch Band of Creek Indians become federally-recognized in 1984 and Tribal Chairman
Eddie Tullis begins his series of ever-changing attacks on the identity of the MOWA
Choctaw in order to protect his financial interests in the region. His story changes from
white, to black, to mulatto, to Cajun over the years depending on whom he is speaking to.
All records of his constant changing opinion are available for review.
Federal tribes begin writing letters of support for the MOWA Choctaw’s federal
recognition. This was begun by the Tunica-Biloxi of Louisiana.
1987 S.1142, Shelby; H. R. 3107, Callahan, Nichols, Erdreich
1988 Submitted FAP to BIA/BAR, April 28, 1988; up-dated tribal roll submitted
1989 S. 381, Shelby, Heflin; H.R. 1562, Callahan
1990 BIA/BAR reviewed FAP and sent Obvious Deficiency letter to MOWA Choctaw,
February 15, 1990.
1991 S. 362 Shelby, Heflin; H.R. 2349, Callahan; BAR held technical assistance
teleconference in September; MOWA Choctaw submitted response to Obvious
Deficiency letter, November 8, 1991.
Chief Phillip Martin of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians hires
“Antropologist” Kenneth Carleton to write a paper refuting the racial claims of the
MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians in order to assure a perceived gaming monopoly in
the region for the Mississippi Band. Kenneth Carleton does not hold a Ph.D in
Anthropology and has no published articles or books at the time of his hire, thereby
showing in academic circles that he is not an anthropologist and does not qualify as
such in academic circles. His twelve page paper is submitted to the Senate Select
Committee after they vote 11 to 2 in favor of federal recognition for the MOWA
Choctaw. This information is also forwarded to Congressional representatives from
the Poarch Creek Tribal Office by their former secretary, who now serves as secretary
for the United South and Eastern Tribes. This body represents twenty five federally
recognized tribes in the South and East who are opposed to state-recognized tribes
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and Congressional recognition, even though half of their current member tribes were
recognized by Congress. Phillip Martin also submits a personal letter to Congress
saying he only recently heard of the “MOWA Choctaw”. Interestingly, MOWA
Choctaw had been attending Choctaw Central High School on the Mississippi
Choctaw reservation for over a decade.
National Congress of American Indians writes letter supporting the federal
recognition of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians. NCAI Director Suzan Shown
Harjo is approached by Poarch Creek leaders Eddie Tullis and Buford Rolin (who is
the current PBCI Tribal Chairman) and questioned as to if, “She is going to write a
support letter for these nig***?)
1992 Supplementary documentation showing Choctaws in Mobile area from 1832-1860
was presented to the BAR and reported as received in the BAR’s Proposed
Finding. However, in a 1996 meeting with BAR officials (Virginia DeMarce, Kay Davis
and Holly Reckord ), they stated they did not receive them.
1993 S. 282; Shelby, Heflin, Inouye; H.R. 3605, Hilliard; supplementary
documentation showing MOWA Choctaw ancestors’ Dawes Roll Applications and
supporting evidence as to why they submitted applications for the Eastern
Cherokee Roll (a.k.a. Guion Miller Roll).
1994 S. 282, H.R. 4231, MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians Recognition Act; hearing
May 17, 1994; BAR sent Proposed Finding Against Federal Acknowledgment of
the MOWA Band of Choctaw, December 16,1994.
1995 Because a new chief was elected, MOWA Choctaw requested extension of time.
They applied for and received Administration for Native Americans (ANA) Grant to
complete Federal Acknowledgement Petition (FAP).
R. Lee Fleming is employed by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma as tribal registrar. The
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma was aggressively attacking state-recognized tribes at this
time. Mr. Fleming, a non-identifiable blonde haired and blue eyed Cherokee citizen who
was raised in affluence in Maryland would transfer the following year to his new position
working within the BAR (Bureau of Acknowledgment and Research) within the Bureau
of Indian Affairs. BAR was more recently changed to OFA (Office of Federal
Acknowledgment) which he now serves as Director for. The problem is that in 1995, Mr.
Fleming stated at Samford University in Alabama, prior to working for the BAR/BIA,
that the “MOWA would never be recognized as they were black”. He also stated his
dislike for state-recognized tribes insinuating that they are “wannabes”. He now is in
charge of deciding who is and who is not to be federally recognized the BIA. Numerous
letters have been sent to the BIA requesting this matter be looked into. No responses
have been forthcoming over the years even though university professors attending the
talks at Samford University have attested to these statements being made.
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1996 New chief, research committee and tribal council met with BAR staff in
Washington for technical assistance on March 1, 1996. Research committee met
with anthropologist, May 7-8. On June 27, 1996, Chief Wilford “Longhair” Taylor
submitted Report and up-dated tribal roll.
R. Lee Fleming hired by the Bureau of Indian Affairs/Bureau of Acknowledgment
and Research. Please see previous description under “1995”. Mr. Fleming suddenly
changes the regulations for federal recognition which formerly meant a petitioner had
to pass 4 of 7 mandatory criteria. Now the petitioner must pass 7 of 7. The MOWA
Choctaw easily passed 6 of 7, but got hung up on the “genealogy section”, due to lack
of some genealogical records tying our contemporary people with phonetically
spelled historic Choctaw names.
1997 BIA/BAR issued a negative Final Determination Technical Report..
1998 MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians of South Alabama filed an Appeal before the
Interior Board of Indian Appeals, U. S. Department of Interior. The appeal was
denied.
1999 MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians denied Acknowledgment by Assistant
Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Gover who had only been in office three days. Mr.
Gover, upon resigning his position, publicly admitted that he had a made a mistake in his
determination of the MOWA Choctaw petition and took the advice of R. Lee Fleming at
the time of his decision. He also placed these remarks in Congressional testimony.
BIA did not issue any literature to explain that the MOWA Choctaw had no more
recourse through the BIA/BAR/OFA process.
Now convicted felon Jack Abramoff hired by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw
Indians to lobby against the federal recognition of the MOWA Band of Choctaw
Indians. If it were not for the MOWA Choctaw, there may have never been a Jack
Abramoff and his twenty or so associates, most of which are currently serving prison
terms.
2000 Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs under President Clinton invited
Chief Taylor to meet with him to discuss MOWA Choctaw Federal Recognition
2003 The School Board of Washington County returned Reed's Chapel School and
property to the MOWA Choctaw. The first school was held in Reed's Chapel Church by
missionaries. The school was built by ancestors of the MOWA Choctaw on land they
donated for this purpose.
Former Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Chief Leon Jones disparages the MOWA
Choctaw people in Congressional Testimony not based on facts but rather as he says, "on
the word of my good friend Chief Phillip Martin of the Mississippi Choctaw".
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2004 Chief Wilford Taylor was invited by the Committee on Resources to participate in
a Full Committee Oversight Hearing in March, as to the BIA's flawed and capricious
handling of our petition as well as from three other tribal leaders who have long sought
federal recognition.
2005 H.R. 3526 "To extend Federal recognition to the MOWA Band of Choctaw
Indians of Alabama, and for other purposes." 109th Congress, 1st Session. Congressman
Jo Bonner 1st District , Alabama, Introduced bill July 28, 2005, which was referred to the
Committee on Resources.
In a conversation held by an official representative and Kevin Ring, a close associate of
lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Mr. Ring explained under questioning, "I had nothing to do with
the MOWA situation, that was Jack's doing." (referring to Jack Abramoff)
R. Lee Fleming comes down to the MOWA Choctaw reservation at the urging of
Alabama Congressman Joe Bonner. He explains to the MOWA Choctaw that they no
longer have any way of attaining recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
When he is questioned as to why the Choctaw language materials and Indian boarding
school records of the MOWA Choctaw were not used as evidence in the petition he
states, "They were received out of time". When asked how is it possible that people who
were sent to all Indian boarding schools for generations could not now be Indians, his
response was, "It was a mistake that they were sent." When piles of other evidence was
submitted to him he said, "Where was all this five years ago?" When questioned as to his
Indian background he declined comment. It is reported that Mr. Fleming is 1/32 Indian
by blood.
2006 Publication of CDIB (Corruption, Deceit, Identity and Bureaucracy in Indian
Country) which details all the history and political maneuverings taken by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, Gaming interests, area Power/Energy companies, lobbyists, Mississippi
Band of Choctaw Indians, Poarch Band of Creek Indians, Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians, and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma to insure the defeat of federal recognition
for the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians.
2007 Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma creates a "Task Force" to attack state-recognized
tribes. This Task Force is composed of friends and colleagues of R. Lee Fleming
(Director of the Office of Federal Acknowledgment) at the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma.
Phillip Martin, loses re-election as Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
after seven consecutive terms due to his involvement in the lobbyist scandal begun by
Jack Abramoff and himself.
Eddie Tullis loses re-election to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians Council after seven
consecutive terms due to his involvement in the lobbyist scandal.
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Lobbyists associated with attacking the MOWA Choctaw and others receive their court
dates leading eventually to prison sentences.
2008 MOWA Choctaw Federal lawsuit suing for federal recognition is denied based on
a “statute of limitations” finding by Federal Court judge in Mobile. Judge is the
granddaughter of judge who stripped the MOWA Choctaw of the majority of their lands
years previous, as he was a major land owner in the region.
2009 MOWA Choctaw tribal member Dr. Lebaron Byrd is hired as tribal Executive
Director.
2010 Miko Wilford Taylor, another Bacone attendee, completes fifteenth consecutive
year as the elected leader of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians.
The Choctaw people of southwestern Alabama are traditionally a matrilineal community,
whereby land “ownership” and other forms of title were held by the women. The clan of
the child was taken from that of one’s mother and the Green Corn Ceremony was the
center of cultural life. In the late 18th century great changed occurred in the traditional
practices of what are now the MOWA Choctaw people. Many of the ways that kept the
place of women intact within the community, such as the “coming out” or menstrual
ceremony which ascertained a young woman’s place as a creator of life and therefore a
beloved person, were greatly attacked by the norms of Anglo society. Remnants of these
traditional ways maintained themselves over the generations while taking on new forms.
The menstrual ceremony became the ribbon ceremony while the Green Corn became our
festival and pow wow times. This “pow wow” includes Choctaw social dancing,
Choctaw hymn singing, as well as “pan-Indian” style dancing and singing.
The MOWA Choctaw community has been hard hit with our traditional language usage.
The remaining fluent speakers of the community passed away in the 1980’s. While this
may seem tragic, it is their spirit which guides the current language program which has
helped to bring a new generation of speakers back into the everyday life of the people.
Many federally recognized Indian communities today have no knowledge of their
traditional languages and some have not spoken these languages for many generations.
In relation to these circumstances, the MOWA Choctaw community is far ahead of those
who the government deems to be “Indians”. It is the irony of all ironies. Culture and
language never die within an Indian people. In the beginning God gave us a distinct
language by which to pray with and conduct our lives. All Indians are born fluent
speakers of our languages, however, some have misplaced the knowledge to do so within
themselves. For those who do not speak the language regularly, there comes a point in
time when we rediscover this ability through practice, determination and perseverance.
We don’t relearn our language, we simply bring it back out from within.
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Other typically Choctaw cultural practices which remain in the community are stickball,
Choctaw social songs (chants/dances), Choctaw hymns and traditional Choctaw foods.
Traditional dresses and shirts are also a symbol of pride for the MOWA Choctaw and are
the work of a few women within the community.
The difficult part is the way the mainstream world views Indians in relationship to
culture. They look for feathers and fluff, pow wows and sweat lodge ceremonies. All of
these are not typical of Choctaw culture. They compare the people to the Mississippi
Band who have evolved in not always a similar fashion over the past 180 years since the
time of the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. They attempt to define what an Indian
is. In other words, the very people attempting to do this are usually the same people who
have no idea or who view Indians as those on the Great Plains or in the deserts of the
Southwest. It is the conservative and clannish nature of the MOWA Choctaw which
make us a continuous, autonomous and viable culture. We can’t be pigeon holed. We
don’t fit in a certain space. Missionaries, politicians, assimilationist government
programs and other means were used to bring us into the mainstream. Even so we have
always existed as a people apart in the past, the present and without question in the
future. This reality has been predicated by our belief that only we will decide the
continual path that our people lead. Only we will define our existence. Only we hold the
health of our small tribal community within our arms; a community where 93% of our
tribal enrollment resides. This is the proof of our existence and the essence of our
separate cultural continuity.
This fight continues as can be observed in the following article. We are not done.
Judge tosses MOWA suit seeking federal recognition
Posted by Brendan Kirby, Staff Reporter July 03, 2008 10:39 AM
Categories: Breaking News
A federal judge in Mobile this morning dismissed a lawsuit by the MOWA Band of
Choctaw Indians that sought to force recognition of its tribe in north Mobile County,
foreclosing the possibility of millions of dollars worth of government aid.
Chief U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade ruled that the tribe waited too long to file its
lawsuit. Tribal lawyers had argued that the six-year window for filing a lawsuit had not
run out because the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs had not made it clear until May 2005
that the tribe had no more recourse.
But Steele pointed to a Nov. 26, 1999, letter stating that the secretary of the Department
of the Interior had rejected any further consideration of the tribe's claim.
"Plaintiff clearly was on notice of the decision that it was not entitled to Federal
acknowledgment and had been notified of the finality of that decision," Granade wrote.
"Moreover, plaintiff has not shown that defendant intended to misrepresent the true facts
or that defendant intended for plaintiff to rely on any misrepresentations to its detriment."
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This fight continues in the following Indian Country Today article published after the
lawsuit denial.
Our new, non-Indian way
Cedric Sunray
Woe is me.
It has been hard adjusting to the fact that we are no longer Indians as of a few
weeks ago. A United States District Court in Alabama recently ruled that the MOWA
Band of Choctaw Indians’ lawsuit forcing federal recognition was filed after the statute
of limitations was up. It was just another technicality decision in a litany of technicality
decisions spanning many decades. First, our petition for federal acknowledgment, whose
requirements miraculously changed just as our tribe was up for consideration, was
denied. Then the appeals, where all relevant materials -- language recordings, yearbooks
and papers showing attendance at All-Indian boarding schools -- was supposedly
received too late and therefore were not eligible for evaluation. Which is understandable
because we all know the BIA and Office of Federal Acknowledgment always conduct
business in a timely manner. During this time, more Congressional bills than can be
listed here came and went, all dying in the waning moments as lobbyists and casino-rich
tribes rushed to the table in order to protect their gaming monopolies. Even an 11-to-2
vote in favor of federal recognition by the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs
couldn’t save the day.
It is hard not being Indian anymore. But, we have chosen to embrace it! We
understand there are quite a few perks to being non-Indian and we want our fair share.
We had hoped that since the decision that we are no longer Indians, our per capita family
incomes would increase to the level of the surrounding non-Indian population.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t occurred. Next, we were under the impression employment
opportunities in our community would swing wide open and our unemployment rate
would miraculously increase. No, spoiled once again. Two weeks ago our diabetes rate
was bound to go down, but it was the same story. It just hasn’t happened. And what are
our family members going to do about the upcoming annual reunions at Haskell Indian
Nations University, Bacone College and Choctaw Central High School? There will be
lots of Indians there! We can’t still attend those reunions, can we?
Some people think that now we’re in a predicament, but I beg to differ. I have
concocted a plan for my folks. First I am going to get in touch with Michael Jackson and
find out what skin lightener he used and then give bottles of it to my people. That should
take care of the brown skin. Next, we are going to divide up our reservation like the
Allotment Act of the early 1900’s or maybe just turn it into a nature preserve. Ecological
tourism is racking up money these days and heck, we have a bunch of people who look
like Indians so the tours will seem even more authentic.
Unfortunately, the court custody cases we won through the Indian Child Welfare
Act will have to be repealed. So do we send the kids back to their non-Indian foster
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parents now or do we get to keep our own children? Our tribal court will now be just a
“court,” we guess. So since it will no longer be valid, maybe we could get on one of
those cable shows as a mock court. We already paid all the money for space, so why let
it go to waste? Our Indian art can become “folk crafts” and our tribal school can now be
a mainstream school with no “mainstream” children. As you can see we have a lot of
work to do.
We do have one major problem however. We have this despicable Indian
language to get rid of. It is really going to hinder our progress as non-Indians. We
thought we could teach Spanish instead (since our people can’t pass for black or white),
but everyone spoke Choctaw in class and it was very distracting. They kept thinking I
was saying “halito” when I was saying “Dorito” and “cheese and nachos” when I was
saying “Chisnato.”
Well, better get going, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has asked all people of less
than one-quarter Indian blood to leave the building and I see about 80 percent of their
staff heading out the door. We might get trampled in a stampede. Chipisalachiki. Oops!
I mean, “adios.”
This was another article in response that appeared in the local press.
A response to the MOWA Choctaw Federal Recognition Lawsuit: July 9, 2008
Last Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Ginny Granade threw out a federal lawsuit
aimed at securing federal recognition for the only tribe in the State of Alabama whose
majority population is physically and culturally identifiable as Indian. The original
presiding Judge Sonja Bivens, an African-American, was removed from hearing the case
as she may have decided the submission on the merits and not on a technicality. Judge
Sonja Bivens would never rule that the MOWA Choctaw are black, as Poarch Creek
Eddie Tullis has protested, and thus, she is no longer here.
Losses based on technicalities have become the norm for the MOWA Choctaw. A long
series of corruption has insured that no matter what avenue we take, the end result
remains the same. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians and their former leader Eddie
Tullis, who was recently removed from office in June of this year, waged a nearly twenty
year campaign against the federal recognition of the MOWA Choctaw in order to secure
a gaming monopoly in the state of Alabama. The Poarch Creek, whose last fluent
speaker of their traditional language passed on in the 1800’s in comparison to the last
truly fluent MOWA Choctaw’s last speaker passing on in 1984, allowed their former
leader Eddie Tullis to make unfounded and uneducated remarks, which overturned
numerous opportunities for the MOWA Choctaw. In concert with then Mississippi
Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin, who failed in last year’s election campaign, due to a litany
of fraud offenses committed during his term of office, they hired two anthropologists to
refute the claims of the MOWA Choctaw. One hired by the Poarch Creek even remarked
that the reason the contemporary MOWA Choctaw speak the Choctaw language is
because they are the descendants of blacks and whites who traded with the Choctaw in
the early 1800’s. Now there are some ridiculous statements made in life, but this one
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wins the day. A quick review of the “research materials” used by these supposed
anthropologists and the money they accepted (one is still a full-time paid employee),
clearly illustrates fraud, influence peddling and extreme bias.
In contrast, the recognition of the Poarch Creek was nothing more than good timing and
an extremely good politicking job by Mr. Tullis. In 1984, after Eddie Tullis asked the
MOWA Choctaw for assistance with their federal petition promising that the Poarch
Creek would be there for the MOWA Choctaw when their time came, Eddie caught a
supreme case of amnesia. Suddenly, the very people he asked for support “in the Spirit
of Indian Brotherhood” as he put it in a letter dated back in 1981, were inferior to him
due to his new found federal recognition.
Eddie Tullis and his Poarch Creek followers created a climate of racial intolerance, by
playing on the ignorance towards Indian issues of a primarily southern conservative white
constituency. He used a Plains Indian style powwow, completely unrelated to
southeastern Creek culture, as a prop in convincing a primarily non-Indian staffed Bureau
of Indian Affairs Branch of Acknowledgment & Research (now known as the Office of
Federal Acknowledgment) of his tribe’s authenticity. It worked and millions of dollars
flowing into their newly created reservation, was the result. This money has been used to
stifle descent and project an image of continual cultural continuity to those who do not
know any better. And better still, the Poarch Creek instituted a ¼ blood quantum
requirement for enrollment in their band by making any and all persons found on their
base Census rolls “fullbloods”. In their own petition for federal acknowledgment they
claim to descend from halfblood Creeks, yet years later, in the earlier part of the 1900’s
these halfbloods have somehow and miraculously become fullboods? I believe the
Poarch Creek to be of Indian descent. Do not get me wrong. I also believe that
communities such as theirs should not be in the business of making identity judgments on
anyone.
The facts of the matter are that the Poarch Creek under former tribal leader Eddie Tullis,
the Mississippi Choctaw under former tribal chief Phillip Martin, USET (United South
and Eastern Tribes; an organization consisting of 25 federal tribes in the South and East
and then headed by Poarch Creek Tribal Citizen James T. Martin), the Bureau of Indian
Affairs Office of Federal Acknowledgment under Lee Fleming and a host of lobbyists
including convicted felon Jack Abramoff conspired against the MOWA Choctaw
knowingly and unknowingly in unison to insure that their professional and economic
interests were never in fear of being challenged.
As a resident of Oklahoma, whose father is a MOWA Choctaw, I tend to deal in social
realities rather than legal fictions. The reality is that the MOWA Band of Choctaw
Indians were the only Indian community in Alabama sent to federal and mission AllIndian Boarding Schools such as Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, Bacone Indian
College in Muskogee, Oklahoma and Choctaw Central High School on the Mississippi
Choctaw Pearl River Indian Reservation, to have never lost our traditional tribal
language, to have a continual Indian School (Calcedeaver; formally Weaver School built
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in 1835 for Indians by Indian labor; National Records of Congress) functioning in our
community since removal, and to have in existence within our community over twenty
different federal tribes due to continual intermarriage with Indian communities on a
national level. We were also the first tribe in the state to achieve state recognition and to
this day, the only tribe to live on a state-recognized Indian reservation. As an enrolled
citizen of a federally recognized tribe and an enrolled citizen of the MOWA Band of
Choctaw Indians I find it completely laughable that the Poarch Creek are continuously
promoting themselves as the only “federally recognized” tribe in the state. Federal
recognition has nothing to due with cultural legitimacy or retention. Federal recognition
has nothing to do with authenticity. It is only a thin sheet of protection from questioning,
which most people don’t realize can be easily pulled back. To Eddie Tullis and his
cronies I would suggest making the bed….because your sheets are finally all over the
floor.
So in final review and summation we offer the reader this; The MOWA Band of Choctaw
Indians are a physically, culturally and linguistically identifiable reservation based
community of Choctaw Indians who escaped the Choctaw Removal of 1830, by staying
behind on their marginal lands 40 miles north of the City of Mobile, Alabama not far
from the Mississippi State Line.
These approximately 45 families of Choctaw Indians were joined by other refugee Indian
families (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek) escaping removals in subsequent years, as well as
Apache unions due to their internment for seven years at Mt. Vernon Barracks in the late
1800’s, and by a few disaffected non-Indian families from the regional area. By 1850,
this small group had been further pushed to the margins of Southern society, and were
left as squatters on their own lands.
In the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, communities known historically as Alabama,
Louisiana and Mississippi Choctaws were barely maintaining a living in their territories.
Racially segregated in these three states, they had little legal or political recourse in their
own affairs. Local community members began to organize on mass in order to make life
better for their people. The OIA, now Bureau of Indian Affairs, decided that these
communities scattered across three states did not qualify for federal government
recognition early on in the 1940’s. This was a crushing blow to the impoverished
Choctaw communities. Subsequently, one year later, Shell Oil Company found oil on
lands held by Choctaw families in Mississippi. Almost overnight, the Bureau of Indian
Affairs reversed its previous decision and granted federal recognition to the communities
now included in the tribal nation known as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, in
order to negotiate land and revenue leases. The Louisiana and Alabama Choctaws were
left out of the deal, but not out of the watchful eye of federal authorities.
Shortly thereafter, Alabama Choctaw youth began the long treks to Indian boarding
schools such as Haskell in Lawrence, Kansas and Bacone near Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Others were sent out to Indian schools in Louisiana. At the time, the Alabama Choctaw’s
Indian schools were not accredited, though they were a viable source for education and
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community continuity due to the fact that the Choctaw population was disallowed
admittance at neighboring black and white schools. Those first Choctaws who returned
with formal education began to press the federal and state governments for more basic
services and land protections.
Due to decades of persistence, the Alabama Choctaws (now known as the MOWA Band
of Choctaw Indians due to the reservations proximity to the Mobile and Washington
County lines) were the first tribal community in Alabama to receive state recognition in
1979. In 1991, after years of struggle, the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs
voted 11 to 2 in favor of federal recognition for the tribe. Their decision was overturned
by a powerful pro-gaming alliance of the nearby Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
Tribal Chief Phillip Martin and former Poarch Band of Creek Indians Tribal Chairman
and current Tribal Councilor Eddie Tullis, who were both intent on protecting and
monopolizing on their casino interests in the region. These individuals have attempted to
block passage of numerous Congressional bills and BIA appeals by stating that the
MOWA Choctaw are Cajun or mulatto. Cajuns migrated from Canada to Louisiana, so
this first insinuation is historically inaccurate and impossible and was refuted by
numerous people in the professional community. The term mulatto, when placed in
historical context, was designated to any non-black or white person who inhabited
various areas of the United States, especially in the Southeast, throughout the 1800 and
early to mid 1900’s. In documents, members of the two neighboring tribes, the
Mississippi Choctaw and Poarch Creek were also referred to in this manner at various
stages. In today’s society the term usually is applied to the child of one black and one
white parent. I would challenge anyone to find a MOWA Choctaw who has one black
and one white parent. This person simply does not exist from the very eldest of the
population to the very youngest.
Subsequent attempts to gain federal recognition over the following decade, which were
supported by numerous federally recognized tribes, national Indian organizations and
leaders and a substantial number of anthropologists, linguists, ethnologists and university
professors were again stopped by pro-gaming employees and finally by Mississippi
Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin’s hire of former Washington D.C. lobbyist and convicted
felon Jack Abramoff and associate , who closed the final door on the MOWA Choctaw
federal recognition petition. A petition and people, who the late nationally known Indian
author and leader Vine Deloria, Jr. described as, “without question a continuous and
identifiable Indian community deserving of federal recognition.”
The fraud leveled against the MOWA Choctaw and others by Steven Griles, Jack
Abramoff, anthropologist Kenneth Carleton (a non-Indian anthropologist working for
Phillip Martin), Eddie Tullis, Phillip Martin and the head of the Office of Federal
Acknowledgment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Lee Fleming was bought and paid for
through political donations and illegal lobbying activities. Steven Griles had been
handed a 10 month jail sentence, Jack Abramoff received 6 years (released June 2010),
Phillip Martin lost his bid for re-election as Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw
Indians and is now deceased and Eddie Tullis is no longer Poarch Creek Tribal
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Chairman, Kenneth Carleton is still an anthropologist working for the Mississippi
Choctaw and Lee Fleming is currently still serving as the Director of the Office of
Federal Acknowledgment within the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He has admitted on
record that the OFA process is inconsistent and in need of reformation.
Despite continued levels of poverty that far exceed national standards, the MOWA
Choctaw people have continued to endure and progress in the face of history. With a
federal Indian housing program, tribal court, tribal police force, Indian health clinic,
athletic center, tribal government complex, two production factories, athletic fields, a
cultural museum, outstanding local schools, reservation lands, a flourishing language
program and the rich cultural legacy of their people well intact, the MOWA Choctaw
remain.
The federal recognition of the MOWA Choctaw is not coming tomorrow or in a few
months. The process is difficult and politically based. The MOWA Choctaw’s refusal to
accept the backing of any casino company or law firm bent on pursuing land claims has
prolonged the inevitable recognition of this community. It also has shown that the
MOWA Choctaw people are honest and good neighbors to the surrounding non-Indian
community. Will federal recognition increase the economic level of community citizens?
Absolutely. Will it increase the job opportunities locally and regionally of non-Indians?
Again, the answer is yes. Will the MOWA Choctaw gamble away their future? The
answer to this question is absolutely not. There is still something to be said about being
honest.
There is much more to this story that we wish we could share with you. Too many elders
and community members have been disrespected in this battle. Too many have passed
on. I realize this is the type of wordage used by each petitioning tribe who is denied or in
the process in order to acquire emotion from the reader. However, it is true. It is time to
rectify this injustice.
QUICK FACTS REGARDING THE MOWA BAND OF CHOCTAW INDIANS
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians is the only American Indian community in the State
of Alabama:
-to have never lost its traditional language.
-whose majority enrolled population is physically identifiable as Indian.
-to have a sanctioned language and culture department.
-to teach their traditional Indian language in their local public schools.
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-to have attended federal and mission boarding schools exclusive to American Indians
(Haskell Institute (Lawrence, KS), Bacone Indian College (Muskogee, Oklahoma),
Choctaw Central High School (Choctaw, Mississippi) and Acadia Baptist (Eunice,
Louisiana) are examples.
-to have never had their rights as Indian citizens terminated.
-to have intermarried or partnered extensively with members of federally recognized
tribes (Navajo Nation, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians, Wichita Nation, Kiowa Nation of Oklahoma, Ponca Nation of Oklahoma,
White Mountain Apache, Creek Nation of Oklahoma, Otoe-Missouria Tribe of
Oklahoma, Paiute, Washoe, Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, Fort Sill Apache, Poarch
Band of Creek Indians, Canadian First Nations, Zuni, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma,
Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and others).
-to maintain a continuously functioning tribal school (Calcedeaver Elementary School
founded as the Weaver School in 1835).
-to maintain a fully functioning Indian Museum and Cultural Center.
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians were the first tribe to receive recognition from the
State of Alabama in 1979.
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians is one of only two reservation based Indian
communities in the State of Alabama.
The MOWA Choctaw first petitioned for federal acknowledgment by application to the
Guion Miller Roll which was finalized in 1909. All community applications were
denied.
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians are one of the longest petitioning tribal
communities in U.S. History (over one hundred years) with numerous Congressional
Bills to their credit:
S.381 (101st Congress) 1990
S.362 (102nd Congress) 1991
S.282 ((103rd Congress) 1993-1994
H.R. 923 (103rd Congress) 1993-1994
H.R. 3605 (103rd Congress) 1993-1994
S.292 (104th Congress) 1995-1996
H.R. 3526 (109th Congress) 2006-2007
H.R. 1946 (110th Congress) 2007-2008
In 1991 the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians received an 11 to 2 vote in favor of federal
acknowledgment from the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs. A powerful
gaming lobby from two regional tribes (the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and the
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Poarch Band of Creek Indians) and national chemical companies with plants in their
jurisdictional area nullified the vote in order to protect their gaming monopolies and to
insure no land jurisdictional issues or monetary claims.
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians are one of the only “non-federally recognized”
tribes in the Nation to have qualified under the Indian Child Welfare Act, which is
exclusive to federally recognized tribal communities.
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians firmly believe that culture, language, tribal lands,
physicality, historical governmental relationships, Indian schools and related social
factors are the cornerstones of Indian identity….not federal recognition.
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians are descended from a majority of Choctaw
families who mixed with a smaller number of disaffected Cherokees, Chickasaws,
Creeks, and marginalized non-Indians during the Removal era. These disaffected and
marginalized non-Choctaw families came to the isolated lands held by the Alabama
Choctaws in an attempt to escape persecution. In the late 1800’s, the Choctaw family of
Alexander Brashears and Apaches held captive at Mt. Vernon, Alabama (the site of the
MOWA Choctaw reservation) mixed in with the MOWA Choctaw community, further
adding to community diversity. Through it all, Choctaw language and cultural traditions
have maintained themselves as the focal points of community identity and social order.
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians have:
-a tribally sponsored Health Clinic on their reservation.
-an Indian Housing Authority funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development Office of Native American Programs.
-one of the longest running Indian Education Programs in the Southeastern United States
(1965).
-a fully accredited tribal police department located on their reservation.
-membership in the National Congress of American Indians
-an Industrial Park with 3 currently operating factories.
-a tribally sponsored Head Start Program located on their reservation.
-community buildings, recreational facilities, athletic fields, athletic center, ceremonial
grounds located on their reservation.
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-a tribal scholarship program dedicated to the field of medicine.
-an annual cultural gathering on the 3rd weekend in June.
FRAUD OVERVIEW
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians are supported by the majority of national
anthropologists, ethnologists, linguists, historians, professors and other academics with
knowledge of the community. These include Dr. Richard Stoffle, Dr. Loretta Cormier,
Professor Margaret Zehmer Searcy, Professor Barbara M. Baker, Dr. Rose Marie Stutts,
Dr. Susan Greenbaum, Dr. Kennith York (Mississippi Choctaw), Vine Deloria, Jr., Kevin
Gover (former Assistant Secretary of the Interior and current Director of the National
Museum of the American Indian) and many others. Numerous federal tribes and national
Indian organizations support the tribe as well. Examples include the Tunica-Biloxi of
Louisiana and the National Congress of American Indians (please see federal recognition
section for supporting documentation).
There are a small number of exceptions, which are listed below:
People Against the MOWA Choctaw federal petition
Phillip Martin (former Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians whose intent it
was to keep a gaming monopoly in the regional area. This is ironic, as the MOWA Band
of Choctaw Indians have expressed no interest in gaming).
Kenneth Carleton (non-Indian anthropologist for the Mississippi Choctaw. Highly paid
staff member who recycled an early 1900’s college student paper to attack the identity of
the MOWA Choctaw community)
Eddie Tullis (non-identifiable Poarch Band of Creek Indians former Council Member and
Chairman). Along with Buford Rolin, he paid one amateur historian and one
anthropologist to write negative critiques on MOWA Choctaw identity. Prior to Poarch
Creek federal recognition Mr. Tullis wrote a letter to the MOWA Choctaw asking for
support of Poarch Creek federal recognition “in the spirit of Indian brotherhood”.
Buford Rolin (non-identifiable Poarch Band of Creek Indians Chairman). Same
James T. Martin (former Executive Director of USET; United South and Eastern Tribes
and an enrolled member of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians) Used his influence with
USET to insure defeat for MOWA Choctaw Federal Recognition.
Jack Abramoff (non-Indian former lobbyist and convicted felon currently serving a 6 year
jail term for fraud)
Steven Griles (former politician currently serving a 10 month jail term)
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Lee Fleming (non-identifiable member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma raised in
Maryland/Washington D.C. area and Director of OFA; Office of Federal
Acknowledgment) He has shown continual racial bias and one year prior to accepting his
position with the BIA was caught making remarks at Samford University insinuating that
the MOWA Choctaw were black people. Mr. Fleming had never met a MOWA Choctaw
at this time.
Cherokee Nation Task Force which includes Cara Cowan-Watts (1/256 by blood
Cherokee Council Member), Troy Wayne Poteete (non-identifiable 1/32 blood quantum
Cherokee Supreme Court Justice) Dr. Richard Allen (Mr. Identity Police himself; an
enrolled Cherokee and the only identifiable individual in the group), Chad “Corntassel”
Smith (Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma who was raised in Georgia and is
directly responsible for the disenrollment of nearly 3,000 Cherokee citizens); Terri
Rhoades (enrolled non-identifiable, low blood quantum member of the Cherokee Nation
of Oklahoma who was formerly enrolled with the Cherokees of Northeast Alabama and
served on the Tennessee Indian Affairs Commission. She was raised in Pennsylvania)
Tribes Against the MOWA Choctaw federal petition
Poarch Band of Creek Indians (35 miles from the MOWA Choctaw reservation) *since
the election of 3 new council members, the Poarch Creek are split on whether to support
or oppose MOWA Choctaw federal recognition. The Poarch Creek claim to ¼ blood
quantum necessary for enrollment is completely false. In their federal recognition
petition they claim that they descend from half-blood Creeks. When they gained federal
recognition in 1984, they made all base roll persons identified as Indian full-bloods. This
is called misrepresentation of facts. As a “sovereign” however, they have the ability to
distort or make up anything they choose when it comes to their own enrollment policies.
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (main tribal complex 120 miles from the MOWA
Choctaw reservation) *Note: since the election of Miko Beasley Denson the Mississippi
Choctaw have withdrawn opposition to MOWA Choctaw federal recognition.
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (allied with the Mississippi Choctaw on this issue)
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (allied with the Eastern Band Cherokee on this issue)
NOTE: The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has nearly 300,000 tribal citizens. Over
240,000 of which are less than ¼ degree Indian blood. Many of the tribal citizens are of
1/256, 1/512, and 1/1,024 with blood quantums dropping as low as 4,096.
ii
“Proposed Legislation for the Full-blood and Identified Choctaws of Mississippi,
Louisiana and Alabama in Memorial, Evidence and Brief” (Washington D.C.: Judd &
Detweler (Inc.) Printers), 8
117
ii
“Hearings Before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Indian Affairs House of
Representatives on the Subject of Enrollment in the Five Civilized Tribes” ( Washington
D.C.: Washington Government Printing Office, 1915 ), 41.
ii
“State by state examples of mismanagement and abuse” Eric Nalder, Deborah Nelson
and Alex Tizon; Seattle Times, December 1, 1996
ii
Cash Color and Colonialism: The Politics of Tribal Acknowledgment Renee Ann
Cramer; University of Oklahoma Press, 2005
ii
“As Long As the Waters Flow: Native Americans in the South and East; Frye Gaillard,
John F. Blair, 1998, p.56
ii
Interview at Local Café (Mt. Vernon, Alabama; May 2006)
ii
Bureau of Acknowledgment and Research MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians Final
Determination 1997
ii
“State by state examples of mismanagement and abuse” Eric Nalder, Deborah Nelson
and Alex Tizon; Seattle Times, December 1, 1996
ii
“Writer paid to praise Choctaws, Abramoff clients” www.indianz.com , Friday,
December 16, 2005
ii
“Writer paid to praise Choctaws, Abramoff clients” www.indianz.com , Friday,
December 16, 2005 in
ii
“History of MS Choctaws now available in paperback” Choctaw Community News,
February 2005
ii
Interview with MOWA Choctaw elder Roosevelt Weaver, August 18, 1983
ii
“Hearing before the Select Committee on Indian Affairs United States Senate, 102
Cong: 1st Sess., S. 362 “To Provide Federal Recognition of the MOWA Band of Choctaw
Indians of Alabama, June 26, 1991” (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office,
1992), p.314
ii
“MOWAs renew tribal recognition quest” Ben Raines; Mobile Register, 2/19/2000
ii
“Once scorned as Indians, Mowa now seek that official status” Thomas Spencer, The
Birmingham News, 1/28/06
ii
“Off the Beaten Path: Calcedeaver Defies Stereotype” Susan Rountree Salter, School
Boards Magazine, Summer 2005, p.17
118
ii
“Off the Beaten Path: Calcedeaver Defies Stereotype” Susan Rountree Salter, School
Boards Magazine, Summer 2005, p.17
ii
“Off the Beaten Path: Calcedeaver Defies Stereotype” Susan Rountree Salter, School
Boards Magazine, Summer 2005, p.17
ii
“Testimony of Gallasneed Weaver” Testimony in Support of S. 362 (S.282) Proposed
Legislation for Federal Recognition of MOWA Choctaws of Alabama, 1993
ii
“Mantle of Shame Awards” Suzan Shown Harjo; Indian Country Today, 12/22/05
ii
Letter to the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs supporting federal recognition
efforts of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians from former Vice-Chairman of the
Kiowa Nation of Oklahoma Modina Waters, August 14, 2005
ii
Cajun interviews, Louisiana, 2002
ii
As Long As the Waters Flow: Native Americans in the South and East Frye Gaillard;
John F. Blair, 1998, p.55
ii
Interview with MOWA Choctaw elder Leon Taylor
ii
They Say the Wind is Red: The Alabama Choctaw Lost in Their Own Land Jacqueline
Matte; New South Books, 2002, p.97
ii
“Alabama’s Indians- the Forgotten Minority” Mike Gibson; Alabama Social Welfare,
September-October 1980, p.8
ii
“The Role of the Cultural Anthropologist in Assisting the MOWA Choctaw in
Conducting Their First Elders’ Oral History Conference” Margaret Zehmer Searcy;
University of Alabama (included in Testimony in Support of S. 362 (S.282) Proposed
Legislation For Federal Recognition of MOWA Choctaws of Alabama), May 15, 1986
ii
“What’s in a name? Plenty, for MOWAs” Bill Finch; Mobile Press Register, Saturday,
November 26, 1994
ii
“Indian School at Muskogee OK’s Proposal to Admit White Students” Associated
Press; Tulsa World, March 5th, 1950
ii
Society of Distinguished American High School Students L.B. Siegelman editor; 1982
ii
Whose Who Among American High School Students, 1981-1982
ii
Whose Who Among American High School Students, 1981-1982
119
ii
Act of 1832
ii
Senate of Alabama Resolution McDowell Lee Secretary of Senate; January 11, 1994
ii
“Sunray: Ninth Ward shares common fate of forgotten Indian people” Cedric Sunray;
Indian Country Today, September 7, 2005
ii
“Thanks for the help” Dory LeFlure; Native American Times, October 14, 2005
ii
“Business Week: Choctaws land shady Katrina contract” www.indianz.com ,
Wednesday, April 5, 2006
120
THIS IS NOT YOUR LAND
AND THESE ARE NOT YOUR ANCESTORS
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The Indian employment situation of the plants was just one issue. Generations
ago, the land was methodically removed from the hands of the local MOWA Choctaw
population. Our people became squatters in our own aboriginal territory. Each
Congressional bill submitted by the MOWA Choctaw for recognition has included
language that would insure to the chemical companies that we would not pursue land
claims.
“Mowa Band of Choctaw Indians Recognition Act- Extends Federal recognition and
associated services and benefits to the Mowa Band of Choctaw Indians of Alabama.
Restores Federal rights and privileges abrogated by earlier statutes. Approves and ratifies
the cession to the United States of all historical tribal lands of the Band. Extinguishes all
specified claims against the United States, a State or local government, or any other
person or entity, by the Band arising subsequent to such cession, and based upon any
interest in or right involving the land. Transfers all interest in lands held by the Band to
the United States, to be held in trust for the benefit of the Band.”ii
The new congressional bill 3526, which was brought about by a courageous
Congressman by the name of Joe Bonner, has similar language included. Without this
language included, this multi-million dollar industry would have crushed any hopes for
the passage of our bills. To ad insult to injury, the chemical plants, which now set up
shop on land previously held by us, that was practically swindled by timber man Frank
Boykin in the early 1900s, had been dumping mercury into our community for years.
It all finally came to light in 2005. It all started with Mr. Boykin. He began the
Tensaw Land and Timber Co. Our people weren’t allowed employment until the late
1960’s in any other industry other than his turpentine and timber operations.
“That encounter led Reed to believe that Boykin actively discouraged the chemical
companies from hiring local Indians, to protect his own labor force. He has no written
proof, but he’s hardly alone in holding the view that Boykin regarded the MOWA
Choctaws as ‘my Indians…..he was a brilliant manipulator. He had to do a lot of
manipulating to get that land.”ii
This came from a currently retired chemical plant employee and MOWA
Choctaw Tribal Councilor Verma Reed. Frank Boykin and his brother Bob had brought
the chemical plants to the area in 1950, but Indians didn’t find any work there until 1967.
“Boykin and Everett would allow the Indians ample credit, then settle the debt by taking
their land. Boykin’s biography, which his family paid to have published and for which
he was the main source, has stories not to far removed from that. Property records also
show that Boykin, his brother Rob and Everett all bought up land when previous owners
couldn’t come up with the property tax. “ii
MOWA Choctaw Chief Wilford Taylor also remarked on Boykin.
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“It’s mixed feelings. Some of our people didn’t have any dealings with them. The ones
that did have dealings with the Boykins, most of them had a bitter taste.”ii
As a 28 year congressman and the largest land owner in our area, how could we
feel about him? He and his family made their fortune off of our land and our backs. We
had little recourse then and we have little recourse now.
The new regional economy would not only include timber, but now would be
dominated by the chemical companies such as Olin and Ciba. Over the next 56 years our
health would begin deteriorating at a rate much higher than mainstream America’s. Was
it our poverty that led to this? Was it our continued separation from others? Why did we
have unusually high levels of cancer? The answer was just down the road. With little
other employment options, it was the question very few wanted to ask.
“From 1952 until 1982, Olin produced chlorinated organic pesticides, chlorine, caustic
soda, and sodium hypochlorite at the site. Presently, Olin produces chlorine, caustic
soda, sodium hypochlorite and blends and stores hydrazide compounds at the site.
Releases of mercury and organic chemicals have contaminated the shallow groundwater
beneath the site. Discharges of wastewater containing mercury have contaminated
wetlands adjacent to the Tombigbee River. Approximately 500 people live in the area of
the site. Everyone in the area utilizes the groundwater as a source of drinking water.”ii
The Institute for Southern Studies published “Mercury Rising” on their website,
which related to the Mercury contamination of MOWA Choctaw and adjacent lands in
southwestern Alabama. The article is included here in its entirety.
Mercury Rising
“The Mobile Register has produced an excellent package of reports on mercury
contamination in Alabama’s ‘Chemical Alley,’ much of it originating at the Olin Corp.’s
plant in McIntosh, Ala. The plant stopped using mercury to produce chlorine a quartercentury ago, yet the toxic liquid metal is still seeping from the plant site into rivers where
it contaminates fish and flows ultimately out into Mobile Bay. In 2002, state
investigators caught what is believed to be the most mercury-saturated fish ever found in
North America, an unfortunate bass with mercury levels 28 times higher than EPA’s safe
limit.
State officials have tried to assure locals that there’s no immediate danger, but many
aren’t buying it. At a recent meeting, the Register reports, ‘ residents and a lawyer
representing them accused state and federal officials of looking after corporations at the
expense of the people, of relying on environmental monitoring conducted by those
corporations instead of performing their own tests, and of using lower standards in
Alabama than in other parts of the country.’…Researchers have criticized the Alabama
Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) for using ‘primitive’ methods to
monitor mercury levels. ADEM’s test is so poor it comes back negative even for water
with 42 times the average concentration of mercury.”ii
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The Mobile Register series was difficult for the chemical companies to accept.
And just like the Mississippi Choctaw and Poarch Creek, they used their money to create
a propaganda campaign lessening their role in the matter. In the Mobile Register article,
“Tests indicate a potent form of mercury” dated March 16, 2005, the author writes in
reference to the Olin Corp.,
“The company, a multinational conglomerate whose American headquarters is in
Missouri, insisted that the brine well sand it produced between 1952 and 1968 is safe and
chemically ‘bound up,’ and ‘cannot naturally leach into the environment.’ The letters
stated that high levels of mercury found in Register-sponsored testing last week were
inconsistent with testing done by ‘government agencies and Olin over the past 25 years.’
“ii
Steve Asbill, manager of the Olin plant,
“wrote in a letter to the Mobile Register that state and federal agencies had concluded
that ‘residue from our plant does not pose a public health risk.’ “ii
It seems that the Mississippi Choctaw, with their self-regulated gaming free from
the National Indian Gaming Commission’s watchful eye and the Olin self-tested
monitoring system for pollution production i.e. mercury contamination, are ideal
situations to be in. Especially, since neither has produced any fraudulent actions taken on
the part of either party publicly.
The best part of it all is what Olin did with the waste materials.
“…..testing revealed high levels of total mercury in a salty, gray material spread on
several dirt roads and scattered near schools, parks, woods and around houses in this
southeast Washington County community.”ii
The Olin plant has been designated as a national Superfund contamination site.
Olin has also admitted to,
“donating some dirt to Washington County in the late 1990s. That dirt, according to the
company ‘was analyzed and verified to be safe prior to moving the soil.’ “ii
The “dirt” had been spread all over the community for roads and other municipal
needs. And it is the same “dirt” found to have some of the highest levels of mercury ever
researched in the United States. In an article titled, “The Olin Retirement Benefit: A
Mercury Parachute?” that appeared in the Mobile Register on June 13, 2005 longtime
resident of McIntosh, Alabama and now a current Mobile resident spells out her families
connection to the mercury contamination.
“My father worked in the mercury-cell building at Olin for more than 26 years, until he
retired due to health problems in the mid seventies. Years ago he was tested, and his
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doctors determined that he had excessive amounts of mercury in his brain
cells……Though his body has been ravaged with disease, his mind remains lucid and he
often talks to me about the horrible conditions under which he labored at the Olin plant.
My dad’s cousin died last October from a neurological disorder which his wife attributes
to his long-term exposure due to living and working in proximity to the Olin and Ciba
plants….Now, other than a body stricken by debilitating disease, what does my father
have to show for 26, devoted years at Olin? $74.53 a month in retirement benefits and a
thousand dollar death benefit. Not even enough for a decent burial.”ii
Goes to show just how much Olin values the employees who worked so hard to
make the company what it is today. It also begs an important question: if Olin cares so
little about its own, why should we believe it cares any more for the people of McIntosh,
who continue to suffer the consequences of mercury and other chemical run-off from the
plant? Though the author’s racial identity is ambiguous, it can be safely assumed that her
father at least was non-Indian, due to his employment in the plant beginning in the early
1950’s when MOWA Choctaws were prohibited employment there. It goes without
saying, that if that kind of treatment is levied upon a non-Indian, imagine what goes on
with us.
The EPA was slated to do a formal review of the Olin Superfund site in the Fall of
2005. Ironically, the EPA explained that their five year review process would not include
new information brought to light since the initial review five years prior.
“EPA officials told the Register on Friday that the current review would not address the
widespread mercury contamination documented in the Register in the greater McIntosh
area. Health risks and environmental concerns raised by some of the nation’s top
mercury scientists after they studied mercury testing data from McIntosh also were
beyond the scope of the review, according to the EPA.”ii
The EPA and the BIA should get together. It seems that they derive their policy
and procedure items from the same manual. Prior to the finished review of our federal
recognition petition, piles of “new” information was provided to the BAR which was
irrefutable. Lee Fleming explained that the BAR would not be reviewing such items,
which included verification of attendance at Indian Boarding Schools, recorded
conversations of Choctaw language usage in the community amongst elders, stacks of
World War II records listing MOWA Choctaws as Indian and numerous birth certificates
showing Indian designation from the early 1900’s, due to the fact that they were
submitted after the deadlines for submission. This is very interesting, as the BAR never
lived up to one deadline concerning our Final Determination. The process took nearly 20
years and was, as previously mentioned, riddled with inconsistencies. At least a recent
conversation (January 18, 2006) I had with the Alabama Department of Environmental
Management State Project Manager for Olin & Ciba, Sonja Favors, was cordial and
progressive. At the current time she is attempting to schedule a meeting with our
community to hear concerns over the levels of mercury contamination and give us the
most up to date facts in the case. Sonja Favors is black and seems to see how the racial
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policy of our area, caused the advent of land swipes and eventual chemical company
ownership. I also spoke with Humberto Guzman, Environmental Protection Agency
Remedial Project Manager for Olin OU-2, on January 18, 2006. He explained to me that
he was concerned about the safety and thoughts of the Indian population situated around
Mobile, Alabama and would join Sonja Favors at a scheduled community meeting. His
remarks were somewhere between The Mobile Register’s views and the views of the
chemical companies themselves. He admitted to me that there certainly was mercury
contamination, but that at this time, he believed it was at manageable levels. He also said
he understood our situation as a Mexican person who grew up in impoverished South
Texas.
His words tell the tale.
“Wherever there are chemical plants, there are poor people. Wealthy people have the
money to get out or would not have allowed a plant to have been built there in the first
place.”ii
He seems wiser than most. Time will tell. As of the time of the publishing of
this book, there has been no final word on the current environmental disaster affecting
our community. We can only hope our concerns won’t fall on deaf ears as usual.
After these environmental issues were brought to the forefront a possibly greater threat
occurred to our community with the world’s largest steel manufacturer, German owned
and based ThyssenKrupp, moving their first North American plant to Alabama after a
long bidding war occurred between over twenty U.S. States. Unfortunately, this massive
billion dollar plant, which encompasses-3,700 Acre tract with eight burial sites (5 of 8
eligible for inclusion on the National Register) was built directly adjacent to our tribal
community and directly over top of eight tribal burial sites. Our protests with the State
Historic Preservation Office/Alabama Historical Commission continually were
disregarded and issues surrounding our lack of federal recognition were used as
justification for our legal inability to stop the building process.
Jim Noles (state archaeologist) informed us that ThyssenKrupp had spoken with Sheila
Jackson and Chief Taylor to okay the burial area. Of course in contacting them directly
they assured me that such a contact had never occurred. I spoke with Greg Rhinehart
from the State Historic Preservation Office and he assured us that a meeting would be
upcoming, but he also explained that because we are not federally recognized that they
don’t “really” have to meet with us. I explained to him that this was unacceptable.
Similar problems had occurred in 1974 with the local Dow corporation. Mr. Rhinehart
assured us that three phases were being undertaken to assure that any remains would be
dealt with “appropriately”. They were -Phase I: Cultural Resource Assessment,
Phase II: National Register Eligibility, and Phase III: Recovery of Data. They never
were. We had heard from various sources that these are Indian burials. Chief Taylor was
told that they were white burials by the State Historic Preservation Office initially. Greg
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Rhinehart himself has stated that these are possibly Indian and that two young children (
a boy and a girl) possibly 500 years old have been found. This of course is virtual
giveaway that these are our people’s burials. Twenty four phone calls had been made to
concerned parties during the course of these inquiries. 0 calls have come from interested
parties with ThyssenKrupp, Jim Noles or SHPO which were not requested by me. I
called one worker named ThyssenKrupp employee named Paula Smith and left a message
with her on October 31, 2007. No response. Called again and left a message. No
response. Called her again and she connected me to ThyssenKrupp manager Andy Ritter.
I left a message. Our daughter, who was seven at the time came with me as I drove
towards the ThyssenKrupp plant. Mr. Ritter called back after we were talking with the
security at the site. The security would not allow us to view the burial sites. They were
polite throughout the process and seemed to agree with our position. One security officer
mentioned, though not disrespectfully, if we were the group that was 70% white, 20
something percent black, and a very small percentage Indian. Obviously ThyssenKrupp
has great concern on educating their employees about our community. I inquired where
they had heard such information about us. The answer was that they had read it on the
internet. Internet postings are definitely the way to go when it comes to identifying
communities of people. I get all my “accurate” information about the world from
Wikipedia, because of course that site always producing the most balanced and accurate
information. The conversation I had with Andy Ritter was fruitless. Eventually the lead
security came and placed the facility on “lock down”. Because a guy and his seven year
old daughter are a major threat for sure. We were escorted off the property. As you will
see from the state repatriation code below, Greg Rhinehart wasn’t being straight with our
people.
The ThyssenKrupp situation had become ridiculous at this point. We are not allowed to
see our ancestors. This is completely immoral on all levels. To further add insult to
injury our people were also not getting hired by the company who had project over
13,000 jobs in their proposals to the state. There had become an invisible sign that read
“No MOWA’s allowed”. Eventually one of our tribal members stood out on Highway 43
leading into the plant with a sign that read, “You said you were going to hire locals?”.
Eventually ThyssenKrupp started hiring our people. This is just continuous in our lives.
We have become experts at dealing with such situations. With the identity police we
shouldn’t even be worrying about our ancestors as they see non-federal tribes
involvement in grave repatriation as a primary sign of wannabeism. Of course, for them,
it is good and just to care for their ancestors. In May of 2010 a Choctaw contingent came
to our home state to speak about repatriation issues. The group included members of the
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and Jena Band of
Choctaw Indians. We did not receive an invite to our own territory. When I contacted
the organizer of this event he was apologetic and sincere and insured that this would not
happen again. Not everyone is a crook.
Agencies, Acronymns, and Individuals engaged during the process
127
SHPO
NAGPRA
NHPA
ACHP
ARPA
State Historic Preservation Officer; Alabama Historical Commission
(334-230-2662)
Native American Graves Repatriation Act
National Historic Preservation Act ;Section 106
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (NHPA subsidiary)
ThyssenKrupp representatives spoken to:
Jill Scholkey (Human Resources; 715-258-6611)
Gary Garvey (Human Resources)
Michael Redemacher (Vice Chairman and CFO of ThyssenKrupp Stainless)
Jim Noles (Archaeologist; Balsh & Bingham; 205-251-8100; P.O. Box 306 Birmingham,
Alabama 35201)
Greg Rhinehart (334-230-2662; SHPO, www.preserveala.org)
Paula Smith/ Bob Soulliere (251-544-3401; 273-344-8055/2913; 1087 Downtowner
Blvd. Suite #200; Mobile, AL 36609)
Andy Ritter
Woelker Thomas
Other:
Ami Ross (UAB; 205-586-7001)
MOWA Choctaw Tribal Council:
Elizabeth Sullivan 251-509-4219
Cleve Reed
Code for Burials: Alabama
ALABAMA HISTORICAL COMMISSION
ADMINISTRATIVE CODE
CHAPTER 460-X-10 BURIALS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
460-X-10-.01 Permits
460-X-10-.01 Permits. The purpose of these regulations is to provide for the lawful
excavation, relocation, and/or restoration of cemeteries and human remains as described
in Alabama Act 93-905. The Alabama Historical Commission (AHC) as charged in Act
93-905 shall oversee the provisions of this Act relating to permitting activities.
128
(a) Definitions
1. Archaeologist - A person meeting the qualifications as found in 36 CFR Part 61.
2. Permit - A document necessary to conduct activities involving human remains or
funerary objects at marked or unmarked sites.
3. Cemetery - A place of burial for human remains with or without markings or
indications.
4. CFR - Code of Federal Regulations.
5. Funerary Objects - Objects of, used for, or associated with burial.
6. Burial - A burial shall be considered to include the human remains, all funerary
objects, and the grave or other place of deposition.
(b) General Permits
1. A permit will be automatically issued by the director of the AHC to all county or
municipal Coroners, all county or municipal Health Officers, all City, County and State
law enforcement agencies; licensed Funeral Home Operators, all licensed Cemetery
Operators and all licensed Morticians. This permit is for carrying out the lawful duties
assigned them by the State of Alabama.
i. If all burials to be disturbed have been interred for less than 75 years, no consultation
with the AHC is necessary. No further reporting or permitting is required.
ii. If any burial to be disturbed has been interred for 75 years or longer, or if the date of
interment is undetermined, the permittee shall consult with the AHC for purpose of being
issued an additional specific permit limited to that burial only.
2. Any archaeologist shall be eligible for a permit upon demonstration of qualification.
3. An annual report shall be filed with the AHC at the end of each calendar year outlining
the place, the date and the disposition of any remains or burials disturbed. Activities
conducted under Section b., 1., i., are exempt from this stipulation.
(c) Single Use permits - In cases where one of the above persons or entities is not
controlling the disturbance, an individual may request a permit to disturb human remains.
The request must be accompanied by a complete description of the location, known
information concerning the remains, and the purpose for the disturbance.
129
(d) Violation - If violation of the terms of the permit is found after a complete
investigation by the staff of the AHC, the director may submit to the Commission a
recommendation that the permit be withdrawn. The Commission, if unlawful use is
determined, may choose to withdraw the permit or set conditions under which the agency
or individual may retain the permit.
(e) Consultation - All permits will be issued by the Director after consultation with the
archaeological staff. Based upon provided information, the Alabama Historical
Commission shall assume the responsibility for coordinating consultation between
interested or concerned parties including, but not limited to, where appropriate, the Indian
Affairs Commission and other groups representing significant cultural or ethnic
affiliations. The objective of this responsibility is to provide for a mechanism of public
comment in those cases where it may be necessary.
(f) Notification - Any person who knows, or has reason to know, of the discovery of
human remains and/or funerary objects on state or private lands shall notify the AHC
immediately. If the discovery occurred in connection with a land-disturbing activity
including, but not limited to, construction, mining, logging, or agriculture, the person
shall cause the activity in the area of the discovery , make reasonable efforts to protect
the items discovered, and contact the AHC immediately.
Author: Gregory Rhinehart
Statutory Authority: Code of Ala. 1975, §13A-7-23.1, Alabama Cemetery and Human
Remains Protection Act 93-905.
History: New Rule: Filed February 9, 1994; effective March 15, 1994. Footnote:
Emergency Rule 460-X-10-.01-.01ER.
Re-certification Amended: Filed March 24, 1994; effective April 28, 1994.
ii
MOWA Choctaw Federal Recognition Bill H.R. 923/ S.282 2/3/93)
ii
“Of turpentine, timber and chemical plants” Sam Hodges; Mobile Register, 12/18/01
ii
ii
“Of turpentine, timber and chemical plants” Sam Hodges; Mobile Register, 12/18/01
“Of turpentine, timber and chemical plants” Sam Hodges; Mobile Register, 12/18/01
ii
“Alabama NPL/NPL Caliber Cleanup Site Summaries” U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, www.epa.gov/region4/waste/npl/nplal/olinmcal.htm)
ii
“Mercury Rising” The Institute for Southern Studies Mercury Rising Monday, June
20, 2005 http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2005/06/mercury -rising.asp)
130
ii
“Tests indicate a potent form of mercury” Ben Raines and Bill Finch; Mobile Register,
3/16/05
ii
“Tests indicate a potent form of mercury” Ben Raines and Bill Finch; Mobile Register,
3/16/05
ii
“Tests indicate a potent form of mercury” Ben Raines and Bill Finch; Mobile Register,
3/16/05
ii
“McIntosh’s mercury menace” Mobile Register,
www.al.com/nes/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/111053654060910.xml , 3/11/05
ii
“The Olin Retirement Benefit: A Mercury Parachute?” Sharon Adams; Mobile Register,
6/13/05
ii
“EPA study of McIntosh will exclude new findings” Ben Raines; Mobile Register,
8/22/05
ii
Telephone conversation with EPA Remedial Project Manager for Olin OU-2 Humberto
Guzman January 18, 2006
131
THE GOLD STANDARD: THE MISSISSIPPI BAND OF CHOCTAW INDIANS
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“In the 1920’s Martha L. Walden left her home in King and Queen County, Virginia and
went to be a Southern Baptist missionary and teacher to the MOWA Band of Choctaw
Indians of southwestern Alabama.” ii
She would stay from 1921-1924.
“As a missionary and teacher to the Choctaw Indians, she rode horseback along secluded
trails or traveled by foot or wagon. She describes living conditions as primitive. The
first year, she lived in a room in a native home and cooked and ate in a separate lean-to.
All the while, she advocated education and job training for the Indians she served.” ii
The leadership of the Alabama Choctaw, now known as MOWA Choctaw, met
with Mrs. Walden in 1994 when she was 95 years of age. During the meeting she pulled
out a traditional beaded comb and neckband that she had been given back in the 20’s by
members of the community. She spoke of the difficulties of being a white woman
amongst the Indians and also of the moments of joy she experienced. The Bureau of
Indian Affairs would disregard the videotape submitted by the tribe of her recollections,
saying that her memories hadn‘t been submitted in a timely fashion.
Being Indian in the 1920’s, 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s in Alabama and Mississippi
wasn’t a sought after identity. The South was already caught up in a stratified class
system between black and white and the Indian question was hardly front page news.
During the mid-1930’s the impoverished Choctaw of central and south
Mississippi and southwestern Alabama were organizing themselves in order to alleviate
the impoverished situation that the race line had bestowed upon them. In 1934 a man by
the name of Joe Chitto pushed the Choctaw people towards forming a tribal government
under the newly legislated Wheeler Howard Act. A constitution was drafted and then
Superintendent Hector devised a plan for its implementation.
“The primary problem with Hector’s plan was that, ‘several of the Choctaw communities
were not represented in the committee organization of the Superintendent.’ Indeed,
Indians living outside of the seven ‘official’ communities had no representation on the
TBC.” ii
This posed a great problem for members of the southwestern Alabama Choctaw
community who had not been attendant at the preliminary meetings and were
subsequently unable to be included in the tribal constitution. For a short while this would
not negatively impact the Alabama Choctaw as the Choctaws in Mississippi would not be
recognized as a tribe despite the constitutional draft.
“The matter of a tribal government lay dormant over the next few years. In 1936, the
OIA began purchasing lands for individual communities, under the provisions of the IRA
that allowed for land purchases for full-blooded Indians. While the Interior Department
Solicitor authorized these purchases, he also ruled that the Choctaw were not a legally
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recognized tribe.” ii
So in 1936 there was no federal Choctaw tribe in the states of Alabama or
Mississippi. The Mississippi Choctaws, in fact, were deemed through the federal
government as not constituting a tribe. They did not meet the federal standard for tribal
acknowledgement. This fact is never mentioned by the current Mississippi Choctaw
leadership, who through their continuous marketing campaigns seem to have grown a sort
of amnesia to the entire episode. However, they are quick to mention their recognition
as an Indian tribe in 1944. Once again, they fail to mention how this happened. They
portray it as a monumental achievement dictated by their tribal organization structure and
cultural background. The reality remains that neither of these played any real position in
their federal recognition.
“….in 1944, the Shell Oil Company indicated an interest in oil leases on Choctaw lands
in the Pearl River district, and the OIA shifted its plans. After much wrangling with the
OIA legal department, J.M. Stewart, Director of Lands announced that the Choctaw’s
reimbursable lands would be reclassified as a reservation and the Choctaw declared a
‘tribe’ so that a formally recognized IRA council could be formed to negotiate the
leases.” ii
The Mississippi Choctaws had been reborn. Oil, not self governance, had become
their golden ticket. They had satisfied no criteria for recognition (though without
question they are one of the most traditional Indian communities in North America), but
rather had been in the “right” place at the “right” time. And the Alabama Choctaw had
been cut out by a now very real state boundary line and Indian bureaucracy politics. This
was only the beginning to the difficulties they would face.
In 1992, an 11 to 2 vote in the Senate Select Committee should have easily won
the day for the MOWA Choctaw federal recognition hopes. Unbeknownst to the MOWA
Choctaw at the time, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama and Mississippi Band
of Choctaw Indians had hired two unknowns to write inflammatory and factually
inaccurate papers about the MOWA Choctaw history. These papers written by Johnnie
Andrews, Jr., who is now deceased, and Kenneth H. Carleton, who is a paid
anthropologist and full-time employee for the Mississippi Choctaw drew off of one
another’s work and used very minimal accounts and an even smaller bibliography in
compiling irrational statements against the MOWA Choctaw. Interestingly, when the
Poarch submitted these papers, unlike the Mississippi Choctaws, they did it in secret.
Both tribes were currently building towards their gaming futures at this time and the
MOWA Choctaw community is situated directly between the two in a region with closer
proximity to an urban area and major highways. The issue had become gaming and the
MOWA Choctaw’s two neighboring tribes were intent on stopping them in any way they
could.
And who is Kenneth Carleton? No one seems to know where he attained his
credibility from. After over a year of phone calls and messages left for him, he finally
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made the mistake of picking up the phone on March 15th, 2006. The conversation went
in circles as Mr. Carleton could not answer any of my questions with a direct answer.
This left him with his only option, to hang up the phone on me. A subsequent call was
also never returned.
Mr. Carleton and Lee Fleming, who you will read about in a latter chapter, have
labeled the MOWA Choctaw as mulattos and blacks in their writings and words.
Obviously, they have no understanding of historical labeling, which is ironic due to the
fact that Kenneth is an anthropologist and Lee is a genealogist.
“At different intervals in the past, however, by insisting that groups were “no longer
Indian”, whites have been able to steal their land. Jack Forbes, for example, has
described a number of instances in which Native Americans were classified as free
people of color so that their land might be taken”. ii
“As a result of current social trends, genealogists and historians alike are now altering
record labels as they pursue their own research. The passé terms colored and mulatto are
almost routinely revised to read black, a term that carried wholly different meaning when
these records where created. Consequently Indians and part-Indians… are now being
erroneously identified by researchers as African-American.”ii
And the quotes from experts in the field of genealogy go on and on, leaving the
credibility of the “authors” against MOWA Choctaw identity non-existent.
Phillip Martin is no stranger to those familiar with Indian Country. He has
become a larger than life figure in his home state of Mississippi and on the national
Indian scene. Heralded as the savior of his once impoverished tribe, Chief Martin’s
resume boasts more awards than a Hollywood actor. He has led the Mississippi Band for
decades and helped navigate them through numerous successful business ventures
including his prize jewel, the Pearl River Resort gaming complex.
In life, wherever wealth exists there must be poverty and wherever “success”
exists, there must be failure. Chief Martin’s claim of his tribes being used by disgraced
lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his cohorts could not fall on deafer ears. Are we to believe
that the savvy businessman and life long politician that is Phillip Martin was duped by his
hired gun? Are we to believe that he, his tribal council and numerous former Washington
D.C. insiders that now are employed by his tribe did not see it coming?
And what does his own council think. In an April 4, 2005 article “Choctaws press
chief to end dealings with lobbyist”, Clarion Ledger reporter Ana Radelat wrote,
“Governing council members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians are pressing
tribal leader Phillip Martin to end his relationship with a highly paid lobbyist under
congressional investigation….Fifteen of the tribe’s 16 council members tried to discuss
the issue Tuesday with Martin, but the tribe’s chief failed to turn up for a scheduled
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meeting, council member Linda Farve said…At a meeting with council members last
month, Martin defended the tribe’s payment of millions of dollars to the lobbyist, she
said.”ii
The article continued and made the mention,
“The Choctaws are the only tribe not cooperating with a congressional investigation led
by Sen. John McCain…”ii
One month earlier the same newspaper reported,
“Council members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians say they are stunned that
millions of dollars of tribal money were paid to a Washington lobbyist whose relationship
with tribes has come under scrutiny.” ii
That lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, revealed part of his intentions in the same article.
“Abramoff also said he lobbied on a bill that would require state legislatures to approve
new Indian casinos…”ii
Interestingly, Mr. Martin has always advocated the importance of tribal
sovereignty, but now he wants other Indian Nations to be regulated by the states? At the
time the chief counsel to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Paul Moorehead,
defended the Mississippi Choctaws and said that they had been mistreated. He also made
a vailed threat to the lobbyists,
“ ‘There are a lot of laws on the books,’ he said, ‘with regards to fraud against Indian
tribes.’ “ii
The MOWA Choctaw would love to review those laws. And besides, Chief
Martin had already foretold his involvement a year earlier in the Clarion Ledger.
“ ‘ I can do things through the tribal government I couldn’t do otherwise,’ said
Martin……”ii
This was in response to a reporter questioning his re-election at the age of 77.
Don’t worry Martin, we all know now.
Some Mississippi Choctaw leadership, namely Chief Phillip Martin, paid off
everyone and they were rewarded handsomely in government contracts and in the nonrecognition of the MOWA Choctaw community. They have held more politicians and
lobbyists in their pocket than anyone.
Ralph Reed, the former director of the Christian Coalition claimed that money
that he was receiving to thwart gambling initiatives (i.e. a perceived belief that the
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MOWA Choctaw would pursue gaming if federally recognized) was paid for via nongaming revenues of the Mississippi Choctaw.
“Reed, a political strategist who rose to national prominence as director of the Christian
Coalition, has said he was assured that the money did not come from gambling. He said
he passed the assurances on to the activists opposing moves to create an Alabama lottery
and legalize video poker.”ii
And the article goes further,
“Dan Ireland, who organized Alabama churches to fight the 1999 lottery referendum, said
the money still should have been refused. ’ They {The Choctaw} have an ulterior motive
in what they’re doing,’ said Ireland.”ii
But Ralph was just the start. Tom DeLay was also throwing around weight for
the Mississippi Choctaws and using his buddy Jack Abramoff to get the job done.
“The Choctaw tribe alone has paid Abramoff more than $10 million for his services. It
was a bargain. In June 2000, the House and Senate passed, without debate, a DeLaysupported bill that turned over thousands of additional acres of land to the tribe.” ii
Additionally,
“In return for his help, DeLay received over $50,000 in contributions from Abramoff and
the Choctaws. DeLay, who took only 18 trips in the past five years, made four of those
junkets to Choctaw casino/hotels. Abramoff hired two of DeLay’s former top advisors to
work with his Choctaw clients.”ii
And it doesn’t stop there.
“In March 1997, Abramoff’s Choctaw clients paid $3,000 in travel and lodging expenses
for two DeLay staffers. The staffers listed the junket as a trip ‘to review and observe the
reservation and local economy’ at the tribe’s Silver Star Hotel Casino.”ii
And further (you are getting the point, right?),
“The Choctaws have since been granted an unprecedented exemption from scrutiny by
federal regulators. The Choctaw became the only tribe allowed to regulate its own
gaming operations. That little piece of work earned Abramoff another $2.3 million.”ii
On April 3, 2006 Tom DeLay tendered his resignation as a Congressman. One of
Phillip and Jack’s buddies was running.
And it doesn’t stop there. Oops, I just said that. The Christian Coalition fell in
love with the Choctaw money. Of course, as previously mentioned, they said that the
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money they used to fight pro-gambling lobbies in other states was derived from the
Choctaw’s non-gaming funds. Coalition Chairman Bob Russell and Coalition President
John Giles worked hand in hand with Ralph Reed.
“Russell said the report ‘clearly shows we repeatedly asked the right questions at the right
time and repeatedly received assurances these funds were not from gambling interests.’
Giles said the coalition didn’t violate its policy against accepting gambling proceeds,
because, according to Reed and tribe officials, the funds came from the tribe’s nongaming ventures.”ii
Non-gaming funds were taken from a large gambling tribe in Mississippi to fight
gambling initiatives in the neighboring states of Louisiana and Alabama and that doesn’t
violate policy. Who is making the policy? And who from the Christian Coalition
believes even one word they just sad? I thought one of the Bible commandments was
still, “Thou Shalt Not…you fill in the word.”
Jack had become the king of all lobbyists and those were some great years, but
1994 is truly what set him on the map. During this year, the Republicans took control of
Congress. The Mississippi Choctaw had just opened their casino after eliminating their
perceived competition, the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, with one of the most
fraudulent documents ever submitted before the Senate Select Committee on Indian
Affairs. The document is given here in its entirety: My analysis of each section is stated
in bold.
Dear Senator Inouye:
We very much appreciate your giving us the time needed to comment on S. 362, the
MOWA Band of Choctaw Indian Recognition Act. As you know, I had a prior
commitment on the day of the Committee’s hearing on S. 362; and I thank you for giving
me the opportunity to provide the Committee my position in writing.
Attached is a study on the MOWA question which was carried out by an anthropologist
on our staff. It demonstrates to me that without a doubt the members of the MOWA
community had some Choctaw ancestors in the remote past. (Of the 30 first-generation
Indian ancestors listed in the MOWA documentation, only 16 are identified as Choctaws,
and of these, only one, Alexander Brashears, appeared on the Armstrong Roll of 1831,
the listing of all Choctaw households east of the Mississippi compiled prior to the
Removal to the Indian Territory.) Here begins Chief Martin’s one credible fact. He
states that “….without a doubt the members of the MOWA community had some
Choctaw ancestors in the remote past.“ Remote past is funny due to the fact that
our Choctaw ancestors are listed at the same time as theirs. Only one, he says, is
listed on the Armstrong Roll of 1831. During this time, as Chief Martin , well
knows, an extremely prejudice enumerator was present amongst the Choctaw
people. His task was to severely limit the amount of enrollees possible. He goes
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further to say that only 16 of 30 are listed as Choctaws. That is more than half. The
difficulty with this would be what? But descendancy to some fractional degree by
some people does not make them an Indian tribe. I can only assume that Chief Martin
believes that the federally recognized Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is not a
legitimate Choctaw community either. In this community, unlike ours and the
Mississippi Choctaws, tribal enrollment is based on Dawes Roll descendancy, which
can drop to very small fractions with some individuals. 1/256 blood quantum is not
an uncommon occurrence in tribes that descend from the Dawes Roll. There are
areas of culture and political relationships that more closely define a tribe, areas reflected
to some extent in the current Bureau of Indian Affairs federal acknowledgement process
and in your, Senator McCain’s, and Senator Cochran’s effort to legislatively mandate
such a process, S. 1315. And what about Mississippi Choctaw recognition based on
Oil in 1944? The kiss up to Senator McCain and Senator Cochran would pay off for
all involved in the future.
“….four other senators were among the top 10 recipients of Abramoff-linked
money. They were:…Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran, with $37,000.” ii
And Senator McCain’s letter to the Mississippi Choctaw concerning the upcoming
Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs hearing investigating the lobbyist
scandal was printed in the July 2005 edition of the Choctaw Community News. The
letter had an added heading devised by the Mississippi Choctaw leadership which
read,
“Senator John McCain sets record straight on Choctaw lobbying.” The highlighted
section of the letter read. “This investigation is not aimed at you, your
administration, or other tribal members. To date, there have been no allegation of
wrongdoing against you or your administration, nor have we seen evidence of any
such wrongdoing.”ii
There goes two more in the bag for Philly and the gang. Second, culture is
certainly not a focus in the current recognition criteria. Third, the MOWA people
are a very cultural people and have been defined as such by numerous
anthropologists, linguists and sociologists, as well as other tribal communities. Also,
the MOWA Choctaw community has held a long history of political relationships
since the time of removal. MOWA Choctaw people have continued organized
church “sings”, leadership voting, as well as relationships with county, state, church
and federal officials.
It has only been within the last ten to 20 years that the Mississippi Band of Choctaw
Indians has been aware there were people in Washington and Mobile counties, Alabama,
claiming Choctaw descent. This is one of the best ones. First of all, Mississippi
Choctaw and MOWA Choctaw people have been attending Bacone High
School/College with one another since the 1950’s. Now if my math is correct, that
would mean a minimum of 40 years in a documented educational setting. That does
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not include social relationships that may have formed prior to this. Also, MOWA
Choctaw tribal citizens have been attending Choctaw Central High School on the
Mississippi Choctaw reservation since 1981. The school is only open to federally
recognized tribal members. If there was some sort of conflict between the people,
why would this be occurring. So is it 10 or 20 years? That is my next question. Or
maybe it is forty? Some members of that community have visited the reservation here
in Mississippi to study tribal customs; and some tribal members here have been paid by
the MOWAs to come over to teach that community Choctaw dances and the Choctaw
language (although currently we know of no one there that does speak the language.)
When I play stickball for the Mississippi Choctaw Standing Pine Community in the
World Championships of Stickball and they pay me for playing, does that mean that
I am conveying the Choctaw stickball game to the Mississippi Choctaw? When my
wife is chosen to judge the Mississippi Choctaw Pageant and is paid (like she was in
2005) does that mean that we are now teaching the Mississippi Choctaw things that
they do not know about their own culture? Is my wife the expert on Choctaw
culture and therefore chosen to judge? Interestingly, when those instances he is
talking about occurred our own people were also teaching dances and language to
our own people. We greatly apologize for inviting you and creating some extra
income for your tribal citizens. We will think better of it next time. Interestingly,
your tribal citizens provide many services to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, but
I don’t ever remember you mentioning it in front of the Committee. Our people
could discern no Choctaw customs extant among the MOWA population at the time of
our first contacts with them; and insofar as we are aware, the only traditional Choctaw
customs now practiced in the MOWA community have resulted from instruction by
members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Could he explain the current
situation with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma? There are numerous Mississippi
Choctaws out there employed as language instructors and cultural specialists. And
the statement that “you could discern no Choctaw customs” can only mean to me
that you must be in the wrong community. Secondly, in the book “Choctaw
Women in a Chaotic World” by professor and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma citizen,
Michelen Pesantubbee, she writes,
“Through the revitalization efforts of the 1960s that continue to the present time,
Oklahoma Choctaw people are relearning many of the dances they had once lost.
They are turning to their Mississippi Choctaw relatives to learn songs, dances,
stories, and language.”ii
So does this mean that they are not Choctaw because they relearned cultural aspects
of their lives from the Mississippi Choctaws? It seems as if this is what Chief Phillip
Martin is implying in regards to the MOWA Choctaw community. So which way is
it Mr. Martin? And who are “your people”? You mean all those nahollos (whites)
that you surround yourself with in the tribal complex. Were they are judges? These
activities were carried out by individual members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw
Indians, and did not constitution any form of recognition by the tribal government of the
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
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When do people socializing somehow turn friendships into affirmations for federal
recognition. When have we ever used the fact that our people socialize with one
another to somehow bolster our federal petition? The very insinuation is ridiculous
and insulting.
In their attempt to obtain legislative recognition, the members of the MOWA community
make three arguments that are either factually incorrect or historically inaccurate, and
which I would like to address. First, they repeatedly invoke the provisions of the Treaty
of Dancing Rabbit Creek of 1830. The only parts of what is now Alabama affected by
the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek were portions of Sumter, Greene, Pickens, and
Choctaw counties. Washington and Mobile counties, the home of the MOWA
community, had been previously ceded under the Treaty of Hoe Buckintoopa (1803), and
the treaty with the British of 1765. The reason we invoke the provisions of the Treaty
of Dancing Rabbit Creek is because the Choctaw are the only tribal nation in
Alabama whose rights were not abolished and are therefore continued to this day.
Our location outside of the boundary area of the Treaty is irrelevant to the
maintenance of these rights. These rights are conveyed to any Choctaw citizen
living within the jurisdictional areas of the state of Alabama.
Secondly, The MOWA community maintains that because it receives federal funding
from the Administration for Native Americans, the Office of Indian Education Programs
of the U.S. Department of Education, and HUD, the federal government already
recognizes the community. The receipt of these funds because of the community’s status
as state-recognized has nothing to do with the question of the community’s federal
recognition, which is a totally separate issue. I guess Mr. Martin is going off the real
short list. So let’s talk about the real list, which he is claiming he has no knowledge
of. 1. The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians qualifies under the Indian Child
Welfare Act.
“ An ‘Indian Child’ is defined under the federal law as an unmarried child under
eighteen who is a member of a federally-recognized Indian tribe or eligible for
membership in a federally-recognized Tribe and the natural child of a member of
an Indian tribe. 1. In Interst of C.H. , 510 N. W.2d 119 (S.D. 1993) (on remand
Court holds that Mowa Band of Choctaw Indians is a federally recognized Tribe for
ICWA purposes.”ii
2. The regulations for HUD are,
“Eligible applicants for assistance include any Indian tribe, band, group or nation
(including Alaskan Indians, Aleutes, and Eskimos) or Alaskan native village which
has established a relationship to the Federal government….”ii
3. U.S. Department of Commerce federal census enumeration code C12 4.
Membership in the National Congress of American Indians 5. Tribal Police
Department 6. Tribal Judicial System 7. Tax-exempt reservation lands 8. Tribally
sponsored medical/dental clinic 9. Attendance at Haskell Institute (only members
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of federally recognized tribes can attend) 10. Attendance at Bacone High School
(when exclusive to Indians) 11. Intermarriage of 21 different federal tribes into the
community (I am sure that is typical of non-recognized tribal communities
(sarcasm)
Finally, the members of the MOWA community are arguing that a failure of the Congress
to act positively on this bill would be an abandonment of the Congressional power to
handle commerce with the Indian tribes’ as provided for in the United States
Constitution. We believe, to the contrary, that the Constitution provides for a
government to government relationship only with those Indian tribes that are federally
recognized, and that such recognition (as with foreign nations and the State Department)
should for the most part be a function of the executive branch, and not of the Congress.
“…for the most part. What does that mean? Oh we get it, because many of USET’s
(United South and Eastern Tribes) federally recognized member tribes did not go
through the executive branch, it is okay for them but not for us.
“In addition, a coalition of twenty-four federally recognized U.S. tribes, the United
Southern and Eastern Tribes, has passed a resolution in support of requiring all
nonrecognized U.S. tribes to go through the onerous process conducted by an
agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior rather than through the more direct
route of recognition by legislation.”ii
For example, the Mississippi Choctaw and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
didn’t go through the process, but the MOWA Choctaw not going through it is a
bad idea. Interesting thinking on that one.
The Congress saw fit in the 1930’s to limit services (and thus tribal membership) to
Mississippi Choctaws to persons of one-half or greater degree demonstrable Mississippi
Choctaw blood quantum. For the Congress to approve legislation that would now offer
these same services to Alabama ‘Choctaws’ of conceivably miniscule blood quanta
would seem to us patently unfair. Please call the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Creek
Nation of Oklahoma and Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and let them know what
you think Chief Martin. I am sure they would love to hear that only those of ½ or
more Indian blood are Indian. And where do you get the idea that we have
miniscule blood quantum. Our people are identifiable Indian people, unlike over
80% of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, who the Mississippi Choctaw regularly
associate with. And we are sorry Mr. Martin, but the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
is a sovereign nation. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a cultural tribal nation.
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a Choctaw community, regardless of what you
have to say about their blood quantum requirements.
While we have no argument with groups asserting their rights under the Federal
Acknowledgement Process of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, when specific legislation is
introduced, we as Choctaws do have the right to be concerned about the name ‘Choctaw’
being misrepresented and the historical record being distorted. Once again, call out to
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Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and tell them you don’t want them using the name
‘Choctaw’ anymore because over 70% of their tribal population is less than ½ blood
quantum.
It appears to me that if the Congress took the initiative to legislatively recognize tribes
outside of land claims cases, it would open the door for many, many other groups in the
Southeast to submit bills, based on tenuous historical claims--a precedent the Congress
would not want to have to concern itself with on a regular basis which could result in
making a mockery of the historic government to government relationship that the
Congress has maintained with bona fide tribes throughout the country. A mockery?
Your leadership and winner takes all attitude defines mockery.
The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians respectfully urges the members of the Select
Committee on Indian Affairs to table S. 362 and to encourage the MOWA community to
pursue the established process for recognition through the Department of the Interior.
Why? So your lobbyist buddies and casino money can buy out the researchers?
Sincerely,
Phillip Martin,
Chief.ii
So in 1994, the new Mississippi Choctaw casino was in trouble. Legislation in Congress
was,
“calling for Indian casinos to be taxed in the same manner as Las Vegas gambling
facilities. Abramoff knew how to take care of the Choctaws. He convinced the House
Republican leadership that it had violated a core principle of the new conservative
majority: It had raised taxes. The legislation was scuttled.”ii
The Mississippi Choctaws haven’t looked back until recently.
They didn’t listen when Gary Ruskin of the Congressional Accountability Project
stated,
“He’s an extremely talented man who uses those tremendous skills for no good
whatsoever. He’s ‘Casino Jack’ Abramoff.”ii
And because of it all they found themselves, or should I say an assorted group of
white faces representing the tribe, throwing around first and fifth amendment rights and
claiming that the Mississippi Choctaws were victims in front of the Senate Committee on
Indian Affairs and a national C-SPAN audience on June 22, 2005. Are we still talking
about the same Mississippi Choctaws who had just built a financial empire? The cast of
characters, Charlie Benn (Director of Administration, Office of the Chief, Mississippi
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Band of Choctaw Indians) Donald Kilgore (Attorney General, Mississippi Band of
Choctaw Indians), Nell Rogers (Planner, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians), Kevin
Ring (former Abramoff associate), Shawn Vasell (former Abramoff associate), Amy
Ridenour (President, National Center for Public Policy Research), Gail Halpern (former
tax preparer/advisor to Jack Abramoff), Brian Mann (former director, American
International Center), Aaron Stetter (former associate, Capitol Campaign Stratetgies), and
David Grosh (former Director, American International Center). While the first three
Benn, Kilgore and Rogers presented the tribe they represent as naïve victims,
“a blatant calculated scheme to defraud a client”ii
David Grosh got ready to let it all out. Two quick pleas of the 5th by Ring and
Vasell and duck and dodge tactics from the others left David Grosh, as truly the only real
responder.
“David Grosh, a former yoga instructor and lifeguard in Rehoboth Beach, Del., testified
that Scanlon, whom he has known since childhood, one day called and offered to make
him head of the American International Center, which, unknown to Grosh, was being
created to shuffle millions of dollars in secret profits. ‘ I asked him what I would have to
do and he said, ‘Nothing.’ So I said OK, said Grosh, who was paid about $2,000 for
allowing his home address to be used as the center’s. ‘ I got out of it when I found out it
involved the federal government, Indians and gambling,’ Grosh said. ‘I know that was
headed down the wrong way.” ii
C. Bryant Rogers, outside counsel for the Mississippi Choctaws was caught
saying before the hearing started,
“You have to be ruthless. You can’t be nice to these people.”ii
It is hard to tell if he meant those interviewing them or their lobbyist buddies who
they were claiming were defrauding them. Of course, to this day, all of the same hired
lobbyists are still employed with the tribe. The lone exception is Jack Abramoff. The
writer also made the statement,
“Or could it be that the tribe is ashamed to admit that it may have worked to undermine
the self-determination of other tribes, a right that the Choctaws exercised so very well on
their path to success?”ii
During a phone conversation on July 26, 2005 I had with one of the lobbyists who
pled the fifth at the hearing, Kevin Ring, I asked him what his role was in fighting against
the MOWA Choctaw bid for recognition. He told me that he had nothing to do with it,
because as he said,
“Jack was the one who dealt with you guys and the Alabama-Coushattas.” ii
144
He also went on to apologize for his actions and told me that he didn’t mean for
our community to get hurt in any of this. Luckily for him, we were on a phone.
A similar conversation occurred in 2006 when a full-time Mississippi Choctaw
employee with daily access to chief and council responded to my telephone call by
saying,
“It is terrible what the tribe has done to you all. The only reason they have put you all
through this is gaming. I have wanted to get this off my mind for some time. You all
were done terribly wrong. I need my job. I would ask that you don’t use my name.”ii
I respect honest people and that is why the date and name of the individual is being
withheld.
A recent article from the Atlanta Journal Constitution 6/05/05 shows how Citizens
Against Legalized Lottery received $300,000 from the Mississippi Choctaws through
Washington-based Americans for Tax Reform.
“Norquist recently said the money came from an Indian tribe in Mississippi interested in
protecting its gaming interests.”ii
So what does gaming breed? A small amount of Mississippi Choctaw leadership
is so interested that during the week of Choctaw Fair in the summer of 2005, Gallasneed
Weaver, LaGaylis Weaver-Harbuck and I sat down with Executive Assistant to the Chief
and Mississippi Choctaw Gilbert Thompson. Mr. Thompson informed us that he
personally did not oppose the MOWA Choctaw community, but offered no form of
assistance to our continued dilemma other than to speak to the tribe’s Inspector General
Stephen Gleason the following day. Mr. Gleason, a career Washington D.C. federal
employee prior to coming to the Mississippi Choctaw community a decade earlier,
suggested to me the possibility of the MOWA Choctaw becoming an official Mississippi
Choctaw community in order for us to receive federal services and for the Mississippi
Band to expand their gaming operations onto our 300 acre reservation in Alabama. I told
him that I would like to hear what the council thought. A week later he called back and
informed me that Kenneth Carleton, the Mississippi Choctaw’s paid anthropologist,
completely opposed the idea. He also said that it would be difficult to document the ½
Choctaw blood requirement necessary for enrollment with the Mississippi Choctaws. At
the same time he freely admitted that there was no question that our people certainly
looked Choctaw. (I had provided him with tons of community photos the day prior)
Kenneth, of course, is not Indian. Neither, of course, is the Mississippi Choctaw
Inspector General. Kenneth’s argument was based on his bias and unprofessional paper,
which was submitted to fight our federal petition in the early nineties. Like all the others,
Mr. Carleton is unable to return my phone calls, emails or meet with me in person. There
is a point where you have to stop attempting to contact people who do not want to be
contacted. However, on March 15th, 2006 I was finally able to reach him as previously
145
mentioned in an earlier chapter. Since that hang up he has not responded to a subsequent
phone call. That is the reason for this book. Every effort has been taken to speak with
the individuals involved in these fraudulent activities. Mr. Carleton wrote a slanderous
paper aimed at discrediting the MOWA Choctaw community at the same time the
Mississippi Choctaws were progressing in their gaming endeavors. The paper entitled
“Comments on the ’MOWA Band of Choctaw’” was presented to the Senate Select
Committee on Indian Affairs in reference to our former MOWA recognition bill S. 362.
By his own admission, Mr. Carleton did not hold a doctorate in any field at the time the
paper was written, but was continuously referred to as an expert in his field. It should
also be mentioned that Kenneth Carleton receives a large salary from the Mississippi
Band of Choctaw Indians. This fact should have caused an extreme conflict of interest
for the BIA researchers who used his opinion as reason to fight the MOWA Choctaw bill.
He begins in paragraph one with the comment,
“They have been known as the Alabama “Cajans” since that name was applied to them
in the 1880s. Although they have never liked this name, it is a useful term to distinguish
them.”ii
“Dictionaries generally define Cajun as ‘a Louisianan who descends from the Frenchspeaking Acadians banished from Nova Scotia in the early 1970s.’”ii
So that would mean that the MOWA weren’t in the right state and that the Bureau
of Indian Affairs, Eddie Tullis and Phillip Martin’s claims that the MOWA Choctaw are
of black descent would be completely off base as Cajuns are white.
There is no disputing this. In the black and white south, Americans could not
justify the continued existence of tribal people who were supposedly removed 50 years
earlier. They were also fearful of land rights for Indians at this time. The funniest part is
that he fails to mention that the “Cajan” reference was usually attached to “Cajan-Indian”
and rarely stood alone in the historical documentation. Indian, however, has stood alone
in many documents referring to the contemporary and historical MOWA Choctaw. Why
does he claim it is a useful term to distinguish them? I have attempted to ask him, but he
doesn’t want to respond. In paragraph two he goes on to suggest,
“Over the past century, an enormous amount of material has been written about the
’Cajans’ by numerous people. There have been several articles in scholarly journals and
church publications and at least three Masters theses’ which discuss the social, cultural
and genetic backgrounds of these people.”ii
What he fails to mention is that each work is basically a plagiaristic attempt from
the paper preceding the author’s work.
That brings us back to our friend Kenneth Carleton and his critique of the MOWA
Choctaw. He goes on at length about the historical circumstance of the region now
partially occupied by the community. He then goes on to inform the reader that the
146
MOWA Choctaw…
”They are what anthropologist and sociologist call an ‘isolate’. That is a subcultural
group which due to some form of isolation has developed its own society and culture
independent of the mainstream society which surrounds it. Numerous examples of such
isolates are known and include such groups as the Polynesians of Hawaii..”ii
He uses the term isolate as a derogatory in regards to Indian identity. That is a
hard sell, as his employer, the Mississippi Choctaw are a perfect example of the
definition of an isolate. The Hawaiians are also belittled by Kenneth Carleton in this
context. The native people of Hawaii have the current model for indigenous language
learners that is followed by communities such as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and
other federally recognized tribes. The Hawaiian people are unquestionably indigenous
and are actively pursuing federal recognition. I guess Mr. Carleton has truly become the
judge and jury. He goes on to say,
“The mixed nature of their cultural and genetic heritage is diverse. They are the
descendants of American Indians (they themselves claim Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek,
Chickasaw, Houma and even Apache), French, English, Spanish, Mexican, German,
Russian and African sources from the Southeast and the Caribbean. This has resulted in a
blending of the genetic and cultural heritages from all of these sources. They are not
black, white or Indian but an unique mix of all three.”ii
There is no reliable source listed for this information. His listing of non-Indian
ancestries is very impressive. I am glad to know that I am of Russian and German
extraction especially. There was always a large population of Russians and Germans in
the rural South. Who is this guy kidding? Who could believe such utter nonsense. The
BIA sure had no trouble accepting this “academic paper” whose sources were scant or not
listed at all. The BIA, of course, also spent millions of dollars of Indian trust monies
without the consent of its constituents, so maybe that was to be expected. He drones on
for many more pages and then talks about the wakes performed by the MOWA Choctaw.
His conclusion is that,
“The wake of the Alabama ‘Cajans’ is probably the result of the many Irish and other
Europeans which settled in the area in the early nineteenth-century.”ii
Interestingly, an article in the Mobile Register from November 26, 1994 has him
saying the exact opposite,
“wakes held after MOWA funerals ‘did sound like’ the wakes practiced by the
Mississippi Choctaws.”ii
Of course as the piece goes on, he completely refutes the similarities.
This seems highly unusual, as Mr. Carleton previously mentioned that the
147
community was completely separated from the outside mainstream community. Kenneth
Carleton also makes claim to no Irish ancestry evident amongst the MOWA Choctaw.
Yet, in his concluding paragraph he continues the charade,
“In conclusion, the ‘MOWA’ are a portion of the group known for the past century as the
Alabama ‘Cajans’. This group is a tri-racial isolate who are descendants of American
Indians, including the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek and Apache; African slaves and
freemen; and Europeans, including French, English, Spanish, Germans and Russians.
Due to their mixed genetic and cultural heritage they were isolated at an early time by
pressures from without and within from the surrounding cultures. They have developed a
unique and extremely interesting society and culture which blends many of the elements
from all of their diverse background. However, they are not an Indian tribe; they are not
a remnant of Indian tribe; they are not Choctaw.”ii
This is interesting, because in Phillip Martin’s submission, which we previously
analyzed he made the comment,
“It demonstrates to me that without a doubt the members of the MOWA community had
some Choctaw ancestors in the remote past.”ii
Every tribal community has Indian ancestors in their “remote past”. The
Mississippi Choctaw most certainly do. Why would we be any different? How can
Kenneth Carleton say that we are not a remnant of an Indian tribe and that we are not
Choctaw when the Chief of the tribe he works for just said that we are a remnant of an
Indian tribe (Choctaw) and that we are of Choctaw ancestry? It just keeps getting
stranger and stranger. His final thoughts in the “Comments on some of the testimony
present by the ‘MOWA’ to support their claims as Choctaw”, takes opposition to the
MOWA Choctaw’s claim to be Six Towns people and that our Choctaw lands were
usurped in 1803. He notes a geographic disparity inherent in our argument. However,
noted historian Sean Michael O’Brien writes of a certain land swipe that occurred
amongst the Cherokee.
“In the 1790s, the Tennessee Legislature wrote President John Adams that it considered
the Cherokees ‘tenants at will’ and that white settlers willed them to yield more of their
lands. When the Cherokee refused, the government pushed ahead and finally wrangled
away 90,000 acres in eastern Tennessee and 376,000 acres in western North
Carolina….”ii
Would Carleton now argue that because the lands, which the Eastern Band of
Cherokee currently inhabit, were taken away, that there now cannot be Cherokees living
on these lands? O’Brien continues on page 55-56,
“Despite the efforts of Pushmataha, McKee, and others, there were dissidents with the
Choctaw nation that favored the Red Stick movement. At least sixty-five Choctaw
warriors and their families from two small towns on the Tombigbee and Yahnubbee
148
Creek joined the rebel Muscogees in their holy war against the Americans. Descendants
of these rebel Choctaws- known today as the MOWA Choctaw- still live in the
marshlands north of Mobile where the warriors and their families retreated after the
conclusion of the Creek War. The renegade Choctaws regarded Pushmataha as a traitor.
But the vast majority of Choctaws supported their war chief.”ii
O’Brien accepts the scholarly work of MOWA Choctaw historian Jacqueline
Matte as factually accurate, as do most of her contemporaries. The only exceptions are
those “professionals” hired by the Poarch Creek and Mississippi Choctaw leadership.
And then Kenneth Carleton gives, quite possibly, the worst descriptive account of
the MOWA Choctaw people that anyone could ever give. In his “Comments on the
‘MOWA Band of Choctaw’ “ which was prepared for the Senate Select Committee on
Indian Affairs in reference to S. 362 he writes,
“The father was the absolute ruler of his household. His wife and children, until of legal
age, were expected to obey him without question. Most women were expected to ask
their husbands permission before doing something as simple as visiting a neighbor
(Murphy 1935:51-52). The girls were expected to learn household duties at an early age
and usually began helping their mothers with daily tasks by age six or so. The girls were
strictly disciplined and were expected to obey all instruction given by not only their
mothers and fathers but their elder brothers as well (Murphy 1935:52-53). On the other
hand, boys were not very strictly disciplined and were given great liberty. Few parents
would force a young boy to eat foods he disliked or to attend school…..”ii
I read this excerpt to numerous women within our community. All were shocked
by the writing and could not find any way to express how completely false all of it is.
They wondered if the author of the piece had been staying in the home of an alcoholic or
marginalized member of the MOWA Choctaw community at the time it was written.
They spoke at length about how our people are matrilineal in structure and how such
actions are completely unacceptable in the context of our lives. I could only concur, as I
have never seen such a social pattern evidenced in the structure of our families. It would
contradict the very foundational pieces of our community. By no way are our men
perfect after generations of oppressive remarks and physical alienation, but this was an
overt sexist remark reprinted by a white male intent on discrediting the MOWA Choctaw
culture. To stoop this low in academia is incredibly tasteless and improper and speaks to
the character and cultural understanding of Mr. Kenneth Carleton.
The next question is why an invitation? In 2003, MOWA Choctaw Chief Wilford
Taylor and the MOWA Choctaw princess Mikayla Snow were invited to the Choctaw
Fair as special guests to be announced on stage at the Mississippi Choctaw Pageant. The
invitation came from Phillip Martin. In 2005, my wife and I would be invited also. This
time my wife and her mom would be acting judges for the pageant. Phillip Martin has a
wonderful gift of acting publicly one way and quickly changing his presentation when
one isn’t looking. An article in the Call News Dispatch shows the two Chiefs side by
149
side at the event exchanging pleasantries. MOWA Choctaw Chief Wilford Taylor said
that he was willing to forgive and forget and begin anew. He commented to the press,
“I think he realizes being federal doesn’t make you any more Indian than state or court
claimed Indians. He recognizes us as his brother and sister Indians. This is history. This
is a new beginning.“ii
MOWA Choctaw Chief Wilford Taylor, who at the time was acting in good faith,
has since changed his mind as continual disrespect has been levied against his people by
Phillip Martin and his entourage.
The main question is when did Phillip Martin become the determiner of Choctaw
identity? In the book Choctaw Prophecy by professor Tom Mould, who interviewed
numerous Mississippi Choctaws, he stated,
“But the loss most avidly warned against is the biological loss of identity through
intermarriage with other races. The Choctaw have one of the highest blood quantum
requirements for tribal membership in the United States: 50 percent. Intermarriage is
seen as a very real threat to Choctaw identity on the most basic genetic level. After two
generations of intermarriage, one’s children cannot be enrolled as Choctaw, a devastating
pronouncement for a family who continues to live in Mississippi, continues to live in the
Choctaw community.”ii
Numerous individuals in the book recount this belief in blood. An elder recounts,
“….my grandfather said you can be friends but no interrelations with them. We need
stay pure blood.”ii
Community member Charlie Denson states,
“Now with this intermarriage, Choctaw prophet said white people will come and put us in
bondage. We’ve been in bondage two hundred years now. Prophet predicted this.
Someone cam along, integrated our people, mixed it up. So that’s where we come from.
We got a lot of Negro, half Negro, half white. In the Bible it says we are not supposed to
integrate. That’s what the bible told me….”ii
You may hear these sentiments in numerous Indian communities throughout the
country. It is not prejudice as it is more distrust. Another identity indicator, language, is
spoken of,
“This loss is particularly troubling since the Choctaw language is generally regarded as
the single most important symbol of Choctaw identity. Billy Amos and Herman Frazier
complain that youth today are becoming nahollo (white) because they only speak
English….The late Emmett York argued for the power of language as the ultimate
symbol of identity when he stated simply: ‘ If he speaks Choctaw, he’s Choctaw’.ii
150
In the Mississippi Choctaw early childhood education program, as reported in
2000, a grim reality surfaced.
“…1 percent fluent, 7 percent with limited ability, and 92 percent speaking none at all,
despite active attempts to reverse the trend, including in-school Choctaw language classes
and language immersion summer camps.”ii
Interestingly, Chief Martin doesn’t speak on this reality when talking about his
community. In fact he makes continual claims to almost near fluency of the community.
While there is no question that the Mississippi Choctaw people have one of the highest
fluency rates of all Indian people in the country, it is the continual spin that he puts on
such things that gets old after awhile. Our Choctaw language ability is still heard in the
voices of our youth, so does that mean that he should consider us Choctaw?
Little did we know that in 2005-2006, the Mississippi Choctaw would continue
their opposition to another Congressional bill asking for the recognition of the MOWA
Choctaw. A quick call to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma summed it all up about
Kenneth Carleton,
“He changes things to fit his needs. He doesn’t respond to inquiries or claims to be busy
with other projects. He typically says that council or other hire ups don’t want him
working on certain projects.”ii
This was told to me by an official within the tribe (April 2006) whose name will
not appear in print.
And of course, what does being Indian have to do with federal recognition?
According to Holly Reckord, a former researcher in the BIA’s Bureau of
Acknowledgement and Research, being Indian has absolutely nothing to do with being
federally recognized.
“ ‘ We don’t look at whether tribe members descend from full-blooded Indians,….In fact,
whether they have Indian blood has nothing to do with how we recognize them as a
tribe.”ii
Interestingly, the BAR realized that we passed 6 of the 7 criteria for recognition.
The one we missed, supposedly dealt with “blood” i.e. genealogy. So which way is it?
In the book “Forgotten Tribes: Unrecognized Indians and the Federal
Acknowledgement Process”, author Mark Edwin Miller remarks,
“Thus to avoid deciding on the appearance of the group as officials sometimes did in the
past, the BAR staff has asked groups to provide ancestry charts that are based on
evidence derived from birth certificates, marriage licenses, deeds, wills, federal censuses,
151
and tribal rolls. Besides being the records of non-Indians, these documents are often
technical, confusing, blurred, faded or illegible- if they exist at all. They often do not
accurately record the race of individuals involved. Together, genealogical documents
often leave groups without a tangible written tie to tribes from which they have long
believed they descended.”ii
ii
“Missionary recalls MOWA days” Joan Marble; Daily Press, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 1994
ii
“Missionary recalls MOWA days” Joan Marble; Daily Press, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 1994
ii
“ In a Name of Justice and Fairness: the Mississippi Choctaw Indian Federation v. the
BIA, 1934” Beyond Red Power: New Perspectives on Twentieth-Century American
Indian Politics. Dan Cobb and Loretta Fowler, eds. School of American Research Press,
p.7
ii
“In a Name of Justice and Fairness: the Mississippi Choctaw Indian Federation v. the
BIA, 1934” Beyond Red Power: New Perspectives on Twentieth-Century American
Indian Politics. Dan Cobb and Loretta Fowler, eds. School of American Research Press,
p.7
ii
“In the Name of Justice and Fairness: the Mississippi Choctaw Indian Federation v. the
BIA, 1934” Beyond Red Power: New Perspectives on Twentieth-Century American
Indian Politics. Dan Cobb and Loretta Fowler, eds. School of American Research Press,
p. 15
ii
“‘Real’ Indians and Others: Mixed-Blood Urban Native Peoples and Indigenous
Nationhood” Bonita Lawrence; University of Nebraska Press , 2004
ii
“Tracing Free People of Color in the Antebellum South: Methods, Sources and
Perspectives” Gary B. Mills Ph.D., C.G.; National Genealogical Society Quarterly,
Volume 78 Number 4, December 1990, p.263
ii
“Choctaws press chief to end dealings with lobbyist” Ana Radelat; Clarion-Ledger,
April 7, 2004, p.1
ii
“Choctaws press chief to end dealings with lobbyist” Ana Radelat; Clarion-Ledger,
April 7, 2004, p.1
ii
“Lobbyist’s tab called stunning by Choctaws” Clarion-Ledger, March 20, 2004, p.1
152
ii
“ Lobbyist’s tab called stunning by Choctaw” Clarion-Ledger, March 20, 2004, p.1
ii
“Lobbyist’s tab called stunning by Choctaws” Clarion-Ledger, March 20, 2004, p.3
ii
“Choctaw chief seeks 7th term” Clarion-Ledger, June 9, 2003, p.1
ii
“Funds tribe gave to Reed hard to trail” Ken Foskett; The Atlanta Journal Constitution,
5/31/05
ii
“Funds tribe gave to Reed hard to trail” Ken Foskett; The Atlanta Journal Constitution
5/31/05
ii
“DeLay’s godfather” Stephen Pizzo; Smirkingchimp.com, 5/16/05
ii
“DeLay’s godfather” Stephen Pizzo; Smirkingchimp.com 5/16/05
ii
“DeLay’s godfather” Stephen Pizzo; Smirkingchimp.com 5/16/05
ii
“DeLay’s godfather” Stephen Pizzo; Smirkingchimp.com 5/16/05
ii
“Coalition: Donation adhered to policy; Christian group says Choctaws’ gift came from
non-game funds” Kim Chandler; The Birmingham News, 7/2/05
ii
“Abramoff tribes gave 1.4 million to Congress” Bloomberg News, 5/19/05
ii
Choctaw Community News, July 2005
ii
Choctaw Women in a Chaotic World: The Clash of Cultures in the Colonial Southeast
Michelene E. Pesantubbee; University of New Mexico Press 2005, p.175
ii
“68 FR 68180 Overview of the Indian Child Welfare Act” Honorable Judge BJ JonesChief Judge Prairie Island Indian Community Tribal Court, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate
Court, Director-Tribal Judicial Institute, University of North Dakota School of Law, p. 2
ii
HUD eligibility guidelines
ii
Invisible Indigenes: The Politics of nonrecognition, Bruce Granville Miller, University
of Nebraska Press, 2003, p.17
ii
“MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians Federal Recognition Act (Senate-March 10,
1994)Letter to Senator Inouye regarding the federal recognition of the MOWA Band of
Choctaw Indians; Phillip Martin
153
ii
“Abramoff Allies Keeping Distance: Lobbyist Under Scrutiny for Dealings with Indian
Tribes” Thomas B. Edsall; Washington Post 11/8/04
ii
“Jack Doubles Down” John Bresnahan; Washington Business Forward,
November/December 2002
ii
News sound bite from Donald Kilgore Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Attorney
General
ii
“McCain: Indians were betrayed” Bob Kemper; The Neshoba Democrat, Philadelphia,
Miss. July 13, 2005, reprinted from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution
ii
“Mississippi Hiding” indianz.com, June 23, 2005
ii
“Mississippi Hiding” indianz.com, June 23, 2005
ii
Telephone conversation with Kevin Ring, July 26, 2005
ii
Conversation with Mississippi Choctaw tribal employee 2006
ii
“Gaming foes banked on Ralph Reed” Jim Galloway; Atlanta Journal Constitution,
6/05/05
ii
“Comments on the ‘MOWA Band of Choctaw’ “ Testimony Prepared to the Senate
Select Committee on Indian Affairs in reference to S. 362 Kenneth Carleton, July 15,
1991
ii
(www.Tabasco.com/taste_tent/menu_planning/cajun_vs._creole.cfm)
ii
“Comments on the ‘MOWA Band of Choctaw’ “ Testimony Prepared to the Senate
Select Committee on Indian Affairs in reference to S. 362 Kenneth Carleton, July 15,
1991
ii
“Comments on the ‘MOWA Band of Choctaw’ “ Testimony Prepared to the Senate
Select Committee on Indian Affairs in reference to S. 362 Kenneth Carleton, July 15,
1991, p.6
ii
“Comments on the ‘MOWA Band of Choctaw’ “ Testimony Prepared to the Senate
Select Committee on Indian Affairs in reference to S. 362 Kenneth Carleton, July 15,
1991, p.7
ii
“Comments on the ‘MOWA Band of Choctaw’ “ Testimony Prepared to the Senate
Select Committee on Indian Affairs in reference to S. 362 Kenneth Carleton, July 15,
1991, p.15
154
ii
“What’s in a name? Plenty, for the MOWAs” Bill Finch; Mobile Press Register,
November 26, 1994
ii
“Comments on the ‘MOWA Band of Choctaw’ “ Testimony Prepared to the Senate
Select Committee on Indian Affairs in reference to S. 362 Kenneth Carleton, July 15,
1991, p.15
ii
“MOWA Choctaw Federal Recognition Act (Senate- March 10, 1994) Letter to Senator
Inouye regarding the federal recognition of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians; Phillip
Martin
ii
In Bitterness and in Tears Sean Michael O’Brien; Praeger, 2003, p.11
ii
In Bitterness and in Tears Sean Michael O’Brien; Praeger, 2003, p.55-56
ii
“Comments on the ‘MOWA Band of Choctaw’ “, Testimony Presented to the Senate
Select Committee on Indian Affairs in reference to S. 362 Kenneth Carleton; July 15,
1991
ii
“This is History” Evan Duffy; Call News Dispatch, July 2003, p.2A
ii
Choctaw Prophecy: A Legacy of the Future Tom Mould; The University of Alabama
Press, 2003, p. 197 & 198
ii
Choctaw Prophecy: A Legacy of the Future Tom Mould; The University of Alabama
Press, 2003, p.169
ii
Choctaw Prophecy: A Legacy of the Future Tom Mould; The University of Alabama
Press, 2003, p.166
ii
Choctaw Prophecy: A Legacy of the Future Tom Mould; The University of Alabama
Press, 2003, p.198
ii
Choctaw Prophecy: A Legacy of the Future Tom Mould; The University of Alabama
Press, 2003, p.198
ii
Conversation with Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma official April 2006
ii
“Narragansett Indians finding a lot of wanna-bees” Bill Dermody; The Birmingham
News, Thursday, November 24, 1994
ii
Forgotten Tribes: Unrecognized Indians and the Federal Acknowledgement Process
Mark Edwin Miller, University of Nebraska Press, 2004, p.61
155
GOOD NEIGHBORS: THE POARCH BAND OF CREEK INDIANS
156
Eddie Tullis had become the face of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. He had
traveled far and wide in his attempt to bring legitimacy to his small community in
southwestern Alabama. He was a master politician in every sense of the world. He
followed in the footsteps of the Poarch Creek’s patriarch Calvin McGhee.
Calvin McGhee was a determined man who donned Plains Indian regalia and
fought strongly for the rights of Indian people in the state of Alabama. Not everyone
believed in his sincerity though. Renee Cramer, an assistant professor of political science
at California State University Long Beach was doing research on the Poarch Creek in the
late 1990’s. She writes in the book “Cash, Color and Colonialism,
“..a librarian at the state archives who told me, ‘Calvin McGhee couldn’t wait to prove he
was Cherokee, ‘til he found out it was easier to prove he was Creek.’ “ii
Irregardless, Calvin cared and he was undoubtedly Indian. He spent many days in
the MOWA Choctaw communities as a younger man. He demanded a call to action and
was warmly received by like minded community members amongst the MOWA
Choctaw.
Not unlike his predecessor, Eddie Tullis would be called numerous questionable
names as well. All of these names were related to him being white in some form or
another. I have personally heard him called white on numerous occasions by MOWA
Choctaw tribal citizens and various others from federal tribes primarily in Oklahoma, but
also in Mississippi. He figured a way in though. His involvement in NCAI, CENA and
USET has been the catalyst for his prolonged leadership and the tribe’s eventual federal
recognition in 1984.
So who are the Poarch? By their own accounts, their very identity seems strongly
questionable. In a paper written by Poarch Creek tribal member Robert Thrower and his
business associate Wade Black, the two were hoping to receive support for a video
project entitled :”Getting Recognized”, which would outline the history of the Poarch
Creek’s struggle for federal recognition. They say matter of fact in the piece,
“ Finally, 1n 1984, the Creek community around Poarch, Alabama, received formal
recognition as a tribal unit, tribal lands were restored as reservation property, and the
community formally reorganized as the Poarch Band of Creek Indians (PBCI). They ‘got
recognized.’ Suddenly, for both whites and Indians in south Alabama, there was again
value in identification as Native American. A new problem was posed. Members of the
‘white’ community began to self-identify as ‘Creeks.’ The process of assimilation
reversed. Tribal membership assumed increasing financial, social service, and
employment benefits, and individuals now had to come to PBCI offices to ‘get
recognized’ as Creek. Ironically, a local community that had once self-identified almost
entirely as white seemed to become a community that self-identified almost entirely as
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Native American. Many individuals who had once avoided identification as Creek had
to establish ties to a traditional Creek community they had previously shunned. This
double meaning of ‘getting recognized’ has played a complex role in the Creek
community of south Alabama. For years, the need to meet formal criteria for federal
recognition provided cohesion and solidarity for a small, proud community that continued
to self-identify as Native American. Then, after tribal recognition was granted, the tribal
roll swelled with new members whose interest in tribal membership was in many cases
more economic than cultural. Tribal elections have become a complicated struggle for
leadership by two competing community groups. Among the Creeks in south Alabama,
tribal membership has grown dramatically, but tribal cohesion and sense of direction has
become much less clear.”ii
Robert Thrower has been a long time Poarch Creek employee. I will definitely
give him an ‘A’ for honesty. In their BAR petition for federal recognition the following
was transcribed,
“BAR investigators found that the Poarch powwow tradition had played a very important
role in ‘enhancing local non-Indian support of the group as Indian, and remains a very
important “barometer of tribal life.”ii
The powwow was frequently mentioned in the BAR’s Final Determination for
Recognition of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. This of course is just plain ridiculous.
Pow wows are the cultural legacy of Plains Indians and certainly not the Creek. Pow
wows have become contemporary Pan-Indian expressions of culture and socializing. The
Poarch Creek Powwow has no cultural legitimacy within the historical culture of the
Creek Indians of Alabama and is a recent construct that has only existed for the past 30 or
so years. How the BAR could find this indicative of Creek culture is bizarre and
certainly speaks to the influence Eddie Tullis possessed at the BIA.
At the National Congress of American Indians National Conference 2005 in
Tulsa, I was told by many that Tullis had been opposed to MOWA Choctaw recognition
since his tribe received federal recognition in 1984. The papers have bared this out time
and time again. On February 13, 1992 an article appeared in the Huntsville Times,
“Creeks Seek Tribal Gambling Site Here”. It read,
“The Poarch Creeks and Mr. Tullis have been actively fighting tribes seeking federal
recognition and any reforms to the present acknowledgment process of the BIA.”ii
Seven months earlier an article in the New York Times National “New Means for
Recognizing Tribes Split Indians” appeared. The MOWA Choctaw’s congressional bill
at the time was being positively talked about by Senator Richard C. Shelby. Eddie Tullis
was quoted as saying,
“Congress should not be allowed to recognize tribes that have not been scrutinized by the
experts. They need to go through the experts, rather than politicians who are trying to
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win votes.”ii
The article goes on,
“The Poarches say the Mowas are not a true tribe and that they plan to allow waste
dumps to be built on land they could soon own.”ii
Interestingly, exactly ten years earlier Eddie Tullis wrote the following letter to then
MOWA Choctaw Tribal Chief Framon Weaver.
June 20, 1981
Mr. Framon Weaver
Mowa Band of Choctaw Indians
P.O. Box 268
McIntosh, AL 36553
RE: Poarch Creek Recognition
Dear Mr. Weaver:
This letter is to formally ask your tribe in the spirit of Indian brotherhood, support
our efforts for Federal recognition. As stated previously in my phone conversation with
you as Tribal Chairman of the Poarch Band of Creeks. I would request on behalf of my
Tribal Council our Executive Director and entire membership that you would send a
letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. supporting the Poarch Band of
Creek’s petition for Federal Recognition. The address is United States Department of the
Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington D.C. 20245.
We as Native Americans must work together to protect our rights. I assure you
that if you assist us with our struggle for Federal Recognition you can count on us to be
there when your petition is ready for consideration by BAR.
I hope to see you soon at the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission Meeting.
Thank you for your time and support.
Sincerely,
Poarch Band of Creek Indians
Eddie L. Tullis, Chairman
Gay V. Drew
Executive Directorii
As anyone can see Eddie Tullis’ stance on the MOWA Choctaw is fraudulent and
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unfortunately for the MOWA Choctaw, he is very good at it. And like any good tribal
leader, he had to have his trusty anthropologist Anthony Paredes by his side.
Interestingly, Anthony never took the time to give us a visit. I wonder how much Tullis
was paying him to write against us. The two of them looked like the Lone Ranger and
Tonto running around South Alabama and parading in front of the papers. Of course,
Eddie was the Lone Ranger. Paredes and Mississippi Choctaw hired hand Kenneth
Carleton based their research off the same recycled nonsense concocted by a graduate
student, no less, that was picked up by other grad students and a few academics in the
early and mid- 1900’s. People, whose views of “Indians” was based on American
popular culture and not reality. In a review of the book Cash, Color and Colonialism
which was written by Professor Renee Ann Cramer, Anthony Paredes was critical of her
upholding the MOWA Choctaw and being a little tooooo honest about the Poarch Creek.
“Though Cramer admits to the possibility of phony Indians, she does not seem to
appreciate fully the problem of how an isolated Indian ancestor or two in a group
comprised of people primarily of other ancestries does not make that group an Indian
tribe within the meaning of federal law no matter how much the petitioners might want it
to be so, to say nothing of those groups who prove to have no Indian ancestry at all.
Perhaps the unwillingness to consider this possibility lies at the root of Cramer simply
ignoring the countervailing evidence on the identity of the so-called Mowa Choctaw (see.
For example, Bond. “Two Racial Islands in Alabama.” 1931: Stopp. “On Mixed-Racial
Isolates.” 1974), a long-standing ethnic group from southern Alabama that Cramer
contrasts with the nearby federally recognized Poarch Creeks as having had their quest
for federal recognition stymied by racism. Admittedly, the rise of Indian gaming,
especially since the enactment of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988,
undoubtedly made for a more volatile atmosphere around federal recognition. Cramer
writes convincingly about this political phenomenon…”ii
Hey, Mr. Paredes we just wanted to give the “research material” you used a plug.
You know because it was so accurate and unbiased and all. So which way is it? Is she
convincing or not? Gaming does influence the process or not? You are not saying we
are phony Indians, are you? We can only assume that you are saying our people have an
isolated ancestor or none at all. I wonder why this is. Oh yeah, you summed that up
yourself in the review.
“Reading Cramer’s writing about the Poarch Creeks, especially when she relies upon
original interviews with local people, provides the welcome data of a latter-day scholar’s
view. Finally, rather than fault Cramer any further for shortcomings in her account of the
Poarch. I must confess my own feelings of guilt for not yet having written a full, booklength report of research conducted from the privileged vantage point the Poarch people
have so long granted me.”ii
Mr. Paredes, you’re their boy. If we had got to you before the Poarch you would
be our boy too. It is called career building and legitimacy building. You are an Indian
“expert”, right? Your “work” with the Poarch helped you earn that title. Our continual,
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generational community governance, maintenance of traditional lands, language retention
and on and on must have been missed in your “research”. I don’t think I have ever used
“word quotes” so many times in one paragraph. We can already hear your keyboard
clicking away now on that long lost book you wished you had written.
But hold on Mr. Paredes.
“Though Cramer admits to the possibility of phony Indians, she does not seem to
appreciate fully the problem of how an isolated Indian ancestor or two in a group
comprised of people primarily of other ancestries does not make that group an Indian
tribe within the meaning of federal law no matter how much the petitioners might want it
to be so, to say nothing of those groups who prove to have no Indian ancestry at all.
Perhaps the unwillingness to consider this possibility lies at the root of Cramer simply
ignoring the countervailing evidence on the identity of the so-called Mowa Choctaw (see,
for example, Bond, “Two Racial Islands in Alabama. “ 1931; Stopp. “on Mixed-Racial
Isolates.” 1974), a long standing ethnic group from southern Alabama that Cramer
contrasts with the nearby federally recognized Poarch Creeks as having had their quest
for federal recognition stymied by racism.”ii
But tell us what you really think about G. Harry Stopp, Jr., Mr. Paredes. You
know, the individual who you quoted in the last paragraph to help you in discrediting the
MOWA Choctaw people. In American Anthropologist, June 1976, you attacked his
scholarship located in the very same article you quoted to try and discredit the MOWA
Choctaw.
“Stopp has suggested that as a result of recent civil rights legislation, ‘there is no more
need for cohesion’ among the Alabama Cajuns and similar ‘mixed racial isolates’ of the
United States. Although the major outlines of Stopp’s argument are quite reasonable,
results of a study of the nonreservation Creek Indians of south Alabama (Paredes 1974,
1975) suggest that Stopp’s analysis suffers from shortsightedness in two important
respects……these remarks are intended as precautions against the uncritical application
of Stopp’s framework to other mixed-racial isolates in the southern U.S. Also, perhaps,
these observations might be taken as suggestions for analytical re-evaluation of the Cajun
situation…….Nonetheless, the emphasis which Stopp places on civil rights legislation is
too extreme….”ii
Not to pull these three statements out of context…but does Paredes view Stopp’s
work as reliable? I was really trying to put these works out to the reader, so you can see
how a college student wrote a piece in the 1930’s that has been recycled by a few
scholars over the years without any further analysis or study. And this was from college
student whose idea of Indians probably had more to do with feathers and horses than with
historical oppression, marginalization and reality.
The federal process when inundated with these types of academics is clearly
defined by former MOWA Choctaw Tribal Council member John Rivers. He wraps up
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the entire process by which the federal government’s criteria is based upon. A quote
which Paredes mentioned in his review that he felt was levied at the Poarch Creek. You
know how we think, if the shoe fits….wear it.
“If you could meet the criteria set up by the BIA, then you probably weren’t Indian,
because that means you’ve stayed in one spot, could read and write, kept a journal of
everything you’ve done for the past few hundred years, and were economically stable. If
we had all that, we would be middle-class white people.”ii
Interestingly, the Poarch “had all that.” It hasn’t mattered the newspaper and it
hasn’t mattered the year. From the Associated Press to the Mobile Register to the Daily
Oklahoman the words have been the same,
“…federal recognition of the MOWA Choctaw tribe in southwest Alabama, a struggle
supported by Indian experts but not some Creek and Choctaw tribes in the South.”ii
The Poarch had almost pulled it off. They were transforming a predominantly
white community into Indians. In the late 1970’s a full blood Creek ceremonial leader
from the Traditional Tallahassee Creek Grounds in Oklahoma would arrive in the
community to help the Poarch Creek reinvent their traditional culture in the Creek’s
traditional homeland. His name was Sam Proctor.
“The Alabama Creeks, he says, are like the land, a fertile piece of ground that has not
been cultivated for a while. But he knows they are Indian people in their hearts.”ii
But for the most part, Sam has stood alone amongst the Creek Nation of
Oklahoma.
“Not all Oklahoma people agree. Some tribal officials are privately contemptuous of the
Poarch Creek Band and other Creek descendants still living in the east.”ii
As an Oklahoma resident with family members married into the Creek Nation of
Oklahoma I can certainly attest to that. There isn’t usually a day that goes by that Creeks
out here don’t ridicule the Poarch Band. Ironically, the Creek Nation of Oklahoma has
virtually no blood quantum requirements for membership and has tens of thousands of
“whites” enrolled on their tribal roll. To become ‘recognized’ in the Creek Nation of
Oklahoma, one has only to prove that they have an enrolled ancestor on the Dawes Roll,
which was gathered between 1899 and 1906. The Poarch Creek define their membership
from the 1870 census records of Escambia and Monroe Counties, the 1900 census records
of same counties, the 1900 special Indian census of same counties and by verification of
¼ Creek Indian blood. Any ancestor listed with an “I” or “Ind” on these historical census
records is recognized by the Poarch as a fullblood Creek. As you can imagine, the
chances that all those listed on these census rolls were fullblood Creeks is a stretch to say
the very least. Especially, since the Poarch Creek’s own federal petition states that they
are descended from core ancestors that are “halfblood” or “halfbreed” designated by all
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their own paid researchers. In other words, the Poarch have created a fictitious blood
quantum measurement based on sheer speculation and have done so in order to bolster
their claims of legitimacy. On the other hand, the majority of the MOWA Band of
Choctaw Indian’s tribal enrolles are identifiable Indians. This poses the question, why
are the Poarch Creek questioning the ancestry of the MOWA Choctaw?
“…..a historian hired by the Poarch Creeks rejected the nearby MOWA Choctaw’s claims
of Indian ancestry, saying: ‘Oral history, family tradition, and ‘it is said to have
been’…cannot be considered by any scholar to be the primary source of material.”ii
Please remember, of course, that the historian was paid by the Poarch Creek and
as the BIA says, historians know nothing of genealogy. Huh?
And what ever happened to Eddie’s buddy “attorney and history buff” Sidney H.
Schell who worked along side Eddie Tullis in the 1990’s. Since when did a “history
buff” qualify as an Indian recognition expert and why did anyone even care what Sidney
H. Schell had to say?
So what are the answers? As you will see, the answers have nothing to do with
culture or physicality, but rather with gaming and white racist beliefs. The latter is ironic,
as the Poarch claim to be Indians.
The Choctaws were becoming one of the more powerful tribes in the nation.
What would enable them the security they initially needed? First, the Poarch Creek
would have to be befriended due to their already “achieved” federal status. Second, their
leadership’s views of the MOWA Choctaw would have to be better publicized so the
Mississippi Band would be the only Choctaws in town and third, they would have to
concoct a story to denounce the credibility of the MOWA Choctaw.
The first task wouldn’t have any degree of difficulty, as Eddie Tullis, the then
Chairman of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, was scouring the country trying to build
legitimacy for his primarily white tribe of Creeks. A friendship with Philip Martin had
been building for years and a chance to go after a common enemy was just what the
doctor ordered. As the MOWA Choctaw intensified their federal recognition pursuit,
Eddie Tullis appeared on a Mobile news agency documentary entitled, “Indian Blood”.
In the documentary he remarked when questioned,
“ I don’t deny that there is a lot of Indian blood over there….” ii
He went on afterward to still try and refute that the MOWA Choctaw should be
federally recognized. It stood out as an interesting comment from someone who leads a
tribe where 95% of its enrolled members look white. And it is also an interesting
comment from someone who wrote in search of a support letter from the MOWA
Choctaw attesting to his own tribe’s legitimacy in 1981.
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Even numerous Alabama politicians voiced their concerns to Renee Ann Cramer,
an assistant professor from California State University, Long Beach, who was doing
research on the Poarch and MOWA Choctaw communities. She states, in her book “Cash,
Color and Colonialism”,
“The Alabama State Archives contain a well-documented study commissioned by the
Poarch meant to discredit Mowa claims in Congress; it could certainly be mobilized
against them at the BAR.”ii
And she pressed further. This ended in the following statement,
“Poarch tribal leaders insist that their opposition to Mowa Choctaw recognition is based
on the Mowa’s inability to prove to the BAR their descent from a historic tribe.
Although a good reason for opposing a petition, key political leaders in the state point to
a different motive- they argue that leaders of the Poarch Creek Band of Indians oppose
Mowa Choctaw recognition as a way to keep a monopoly on their bingo operations. “ii
Bingo operations, which have now grown into full scale and unopposed casinos.
Professor Cramer was also told,
“A former member of the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission, and a state representative
of the Poarch Creek congressional district, told me that a ‘good friend of Eddie Tullis,’
namely, U.S. Representative Sonny Callahan, ‘double-crossed’ the Mowas. According to
the representative, though Callahan told the Mowas that he supported their bid for federal
recognition, he did not push for it once it passed the Senate, and later ‘made up an
excuse’ to make sure it died in the House in 1995.”ii
Sonny Callahan attempted to say that he didn’t support it because he believed the
MOWA Choctaw would start building a casino if recognized, even though the MOWA
Choctaw tribal council has a constitutional amendment against gaming and three quotes
from our local paper verify this further,
“..gambling has been all but outlawed by the tribal leaders. We’d rather starve than have
gambling…gambling takes advantage of the poorest in society.”ii
So the man asking for the support of the MOWA Choctaw, which he received,
was now attacking them on all fronts.
On a recent trip to the Poarch Creek Reservation in the Summer of 2005, I talked
briefly with Eddie Tullis. He told me that he and my uncle Gallasneed Weaver were
great friends. I told him that I would find that hard to believe after all he had done
against our community. He left without another word. Ironically, I was there promoting
Indian education and had brought down about 20 pairs of stickball sticks for the
community so they would be able to play a social stickball game. During that game, one
of the Poarch Creek tribal councilors and the head of their economic development arm of
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the tribal government, Arthur Mothershed, also played. We talked and laughed and in
December of 2005 I sent him a package describing the backhanded nature of his tribes’
leadership towards the MOWA Choctaw and asking him to write a letter of support for
our community. He said that he would in our phone conversation leading up to the
package being sent. Since this time, we have visited their council and they have visited
our community. Their former tribal chairman Eddie Tullis and tribal chairman, until his
recent death, Fred McGhee, now deceased, had not responded to inquiries at all until the
meeting at their tribal offices. They were cordial at this time and you could tell there
were issues between Chairman McGhee and Eddie Tullis. Nobody at Poarch wants to
explain the letter of 1981 written by Tullis, except three younger councilors and one of
their fathers who denounces Eddie Tullis’ actions. The rest have encountered a severe
case of amnesia. And the new Tribal Chairman Buford Rolin, was the “gentleman” who
attempted to prohibit MOWA Choctaw inclusion in the National Congress of American
Indians many years ago.
The Mississippi Choctaw and Poarch Creek’s once cozy relationship has all but
disappeared in recent years, as the Mississippi Choctaw’s original opposition to the
MOWA Choctaw has now spilled over to the Poarch Creek who are strongly pursuing
Class III gaming. The articles are too numerous at this time to mention, but one tells the
tale.
“The American family is under attack from all sides: crime, drugs, pornography, and one
of the least talked about but equally as devastating--gambling,” the letter written by thenRep. Bob Riley, now the Alabama governor--stated “We need your help today…to
prevent the Poarch Creek Indians from building casinos in Alabama.”ii
This was concerning a $250,000 donation given to a questionable group called
U.S. Family Network who was supposedly opposed to gambling in Alabama. A group
who accepted gaming money to battle against gaming? How very “Abramoffish” of
them. This is just one example of the Mississippi Choctaw Chief undermining them and
further creating an atmosphere in Alabama that would fight against MOWA Choctaw
recognition. And of course the Mississippi Choctaws public statements were much
different indeed. In the article “Choctaw’s leader welcomes competition”, Phillip Martin
puts on his happy face and remarks after learning of the Poarch Creek’s plans for a new
$300 million dollar casino,
“The Creek Indians have a right to game. Probably it would have some effect on our
operations. My view is that in order to compete you’ve got to be one of the best casinos
so people will come to your casino and enjoy the attractions.”ii
But the Mississippi Choctaws may not have anything really to worry about in
relation to the Poarch Creek’s gambling plans. It seems that they are too busy stealing
money from their own tribe. In an article from The Atmore Advance, titled “Poarch
investigates missing funds”, reporter Adam Prestridge wrote,
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“Poarch Creek Tribal Chairman Fred L. McGhee confirmed Tuesday afternoon that the
tribe is investigating financial discrepancies in its gaming operation. Rumors of as much
as $4 million in missing funds and related investigations have been circulating in Atmore
for about a week. ’We have had some poor decisions made,’Chairman McGhee said.
’We’re handling all of that internally. I won’t say it is $4 million because I don’t know
how much it is…..When the Poarch Tribal Council met last Tuesday night, an agenda
item called for discussion of $65,000 that was misplaced between the Creek Bingo Palace
in Atmore and a local bank. In the discussion, it was alleged that a surveillance tape from
the date of the transaction is missing and that the FBI is investigating the incident.”ii
They also talked about the gaming board and Eddie Tullis.
“Chairman McGhee did say that the financial discrepancies were one of the deciding
factors in the Tribal Council voting on Sept. 18 to strip the gaming board of all its
decision-making authority. In that decision, the council also suspended former Tribal
Chairman Eddie Tullis from the gaming board, which he chaired.”ii
In an article the following week, the Poarch Creek took a page out of the
Mississippi Choctaw damage control handbook and said,
“We’re not accusing anybody of taking anything,’ Mothershed said. ’There were several
questions raised about the spending of PCI Gaming Board and due to that the decision
making was removed from them.”ii
Tribal Council treasurer and head of the Poarch Creek’s economic arm, Arthur
Mothershed and I spoke on the phone in December of 2005. We spoke of how the former
leadership had backstabbed the MOWA Choctaw community. The two of us knew one
another from a visit I took to the Poarch Creek community. He asked for copies of the
slanderous report solicited against our community in 1991. I told him I would send it to
him. He told me he would work towards getting the council to write a support letter for
our Congressional bill for recognition. Since receiving the package, he has been working
on a letter of support for our community along with fellow councilors Robert & Daniel
McGhee. An email from him on February 28, 2006 responding to an email I had written
on February 16th, 2006 stated,
“Sorry it took so long to respond. We are in the process of formalizing a response to the
MOWA Band. While we support your efforts we feel it is important that the BAR
process be used for all federal recognition efforts. I will forward you a formal letter
soon.”ii
An irate phone message left by me shortly thereafter was responded to with
Arthur claiming a misunderstanding and explaining to me that he did not know that the
MOWA Choctaw had exhausted all possibilities through the BAR (now OFA). He asked
for an April 27th, 2006 meeting with me at that time. The meeting occurred with him and
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numerous members of the Poarch Creek council. Myself, Chief Wilford Taylor and
community member Todd Johnston represented the MOWA Choctaw. An email on May
22, 2006 from him following this meeting and their visit to our community stated the
opposite.
“Cedric,
Robert and I are working on a letter to MOWA. I am still not sure if we can convince the
entire Tribal Council but if not we will sign as individuals. We are going to present our
thoughts to them and try to work towards a common message because I feel it would be
so much more powerful coming from the council as a whole…. “ii
Arthur Mothershed, Robert McGhee and Daniel McGhee are representative of the
honest portion of Creek leadership residing at Poarch. They have been honest, interested
in justice and supportive of our community when it was not politically advantageous for
them to do so. That is the true mark of sincerity.
The following is in response to another Mobile Press-Register article which concerns the
Poarch Band of Creek Indians near Atmore, Alabama. In the article it states that “The
Poarch Band of Creek Indians is the only federally recognized Indian tribe in Alabama.”
This is meant to imply, once again, that the Poarch Band of Creek Indians are the only
legitimate tribal community in the state. It should be noted that there are only two
reservation based tribes in the state. These are the Poarch Band and the MOWA Band of
Choctaw Indians located near Mt. Vernon, Alabama. The first tribe to receive any form
of recognition was the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians in 1979. At this time they
received state recognition with the Poarch Creek following after them.
Unlike the majority of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, the MOWA Band of Choctaw
Indians citizens are identifiable American Indian people. Also, numerous MOWA
Choctaw citizens have attended all-Indian boarding schools which were or still are
exclusive to members of federally recognized, such as Haskell Institute in Lawrence,
Kansas and Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Poarch Creeks have not attended
such schools. The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians last truly fluent Choctaw language
speaker did not pass on until 1984. The Poarch Creek on the other hand, have not had a
fluent speaker in their midst since the 1800’s. While many Poarch Creek attended
schools for whites prior to desegregation, MOWA Choctaws were expressly prohibited
from attendance at such schools and thus were sent to far away boarding schools
exclusive to Indians. In their own petition for federal recognition it states that they
descend from half-breed Creeks who remained in their current location after the Creek
Removal of the early 1800’s. Interestingly, their base roll counts all descendants listed
on a few different federal roles as full-bloods for blood computation for their current
membership. In other words they created full-bloods where none truly existed. A quick
drive through the Poarch Creek community will bear witness to the fact that the majority
of their membership are not identifiable Indian people. It also strikes our community that
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a huge reason for their receiving federal recognition was because of their annual pow
wow which they host in November of each year. This of course is non-sensical, as pow
wows are pan-Indian events that originate in the plains tribes of the North and West and
have no correlation whatsoever to Creek history or culture. This just means that former
Poarch Creek Tribal Chairman was a wizard at manipulating politicians and putting on a
good show for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Furthermore, the federally recognized Creek
Nation of Oklahoma views this community in a very poor light in regards to cultural
practice and they are highly criticized by many Creeks in Oklahoma for a variety of
reasons.
In the 1940’s and 1950’s Poarch Creeks and MOWA Choctaws joined together to combat
unfair treatment within their communities by outside sources. When federal recognition
came to them in 1984, their leadership turned their backs on the very people who had
assisted them. In 1981 Eddie Tullis wrote, “In the spirit of Indian brotherhood“ to the
MOWA Choctaw. A letter I have quoted throughout this book. Suddenly in 1984, he
caught a serious case of amnesia. Since this time he and now Tribal Chairman Buford
Rolin have attacked the MOWA Choctaw in the press and at national Indian
organizational meetings. However, they have fallen dead silent when confronted by
MOWA Choctaw leadership or denied speaking of us in any negative terms. Eddie Tullis
has gone so far as to say that we are “mulattos”. Of course, mulattos don’t speak
Choctaw. Which leaves one wondering? If mulattos don’t speak Choctaw and numerous
MOWA Choctaw’s are still conversational speakers of the language, then how can this
be? It is simple. In order to destroy a perceived threat of gambling competition one must
eliminate that proposed threat. The Poarch opposition has always been about gambling
politics and never about identity. In 2006 three elected Poarch Creek tribal councilors
wrote a letter to myself and MOWA Choctaw Chief Wilford Taylor apologizing for the
amnesia of some of their older leadership. This followed a meeting in which Chief
Wilford Taylor, Todd Johnston and myself met with members of the Poarch Creek
leadership and exposed the fraud that had been used against our community for nearly
two decades. During the meeting Eddie Tullis sat motionless and speechless; a far cry
from his constant appearances in the press in earlier years.
Eddie Tullis has said that only federally recognized Indians are Indians. So what were
the Poarch Creek prior to 1984? Only non-Indian reporters uneducated about national
Indian issues succumb to this line of ignorance via ignorance. It is time the Mobile-Press
Register began to see clearly that there is not only one Indian community in Alabama.
Our community currently runs a federally-funded Indian housing program, has its own
tribal police force, court system and the highest achieving elementary school in the state
of Alabama (Calcedeaver Elementary). The school enrollment is 90% MOWA Choctaw.
We are also the only Indian community in the state to have never lost their tribal
language.
It is the responsibility of the press to understand the subject matter on which they report
before making insinuations and assumptions. The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians are
insulted by the fact that the Mobile-Press Register continues to identify the Poarch Band
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of Creek Indians as “the only federally recognized tribe in the state” when they unlike the
MOWA Choctaw, did not attend federal Indian schools, the majority of their current
enrollment was not segregated from attendance at white schools and they have not had
any fluent speakers of their Indian language within their community for generations.
Another letter of apology is due from the entire Poarch Creek tribal council at this time to
make up for the lies of current tribal councilor Eddie Tullis. It is the responsibility of the
Mobile Press Register to print this as it has printed material for years that is misleading
whether intentional or unintentional towards the Poarch Creek being viewed as “the only
real Indians of the state of Alabama”. In our language we believe aiali (justice) occurs at
all times an in all forms. We appreciate your consideration of this value that we hold
within our culture and thus within our community.
On November 13th, 2006 an article by Poarch Creek chairman Buford Rolin appeared in
the Montgomery Adviser entitled “Alabama Voices: New rules threaten state’s Indian
operations”. The article speaks to his tribe’s “neighborly” ways and how they have been
a positive force in Alabama.
As true “neighbors” (our Indian reservation is located 30 miles from theirs) of the Poarch
Creek, we strongly beg to differ on many accounts. We say the current upcoming
predicament facing the Poarch Creek in regards to gaming could have been avoided with
more open and honest leadership. Our tribe, the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, near
Mt. Vernon, Alabama, is a physically, culturally and linguistically identifiable and
reservation based Indian community who knows all too well the “neighborly” qualities of
the Poarch Creek leadership. On June 20, 1981 former Poarch Creek chairman Eddie
Tullis wrote to our former chairman Framon Weaver:
“This letter is to formally ask your tribe in the spirit of Indian brotherhood, support our
efforts for Federal Recognition……We as Native Americans must work together to
protect our rights. I assure you that if you assist us with our struggle for Federal
Recognition you can count on us to be there when your petition is ready for consideration
by BAR (Bureau of Acknowledgment and Research; Bureau of Indian Affairs).”
Interestingly, when the Poarch Band of Creek Indians received their federal recognition
in 1984, the year our last truly fluent speaker of the Choctaw language Creasy Reed
passed on, their leadership, namely Eddie Tullis, caught a severe case of amnesia and
began to call our people black and Cajun in a matter which was intended to be
derogatory. The funny thing of course is that Cajuns are individuals who moved from
Canada to Louisiana, so if it doesn’t speak to the poor choice of words being used by Mr.
Tullis, it at the very least speaks to his ignorance of history and geography.
When the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs voted 11 to 2 in favor of our federal
recognition in 1991 a memorandum was mysteriously forwarded to those in decision
making positions from the Poarch Creek’s tribal office special assistant which contained
two fraudulent documents written by non-Indians attempting to discredit the ancestry of
169
the MOWA Choctaw. Both individuals were paid by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians
who feared a gaming rival if we were to receive federal recognition.
Prior to this our tribe had gained admittance into the National Congress of American
Indians, the largest advocacy organization for American Indian people in the nation. This
was fiercely protested by Buford Rolin and Eddie Tullis. Then president of NCAI,
Suzan Shown Harjo (an enrolled citizen of the Creek Nation of Oklahoma), remarked in
early 2006 to our community that Tullis had literally burst into her office making
offhanded remarks about us being “black people” and demanding that we not be allowed
into the organization. As a nationally renowned leader and columnist in Indian Country,
she and other prominent individuals within the Creek Nation of Oklahoma have been
very clear on their views regarding the Poarch Creek leadership of Eddie Tullis and
Buford Rolin.
In a June article in Indian Country Today, she wrote, “Tullis joined forces with Chief
Phillip Martin of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians to keep the Mowa Choctaws
in Alabama from being federally recognized. Disgraced lobbyist and felon Jack
Abramoff was hired as the attack dog to keep the Mowa Choctaws and others from
competing for gaming business.” (Indian Country Today June 2, 2006)
In April of 2006 we met with members of the Poarch Creek council, including Eddie
Tullis and former Chairman Fred McGhee, on their reservation near Atmore. Tullis
stayed silent as the younger generation spoke. The conversation revolved around them
rectifying the wrongs that had been committed against our people. Sadly, Chairman
McGhee passed on shortly after. A gentleman he was in every sense of the word. But his
passing did not deter his young, educated and progressive tribal council members from
writing their views down in a letter and sending it MOWA Choctaw Chief Wilford
Taylor, myself, Jo Bonner, Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions in September of 2006. The
letter stated clearly,
“….the Poarch Band of Creek Indians would like to extend our support to the MOWA
Band of Choctaw Indians in your recognition efforts. We understand there has been an
air of contention surrounding the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and your tribe. For that
we are truly regretful. Any efforts, conceived or real, to block your tribe’s path toward
recognition is unacceptable in our view…..We look forward to rebuilding our
relationship in the future.” This letter was signed by current Poarch Creek Tribal
Councilors Robert McGhee, Daniel McGhee and Arthur Mothershed with opposition
from Buford Rolin and Eddie Tullis.
You see, sometimes you have to get rid of the old “neighbors” in order to make friends
with the new.
170
POARCH CREEK
UP FROM OBSCURITY
p. 123
“The Poarch Creek stance was not popular among other tribal leaders across the state
who reminded Tullis of his persuasive and impassioned argument in 1977 against the
exclusive Creek Indian Council. Weston, Martin and the Weavers and other tribal
leaders pointed out that Tullis had complained that the Star Clan of Creeks failed to
represent the interests of the broader Alabama Indian population. By 1978, he saw his
wish granted when the Mims Act abolished the Creek Indian Council, creating the
SAIAC. Now six years later, these other tribal leaders wondered why history was
repeating itself as they stood before the Poarch Creek-dominated commission. They
questioned Tullis’ original motives and asked why the new commission was just as
exclusively as the old one.”
p. 129
“Arguing that the group was not a legitimate tribe, the Council expressed alarm at the
improbably large number of individuals who appeared on their tribal rolls. When
members of his own tribe accused Faulkner of fraudulently inflating the rolls in 1980, the
group was unable to sustain the scrutiny and splintered in to several groups-including the
Echota Tribe of Cherokees-with multiple headquarters around the state. Despite the
United Cherokee Tribe’s break-up, the Poarch Creek continued to invoke Faulkner’s
name as an example of fraudulence and the reason for the commission’s enforcement of a
recognition criterion.
When the bill to acknowledge the United Cherokee never passed, the legislature did
recognize the MOWA Choctaw in 1979. The group’s population of 10,000 attracted the
attention of politicians like State Representative J.E. Turner , who defended the
legislation. Supporters planned to pass the bill sooner, but prior to the Mims Act in 1978,
Poarch Creek leader Eddie Tullis met with MOWA Choctaw leader Framon Weaver and
asked him to refrain from passing any bills until the Mims Act passed. This strategy was
to prevent Indian legislation from overwhelming lawmakers. Tullis believed that the
Mims Act would somehow immediately benefit the MOWA Choctaw as well as the
Poarch Creek, but when Weaver agreed, it became clear that the Mims Act did more than
just grant the Poarch Creek recognition- it also created a commission and placed the
Creek in control…..”
p. 144
“After the SAIAC was de-funded in i1982 and the following battle over representation
that took place on the floor of the Legislature, there was no longer a commission to fight
over. For more than a year following Governor James’s drastic solution to the hostilities
between the Poarch Creek and other groups, Indian leaders throughout the state lobbied
for the revival of the state commission- one that was more equitable……Bill No. 625,
which became known as the Davis-Strong Act asked for the repeal of the 1978 Mims Act
and the official state acknowledgment of six Indian groups throughout the state.”
171
p. 313
“MOWA Choctaw Chairman Framon Weaver wrote to Governor Fob James complaining
that the Poarch Creek-dominated commission prematurely had cut off services to this
community. As a result, James soon handed the weatherization project to the MOWA
Choctaw tribal office.”
APNewsBreak: Governor's PAC fighting casinos got money from Indian casino lobbyist
By Associated Press
6:08 PM CDT, April 1, 2010
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Gov. Bob Riley's political action committee that is
fighting private bingo casinos in Alabama has received $10,000 from a lobbyist for
Indians operating federally protected bingo casinos in the state.
Steve Windom told The Associated Press on Thursday that the governor asked him to
contribute to the political action committee, called GOV PAC, and that he gave $10,000.
But he said the governor did not say what the PAC would do with the money.
Riley's communications director, Jeff Emerson, said the governor has known Windom, a
former lieutenant governor, for a long time. He said it's "ridiculous" to think the governor
is doing anything to help gambling interests.
The Huntsville Times reported earlier that the entire $138,000 raised by Riley's PAC this
year went to an organization fighting private electronic bingo casinos in Alabama. The
Indian casinos operate under federal law and have not been targeted by Riley's task force
on gambling.
Ethics Commission filings reviewed by AP show Windom represents Azalea City Racing
Club, which the Poarch Indians hold a majority interest in.
Cash Color and Colonialism: The Politics of Tribal Acknowledgment Renee Ann
Cramer; University of Oklahoma Press, 2005, p. 133
ii
“Getting Recognized” Wade Black and Robert Thrower; L. Wade Black
www.mindspring.com, 1996, p.2
ii
Cash Color and Colonialism: The Politics of Tribal Acknowledgment Renee Ann
Cramer; University of Oklahoma Press, 2005, p. 134
ii
Cash Color and Colonialism: The Politics of Tribal Acknowledgment Renee Ann
Cramer: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005, p. 134
172
ii
New York Times National, August 4th, 1991
ii
New York Times National August 4th, 1991
ii
Letter from Poarch Creek Tribal Chairman Eddie Tullis to MOWA Choctaw Chief
Framon Weaver, 1981
ii
American Indian Culture and Research Journal Book Review of Cash Color and
Colonialism Reviewed by J. Anthony Paredes, p. 132-135
ii
American Indian Culture and Research Journal Book Review of Cash Color and
Colonialism Reviewed by J. Anthony Paredes, p. 132-135
ii
American Indian Culture and Research Journal Book Review of Cash Color and
Colonialism Reviewed by J. Anthony Paredes, p. 132-135
ii
“The Need for Cohesion and American Isolates” J. Anthony Paredes; American
Anthropologist, New Series, Volume 78, Issue 2 (Jun., 1976), 335-337.
ii
New York Times National August 4th, 1991
ii
“American Indian Tribe seeks federal recognition” Garry Mitchell Associated Press
writer; The Daily Oklahoman, 12/2/02
ii
As Long As the Waters Flow: Native Americans in the South and the East Frye Gaillard;
John F. Blair Publisher, 1998, p. 205
ii
As Long As the Waters Flow: Native Americans in the South and the East Frye Gaillard;
John F. Blair Publisher, 1998, p. 205
ii
Forgotten Tribes: Unrecognized Indians and the Federal Acknowledgement Process
Mark Edwin Miller; University of Nebraska Press, 2004, p. 61
ii
Indian Blood video/ Eddie Tullis comments
ii
Cash Color and Colonialism: The Politics of Tribal Acknowledgment Renee Ann
Cramer; University of Oklahoma Press, 2005, p.125
ii
Cash Color and Colonialism: The Politics of Tribal Acknowledgment Renee Ann
Cramer; University of Oklahoma Press, 2005, p. 125
ii
Cash Color and Colonialism: The Politics of Tribal Acknowledgment Renee Ann
Cramer; University of Oklahoma Press, 2005, p. 126
173
ii
Cash Color and Colonialism: The Politics of Tribal Acknowledgment Renee Ann
Cramer; University of Oklahoma Press, 2005, p. 127
ii
“Mississippi Choctaws gave $250K to ’Family’ group” www.indianz.com , January 4,
2006
ii
“Choctaw leader welcomes competition” Tom Wilemon; The Sun Herald, 5/5/05
ii
“Poarch investigates missing funds” Adam Prestridge; The Atmore Advance 10/13/05
ii
“Poarch investigates missing funds” Adam Prestridge; The Atmore Advance 10/13/05
ii
“Poarch official clears air” Adam Prestridge; The Atmore Advance 10/19/05
ii
Arthur Mothershed email February 28, 2006
ii
Arthur Mothershed email May 22, 2006
174
SITTING ON THE FENCE: THE JENA BAND OF CHOCTAW INDIANS
175
The MOWA Choctaw Federal Recognition Committee’s indepth analysis of the
fraudulent Final Determination prepared by the BAR against the MOWA Choctaw
community, sheds considerable light on the problems inherent. They use the Jena Band
of Choctaw Indians, who received federal recognition in 1995, as a comparison model. It
should be noted that the MOWA Choctaw community fully supports the federal
recognition of the Jena Choctaw, as they are and have always been, a distinct Choctaw
community since after the time of Removal. There is no secret that they have also been
attacked prior to their federal recognition and even now that they have been
“recognized”. The Mississippi Choctaw’s former leadership, once again, were a main
nemesis, who now actively solicit Jena Choctaw friendship. The Jena Choctaw are kind
people who live by the traditional values explicit in Choctaw culture. Former Chief
Phillip Martin (deceased) was fortunate in this regard. Our people have been hurt too
badly, and we are having trouble finding that kindness anymore.
The Jena Choctaw’s other difficulty stems from the Coushatta Tribe of Louisana.
Jack, of course, has always been mutually pulling the strings with the leadership of these
two communities.
“House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) held a fundraiser at lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s
restaurant on June 3, 2003. His political action committee, Keep Our Majority, took in at
least $21,500 from Mr. Abramoff’s law firm and Mr. Abramoff’s Indian tribal clients.
One week later the speaker and his three top deputies wrote Interior Secretary Gale A.
Norton, urging her to reject a request for a new casino from the Jena tribe of Choctaw
Indians. As it happened, the Louisiana Coushatta and Mississippi Choctaw, two of Mr.
Abramoff’s biggest tribal clients, were furiously working to block the casino.”ii
The article goes on to speak of more than an additional $100,000 being
connected. Of course millions have continued to be spent against the Jena Choctaw and
MOWA Choctaw. What else could one expect from a tribal chief such as Phillip Martin
who initially defended Jack Abramoff. In an article on indianz.com, “Choctaw Chief
Martin defends embattled GOP lobbyist” on Friday, April 9, 2004 it states,
“The chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaws is defending well-paid Republican
lobbyist Jack Abramoff and says his tribe hasn’t been stalling a Senate Indian Affairs
Committee investigation into high lobbying fees. The Associated Press cited a letter
Chief Martin sent to Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.), chairman of the
committee. He said he is unaware of any laws that have been broken by the tribe in
connection with its lobbying activities. ‘For the record, we have not told any member or
representative of the United States Senate that we will not cooperate with any
investigation,’ the letter said, according to the AP.”ii
Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell pulled me aside at the NCAI national meeting in Tulsa in
2006 after hearing me speak of the corruption and disrespect levied against our people by
Mississippi Choctaw and Poarch Creek leadership at one of the workshops. He told me
176
to never relinquish this quest for justice. He went on to say that Indian Country needs
these young voices and the leadership that they bring. It is this type of support that drives
our community to continue in the face of such adversity. It is what enabled the Jena
Choctaw against all the barriers placed in their path.
J. Steven Griles, another lobbyist and former deputy secretary was also in on the
fix against the Jena. A former counselor,
“accused Griles of trying to influence the decision-making process on the Jena Band of
Choctaw Indians, a Louisiana tribe opposed by Abramoff’s former clients. Griles
repeatedly denied any improper actions but had trouble recalling some of the details of
the period, and even his meeting with Abramoff.”ii
And speaking of the Coushatta, where does President George Bush fit in the
picture.
“Bush tapped Abramoff as a member of his Presidential Transition Team, advising the
administration on policy and hiring at the Interior Department, which oversees Native
American issues,”ii
writes Richard Wolfe and Holly Baily in Newsweek.
The very same George Bush who the White House originally claimed did not
know lobbyist Jack Abramoff and is now saying that
“the President did not consider him a close friend.”ii
And it goes further,
“ In April 2002, The National Journal reported: ‘Last summer, in an effort to raise the
visibility of his Indian clients, Abramoff helped arrange a White House get-together on
tax issues with President Bush for top Indian leaders, including Lovelin Poncho, the
chairman of the Coushattas.’ Poncho first denied the meeting took place, but later
changed his story in an interview with the Texas Observer. He now confirms Abramoff
attended the meeting with Bush and says Bush greeted the lobbyist warmly ‘like an old
friend.’ii
A lot of politicians and lobbyists are having a lot of trouble with recall lately.
This was further verified in a November 4th , 2005 article appearing in Indian Country
Today, which stated,
“Griles’ protestations of innocence were refuted by one-time Interior colleague Michael
Rosetti….Rosetti said he became ’alarmed’ when Griles took a sudden interest in
2003...regarding the Jena Band of Choctaw’s efforts to open a casino near the Louisiana
border.”ii
177
He went on to say that,
“….he received from Griles a binder of information critical of the Jena Tribe’s
application…”ii
And finally Griles is uncovered.
“Records released by the Secret Service on Wednesday document two visits to the White
House by Jack Abramoff, including a trip only two days before deputy Interior secretary
J. Steven Griles was nominated to his position.” ii
Subsequent emails being released for public viewing over-stated the already
obvious.
“ ‘ I have a call into our guy Steve Griles’, one of Abramoff’s associates said in an email on July 18, 2001, just five days after the Senate confirmed Griles.” ii
In another article on indianz.com “Abramoff turned to Ralph Reed for help on
tribes”, it shows how the Mississippi Choctaw not only used their high paid lobbyist for
gaming and recognition issues, but for community infrastructure development. And in
this one, another politician is having trouble with recall as well.
“On January 18, 2002, Abramoff asked Reed to lobby White House aide Karl Rove for a
$16.3 million jail sought by the wealthy Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
According to Time, Department of Justice officials were holding the money because they
believed poorer tribes needed it more. ‘The Choctaws--who have given literally hundreds
of thousands to our candidates and groups - are getting screwed at DOJ on a jail
funding….We really need some serious swat from Karl’, Abramoff wrote. Reed agreed
to pass on the concerns to Rove, although he doesn’t remember if he did or not, a
spokesperson said. But the Choctaws, one of Abramoff’s top clients, got the $16.3
million later that year, Time reported.”ii
I have been to the Mississippi Choctaw jail to visit the captain of the Standing
Pine stickball team who works there. Nice jail. I am glad they got it. I may find myself
in there someday.
“The 2000 census shows that unrecognized Mowa Choctaws, for example had an
average household income of $6,250, and that 80 percent of their members live below the
poverty level.”ii
As you can see, they probably needed the funding more than us.
And finally at the end of March 2006 Mr. Abramoff received a sentence of just
under 6 years in prison. The minimum sentence allowable for his crimes it should be
178
added. Even though he was an admitted crook he still received 260 letters speaking to his
“good character” from relatives, professionals and politicians. Phillip Martin was not one
of those sending his best wishes. He doesn’t seem to know Jack anymore. Even though
a March 29th, 2006 article in Vanity Fair entitled, “Washington’s Invisible Man” said,
“Both Scanlon’s fees and Abramoff’s take were enormous:…$14, 765,000 from the
Mississippi Band of Choctaws ($6,364,00 to Abramoff)…..” ii
How did Phil forget that? An article in the February 14th, 2006 edition of the
Clarion Ledger spelled it out plainly,
“Several tribal members say Martin never disclosed how much the tribe was spending in
political donations or the amount of dollars in fees it was paying to Abramoff and an
associate, Michael Scanlon, who pleaded guilty last year to corruption charges.”ii
The article went on to note,
“ ‘The (tribal) council has never authorized Martin to give any (political) money,’ said
council member Linda Farve.”ii
And questions continue to arise,
“Other tribal members are disappointed with the Senate Indian Affairs investigation.
After McCain held a hearing exploring the relationship between Abramoff and the
Choctaws last fall, several tribal members wrote a letter asking why the panel wasn’t
tougher in questioning certain officials, and why others, including the former attorney
general of the tribe Clancy, weren’t asked to testify.”ii
This leads to only one result. Phillip Martin and Senator McCain held a very
close relationship with one another. A relationship so close in fact, that it would go
around the approval of the elected council and the Mississippi Choctaw people.
Returning to the Vanity Fair article in speaking about Jack Abramoff’s lobbying
firm Greenberg-Taurig,
“..Greenberg became the fourth-largest lobbyist in town. Much of the money came from
Indian tribes. The Mississippi Choctaws were joined by the Louisiana
Coushattas…..most had, essentially, the same problems: averting efforts to tax the tribes
or reduce their sovereignty; securing favorable legislation on health, housing, education,
and other services; winning appropriations and grants of land in trust; and protecting
their casino licenses against political vicissitudes and rival Indian tribes hoping to open
casinos of their own. (emphasis mine)”ii
Phillip Martin’s comments were also posted,
179
“The chief of the Mississippi Choctaws, Phillip Martin, said that Abramoff had done a
‘fantastic job’ and was ‘definitely worth the money’ (though Martin would recant six
months later, as previously mentioned).”ii
Other D.C. lobbyists who work with Indian tribes alluded to the joke that was the
Senator John McCain Senate Select Committee hearings directed at the Mississippi
Choctaw.
“ Even some other Indian lobbyists concede that McCain’s hearings presented a distorted
picture of Abramoff and his clients. ‘ The Mississippi Choctaw, the Louisiana Coushatta,
the Saginaw Chippewa- they are very wealthy tribes with big casinos,’ says one. ‘They
knew they were spending money on him and they had an agenda which was to shut down
other, poor tribes. They were getting ripped off, but the idea that they didn’t know they
were spending $30 million to kill a rival’s casino…Well, let’s not pretend the Indians are
stupid.’ McCain’s solicitude toward these tribes and their willingness to play victim for
him, this lobbyist says, ‘makes me want to puke.’ “ii
P.O.W. war hero or not, John McCain has dropped the ball all over this issue.
And what about Gale Norton’s sudden departure as head of the Department of the
Interior in March of 2006 just prior to Jack Abramoff’s sentencing? In an article released
on Monday, January 30, 2006 on Indianz.com, a smiling Gale Norton has her back being
held by Mississippi Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin with his sidekick Jack Abramoff one
step away. All three seem to be enjoying themselves. The article states for the record,
“Norton posed for the photo on February 5, 2002, although an Interior spokesperson said
she did not speak with Abramoff or Martin, one of Abramoff’s clients. But it was the
second time Norton met with Abramoff—the first meeting occurred at a September 24,
2001, dinner in Washington D.C., that was attended by representatives of the Coushatta
Tribe, another Abramoff client.”ii
On January 28, 2006, just before the photo release, the website War Liberal
released a comment concerning the article posted in the Birmingham News headed
“Alabama tribe struggles in its quest for recognition”. The comments were posted by
Mac Thomason and the name of the article is, “You Know Jack Abramoff is Involved
Somehow”.
“So here are these people who call themselves the Mowa Choctaw; ‘Mowa’ from Mobile
and Washington Counties, where they live. They were considered Indians back when
that was a bad thing; now that Indians are getting Federal aid and, oh yeah, are allowed to
build casinos, they aren’t Indians anymore. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians—
whom you’ve probably heard a lot about lately—have successfully kept Congress from
recognizing the Mowa as an Indian tribe. You can guess why.”ii
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An official response from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in the
February 2006 issue of the Choctaw Community News is bland and misleading to say the
least,
“ In regard to Jack Abramoff’s guilty plea of Jan. 3. 2006, the Mississippi Band of
Choctaws have worked closely with the Justice Department during its investigation of
this matter since the Tribe first saw evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Mr. Abramoff in
2004…We are pleased the criminal justice process has worked and Mr. Abramoff has
admitted to his guilt. In the course of the Justice Department’s investigation, the Tribe
has also entered into a settlement with Greenberg Traurig, LLP. That law firm handled
certain legal and lobbying work for the Tribe and employed Mr. Abramoff during the
firm’s work for the Tribe from 2001-2004…That settlement fully and fairly resolves all
of the Tribe’s claims for recovery of funds arising from Mr. Abramoff’s misconduct
through his ‘gimme five’ scheme with Michael Scanlon or otherwise while Mr. Abramoff
was employed at Greenberg Traurig.
We believe that Greenberg Traurig has acted honorably in its relations with the Tribe in
connection with these unfortunate events. We have no further comments at this time.”ii
And don’t forget about our man Tom DeLay’s relationship with Phillip Martin.
An April 3rd, 2006 column on Indianz.com states,
“In one instance, DeLay inserted records into the Congressional record that praised
Mississippi Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin. The action came after DeLay went on a trip to
England and Scotland that was sponsored by Abramoff and partially financed with
Choctaw money.”ii
Does someone in Phillip Martin’s office have a broom I can borrow to clean up.
Oops, I forgot, they are already using it to cover up their tracks.
So the Jena Choctaw were supposed to understand when I first approached their
community about supporting our federal recognition petition. They were supposed to
stand up for those whose reality is so similar to their own. But as we learn, life never
truly plays out the way it should.
I met Council member Cheryl Smith and Chief Christine Norris at their tribal office one
afternoon in 2006 to discuss our community. An entire carload of information came
along with me including photographs and videos of our people. They told me that they
were familiar with us and that Chief Phillip Martin had talk poorly of our community.
When they saw the photos they were taken back. They had been told that we were black
people and the reality had them quickly changing their minds. When I left that day it was
with optimism that support would be forthcoming.
As their feet continued to drag, community member Heather Snow wrote the following
letter requesting a second meeting with the Jena Choctaw leadership.
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Miko Christine Norris & Council Member Cheryl Smith, July 18, 2007
Halito/Aleeto. Today, we ask you for your support. We were told yesterday that our
community would now have the support of Beasley Denson and his administration. We
plan on visiting him shortly to insure this is truly the case. We feel you all have
something to do with his support of us. We understand that one of our community
members, Cedric Sunray, is asking for a meeting with you all on August 18th. We have
spoken with him and explained to him that the Chata Ohoyo of our community can wait
no longer. Another month cannot go by without an opportunity for our voice to be heard
once and for all. Over the decades our community has amassed stacks of support letters
from federal tribes and others, but we do not have the 2 or possibly three that count when
it is all said and done. A letter of support for our federal recognition from the Jena Band
of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and Choctaw Nation of
Oklahoma are the only three that will matter in the end.
Though we are community leaders, we do not write this letter to you today in that way.
We write simply as Chata Ohoyo, sapokni, ishki and daughters who have suffered far too
long at the hands of the very people who have also negatively impacted your people. As
women in our maternal Choctaw culture we have finally composed this letter to you in
order to put an end to what will be our 100th year of petitioning for federal services come
2008. We are on our 5th Congressional Bill and have exhausted all means of appeal
through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Our path has been virtually identical to your own.
We are a community who still maintained and maintains speakers of our traditional
language while being denied recognition. The irony of all ironies. As women, we are
inherently the leaders of our people and mothers of our Choctaw Nation. We suffer along
side our men, yet bare responsibilities that they do not. As providers, comforters and the
binding force that maintains our small community we have had to endure
methamphetamine addictions, domestic violence and other difficulties which poverty
manifests. We have watched as male politicians, Indian and non-Indian have redefined
us and directly severed necessary federal programs such as health care and educational
funding. We have been called ignorant, backwards and worse. No more. We are tired.
We are weary. But we will not quit. As a matrilineal people, it is our duty to continue.
Our men cannot move this battle forward any more. They have exhausted much of their
potential. They are tushka to us. We love them. But it is our time to share our pain as
Chata Ohoyo to the Chata Ohoyo outside of our community. Only then can this issue be
put to rest. We understand one another in ways that no male politician whether Indian or
non-Indian can. We bring life into this world and suffer the greatest when those precious
lives are hurting or lacking of meaning.
Our community has no more tears to cry. Please allow us to visit you on Saturday, July
28th or Sunday, July 29th to hear our words. This six hour trip may prove to be one of the
most meaningful in recent memory. We don’t feel you owe us anything, but as Chata
Ohoyo we feel that you will fellowship with us out of responsibility and genuine caring.
We hope this meeting will end with a letter of support from your Nation. However, we
will leave with no feelings of animosity or bitterness if this does not come to pass. We
182
will simply continue on as we have for many generations. The politics must cease. We
have worked long and hard for the day that Phillip Martin would no longer be in power.
That day has finally arrived. We have asked Cedric Sunray and his family to attend this
meeting with us if you are in agreement. He is a valued citizen of our community. He
has shown his worth as a Chata Nakni to the Chata Ohoyo of our community time and
time again. He knows how to listen and live up to his word. He has a kind family. Any
questions we may not be able to fully answer we are confident collectively in his ability
to answer on our behalf. We cannot wait any longer for answers. The time has grown
too long. Our community believes in iti kana (kindheartedness) and aiali (justice). That
is our foundation. Justice has recently been served. Your extension of kindheartedness
will assist in overturning the previous decision reached by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
We write this letter for all the right reasons. Our group will consist of Kathy Wilkerson
(Choctaw Culture Instructor), LaGaylis Harbuck (Executive Director; MOWA Band of
Choctaw Indians Language & Culture Department), Nicole Williams (Mobile Public
Schools Indian Education Director), Erin Johnston (Choctaw Youth Representative; Miss
MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians 2006-2007), Cedric Sunray (Advisor to the Chief) and
Family and myself. All necessary documentation of our contemporary situation and
community history will be provided.
As Christian people we believe firmly in commitment to morality over politics. Cedric
holds you both in high regard. His judgment is trusted from within our community. We
appreciate your consideration of this most important of requests and look forward to
hearing from you soon.
Yakokay and God Bless,
Heather Snow
Director of Choctaw Culture
MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians Language & Culture Department
The response to the letter was that another meeting was set up in 2007 and I accompanied
Heather and three other MOWA Choctaw women, one of which, LaGaylis Harbuck, who
is also an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, to the meeting held at
the Jena Choctaw tribal office. I arrived the night prior from Oklahoma with the others
came in from Alabama. In the lobby of the hotel I stayed in, in the small nearby town of
Jena, there was a book concerning Louisiana’s federal tribes. As I picked it up and read
it, it showed that Council member Jerry Jackson of the Jena Choctaw had said the entire
recognition process was politically motivated. The following day, this same gentleman
during the course of the meeting, remarked how the process was not political and so forth
and so on. He was the lone individual who was against supporting us. It was an
emotional meeting, as five obviously Choctaw women sat across from three obviously
Choctaw women, and two white looking guys, myself and Mr. Jackson, sat near one
another. Of course it is always the white looking one who won’t support a community
like ours, because their own self identity is too conflicted and wanting of authenticity.
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Now in 2010, after repeated letters and phone calls the support has never come, even
though the words of members of their council were that support was forthcoming. You
learn in life that words are just that most of the time. Unfortunately for the leadership of
the Jena Choctaw, I was sent a Master’s thesis written by Brian Klopotek, who now is an
American Indian Studies instructor at the University of Minnesota. This firsthand
account, which was written during and after he visited with the Jena Band of Choctaw
Indians contradicted everything they had said during our meetings in regards to the
recognition process and their standing within that process. I had read this thesis prior to
the second meeting and refrained from bringing it up in order to hear their side of the
story in an unbiased manner. They clearly failed in their responses. This failure was
made worse when prior to the meeting, a Jena Choctaw tribal member who had been
living in Mobile, Alabama for a time, stated directly to the leadership, who were friends
and I also believe relatives of his, that he had witnessed firsthand the community and had
heard the Choctaw language being spoken between community members when he was
there. This had strong resonance with the Jena Choctaw as the deciding factor in the
federal acknowledgment of their tribe was due to a few remaining Choctaw speakers
existent within the community; the primary speaker, Mary Jones, being the mother of
Council Member Cheryl Smith. It should be noted that I believe that Cheryl Smith and
Christine Norris are kind and generous people. I have talked with them on occasion in
both Louisiana and Oklahoma concerning issues unrelated to federal recognition,
primarily language, and they have solicited my assistance on occasion. They are caught
in the political process like anyone and if they could have the final say in supporting us, I
believe strongly that they would.
In the following paragraphs I recount Jena Choctaw quotes from this Master’s thesis
publication with responses. This information was sent directly to the Jena Choctaw
leadership and up until the publication date of this book no response has been received.
This is a copy of the direct item sent to their tribal leadership. The reader should note
that I use the acronym BAR (Bureau of Acknowledgment and Research) within the text
as opposed to OFA (Office of Federal Acknowledgment). The reason is that during the
time of the Jena and MOWA petitions, the federal arm was named the BAR and has only
more recently changed their name, but not their stripes.
THE FOLLOWING IS A RESPONSE TO TWO MEETINGS THE MOWA BAND OF
CHOCTAW INDIANS HELD WITH THE JENA BAND OF CHOCTAW INDIANS IN
JENA, LOUISIANA IN 2006 & 2007. THEIR VERBAL SUPPORT FOR OUR
FEDERAL RECOGNITION PETITION HAS NOT COME TO PASS IN THE FORM
OF ANY WRITTEN SUPPORT.
QUOTES FROM JENA CHOCTAWS
Anything that has been written on the federal acknowledgment process and the Jena Band
as well, we can guarantee that we have read it over and over again. We did not feel it
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was appropriate to bring these things up in our meeting due to politeness and respect. The
following are quotes that you all have made regarding federal recognition, gaming and
identity. These are primarily drawn from “The Long Outwaiting: Federal Recognition
Policy in the Three Louisiana Indian Communities” by Brian Klopotek. There are
numerous other sources to draw parallel source information from, but for the sake of time
and space I have limited this piece significantly.
Bold quotes are from the thesis. My responses are not bolded.
QUOTES (CHRISTINE NORRIS):
Current Chief Christine Norris asserts that the experience of racism comes only to
those who outwardly appear Indian, those who are identified with a tribe and
placed in the Indian social category all their lives. People with Indian ancestry
without that experience should not have the right to claim the benefits of tribal
status, and conversely, groups of people with that experience certainly deserve to be
recognized as tribes.
Our people outwardly appear Indian, are identified with a tribe and have been placed in
an Indian social category all of our lives. Our attendance at Indian Boarding Schools,
including Haskell, Bacone and Choctaw Central High School are just one example of
such identification. Our being barred from attendance at local white and black schools is
another example of merit.
On the concept that her extended Choctaw family constitutes a sovereign entity, she
says “I think it’s been so new that it’s just now beginning to sink in. Because I know
I certainly myself never viewed it like that before, never really thinking about it,
because it was never there before. So only until you hear that word ‘sovereign’ so
much now when you go to meetings…and you hear it over and over, and it’s like,
that’s what we really are! We are a separate entity now.” (p. 286)
This is proof that none of us come into this completely understanding the process or
saying “all the right things, at all the right times”. We learn as the process moves along.
As did Christine Norris, the Jena Choctaw woman who- though she was half
Choctaw and half white- marked the “white” box on forms that required her to
identify her race because she knew that “colored” meant black. (p. 330)
Our people were criticized in the BAR petition when we had some who marked white on
their identification cards. There was no other choice. We had to choose black or white
and so some opted for white. This piece shows that this is not uncommon in the South.
ALL our military records from World War I to the present show “Indian” as the
designation.
QUOTES (Cheryl Smith):
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Cheryl Smith repeatedly lamented that the tribe had not begun recording oral
histories until they started putting the petition together. (p. 259)
We do things in life when we need to. We don’t live our lives trying to fit in to
BAR/OFA expectations of what an Indian or Indian tribe constitutes.
From Cheryl Smith: Politics is a major factor in the petitioning process, she says.
Tribes have to worry about who is in the Congress, the President’s office, the
governor’s office, who will support them and who will fight them. (p. 266)
Preachin’ to the choir. Do we ever know. You understand, as we do, that our history,
language and culture have little to do with the process.
Mary Jackson Jones’s contagious, spiritually tinged, heartwarming joy in recalling
the day five years after the fact attests to the emotional weight tribal members
attached to this decision. Cheryl Smith felt the same way. “Sometimes I can
remember that night so well,” she says. “When it came on the news that the Jena
Choctaws had received recognition, it was like, I don’t know, I was in a dream or
something! Because I never, never thought- with the headaches that we had been
through and up and down and just turned down- that we would ever get it. It was
just something that was too monumental for us few little people here to ever get. (p.
268)
Remember the feeling night after night when you knew you were a legitimate
community, but you could not brake through the ceiling. Remember that feeling and
know how we feel.
To Cheryl Smith, recognition itself has been the tribe’s greatest feat. Whether the
casino is there or not does not matter all that much, but recognition does. At one
point in time, she was at the point of abandoning the recognition project altogether.
It is so much trouble, she reasoned, and they truly did not need it to prove to anyone
that they were Indian. But the benefits are so important that she simply cold not
justify abandoning the project. The tribe kept fighting because they were due these
benefits, and if they quit, they were going to let the federal government off the hook.
(p. 295)
The benefits are so important. Our people are hurting. We have invested too much time.
We must move forward with this.
Some Jena Choctaws have been fairly critical of the Clifton-Choctaws’ claims to
tribal status, but individuals within the Jena Band respond to the Cliftons in
different ways. Cheryl Smith argues that there certainly are Indian individuals in
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the Clifton-Choctaw community, but that the presence of Indian ancestry in some of
the members does not make them a tribe….. She feels the same way about other
state-recognized tribes, acknowledging that some members clearly have Indian
ancestry, but withholding support for their federal recognition. If the community as
a whole could demonstrate more social, cultural, and –frankly-racial markers of
Indian identity, they would seem more like a cohesive Indian community to her, one
that could be classified as a tribe. (p. 312)
We are not Clifton and we do not want to be placed in categories with others. I know the
Clifton are Choctaws.
Jena Chief Cheryl Smith describes the articles as “horrible”. The article was
supposed to say that the Clifton-Choctaws were blacks with only a little Indian
ancestry, but that ended up being distorted to say that they were not Indian at all,
she contends. (p. 313)
Typical of identity articles. No clarity and based on opinion and innuendo. These
articles get carried away and become the gospel truth in other’s minds.
QUOTES (Mary Jackson Jones):
Mary Jackson Jones hoped recognition would bring the younger generations in
contact with more Indians from other communities, making it more likely that they
would marry other Indians, reversing the outmarriage trend of the last halfcentury.
Outmarriage will continue to occur without an addition of Choctaw tribal
citizens/members to the roll. Not only for your community, but for ours as well.
Jena elder Mary Jackson Jones adds that it is unfair to withhold recognition from
the ‘real’ Indians at places like Clifton and Houma, but by the same token, it would
be unfair to recognize non-Indians with them. Her definition of what constitutes a
“real” Indian is not terribly complex- she believes anyone who can trace their
genealogy back to any documented Indian can be a “real” Indian. Any relation is
real, she says, and that ancestry cannot be cut off or erased. While she is full-blood,
her own tribe’s minimum blood quantum is one-eighth, and she believes that will
change soon since all the young people are marrying non-Indians.
I don’t believe any member of Jena really wants this trend to fully continue. When we
have visited we saw the little blonde kids running around, heck we have a few of those
too. We all want to keep our Choctaw identity firm. The question is how? We have
been fortunate as we have intermarried extensively with other tribes, due to the close
family relationships at Kunsha iksa/Nanih Chaha.
QUOTES (Jerry Jackson):
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At the time Jerry Jackson took office, the tribe received the “Obvious Deficiencies”
report that the BAR sends petitioners after an initial review of their petition. He
was also able to take a close look at the petition for the first time, and it had so many
holes that he was certain that they would never be recognized based on the
information it contained. He called the BAR and asked them to disregard the
petition while they prepared a new one. They hired new anthropologists and other
experts to try to fit the puzzle pieces together better. (p. 263)
Sure would be good if we could just “disregard the initial petition”. Like you, we didn’t
have the knowledge to know what the BAR was looking for, etc. We weren’t
professional genealogists. How very fortunate you were. Our initial petition has become
our achille’s heel. What is worse is that the positive parts of the petition were not even
acknowledged or “spin” was placed on them.
Jerry Jackson went to Washington sometime in the late 1980s to meet with the BAR
staff and discuss the petition. He tells me, “I was trying to get a handle on how long
was this going to take…and they said, ‘well, it looks like maybe uhhh, 16 to 18 years
we’ll get around to you.’ They’re underfunded, understaffed, blah blah blah. So I
said, well, this is not going to work,” He decided the tribe needed to be recognized
faster than that, and in consultation with the council, he began trying to get a
Congressional bill to recognize the Jena Band, circumventing the tediously slow
BAR process. Through a couple connections, he was able to meet up with the US
Senator Bennett Johnston in Louisiana. A sympathetic Johnston introduced a bill
to recognize them in three different Congresses…. (p. 264)
Jerry knows well the game of this. He knows in his insides that we were done dirty.
Jerry Jackson agrees that it is sometimes incongruous to think of his family as a
sovereign nation. “But I think when you’re a tribal leader, you have to project that
image, because if you don’t see it, nobody else is going to see it….” (p. 286)
None of us were born thinking, “we are a sovereign nation”. It is a learned experience.
You can’t lag behind on one, because I’ve seen tribes out there that turn out being
clubs. They lose the Indian part of the tribe, and they’re just a business or a club or
whatever they are, I don’t know what they are…They don’t have any cultural
background whatsoever, [but] they’re good businessmen. When I looked around [as
tribal chief]…I didn’t see nothing that wasn’t a dollar bill. I mean they had all these
wonderful ideas, but it costs money. Well, where do we get the money? Well, from
the gaming people. I worked them gaming people over. I mean over. Hundreds of
times.”
We all know those he is talking about and they belong to USET. Let’s just leave it at
that. He worked the gambling companies over and we got worked over and over by the
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gambling industry. We just fell on the wrong side of the fence. We just didn’t play the
game as well.
So there was tribes that were getting into gambling here in Louisiana that didn’t
want us to be recognized, because it became an economic thing then. But, they had
already given me a letter of support, and they wasn’t going to take it back. So, were
able to just squeeze through the tunnel there. And then, also, the governor’s office
had given a letter of support…but I had to meet with the Attorney General and sign
a paper that we would not have a historic land claim against the state of Lousiana.
(p. 264)
We squeezed through the tunnel. An admission that all the right things happened to fall
into the right place at the right time. We have been close, but the tunnel always seems to
close right as we are about to exit. We had to write away a land claim as well for our
Congressional Bills. The Poarch Creeks gave us a letter of support as well, but they took
it back.
We got a letter of support from the governor, which went a long ways for federal
recognition. So you’re like playing on 3 different, 4 different fields at the same time,
pushing toward the end result. A tribe cannot just say, okay we meet the criteria
and sit back. You have to put political pressure both in Washington and through
the state or you’re not going to move in the system. Just meeting the criteria is not
enough. (p. 264, 265)
We have letters of support from the Governor and every politician in the state. We have
the support of National Indian Organizations, federal tribes, etc. Still, nothing.
He says a Senator from Oklahoma held up their bill for a year because Hollis
Roberts, Chief of the Oklahoma Choctaws, asked him to. So Jackson flew up to
Oklahoma and asked Roberts why he opposed them. He gave Jackson the ‘same old
song and dance, you know, we don’t want the BIA funding to be divided more than
it is.’ Jackson told Roberts, ‘at 146 members we are not going to be a big drain on
the BIA.’ He said they could put a list of the tribe’s 146 members in the bill to make
sure that they did not change their membership criteria after recognition to allow
200,000 people to enroll. Roberts said okay, and the bill finally moved past
Oklahoma Senator Don Nickles, but it cost the tribe a year. (p. 265)
We feel that the federal Choctaw tribes are in a way holding up our bill, by not offering a
written letter of support. Verbal yes, but written no. And if it is not on paper it stands as
sentiment and not as something that can move mountains.
I was looking at what the tribe had to offer. What did it have to offer? It had the
right to gamble, that’s what it had. That’s what attracted everything, that’s what
opened up the doors for the money to start coming in. And that’s what ultimately
got us recognized. They can say it’s the grants, they can say it’s our history, they
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can say it’s all that, but I guarantee you, if we hadn’t been able to put pressure on
the BIA from several angles, we would still be waiting for that petition, because they
could care less. (p. 266)
Gaming assisted in your recognition. At least someone will be honest about it all.
Gaming isn’t an option for us. We have turned down backer after backer. The majority
of the at large community just won’t accept it.
One year after recognition, Jerry Jackson agreed. “I expected more. I thought the
Bureau of Indian Affairs would be down here. Bur you’re on your own. You’re in
competition with other tribes for a slice of the financial pie…Not one thing has
changed since getting federal recognition. (p. 274) Sarah Sue Goldsmith, “The Jena
Choctaw: Choctaw Traditions Keep Tribe Together.” Baton Rouge Advocate
Magazine, June 2, 1996.
Many of our tribe’s community members have become disillusioned with federal
recognition altogether. Stories like this just justify their feelings.
Jerry Jackson’s dream of establishing a casino immediately after recognition never
materialized, and that turned out to be his downfall…Worse than that, though, two
of the casino companies that the tribe had made deals with prior to recognition were
suing the tribe, which prevented the tribe from establishing a casino for several
years. (p. 276)
It is never a pretty picture.
Former Jena Chief Jerry Jackson believes the Clifton-Choctaws have no Indian
ancestry at all, and should have their state recognition revoked. (p. 313)
We knew this of course, prior to showing up. We knew what to expect. Hope the
documentation and our presence has swayed his thinking concerning us.
QUOTES (Clyde Jackson):
“I tell you, the BIA, if you got a weak point, they gonna drive on that weak point!”
(p.241)
Couldn’t be better said. You have experienced it in the same way we have.
In the late 1960’s Clyde Jackson says no one really knew their community existed
outside of the town of Jena, and that was one of the reasons they began to organize
themselves and seek recognition. They wanted to be recognized in the broader
meaning of the word- to be identified as an important group of Indians surviving in
rural Louisiana against all odds. They were frustrated by living in a society where
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white and colored were the only boxes they could check on racial identification
forms, a society that continually refused to recognized that fact that Indians existed.
It was not until they organized as a corporation in 1974 and received state
recognition from Louisiana later that year that they began to receive recognition in
that sense. (p. 245)
We were said to be a “new” tribe by some media. I guess you all would fall into that
same category. It makes things difficult. Of course, we had already been going to
boarding schools for generations by the time that nonsense came out.
And I believe that the federal government should in some way, somehow, help
Indian people…assist them in every way possible, even without being federally
recognized. I could even say that Indian tribes shouldn’t even be federally
recognized. Indian tribes are Indian tribes. It’s just that. Jackson revealed some
resentment at that time and again in 2000 about the constant need to prove he is an
Indian. He is 7/8 Choctaw and speaks the language fluently, but he still was not
officially Indian until the whole tribe was federally recognized. (p. 257)
Imagine how the full-bloods and ½ bloods in our community feel. Disrespected and
trampled on.
COMPARISONS:
While different groups within the tribe wanted recognition for different reasons,
justice motivated many tribal members. (p. 269)
Aiali (justice) is the one thing all can agree on.
The specter of declining blood quantums seems to give tribal leaders pause. The
older generations still have high blood quantums, with a significant number being
half Choctaw or more by blood. Their grandchildren, however, the future of the
tribe, might appear just as phenotypically non-Indian as some of the groups whose
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recognition they currently oppose. Blood quantum requirements already dropped
from one-quarter to one-eighth since recognition, and will likely drop to
descendancy in any degree from the Jena Choctaw ancestors on the 1880, 1900, and
1910 censuses. Even if recognition does not affect that outmarriage rate, the tribal
descendants will be able to continue to define themselves as a tribe, despite declining
blood quantums, because of federal recognition. With cultural programs and
various kinds of support attached to membership in a federal tribe, the Jena
Choctaws are no longer at risk for fading into local memory. It seems likely that the
older generations of Jena Choctaws would support the recognition of their
descendants even after three more generations of outmarriage because they are
certain they will be Choctaw in some degree, but such a possibility challenges their
conventional wisdom about who is and is not a legitimate tribe. Ultimately, the
tribal leaders hope recognition can prevent that from happening, but it may come to
pass that the Jena Choctaws, as Sturm asserts about the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma, will not fit their own racial and cultural definitions of Indianness if their
blood quantum and language retention, which constitute the core attributes of their
claims to tribal status, continue to decline. (p. 270 & 271)
It is the irony of all ironies. You gotta be “real” Indian to get through the process, but
then you can let it all go. I know that Jena doesn’t want to become another Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma. And I don’t believe you all will allow that to happen. But how to
change it without formalized bridges built with other tribal communities and prohibitive
geography making it difficult?
For the Jena Choctaws, casino money meant that the tribe could fly Jackson to
Oklahoma to talk with Hollis Roberts and pay for a lobbying firm in Washington…
(p. 266)
For the MOWA Choctaws, casino money meant adversaries could be flown on planes
and lobbyists in Washington could be bought and paid for to fight us.
In their original petition, they theorized that their ancestors descended from some of
the bands of Choctaws who had been in Louisiana since the Spanish colonial period,
but could make no definitive link to known members of those groups. Later, in a
second petition, they abandoned those theories and went on only what they could
prove in the historical record….. (p.260)
Must be nice to get a second chance on theories. We would have never been able to
recover from such a statement under any circumstance.
Still, the Jena Band could find nothing about their ancestors prior to 1870. It was
“total darkness”, according to Jerry Jackson. They finally resolved the matter by
getting a letter from the Mississipppi Band of Choctaws’ tribal council stating that
they accepted the Jena Choctaws as members of their tribe prior to 1870, which
conveniently took care of that issue. The Mississippi Band’s support carried
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significant weight with the BAR because they are so strict about their own tribal
enrollment. Jerry Jackson recalls, “that Mississippi Choctaw endorsement, that
was the one. That was the link that was missing. With that, was our recognition.
The [endorsement of] other tribes here in Louisiana, that was just icing on the cake.
When the Mississippi Choctaws said that they agreed that we were once part of
their tribe, that was it. We’ve met all the criteria. We had the community, we had
the language, the interactions, all that kind of thing. Any sociologist could put it
together after that point. But, it was that history, the unwritten history that we
couldn’t find anywhere. (p. 260)
Again, must be nice to have the support of a tribe who is outside your gaming area to
draw from. Man, location, location, location.
The Mississippi Band did offer to let them join their tribe if recognition fell through,
and offered to give them one seat on the 17 member council, but for a number of
reasons, the Jena tribal leaders felt that was a bad idea. (p. 261)
By the time they made the same offer that had already raked us through the coals and
caused great pain in our community. Just like you, we felt it was a bad deal. We pray
this will be reconsidered for us.
The Jena Band fulfilled this component fairly easily since they have retained their
language and until the 1950s, married almost exclusively within the group, and each
of those facts is considered the best evidence of social and political cohesion. (p. 261)
UNBELIEVABLE!!! That is word for word what every sociologist, anthropologist, etc.
has said about us. And still no recognition.
What they need to establish was that they were a tribe under federal law since
historical times, and that was more difficult. So they hired Bud Shapard, who had
recently retired as Chief of the BAR and started doing consulting work. In fact, he
even approved the original regulations and later testified at a Congressional hearing
that the regulations do not work, and that the revisions of 1994 that were supposed
to make them less subjective had actually made them more subjective. (p. 263)
“Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Native American Affairs of the Committee
on Natural Resources, House of Representatives, 103rd Congress, 2nd Session, on HR
2549, HR 4462, HR 4709, “Federal Recognition of Indian Tribes” July 22, 1994
Bud Shapard admits that the very changes he instituted (which we were the test case for
in the “expedited” process) made things more subjective! Thanks Bud.
The entire population of Choctaws in the Jena Band hovered between thirty and
forty from 1880 to the early 1990s, and there were five households total the
comprised the entire population in 1910. ( p. 213)
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15 households at Kunsha Iksa/Nanih Chaha during the same time period.
The Dawes Commission invited all full-blooded Choctaws in Mississippi, Louisiana,
and Alabama to enroll as Mississippi Choctaw full-bloods. ( p. 213)
We were contacted, and the record shows that some went. Two families came back even
though the trip was so difficult. (This is well documented) BAR would not consider as
usual.
“…individual Indian children were often allowed to enroll in white schools, as was
the case for one Jena Choctaw student in this era who was half white.” (p. 223)
We were completely prohibited from attendance at white and black schools.
Watt also cites the case of a Jena Choctaw who left the community in 1927,
returning for the first time in 1985. He cited the exclusion from schools in Jena as
the primary reason left. Watt, 132. (p. 223)
My grandfather left the community for related prejudicial reasons in 1936 and did not
return until the 1970’s.
Office of Indian Affairs, misidentified the Choctaw school run by Penick as “the
Cherokee Indian School” in his report on the meeting, and seemed skeptical that the
school would merit federal Indian funds. (p.225)
Interestingly, when we had misidentifications they became the word of law for the BAR.
If this had happened to us in the historical record the BAR would have asserted that we
were claiming to be Cherokee and never let that one go.
They would have been able to attend the black school, but refused to attend, just as
the Jena Choctaws, Tunica-Biloxis and Houmas turned down similar opportunities.
(p. 331)
As previously stated, we weren’t even allowed to attend black schools and the AfricanAmerican and MOWA Choctaw population still have a contentious relationship to this
day.
Neither the documentary record nor oral histories suggest that the Jena Choctaws
were informed that there might be a possibility of attending a boarding school, so
they never had the opportunity to make that choice. Whether this was a reflection
of sentiments held by Ryan and his successor, Willard Beatty, against increasing
boarding school enrollments or a federal decision that Indians from nonfederally
recognized tribes were not entitled to federal educational support of that type is not
clear, but the effect was to eliminate a potential choice fro the Jena Choctaws.
(p.227)
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Does this somehow make us more Indian then you because we were identified as Indians
to be sent to boarding schools? The answer of course is no, but it begs the question.
Again, the BAR says they received this information “out of time”. With all their
supposed research on us, how could it be possible that they did not know that our people
were sent to Indian boarding schools? It is not possible. It is fraud.
Jena Choctaw marriage patterns shifted markedly in the 1940s from ChoctawChoctaw marriages to Choctaw-white marriages because of the scarcity of eligible
local Choctaw marriage partners. (p. 229)
Whites would not marry us for the most part. Nor would blacks. Honestly, our people
didn’t want to marry either. We understand why this happened to you and why it is also
happening to us. It is simple math.
Jena Choctaws began marrying out extensively in the 1950s because of the lack of
unrelated potential Choctaw spouses and the increasing acceptance of Choctaws by
local whites that accompanied integration, but they only married whites. (p.243)
Fully understand. Luckily, they didn’t use that against you in your petition. If you had
married blacks they would have knocked you out of consideration at the very beginning.
Cedric Sunray speaking: On our recent trip to visit your community, we stayed at
the local motel. I asked one of the employees point blank about how the Jena
Choctaw are considered here. She said without hesitation, “they are considered
white”.
Should we believe the testimony of someone who is ignorant to Indian issues or the local
Indian people themselves? Should we take this as gospel truth? Of course not.
Even the thoroughly Choctaw Jena Band members have recently undertaken a
project to reintroduce cane basket weaving into the community after an extended
period of dormancy. (Marilyn Watt notes that in the 1980s George Allen learned to
make baskets from a non-Indian who had learned from a Bayou Lacombe Choctaw.
One of Allen’s baskets was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution for its
collections, Watt, 217.) (p. 346)
It is okay for you because you are federally recognized. But don’t institute a traditional
craft into a non-federally recognized tribe because it will be deemed inauthentic and
made up. Luckily for us, our stickball sticks and other crafts were not reintroduced, but
have always been. Have we added some newer stuff.,..surely. Why not? That is what art
and development are all about.
195
The success of the Tunica-Biloxis and other gaming tribes, in fact, contributed to the
backlash that the Jena Band of Choctaws have experienced in trying to establish
their own casino. (p. 358)
Another example of casino trouble and how it effects Indian communities.
Gaming money was certainly welcomed by the Jena Band and facilitated their drive
for federal recognition, even enabled it, according to some tribal members. (p. 359)
B-I-N-G-O. You gotta play the game to win is what I am told.
BLACK COMPARISONS:
Watt, 130-131. Watt also notes that the Jena Choctaws would not likely have
sharecropped if they had been in an area where blacks were the predominant
sharecroppers or tenant farmers. Lasalle Parish sharecroppers and tenant farmers
were predominantly white, so the Jena Choctaws could enter that line of work
without risking identification of themselves with blacks. Watt, 122. (p. 216)
The single most devastating thing that can happen to a petitioning Indian community is
an association with black folks. As racist as that sounds it is true. The Pequots and the
Tunica-Biloxis were recognized prior to the gaming era. They would have been ripped to
shreds by those white folks in D.C. now. The Mashpee Wampanoags just had so much
money that they were able to block off those questions. They threw the “black” label on
us years ago. No money and our petition didn’t make it in until gaming had shown up.
Bad luck for us. You all definitely made people know that you were separate from
African-Americans, prior to getting labeled.
Where there was any admixture of African ancestry, whites were more reluctant to
accept Indians into their schools because they were classified as black, not Indian.
(p.243)
Says it all. Okay to be a white Indian, but not a black Indian.
“Oklahoma Indians, in particular, were wary of admitting “self-identified” Indian
communities into the AICC, apparently for fear that these communities too often
had black ancestry. Self-segregation from blacks was seen as a point of pride from
some of these Oklahoma communities, while others simply believed that any “real”
Southern Indians were already federally recognized.” ( p. 27)
Stereotype, stereotype, stereotype.
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OTHERS:
But the biggest issue for the tribe in trying to get recognition was gaming. People
opposed their recognition because they did not want gaming expanded in Louisiana.
(p. 265)
The old gaming block.
They organized at the urging of Ernest Sickey, a Coushatta tribal leader… (p. 245)
I have talked with Ernest and have a letter from him in my possession. Some very
interesting comments.
Although the Jena Band of Choctaws knew absolutely and beyond doubt that they
were Choctaws, they had to learn to think of themselves as a “tribe”….The
community began a dramatic transformation in their self-conception from being a
handful of Choctaw families to being a sovereign nation. (p.251)
A learned trait, that many federal tribes now use to invalidate legitimate non-recognized
tribes. People just won’t admit that it was learned after they learned it.
“Watt contends that the Jena Choctaws may have doctored their testimony before
the Dawes Commission in order to comply with a perceived need to document ties to
Mississippi. ‘From some of the statements in the [Dawes] testimonies, it is assumed
that the Catahoula Choctaws were intent on establishing some connection with
Mississippi, resulting in contradictory statements. For instance, Sally Ann Allen
answered successive questions by saying that she did not know where she was born,
that she had not lived in any state other than Louisiana, and that she was born in
Mississippi. The contradictions may stem from confusion by the questions or from
the inexperience of direct examination, but it is more likely that the Catahoula
Choctaws perceived a need to be associated with Mississippi in order to be identified
as a Mississippi Choctaw.” (Marilyn Watt. ‘Federal Indian Policy and Tribal
Development in Louisiana: The Jena Band of Choctaw.” Ph.D. Dissertation,
Pennsylvania State University, 1986), 93.
Any contradiction in our petition became the MAIN POINT OF CONTENTION!
Amazing how biased this process is.
Regarding the Clifton-Choctaws, East Baton Rouge Choctaws, and ChoctawApaches, who had all received state recognition by 1980, Sickey stated, “Where are
all these other Choctaws coming from? I’ve lived here all my life and the first time
I’ve heard of them is in the last five years.” (Duane Thompson, “Tribes Have Little
Legal Pull”. New Orleans Times-Picayune 7 Jan 1980, Sec. 1, p. 12 (p. 299)
197
This is the same person who personally asked me to assist him in helping to get federal
recognition for a group of Creeks in Florida and to assist the Clifton Choctaw. I even
have a letter from him stating this. Unbelievable.
Jerry Jackson, a Jena Choctaw, voiced a similar opinion in 2000, except he believed
it was Sickey who had begun the trend by urging the Houma to organize. (p. 306)
Absolutely. But it speaks to the opposition Jerry may have for a Choctaw community
from out of state that he doesn’t know. Or through his own admission, “don’t have time
to do the research.” Mr. Jackson, please give us a shot.
It should be noted that even the Jena Choctaws initial petition failed to link present
membership with 19th century predecessors. It represents faulty research more than
it indicates a lack of Indian ancestry. (p. 318)
The BAR said that this exact same situation in our initial petition showed that we were
“fraudulent”. Wow, what irony.
BAR/OFA COMPARISONS:
When the BAR reviewed the Jena Choctaw petition, however, the BAR accepted
that the Gibson family “appears to be the same family later called Baptiste/Batise or
Edmond in the Jena Community” and that Willis Jackson had “previously been
known as Willis Berry,” among other unexplained name changes. (p. 318)
There is just little possibility that this could occur (name changes), as per what the BAR
states in our petition. It had to be definite and exact. Amazing irony once again.
While the BAR claims politics has nothing to do with the process and that it is
merely a matter of presenting facts for evaluation, clearly Jerry Jackson and Cheryl
Smith’s testimony contradicts that. (p. 267)
Yakoke for telling the truth.
In many cases, Indian people are identified as white, black or mulatto by census
takers. It is laughable to see some of the brown-skinned people identified as white
in the census, so the census has proven to be of marginal use to many petitioners.
(p.259)
I thought the Census was the gospel truth according to the BAR/OFA. It sure was with
us, except of course where over 50% of our population was listed as Indian. Then the
Census was wrong in their eyes.
198
The BAR says the contract with the state to fund local school districts for separate
schools for Indian education means the Office of Indian Affairs never dealt with the
Jena Choctaws directly as a tribe, even though such contracting was the preferred
procedure for providing education to students of recognized tribes in other states
under the Johnson-O’Malley Act. Though the BAR eventually concluded in favor
of recognition for the tribe, unpredictable decisions about tribal histories such as
this reinforce the impression that the BAR seeks reasons to disqualify petitions
rather than looking at the big picture in determinations of tribal existence. (p.241)
The BAR knows that we have had Indian schools funded by the federal government.
They say they did not need to consider this as our genealogy did not “stand up”. So the
federal government funded Indian schools for non-Indians? Interesting concept.
The BAR argues that they have to be exacting to ensure that their decisions are
completely defensible, but such a stance, known in the bureaucratic vernacular as
‘cover-your-ass’, is designed more to protect the jobs of individual bureaucrats than
the interests of recognized or unrecognized tribes, and it inherently produces biased
decisions regarding tribal histories of petitioners. (p. 241)
That is simply the reality.
J. Anthony Paredes argues that tribes should not hesitate to assert their Indian
identity as an economic asset. (p. 338)
J. Anthony Paredes was hired by Poarch Creek Eddie Tullis to fight our tribe. J. Anthony
Paredes said the EXACT OPPOSITE about us. He stated that the only reason we were
trying to get recognized was for economic gain. Wow.
Because they are determinative of status as a federal tribe, the BAR regulations
were intended, in fact, to preclude other definitions of tribe, or else the BIA would
stand in direct violation of the judge’s ruling in the Passamaquoddy decision that
the federal government had a responsibility to all tribes, regardless of their standing
with the federal government. (p. 375)
Eliminating us makes good financial sense to the BIA.
Many of the people denied recognition have some Indian ancestry and cultural
characteristics, and many people in recognized tribes have non-Indian ancestry and
cultural characteristics. (p. 376)
Oh, the never ending lines of contradiction.
BAR staff members have stated that they expect to recognize about 30% of
petitioning tribes, which certainly implies that they make up their minds about who
to acknowledge will in advance of reviewing their applications. Greenbaum, “In
199
Search of Lost Tribe”, 362, from BAR, unpublished memorandum prepared for
participants in January 1984 conference on problems with the Federal
Acknowledgment process (p. 376)
It was either you or us in the 1994 era. We had 3,000, you had 150. Easy choice for a
cash strapped bureaucracy looking for political favor. I would have chosen you all too.
The constant conflict between the petitioners’ interpretations of records and the
BAR’s interpretations exposes the weakness of the quasi-adversarial, quasi-judicial
nature of the acknowledgment procedures. Historian Franci Jennings captured the
essence of the problem in a letter he wrote in response to the BAR’s original
proposed negative finding for the Gay Head Wampanoags. “The writers of this
report,” he stated, “have not surveyed the evidence with judicial detachment.
Instead they have produced… a prosecutor’s brief in which facts favorable to the
tribe are omitted and the facts included are twisted about to look somehow bad.”
(p. 377)
That is clear to any educated person now.
While, in the past, BIA directors have always approved staff findings, Gover and
Anderson bucked tradition by rejecting what they viewed as erroneous findings in
the final weeks of the Clinton administration. Unfortunately for the tribes involved,
the George W. Bush administration reversed those findings… (p. 394)
As you know, Gover admitted to making a mistake on us. Unfortunately, he had only
been on the job 3 days when he signed off on our negative determination. By the time he
saw the forest for the trees it was too late. He has said that we should be federally
recognized publicly, in the press and in front of the Washington D.C. bureaucracy.
It has been said that some petitioners have a “false sense of identity”, but the tables
need to be turned on that statement. In many cases, it is their detractors who have a
false sense of the petitioner’s identity and a false sense of security that there exists a
dividing line between tribal and non-tribal Indians, between Indians and nonIndians. (p. 400)
Good point.
Philip Martin, Wilma Mankiller, Jonathon Taylor, Roger Jourdain. It is
understandable that they want to protect the integrity of their identities, but each
has made sweeping claims about the non-Indian character of many petitioning
tribes without having thorough knowledge of their histories. (p. 62 & 63)
Phillip Martin makes mistakes. NO? He isn’t a historian. NO?
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IMPOSSIBILITIES:
Jena Choctaw ancestors’ mastery of English declined over the generations, so that
some of the older members of the group who had likely come from Mississippi in the
1870s spoke, English, while their Louisiana-born children and grandchildren could
not. (BAR, Historical Technical Report, Jena Band of Choctaw Indians. Federal
Register, Monday October 31, 1994, 26.)
I have heard some good ones, but this one wins. It even beats Kenneth Carleton, white
boy anthropologist for the Mississippi Choctaw when he says that we have retained the
Choctaw language because we are the descendants of whites and blacks who traded with
the Choctaw in the early 1880’s. I am sorry, but there is no case reported in history
where an English speaking Indian tribe lost the ability to speak English and it was fully
replaced by their traditional language. That is simply a linguistic impossibility. Societal
and assimilation factors would make that possibility zero. I do not believe for one second
that the Jena Choctaw community had a strong mastery of English in the 1800’s which
was replaced by a strong mastery of the traditional Choctaw language in the 1900’s. Jena
Choctaw’s have always had a strong mastery of the Choctaw language. There is no other
explanation and adopted English later. I have to laugh at this assertion completely.
Leave it up to the BAR to create such a fiction. They were simply trying to establish the
Mississippi connection with the “cover-your-ass” approach that was talked about earlier.
ii
“Don’t Bet on Coincidence” washingtonpost.com Friday, November 18, 2005, A22
ii
“Inside the BIA according to Jack Abramoff” www.indianz.com , 11/23/05
ii
“Inside the BIA, according to Jack Abramoff” www.indianz.com , 11/23/05
ii
“Mounting evidence proves White House lied about relationship with corrupt lobbyist”
Doug Thompson; Capitol Hill Blue, 1/19/06
ii
“Mounting evidence proves White House lied about relationship with corrupt lobbyist”
Doug Thompson; Capitol Hill Blue, 1/19/06
ii
“Mounting evidence proves White House lied about relationship with corrupt lobbyist”
Doug Thompson; Capitol Hill Blue, 1/19/06
ii
“ Former Interior deputy denies Abramoff influenced BIA decisions” Gale Courey
Toensing; Indian Country Today, 11/4/05
ii
“Former Interior deputy denies Abramoff influenced BIA decisions” Gale Courey
Toensing; Indian Country Today, 11/4/05
ii
“Abramoff White House visit coincides with Griles meeting” www.indianz.com ,
Thursday, May 11, 2006
201
ii
“Abramoff White House visit coincides with Griles meeting” www.indianz.com ,
Thursday, May 11, 2006
ii
“Abramoff turned to Ralph Reed for help on tribes” www.indianz.com , Monday,
October 24, 2005
ii
Cash Color and Colonialism Renee Ann Cramer; University of Oklahoma Press, 2005,
p.54
ii
“Washington’s Invisible Man” David Margolick; Vanity Fair.com,
www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/060320roco04?print=true
ii
“Political donations scrutinized” Ana Radelat; Clarion-Ledger Washington Bureau,
February 14th, 2006
ii
“Political donations scrutinized” Ana Radelat; Clarion- Ledger Washington Bureau,
February 14th, 2006
ii
“Political donations scrutinized” Ana Radalet; Clarion- Ledger Washington Bureau,
February 14th, 2006
ii
“Washington’s Invisible man” David Margolick; Vanity Fair.com,
www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/060320roco04?print=true, p.8
ii
“Washington’s Invisible man” David Margolick; Vanity Fair.com,
www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/060320roco04?print=true, p.9
ii
“Washington’s Invisible man” David Margolick; Vanity Fair.com,
www.vanityfair.com/commentary/contentprintables/060320roco04?print=true, p.9
ii
“Griles arranged for Norton photo with Abramoff” www.indianz.com , Monday,
January 30, 2006
ii
“You Know Jack Abramoff is involved Somehow” Mac Thomason;
www.bravesbeat.com/bravesjournal/warliberal/archives/2006/01/you_know_jack_a.... ,
January 28, 2006
ii
“Tribe responds to Abramoff plea” Choctaw Community News, February 2006, p. 4-5
ii
“Lobbyist traded on DeLay’s name to get tribal money” www.indianz.com , Monday,
April 3, 2006, p.2
202
CON Artists: The Contemporary Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
203
“There are two basic methods by which man can feed his ego and make himself seem
important. One is by genuine accomplishment. The other is by making a second party
appear inferior… This is the root cause of bigotry and can occur in the most learned of
men, when circumstances are such that ethics can be conveniently shunted aside.
Politics... can create these circumstances.” (When the Great Spirit Died: The Destruction
of the California Indians 1850-1860; William B. Secrest)
There is no quote which explains a minority of Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma “citizens”
that are peddling their message of hate and division around North America these days.
They all have something clearly in common, aside from the majority being racially white
people with CDIB cards. The reality is that they all possess lawyer credentials, Doctoral
degrees or higher ed degrees. They are supreme manipulators and use their positions of
economic power to attempt to humiliate other people. This cast of characters includes:
Chief Chad “Corntassel” Smith, Cara Cowan-Watts, John Parris, Troy Wayne Poteete,
Richard Allen, David Cornsilk, Gayle Ross, Terri Rhoades, Lee Fleming and some
nobody named Charles Dry. The best is that some of them don’t even like each other, but
always remember, common enemies make strange bedfellows. In regards to going after
me or state tribes they like to represent themselves as the best of friends. But always
remember, when you put enough big egos in one small space, the cracks begin to appear
in quick fashion. Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians.
I remember when I went Cherokee. It occurred in the Fall of 1994. I had received
notification from my tribe in Alabama that the rolls were still closed. I wouldn’t become
a community member until nearly five years later. Not until after the election of Chief
Wilford Taylor in 1995, would I receive a letter stating my qualification for enrollment.
Our tribal roll had been closed for a few years due to our federal recognition petition.
Prior to his I had befriended and dated people of Cherokee ancestry in the two years after
high school. My great friend Frank, as well as former girlfriends Miranda and Kerri.
In early 1995 I was fortunate to meet the Landers, Faulk, Campbell and Steele families
who all resided in the area were some of my family members had lived around the fault
line between Central-Eastern and Northeastern Alabama. These families were all of
Cherokee descent along with some Alabama Creek and Tuscarora ancestry. While
loosely affiliated with some of the state’s recognized Cherokee tribes, for the most part,
they existed on their own. Members of these few families had also intermarried with
Cheyenne and Arapaho and Fort Sill Apache tribal members from Oklahoma, as well as
an Akwesasne Mohawk from upstate New York. Though not blood related to me, they
accepted me as such and over the course of the next four to five years I would drive down
from Canada to spend time with them learning about Cherokee culture and hearing about
their lives and histories, while also visiting with my MOWA Choctaw community. They
were kind and unassuming people. During the summer of 1996, my best friend and I, a
Cuban-American from Key West, decided to take a cross country trip visiting Indian
communities across the United States. Along the route we stopped through Tahlequah,
Oklahoma to see the sights in Cherokee Country. The first night had us sleeping in a
cramped motel, whose front room was covered with gag gifts and was situated just down
the street from the Indian hospital. But we had little money and it was cheap. This was
204
the same Indian hospital that confused both my wife and I when we eventually moved to
Tahlequah in 2004, as it was down the road from the non-Indian hospital and upon a first
glance inside one could hardly tell which one was Indian by the looks of the majority of
people in the waiting areas.
We had come to Tahlequah searching for the “Cherokee Nation” and eventually found
our way to the gift shop at the tribal complex west of town where I bought a Cherokee
shirt that looked like the Coca Cola emblem, but it said “Cherokee”. After striking up a
conversation with a woman working at the shop, the subject came around to ancestry. I
told her that I was Cherokee and Choctaw and she just rolled her eyes. Not literally, but
certainly figuratively. The problem was that I did not know about “wannabes”. This
discussion was not one I was familiar with. I did not know about “Cherokee princesses”
or that everyone claimed to be Cherokee. I was from Key West, Florida, not the Navajo
reservation and I certainly didn’t come from any princess, prince or royalty. In fact I
didn’t come from anyone of wealth and prestige.
“ The most notable result is that some today call all of these people “Wannabes”. They
are people who want to be Cherokee. I know one Cherokee who can turn any
conversation or discussion into a discussion of Wannabes. His mental gymnastics are
incredible. He can be in a meeting in which the topic is the Cherokee casino, or the
Johnson O’Malley Program, or the Repatriation Act, or anything else, and he will come
out with some statement about Wannabes. It’s a major pre-occupation with him. It is his
main, sometimes I think his only, topic of conversation.” p. 35, Cherokee Thoughts:
Honest & Uncensored Robert J. Conley 2008 University of Oklahoma Press
My only connection to Oklahoma was that a solid number of my family members moved
here from Alabama between 1901-1903 in hopes of receiving land allotments. My greatgrandfather wrote about this in his book “Some Thoughts on the Bible as the Word of
God”. I should have had my eyes open more. The very author of the quote would be
attacked years later for being a wannabe by the very guy he was talking about in the
quote.
“While I was at EMC (Eastern Montana College), I received a copy of the Cherokee
Nation’s newspaper calling for registration of Cherokee voters. I registered and voted in
the first election. Then I got another issue of the paper that included a letter from the new
chief. Ross Swimmer, for whom I did not vote, put out a call for all qualified Cherokees
to come home and work for the Cherokee people. I wrote him a letter, which he turned
over to Chad Smith, who was the tribal planner at the time. Chad hired me, and I moved
to Tahlequah. At last I had made that connection to Tahlequah, to the Cherokee Nation,
to Cherokee communities. I met Evelyn, my wife, there, and although I only worked for
the Cherokee Nation for one year, it changed my whole life. It’s almost like I started my
life over. I’ve led at least two lives. If I think about it enough, there might have been
more.” p. 189 Cherokee Thoughts: Honest & Uncensored Robert J. Conley 2008
University of Oklahoma Press
205
Seems to me that guy is pretty open and honest about his life. Why attack someone who
is hiding nothing?
I had no idea what an identity cop was, but I was certainly going to find out in the future.
I would also learn about their willingness to cover up their own lives while attempting to
destroy the identities of others. They were true spin doctors with words. You see, it is
easy to mislead while writing without actually lying. For instance, I could tell you that I
played college basketball in Lawrence, Kansas. This would lead most to believe that I
played for the University of Kansas Jayhawks when in actuality I played for a small
Indian college a couple of miles down the road named Haskell Indian Nations University.
Of course if you are Indian and reading this you already know about Haskell. I wouldn’t
be lying, but…..it is clear the reader would not have understood that I was talking about
Haskell and certainly would have assumed that I was talking about the University of
Kansas. I also forgot to mention that I sat the bench most of the time. Gayle Ross is a
perfect example of this type of misleading information when she says she was “inspired
to be a storyteller by her Cherokee grandmother”. Note she didn’t say she learned any
traditional stories or was raised traditionally. Of course, she wasn’t raised in the
jurisdiction of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and not even in Oklahoma for that
matter. She is a Texan to my understanding, but I am sure she will make the same claim
as Chad “Corntassel” Smith, “my family had to leave for work”. Shouldn’t I be able to
say the same due to my upbringing, as my mom and dad left Alabama in part to find
work, but more so because of the extreme prejudice of the area in the late 1960’s?
But where was this anger coming from? What occurred in the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma to warrant such attacks on people’s identity?
“This process drew the attention of Indians nationwide. Leaders of federally recognized
groups, including Wilma Mankiller of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, strongly
disapproved of such arrangements, arguing that states had no business in Indian affairs.”
(Letter, Wilma Mankiller to Alabama Governor Guy Hunt, 4 January 1992, Hunt papers,
ADAH.) Up From Obscurity p. 376
Seems as though it started many years prior and was led by a woman who upon her
passing in 2010 was heralded as a saving grace many times over in Indian Country. She
was a woman who certainly could relate to such an issue as she did not grow up in the
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, but rather in California. She married a non-Indian and
did not begin to recover her own Indian identity until her twenties. In her own biography
she spoke of the special kindred she felt with black women, yet when the Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma began to remove their Freedmen population her voice fell silent.
Undoubtedly, Wilma Mankiller was a great woman, but in this case she was clearly
wrong. And undoubtedly, when someone reads this critique of her, they will attempt to
spin it and/or set down the book in disgust. Saying anything other than positive about
Wilma Mankiller in Indian Country is about akin to speaking any negative words about
Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Black community, despite his clearly adulterous
relationships and other difficulties that were as much a part of his everyday life as his
206
heroic deeds. Wilma to my understanding had only one clear flaw and that was that she
was ignorant of the identifiable non-federal Indian communities that do exist in Indian
Country. But where had she learned these perceptions of identity? Surely they were
rooted in a complex past.
“Beyond the question of missionary direction of the schools, which each nation resolved
in a different fashion, lay the issue of elitism. Each nation envisioned the boarding
schools as selective institutions, as training grounds for future leaders. At the same time,
the related issue of full-blood versus mixed-blood compounded the presence of elitism.
The Cherokee Council supervised a national school system that divided the two types of
schools by student profile. The Cherokee Female Seminary student was almost
exclusively a mixed-blood, English-speaking pupil who, while a strong Cherokee
nationalist, simultaneously studied eastern college curriculum and favored American
culture. By contrast, the Cherokee common school student was almost invariably a fullblood, or traditional Cherokee who spoke the language, studied the three R’s, and
remained immersed in Cherokee culture. While the Cherokees respected their nation’s
schools, their education system maintained the cultural divisions introduced during the
deerskin trade of the eighteenth century.” p. 195 Boarding School Blues; Revisiting
American Indian Educational Experiences; Edited and with an introduction by Clifford E.
Frazier , Jean A. Keller, and Lorene Sisquoc University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and
London 2006
Wilma had a white mother and Cherokee father, did not speak Cherokee fluently, was not
raised fully in Cherokee culture and even so, was certainly a Cherokee nationalist. She
fit the complete model developed over many generations within the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma.
As Cherokee citizen Daniel Justice says in his book Our Fire Survives the Storm,
University of Minnesota Press, 2006, “Cherokee realities are far more
complicated…Indeed, there is little that is simple about Cherokees… Our long history of
intermarriage, adaptation, and innovative accommodation has brought a wide range of
physical features, cultural practices, languages, and ideas into our varied understandings
of what it is to be Cherokee, and we thrive as a result. Our history as a people is one
marked by cycles of change, trauma, regeneration, and growth.” P. 6
Under Wilma’s tutelage an affluent, blonde headed, blue eyed, Maryland raised Cherokee
citizen would serve as an enrollment officer in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
enrollment department. He would eventually become the Director of the Office of
Federal Acknowledgment for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. He
would become the leading advocate against the federal recognition petition of my father’s
people.
The stories surrounding the MOWA Choctaw denial are numerous. On December 16,
2000, the MOWA delegation met with then Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin
Gover. Three days earlier he had asked the MOWA to come to Washington D.C. to,
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“get this federal thing finished once and for all.”ii
Unfortunately for the MOWA Choctaw, Phillip Martin and Lee Fleming had other plans
and by the time the MOWA Choctaw arrived he could only tell them that they would not
be recognized after all. It wasn’t his decision. It came from his bosses. When he asked
Lee Fleming who signed off on a negative final determination for them, Lee remarked,
“You did sir.”ii
He was upset, as he believed that the MOWA Choctaw were Indians without
question. Kevin Gover eventually left this post and didn’t have a shortage of things to
say about Lee Fleming or his Bureau of Acknowledgement and Research (now called the
Office of Federal Acknowledgement)
“As has been well documented, I did not always agree with judgments and opinions of
BAR researchers and the attorneys from the Solicitor’s office who advised the BAR. I
came to believe that the BAR and its attorneys had been essentially unsupervised for
many years and that the Assistant Secretary’s office had become little more than a rubber
stamp for their recommendations. My primary disagreement with BAR staff related
specifically to the assignment of weight to specific evidence, the inferences that could be
fairly drawn from the evidence, and the degree of certainty about historical facts required
by the regulation. I believe the BAR staff, being trained as historians, anthropologists,
and genealogists, applied too difficult a standard. I believe they sought near certainty of
the facts asserted by the petitioners. They dismissed relevant evidence as inconclusive,
even though conclusive proof is not required by the regulations. Moreover, BAR staff
seemed thoroughly unwilling to give evidence any cumulative effect. While any given
piece of evidence, when considered cumulatively, can make a sound case, I do believe
that, in accordance with their training, they applied a burden of proof far beyond what is
appropriate and far beyond what is permitted in the regulations.”ii
He goes further in his “Suggestions for Amendments”.
“First, I strongly believe that certain petitioners, which already have been denied
recognition, should be permitted another opportunity under the revised process
established by this bill. Into this category I would place Mowa Choctaw.”ii
His own “rubber stamped” defeat of the MOWA Choctaw did not sit well with
him. He wants the decision overturned.
And Kevin Gover was no stranger to the corruption within the department fueled
by Congressional members. In relation to an incident involving another Abramoff client,
the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan, concerning school construction dollars
needing to shake loose to the tune of three million, Kevin Gover had these remarks,
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“the bureau was pressured by someone in Congress.”ii
David Cornsilk, a self-professed Cherokee Nationalist, (with rather unusual views on
identity and race, many of which he has shared with me in emails and on the telephone),
doesn’t seem to agree with Kevin Gover.
Date: Wednesday, 13 August 2008, 8:33 am (web posting of David Cornsilk)
The group calling its MOWA Choctaw was denied federal recognition based on the seven
criteria all groups must meet to prove they are a bonefide tribal group.
The MOWA (which actually means MObile and WAshington, for the counties they
predominately live in) were determined to NOT have Indian lineages consistant enough
to show themselves to be a bonefide tribe.
Some families were shown to have Choctaw ancestry, others Cherokee, some Creek and
some no Indian heritage at all. The disperate nature of their genealogies showed that they
were a group of people who had come together for the purpose of forming a group, but
were not an historic tribe. A tribe is defined as a group of people who are interrelated and
of a predominately singular Indian tribal heritage.
Anyone interested in the MOWA Choctaw should contact the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Branch of Acknowledgement and obtain copies of their petition for federal recognition
and the final decision of the BIA. It is a very interesting read.
The decision of the federal government does not say individual members of the MOWA
group are not Indians. They can continue to do as they have always done. Nothing has
changed for them.
A group formed for the purpose of federal recognition is not a tribe. And groups that
formed prior to the federal recognition process was created, but who do not meet its
stringent criteria, are not tribes for the purposes of federal recognition.
So maybe David can answer some questions for me regarding his passion for Indian Art:
More irony, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma officials, who detest state or nonrecognized tribes use the Hawaiian language immersion model for their children, yet they
don’t consider the Hawaiian people to be indigenous within their own regulations such as
their Arts and Crafts Act.
Or maybe he can explain how the following person is “Cherokee”.
A better understanding
By Tesina Jackson Staff Writer
Cherokee Phoenix Wed, Aug 12, 2009
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“When I was younger I learned that my grandmother was Cherokee and grew up in
Braggs. There would be summers that my family and I would visit relatives in
Oklahoma, but I vaguely remember them. I have always been proud of my Cherokee
lineage, but I don’t think I ever realized what it meant to be Cherokee..”
Or maybe he can explain how another one of his beloved tribal “citizens” is “Cherokee”.
My wife and I went to dinner at the New York Cheesecake Factory in Oklahoma City in
June of 2010 and we were waited on by a personable and engaging waiter who overhead
a conversations we were having and told us that she was Cherokee. We told her that her
blonde hair and blue eyes were a sure sign that this was the case in good humor. She told
us that she had just received her CDIB and that she got it so “they” could pay for her
schooling. She was honest and so we gave her props for that. These types of situations
have played out over and over again since moving to Oklahoma permanently in 2004.
Or maybe he can explain why over twenty federal tribes are married into the MOWA
Choctaw community and not in the way David wants to believe. He sent me an email
which stated that we are probably counting one federal Indian with six different lineages
or something to that effect in order to get to our “over twenty” number. How utterly
stupid! First, that would mean that he thinks we need “federal” Indians for validity.
Second, such an insinuation is pure fantasy. We are only counting the enrolled tribe of
the individual, not other lineages. Aside from this, David’s Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma citizen marriages to MOWA Choctaws number about a dozen alone. These
include his own cousins. I am sorry David’s failed hypothesis hasn’t held up, but so it
goes. There are some much more negative web postings and emails I could send, but we
can leave those for another day.
So how does Lee Fleming stack up in all of this. Where does he fit in? Mr. Lee
Fleming became the Director of the Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA) with the
Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior on July 27,
2003. Previously, Fleming was the chief of the Branch of Acknowledgment and
Research (BAR) for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) since September 1998. He came
to the BIA in April 1997 as a genealogical researcher. Prior to this he worked for the
Ioway Tribe of Oklahoma, who my wife also worked for, and prior to that he worked for
numerous years within the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, who my wife also worked for,
under Wilma Mankiller. He holds a BA and MA in Indian studies related fields from
Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. He grew up in Maryland where
his father worked for the Wall Street Journal newspaper. Why does all this matter? It
shows how his bias all began.
Wilma Mankiller, former Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, was famous
for her attacks on non-recognized tribal communities. As previously stated, she herself is
the daughter of a white woman, yet she had no problem going after others she felt were
white. I can understand her difficulty. The Cherokee have to deal with over 300 groups
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claiming Cherokee ancestry and declaring themselves tribes. Interestingly, she wrote a
praising article, “An original thinker with a warrior’s spirit”, that appeared in Indian
Country Today on January 10, 2005 about the now recently deceased Vine Deloria, Jr.
“For those of us inside the Native community, he is a champion. His stature and moral
integrity, knowledge of tribal law and history, and ability to debate misinformed
journalists, politicians and academics have earned him our admiration and respect.”ii
She was talking about one of the MOWA Choctaw’s greatest champions. Vine
was the man who wrote the foreword for the book, “They Say the Wind is Red” by
Jacqueline Matte, which describes the history of the MOWA Choctaw people. Oddly,
Vine Deloria, Jr. was the object of her praise. He was a champion for a non-federally
recognized people. Lee Fleming’s negative opinion on non-recognized tribes was shaped
during these years working for her and as Registrar for the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma. Each day he was inundated with requests from far and wide claiming and
demanding inclusion in the tribe. His blood quantum cannot seem to be verified by all I
have spoken with. One Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma employee did say to me that he
was 1/32 and if he cut his finger he would probably lose all his Cherokee blood. Others
told me that they just thought he was white. His characteristics physically and
linguistically are decidedly white. His speech resembles none of the Cherokee people we
live amongst here in Oklahoma. And if you looked up white in the dictionary, there
would probably be a picture of him staring at you. I would probably be right next to him.
In May of 2006 he responded to my inquiry on the phone regarding his blood quantum
with “that is personal and none of your business, but I am 15/32.”ii I have also heard that
his mother attended Chilocco Indian boarding school in Oklahoma. I would not doubt
that either of these are true, but the reality is that he does not have established credibility
within our region. Northeastern Oklahoma being the region from which he derives his
Indian identity.
And then there is Cherokee Supreme Court Justice, a Chad “Corntassel” Smith appointee
Troy Wayne Poteete. A white guy (1/32 Cherokee) for all intents and purposes. Chad
Smith applauds his commitment to the Cherokee people and his professionalism, yet he
calls Rogers State University and leaves a voice mail message saying, “We hear you have
some wannabe from some so called Choctaw tribe in Georgia or Alabama teaching. We
like to paddle those wannabes”. Of course he was talking about me teaching Cherokee at
Rogers State University. I called him, but he hung up the phone quickly and I hadn’t
heard a thing since that point until I was slated to speak at the Sovereignty Symposium in
Oklahoma City in June of 2009. His “Cherokee Task Force” was up their preaching the
same old, same old, when the Upper Mattaponi Chief Ken Adams and I objected to their
words, it all started. While both sides were passing out paperwork to those who came to
hear and discuss, I simply walked up to him and said, “Are you ready to paddle me
now?” His look of shock resulted in him apologizing publicly for his previous actions
towards me to those who had come for the discussion. Previous to this he had stated how
his fellow tribal citizen Lee Fleming was a trustworthy professional and blah, blah, blah
so as to justify his negative final determination against our MOWA Choctaw community.
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At the end of the workshop their was the “let’s try to get along small talk” and the like.
For me, I can get along with anybody, but it doesn’t get them off the hook. Either
apologize for the harm one causes or it continues in some fashion. So lets take a look at
Troy’s relationship with his “good friend” Lee Fleming in this 1996 article from the
primary paper in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma capitol Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Tahlequah Times Journal weekly newspaper--Sat-3-09-96 story
Written bystaff writer Connie Webb-Cherokee Nation member
[Thanks for granting permission through Marvin Summerfield for redistribution
in Wotanging Ikche/Kanoheda Aniyvwiya - gary]
“A confidential 1994 report on the Cherokee Nation Historical Society paints a picture of
MISMANAGEMENT AND MISCONDUCT by a former director, a Cherokee Nation
tribal councilman, which resulted in a loss of grants to the organization and could initiate
a federal investigation. The report also questions transactions by two members of the
CNHS board of trustees who made tax deductible contributions to the Society which
were worth considerably less than their purported value. Other information contained in
the report indicates some people connected with members of the board may have used
their association for personal gain.
From Feb. 1993 until Dec. 1994, TROY WAYNE POTEETE was the executive director
of the CNHS. He was appointed to the position by ROSS SWIMMER, the former board
of trustees chairman, even though he had no prior experience in managing a museum.
When POTEETE resigned his post, LEE FLEMING, the TRIBAL REGISTRAR, was
appointed as interim director until a permanent director, Fleming sent a memo to then
Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller, advising her of what he had discovered at the CNHS.
"I believe that it is imperative that some of our communication and documentation be
kept confidential, because I firmly believe that the Society may be investigated due to
lack of compliance in some of our federal funding," stated Fleming in the memo to
Mankiller dated Dec. 7, 1994.
Fleming stated that due to POTEETE'S LACK OF KNOWLEDGE and SKILLS in fund
raising and the non-profit sector, he had allowed certain funding sources of the CNHS to
come into Jeopardy....
"The State Arts Council of Oklahoma canceled three grants (including one which was
funded for three years)," stated Fleming. "Had he allowed information to flow directly to
the Development Director and the accounting office, a segmentation of responsibility
would have been in place. In fact, he did not effectively utilize any human resource
available to him."
A memorandum was sent to Poteete regarding a National Archives Grant formalizing
prior concerns regarding the grant application budget. A letter from Daniel A. Stokes,
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Program Officer, NHPRC, was received questioning the CNHS's eligibility for the grant
under Commission guidelines, which later reduced the organization's grant funding by
approximately 50 percent.
The report states Poteete issued a memo to George Bearpaw regarding the NHPRC
Archives Grant indicating back-dating the letter to set-up reimbursement for the CNHS
on this grant. Attached to the memo were back-dated correspondence, dishonestly
indicating the letter was initiated by Bearpaw, who was the Executive Director of Tribal
Operations for the Cherokee Nation at that time.
According to the report, Poteete's disregard for the board directives and policy
embarrassed the CNHS before Federal and Oklahoma Historical Records Advisory
Boards. Poteete allowed an accumulation of debt to accrue in the amount of
approximately $200,000, with almost 100 vendors demanding immediate full payment,
stated Fleming. "I nearly fell over when I requested anaccounts payable listing from
bookkeeping, and wondered why some of the board of trustees did not observe this way
before it got out of hand," he stated. "Additionally receipts will show he [Poteete]
permitted non-management-level employees to 'charge' purchases around the community,
including prison trustees, friends, and temporary personnel. "He made purchases,
approved his own expenses, and signed all the checks, forbidding the accounting
department to have any input into the judicious use of funds," stated Fleming. "He
removed invoices from the Society and did not return them. To date, an accurate
financial statement cannot be obtained without these invoices."
Fleming said that prompted him to request the executive support unit do an internal
audit of the CNHS for the time period Poteete was executive director. But the tribal
executive directors "felt that the Society's board of trustees should approve of the audit
first," Fleming stated. "Let me now document that I intend to see this achieved (a clear
definition between the old and the new before a new executive director comes on board)
to ensure my own professional reputation," stated Fleming. "It's time to come clean or, at
least, to set the record straight." According to Fleming, despite board policies, Poteete
made decisions "which were contrary to the governing body of the Society. And in fact,
refused to implement or acknowledge and adhere to regulatory procedures put forth by
the board, contractors, grantors, the state and the IRS (the latter in matters concerning
deductible contributions, labor laws, taxes and safety)."
The report said that James Leake, a board trustee, made a contribution display cases to
the Society, which Poteet valued at $17,100 and gave Leake a receipt to that effect.
"There was no accompanying independent valuation," the report stated. A letter drafted
by development committee chair William Flint, stated the receipt was invalid and an
independent appraisal "must be in the offices of the Society within 45 days." Leake did
not respond, the report states, and the cases, which were delivered to the Cherokee
Nation, were being stored at a warehouse. Hinkley cautioned the board of trustees to
obtain a current appraisal on the collection. When that was accomplished, it was
discovered the original appraisal provided to Rucker the the seller of the collection was
"grossly over-valued," according to the report. Some of the dolls were not Kachina's,
some had the wrong artist on them, the wrong dimensions, etc. The executive board was
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told of the situation and cautioned to be more "thorough," concerning appraisals of
donations to the CNHS. Other allegations made against Poteete in the report include he
allegedly spent the CNHS non-profit money on cartons of cigarettes, large quantities of
intoxicating substances, i.e.-liquid cough medications and cold remedies for prison
trustees, clothing, food, shoes, tape players and sporting equipment. "...the receipts have
disappeared from the Historical Society accounting office, taken by Troy Poteete (but can
be reconstructed)." stated the report.
Fleming stated in his memo to Mankiller, "He [Poteete} harassed individuals on the
staff, and did not clearly communicate with his board. It is my opinion that he is still
advising current employees and other Tribal Council members, to undermine the positive
efforts that I have been trying to implement." Fleming stated he had spoken with Poteete
and "he clearly has a vengeance for Carol Hinkley and remarked that 'as long as she is
there, the Society will never succeed. I am not the problem, she is." "He [Poteete] is the
problem and needs professional help," Fleming told Mankiller. "I have no time to put up
with his hurt ego, his antics to jeopardize the employment of the current staff,
undermining a major appropriation from the Cherokee Nation because of a personal
vendetta he has with Carol."
The Tribal Council temporarily withheld an annual $100,000 donation to the CNHS
during its budget appropriation in 1994. An inside source said Poteete convinced some
members of the Tribal Council to withhold the contribution by telling them Hinkley was
discriminating against Cherokee employees at CNHS. During an interview with [Ross
O.] Swimmer in Feb. 1995, the former chairman of the CNHS board of trustees said the
confidential report had been presented to the board members. "I have found nothing that
particularly substantiates anything Mr. Poteete is accused of," Swimmer said. He went
on to say he thought the document was based on hearsay and the allegations were nothing
more than gossip. "None of these accusations have been documented to my
understanding." However, according to the report, the accusations were backed up with
documentation which was provided to Swimmer and the board of trustees in Dec. 1994,
prior to Poteete's resignation. According to an inside source, Poteete was given the
position with the CNHS because Mankiller pressured Swimmer to hire him, without
regard to Poteete's lack of experience and training in managing an organization dedicated
to preserving and promoting the culture of the Cherokee people. And when it became a
liability because his actions were drawing attention to questionable practices at the
CNHS, he resigned. "Wilma, I point these areas out because they have a direct impact on
the current condition of the Society," stated Fleming. CNHS owed about $200,000 in
unpaid bills under Poteete when it had been debt-free prior to his appointment, the
amphitheater was falling into ruin as was the Indian village and the museum needed
serious attention. Fleming's report to Mankiller remained confidential until it was
recently leaked to the press.
Troy stood up at the recent Sovereignty Symposium saying that the Lee Fleming was a
fine man and his word could be trusted? Do people think in this day and age that their
contrary comments disappear? Are people living literally in “la-la” land? Attempting to
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sugar coat this highly dysfunctional relationship between Troy and Lee is just plain
political satire. This is a complete and total joke.
Richard Allen, another Cherokee employee, wrote a piece entitled “Creating
Identity at Indian Expense: Public Ignorance, Private Gain”. In the article he gives a
clear and what I would say is a precise explanation of everything related to fictitious
Indian claims by non-Indians. The difficulty is that he is Cherokee and he is dealing with
the wannabe-Cherokee issue. And the major issue is that this piece lumps individuals
from non-communities actions as supposedly representative of identifiable “non-federal”
communities. He ends the piece with,
“state recognition as it is now interpreted and manipulated by groups seeking federal
acknowledgment is a subversive attack on the sovereignty of legitimate tribal nations and
governments.”ii
It is these kind of comments, which are true about 99% of the time, that take
down legitimate non-federally or quasi-federally recognized communities such as the
MOWA Choctaw. But one has to take into account his timeframe. “Now interpreted”
does not signal in those who have been state-recognized for long periods of time or who
have been known communities for many generations. I guess Mr. Allen is also stating
that the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma’s enrollment of over 200,000 white individuals in
no way is a subversive attack on the sovereignty of legitimate tribal nations and
governments. Over 76% of Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma citizens are less than ¼ Indian
blood as reported in their own literature.ii But that number has increased to between 80%85% more recently. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma’s policy is exactly why small,
legitimate non-federally recognized Indian communities do not have federal recognition.
The CNO has used up all the financial resources needed to accommodate any newly
federally recognized tribes. This means that the financial burden eliminates the
possibility of recognition for these communities. The “Cherokees” just cost too much
money to accommodate. After talking to Mr. Allen at a Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
workshop on identity, I could tell that his mind was already made up about practically
everything. The Poarch Creek and MOWA Choctaw were not Indians by his definition,
but the 1/256 blood quantum Cherokees were. He defended this belief, due to the CNO’s
sovereignty. He was talking complete theory when I was trying to talk about complete
reality. Oddly, the Poarch Creek are federally recognized and yet he did not believe they
were an Indian tribe. Sovereignty doesn’t turn a white person into an Indian no matter
how much rhetoric the enrolling tribe spits. If sovereignty defined these Cherokees, then
why does the CNO’s own criteria for participation in the Miss Cherokee pageant require
the young women participating to be of ¼ degree Indian blood. I thought all the
“Cherokees” were Cherokee. So shouldn’t they be able to run for this post?
Dr. Richard Allen wasn’t about to stop there. In the Fall of 2006 I was teaching
Cherokee language at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma. Mr. Allen took
it upon himself to call the university and ask that I not be allowed to teach the course. Of
course, the administration reacted in the same manner that my other employer did when
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Chief Phillip Martin attempted to take my job away from me at the Pawnee Nation. They
assured me that I had the job and that I am a valuable asset to their program. I decided to
call Mr. Allen on July 11, 2006 to get his take on going behind my back and not being
able to talk with me directly. The conversation was the usual fare. Each direct question I
asked him, he attempted to respond by saying “well, I don’t know about that”. Of course,
like his Chief, he asked me, “Is your tribe federally recognized?” He attempted to
portray myself and my community as wannabe’s. Of course, he has never been to our
community or known any of our people. My wife and her family can only laugh at this
man who is a close to full-blood Cherokee, but who wears a Kiowa gourd blanket and
carries a gourd at powwows. He says he has that right because he is “adopted”. Just
because you marry a Kiowa, that does not make you a Kiowa. My wife wrote him a
lengthy letter, which he has been unable to respond to. During the conversation he also
told me that I looked “white” and that I had a “fake Indian accent” and that I also had “a
fake black accent”. I asked him if the majority of his tribe’s enrolled citizens also looked
white. His reply was, “well, I don’t know about that”. As for the fake accent, what can I
say to something that ridiculous? He then proceeded to tell me that the only reason my
people attended all Indian schools such as Bacone and Haskell was because we, “snuck in
through the back door”. Nobody in I or my wife’s families have been able to figure out
that comment yet. But the best one had to be when he asked me about why I think I am
qualified to teach Cherokee. I responded that I had a Master’s degree in American Indian
Linguistics, which is what academics like him seem to love. He responded by telling me
that a degree like this has nothing to do with teaching Cherokee. I explained to him that I
wasn’t finished yet. I then told him that his sovereign “tribe”, whose sovereignty he
obsesses over, had certified me as a Cherokee Language Instructor, so I could teach at
Tahlequah High School. The letter his nation signed stated that they supported me
teaching the Cherokee language as I had passed their basic proficiency and that they
would assist me with this process. Instead of just admitting that he was wrong, he then
went on to say that he doesn’t agree with the Cherokee Language Department and how
they run things and that it wasn’t his department. So if it is not your department and you
don’t speak Cherokee, so why are you sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong? Rest
assured, Mr. Allen will be keeping his distance from my family and I from now on. He
will take a shot or two here or there in the press against all of us “wannabes” until he
dies, while representing a tribal community where the vast majority of its people are nonIndian. This is a reality that the majority of identifiable Indians in the Cherokee Nation
of Oklahoma also despise and rightfully so. These 40,000 citizens are pushed to the
“back of the bus” on many occasions, especially where health care is concerned. The
lines evident at the IHS hospital in the capitol town of Tahlequah, are proof positive. As
non-Indian after non-Indian, carrying CDIB cards, waits their turn for federally funded
health care and many brown folks wait their term. And don’t worry, Dr. Richard Allen
will take these writings out of context and place them in his next editorial piece. I just
can’t wait. When it is all said and done, it was just a real uncomfortable position for
someone who thought they had it all figured out and realized that they didn’t. Instead of
being diplomatic, he became “Mr… well, I don’t know about that”. Admittedly, my
words towards him weren’t very kind either. And let us be completely honest.
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Richard Allen also told me he was a full-blood. But at a conference at NCAI in
Minneapolis in 2000 he admitted he was part white and that “descendant Cherokees
aren’t really Cherokees.” Yet when I talk with him now he says they are Cherokees. He
says that “it is almost ludicrous, that people protest, with this much (holding two fingers
up) about one two-thousandths, I think it is now, of Cherokee blood. And, for those of us
who were raised in the Cherokee community, if you weren’t raised in that community,
you don’t really know who you are as a Cherokee.” So I guess that eliminates the
majority of his “Cherokee Task Force” who were not raised in Cherokee communities
and didn’t marry Cherokees. Well some did, but that was in their second or third
marriages.
Then I confronted Richard Allen at the Catoosa Conference where he referred to me as
Mr. Ray, my father’s birth name that he changed prior to his death to Sunray. He
repeatedly couldn’t answer any logical question posed to him and eventually started
tearing up. I told him I wouldn’t teach Cherokee again the following semester. Of
course, that is because Cherokee is only offered in the Fall and we were moving to the
other side of the state, making working at Rogers State and impossibility. What a sorry
and immature small minded man he is.
At another presentation in the Southwest, at a speaking engagement named after MOWA
Choctaw supporter Vine Deloria, Jr., Dr. Allen explained that he was also an enrolled
Navajo. That is interesting as he has no Navajo ancestry to my understanding. His father
who raised him was Navajo, but in Richard’s world blood is what matters. I won’t use
the term “step-father” as it has no place in my view of the world. If a man or a woman
raises a child, they are the parent and they have the right to raise their child within their
cultural context. I believe as a consequence of this that Richard Allen certainly can be
considered Navajo, but his own views say that being Cherokee is about the blood. So I
am guessing, since being Navajo is important to him, that this does not apply to Navajos.
The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is famous for these contrary statements and
opinions. Just ask the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians what they think
about the CNO’s claims to a Cherokee identity. In an article in a recent Oklahoma
magazine it stated the following,
“He explained the Tonkawa Tribe is like other traditional tribes that have their own
powwows like the Ponca, Otoe, Pawnee and Quapaw who maintain their own songs and
traditions instead of borrowing various traditions from other tribes. As an example, he
said the Cherokee Nation has an annual powwow, but the powwow is not a Cherokee
tradition.” “Traditional Powwow: Tonkawa Tribe maintains it traditions”, Native
American Times 2010 Powwow & Travel Guide, Will Chavez author from an interview
with Don Patterson
The CNO loves to say that everyone else is appropriating their culture, but I guess it is
okay for them to appropriate the cultures of others.
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Chief Chad “Corntassel” Smith is another example of the rhetoric of nonrecognition. Our daughter, an enrolled MOWA Choctaw and an enrolled band member
of the federally recognized Wabaseemoong Independent Nations in Ontario, Canada,
attended the Cherokee Nation Immersion School at the Cherokee Nation Child
Development Center when we lived in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She is your stereotypical
Indian kid. She has brown skin, brown eyes and dark brown hair. She became a fluent
Cherokee speaker as well. This is a true testament to her excellent teachers at the school.
One day the Cherokee Nation Education Director decided that it would be best to
integrate some English into the Cherokee only school. As one of the parents who
objected to this, I was the recipient of a phone call from Chief Smith. He asked me if my
tribe was federally recognized. It wasn’t a question, but rather a statement. Of course,
when the school needed publicity, our daughter was front and center in the articles and
ads. When Chief Smith did his State of the Cherokee Nation Video, she was taped
speaking the language. When he spoke at various events, she was asked to stand on stage
near him and sing Cherokee songs for the gathered crowds. When the tribe needed
someone to volunteer to run Indian stickball camps, I was one of the ones they would
call. When they needed help organizing the Cherokee National Holiday Stickball Event
or working with the kids after school I could count on the phone ringing. The people
who asked for assistance from us are sincere and good people. Unfortunately, we could
no longer do these things, because the leadership of the tribe, mainly Chad Smith, was
asking for our help and criticizing us at the same time. This is the same tribe who was
paying convicted criminal Jack Abramoff to lobby on their behalf in Washington D.C.
Had I known about Chad’s contrary life previous to this I may have asked him a few
questions of my own.
United States of America (Press Release) November 4, 2007 -Cherokee attorney will run for Chief again:
Muskogee Phoenix Newspaper
By Donna Hales Phoenix staff writer.
”…Smith also may face an uphill hurtle in the court of public opinion. In addition to his
wife and three Children, ages 5, 11, and 18, Smith confirmed Wednesday he has a second
family of three children, ages 6, 10 and 11. He said he loves all his children and
financially supports all of them. 'I’ve made every body aware and visited with a number
of Cherokee elders,' Smith said. He said most of the elders told him they are interested in
what he could do for the tribe rather than in "this personal situation.' Smith said he would
not give any more details because he doesn't want to bring embarrassment to any of his
children. He added if the tribe wasn't in such disarray, he wouldn't be opening himself up
to criticism over his personal life by becoming a candidate. He said, he had hoped the
subject wouldn’t come up until later in his campaign.”
And again…
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Cherokee Nation Chief Chad Smith Has Children By Mistress
By Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Politics November 4, 2007 Cherokee Chief Chad
Smith confirmed he has a second family of three children
It is probably best he talked with elders and they were okay with it. Of course, that
cannot be confirmed and if it could who would want to be the elder(s) who said it. One’s
personal life is the foundation of their leadership. If he can hide an entire family, much
less an adulterous relationship from everyone for so long, how could anyone trust him to
do right for someone he is not even related to? In the world of American or Canadian
politics he would be shown the door the second this was announced, and that is not
saying much. In many other tribal communities he would also be shown the door. This
means one of two things, either Cherokee people do not care about blatant immorality,
sexism and deceit or the majority of voters simply had no idea that such an issue existed.
I am going to go with the later on this one. This exemplifies the CNO as the CON (CONArtist and CONtradictory)
And while Chad attacks Indian people across the country he also likes to create
“Cherokees” around the country to enhance his voting block. He goes as far as California
to create groups of Cherokee satellite communities and disguises it all as outreach. Many
of these people in the local press articles written after his visits talk about how they want
to know what it is like to be Cherokee, etc. I am all for it, but I wish they knew what this
man was truly about.
Chad, of course, was raised outside of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, so this pattern
of “finding” Indians is pretty clear for him.
Nomination for circuit court well deserved
The Oklahoman
BY CHAD SMITH
Published: May 30, 2010
“Oklahoma claims Will Rogers as its native son although he never actually resided in
Oklahoma. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, he was born in what is now Rogers County
long before statehood and was traveling the country as an entertainer by the time
Oklahoma became a state. In the century since statehood, that has become a common
story: Cherokees, like other Oklahomans, leaving the state for economic reasons.
My family spent a good part of my childhood in Colorado and Tennessee, finding
work. Wilma Mankiller, our late principal chief, grew up in California after the
federal government moved her family to northern California as part of the American
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Indian Relocation program. But Cherokees are connected to this area as much or
more than any other group of Oklahomans. Both Wilma and I came back home,
connected with our community, serving both our state and the Cherokee Nation.”
An article appeared in the December 2005 issue of the Cherokee Phoenix, which
spoke about the Cherokee language classes that I taught at the local public high school. It
was an article dedicated to Indian language acquisition amongst Cherokee youth. I am a
linguist by profession and hold a Master’s degree in Indigenous Nations
Studies/American Indian Linguistics from the University of Kansas. This degree is now
called American Indian Language Revitalization at the university. But this truly is
irrelevant, as we meet many people who are idiots who hold “degrees”. The only part of
the degree that is relevant is the fact that this angers those who attempt to discredit our
MOWA Choctaw people by believing us to be “uneducated” or “ignorant”. The
following month, in the January 2006 issue of the same newspaper a “corrections” piece
ran that stated,
“In the story titled ‘Indian educator impacts Tahlequah youth’ on Page 21 of the same
issue, we stated that Cedric Sunray was a citizen of the Choctaw Nation. Since then,
we’ve learned that he is not on the rolls of the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma or the
Mississippi Band of Choctaws. Also, the Mowa Band of Indians, also cited in the story,
is not a federally recognized tribe.”ii
The funny part of course is that the article never mentioned that I was a Choctaw
Nation of Oklahoma or Mississippi Band of Choctaw citizen. And there is not a Choctaw
Nation in Oklahoma. It is the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma no matter how they attempt
to redefine it. And as you can tell from this book, I certainly would not make claim to
any tribe other than my own. Further, the article never mentioned that the MOWA Band
of Choctaw Indians was a federally recognized tribe. So it all seemed rather peculiar to
me. It also seemed peculiar that in the “corrections” piece we were listed as the MOWA
Band of Indians, with Choctaw completely left out of the community’s name. I decided
to go and check it out with the paper’s editor. It turns out that he had been pressured by
the “higher ups” at the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma to place that in the paper. He then
told me he was misled and offered an apology and said that I could have a full column in
the next paper to voice my concerns. It seems the real issue wasn’t me at all, but rather
the fact that I had spoken out against Abramoff and his relationship with the Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma. A relationship with Jack Abramoff was denied by them.
“The Cherokee Nation never hired disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a spokesperson told
the Native American Times. Spokesperson Mike Miller said Abramoff solicited the tribe
as a client. ‘You get sales pitches all the time,‘ he told the Times. Documents filed with
the Senate indicates someone in Tahlequah liked the pitch. In January 2003, Abramoff
and his associates registered to lobby on behalf of the Cherokee Nation Enterprises on
appropriations and sovereignty issues.“ii
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Of course, the documents were brought to light and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
admitted that they had in fact established a relationship and paid the lobbyist. I also came
to find out that the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian’s opposition to the MOWA Choctaw
petition was common knowledge in the halls and offices of the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma.
And do the Cherokee’s themselves consider their low blood quantum tribal
members as Indians? Lee Fleming is just a product of all of this. The MOWA Choctaw
petition did not have a chance from the beginning due to his influence peddling at the
BAR. In June of 1995, at a Samford University genealogy seminar hosted by Sharon
Scholars Brown, the MOWA Choctaw were brought up in discussion. Sharon Scholars
Brown said that they were black and would never be federally recognized. Lee Fleming
concurred. Professor Don Rankin was privy to the entire conversation and has told us
that he would swear under oath to it.ii He also wrote two letters to us explaining the
situation. Of course this is an extreme difficulty, as Lee would be working for the BAR
the very next year and be dealing directly with our community. At the time of the
incident he was an enrollment officer for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. He couldn’t
seem to recall the incident or the bias he brought to the job. Even more interesting, was
the fact that at the time of his comment he had never met, much less seen a MOWA
Choctaw. Can one say bias? Former employees of the BIA have also told us that much
of our evidentiary information was never taken out of the boxes that it came in. And if
anyone doubts the fact that some of the leadership of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
likes to create and destroy the very real identities of others, then just ask the Delaware
Nation in Oklahoma, the Loyal Shawnee in Oklahoma and the Cherokee Freedmen.
Their influence spreads far and wide. Lee Fleming left the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma’s employ in the midst of very questionable business and political practices
being employed by the tribe. It was just about as close to an internal civil war as it could
get. An article cited, “Inside the BIA, according to Jack Abramoff” (Wednesday,
November 23, 2005; indianz.com) says,
”But the e-mails do indicate Abramoff was privy to information inside Interior, and
possibly the BIA, that was not yet known to the general public.”ii
I wonder where that may have come from?
And how do professionals view the house that Lee built (OFA/BAR)? Russel
Barsh, an attorney and academic based in California had this to say,
“Professor Barsh noted the slow pace of the BAR proceedings and raised a series of
methodological issues. His opinion was that ‘BAR decisions…abound in unsubstantiated
finds’; he cited BAR’s failure to develop an explicit process to investigate groups’
sociopolitical organization; the reliance on a very small number of interviews by BAR
field researchers; and the use of concepts such as authority or social cohesion, which
appeared to be defined differently in response to various tribal applications to BAR.
Further, he critiqued the reliance on blacking out the field notes of BAR researchers
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before sending them to petitioners and the employment of an apparently unqualified staff.
He concluded, ‘The question of what is ‘Indian’ or ‘tribal” is no longer academic. BAR’
s interpretation of these concepts…..is what makes BAR’s work so significant and
potentially dangerous.”ii
The author of the book that Professor Barsh’s comments come from had this to
say about the BAR.
“The United States, in a sense, is a contemporary leader in finding complex and subtle
means of erasing the identities of indigenous peoples. While the nation-state no longer
relies on crude methods of warfare, starvation, and the seizure of land, new methods have
arisen in the management of indigenes, even in a period in which federal policy promotes
tribal autonomy. The hallmark of this is the creation of a federal agency, the BAR, for
processing the claims of unrecognized tribes. This agency relies on antiquated notions of
the tribe and prior court decisions and legal traditions that themselves promoted
assimilation and reserves the power to make judgments without presenting evidence to
counter the claims of the applicants.”ii
So after speaking with Lee on the phone I attempted to contact his bosses.
Secretary of the Interior
1849 C St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20240
May 3rd, 2006
This letter is written with great concern in regards to the current Director of the Office of
Federal Acknowledgement Lee Fleming. Mr. Fleming has shown complete bias in all
areas concerning the federal acknowledgement of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians.
The attached lengthy document speaks to the nearly fraudulent final determination put
forth by the then BAR. I have placed two short excerpts in this letter.
1. Evidence has been obtained of racial bias by the preparer of the MOWA Choctaw final
determination report, indicating a failure to abide by the criterion of objectivity when
evaluating petitions to the BIA. Professor Don Rankin from Samford University in
Birmingham, Alabama has recounted by letter a disturbing incident occurring during a
June 1995 Genealogy Seminar conducted by Sharon Scholars Brown at Samford
University. His letter states,
“Someone brought up the MOWA Choctaw and their attempt at federal recognition. At
this stage, several people had gathered around as we were talking. Ms. Brown responded
in an even professional tone of voice that she felt that they would not be successful.
When asked why, she responded that they had black ancestors and in her opinion were
not Indian. Mr. Lee Fleming, who was at that time the Tribal Registrar for the Western
Band of Cherokee and one of the lecturers, agreed with her. I was shocked at their
statements.”
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Professor Rankin has indicated his willingness to testify to this incident under oath.
There has been no consistency in the decision reached by OFA regarding the MOWA
Choctaw. Mr. Fleming will not respond in any manner to direct questioning. It is
particularly frustrating when common sense questions are unable to be answered. How
could people attending All-Indian schools such as Haskell and Bacone in the 1950’s not
be Indian now? How could people be attending Choctaw Central High School on the
Mississippi Choctaw reservation if they were not Indians? How could recorded Choctaw
language speakers be non-Indians? Mr. Fleming says he has not seen proof of these
things. Mr. Fleming came to our community and saw all of these things. We have 30
people who will swear under oath to it. And we can send the documentation to them at
any time. His only comment during his 2006 visit, when I explained to him that the
Indian Child Welfare Act (exclusive to members/citizens of federally recognized tribes
and those eligible for such enrollment) has applied to the MOWA Choctaw community in
the recent past, was that “The federal government sometimes makes mistakes”.
2. On March 31, 2004 former Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Gover spoke in
regards to Senate Bill 297. He mentioned the MOWA Choctaw during his testimony.
“First, I strongly believe that certain petitioners, which already have been denied
recognition, should be permitted another opportunity under the revised process
established by this bill. Into this category I would place MOWA Choctaw.”
He explained that he had only been in office 3 days when he signed off on a negative
final determination. He had been misled by the BAR. The BAR/OFA that was/is
employing Mr. Lee Fleming.
We would also ask that Mr. Fleming stop the insinuation that we are threatening him. He
has threatened our very existence as a people with his prejudicial comments and
unprofessionalism. We ask the BIA to support our current congressional bill HR 3526 in
order to “make up” for an extremely faulty final determination.
Thanking you,
Cedric Sunray
Advisor to the Chief
Tribal Linguist
MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians
*on behalf of Chief Wilford Taylor and the MOWA Choctaw Tribal Council
CC:
Robin Bellmard
James Cason
Michael Olsen
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Jo Bonner
Uh, no response? Why not?
And getting back to Dr. Richard Allen who worked directly with Lee during his time in at
the CNO offices in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Richard, a nearly full-blooded citizen of the
CNO would become a major figure on the national identity policing scene. Of course,
this came about after he became immersed in pan-Indian representations of Indian culture
unrelated to the Cherokee way of life he so passionately claimed to protect in the future.
The guy ran sweat lodge ceremonies in his work with youth. I recall a conversation we
had when he told me that we did not live on a reservation. He said, just because your
“group” buys some land doesn’t mean that it is a reservation.
“When the MOWA Choctaw became a state-recognized American Indian tribe, the tribal
council specifically requested the return of their traditional ceremonial gathering area.
The college sold the land back to them in 1982 for $16,000. “
- They Say the Wind Is Red, Matte, p. 76
So when traditional lands are purchased for very little due to the sincerity of the land
owner and at about 10% of their land value in order to assist the current legal owner with
tax costs, that is called “just buying some land”? When the state immediately places the
land in trust as reservation land, that is called “just buying some land”? Of course the
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has acquired massive quantities of land all the way into
the present and taken it into trust and they classify it as Indian land even though it is not
even from their traditional territory. So it is okay for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
it seems, but not for the MOWA Choctaw? I don’t like the cliché term double standard,
but oh well, double standard? I recall when Shawnee Public Schools was offering me a
job as a History teacher and Head Soccer Coach, when they received information about
my battles with the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. It turns out the principal of the
school where I was to teach, who was also the gentleman speaking with me about
working there, was married to Dr. Allen’s ex-wife. Let’s just say that he didn’t have
many positive comments to speak about him, neither did a couple former student’s from
NSU when he was working there. They simply remarked that he liked to go out and
party with the younger students. But people exist in bias and I am sure Dr. Allen could
find at least a few people to sing his praises in response and find someone to make up
something about me. For everyone who hates me in this world their exist others who
view me in the exact opposite way. That is what makes it all so interesting after all.
A small group of “Cherokee” tribal citizens later began a Task Force, which I like to call
the Task Farce to attack the identity claims of individuals and communities. They set sail
on attacking the use of italicized “Indian” names to discredit people. All the while
forgetting that many members of federal tribes do the very same. For instance, Chairman
Bruce “Two Dogs” Boszum of the Mohegan Tribe, Chief Slow Turtle of the Mashpee
Wampanoag, former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell of the Northern Cheyenne,
and the Chief of their own tribe, Chad “Corntassel” Smith. He says his name is legitimate
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because it was received from his grandmother Rachael Quinton. Apparently this means
that other people do not receive names from their grandparents or other relatives. This is
only the domain of Chad.
But better than all of this is when the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma decided they would
attempt to overturn the Federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which David Cornsilk himself
was instrumental in getting passed back in 1990. The new Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
version, which prohibits art being deemed Indian unless it is produced by an enrolled
member of federally recognized tribe, was the brainchild of the usual suspects.
The leader of this movement was Cherokee Nation Council Member and 1/256 Indian by
blood tribal citizen Cara Cowan-Watts. Cara is the leader of many related destructive
initiatives such as the before mentioned removal of the Cherokee Freedmen. When you
read this email forwarded around by her you will see the true nature of this individual.
-----Original Message----From: "Cara Cowan" <cara@caracowan.com>
To: <cara@caracowan.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2007 22:49:26 -0500
Subject: Marilyn Vann's (Freedmen) Weapons of Mass Disinformation
-----Original Message----From: Twila Pennington [mailto:twilap@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2007 10:40 PM
Subject: Marilyn Vann's (Freedmen)weapons of mass disinformation
Wanted to share an interesting opinion on the Marilyn Vann (Freedmen organization
Pres.) attacks..
Marilyn Vann's weapons of mass disinformation
Who is Marilyn Vann: It appears that Marilyn Vann is a non-Indian insurgent
terrorizing Cherokee Nation families, children, elders and leadership. She and her allied
terrorists attack the Cherokee people with weapons of mass disinformation and
falsehoods. Marilyn Vann is aligned with anti-Indian sovereignty groups and inside selfserving mutinous malcontents who seek to destroy the Cherokee Nation if the Cherokee
Nation doesn't give them what they want. Marilyn Van and her anti-Indian sovereignty
allies cloak their terrorism in the name of racism. They avoid the precise truth and deny
readers the truth. She lied when she said that non-Indian Freedmen and Inter-Married
whites have been citizens of the Cherokee Nation for years and years. She avoids the
existence and the objective basis for truth in her zeal to force the Cherokee Nation to
abrogate it's sovereignty and give her and allies what they want.
What do Ms. Vann and allies want: Non-Indian citizen Marilyn Vann and her fellow
non-Indian Freedmen allies want $50,000,000.00, allotment land, and apparently the right
to operate gaming facilities within the Cherokee Nation's jurisdictional boundaries.
Further she is demanding that non-Indians be allowed citizenship status and receive full
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benefits and services that belong to Indian families, children, and elder citizens of the
Cherokee Nation.
What has Ms. Vann and allies done in the name of greed: In Marilyn Vann and allies
zeal to extort and bully the Cherokee Nation into meeting their demands they have
launched a campaign of lies creating unwarranted criticism against an Indian Nation.
They have attempted to diminish the sovereignty of a federally recognized tribe. Their
self-serving falsehoods, claims and actions have cruelly terrorized thousands of Cherokee
Indian families elders and children with threats to withhold needed federal funding. Their
actions threaten the jobs of 6,500 individuals employed by the Cherokee Nation.
What do thousands of Cherokee families, children and elders want: We want
Marilyn Vann and her fellow terrorists to come to their senses and end the soulless and
heartless disregard of the fundamental principles of right conduct. We want good people
who have been victimized by exposure to Marilyn Vann's weapons of mass information
to please seek the truth, do not yield to anger; and before we judge another it is best that
we have the truth before us. I know you will agree that it is cruel and unjust to accuse
someone of something they did not do. Our good Cherokee leadership and citizens are
not racists. I wish you well.
Best regards,
Twila Pennington
Who would want to share such “filth”. Hopefully that speaks for itself. Of course, people
like to express themselves strongly on the net as is attested to by another email which
strongly suggests a racist ideology possessed within Cara Cowan-Watts.
“September 26, 2006 (Press Release) -- Sean Burrage, Oklahoma State Senate Candidate
for Roger and Mayes Counties will be special guest of racist Cherokee Council member
Cara Cowan-Watts at a Donut Office Hours for Rogers County on Saturday, September
30th, from 8am to 10am.
Cara Cowan-Watts a 1/256 Cherokee by blood and Jewish woman has openly expressed
her opposition to blacks and Cherokee freedmen with african-amerian blood. Why would
Sean Burrage affiliated himself with a racist?
I urge all minorities to attend this meeting and ask Mr. Burrage how he can justify
linking his candidacy to a racist and if he thinks his connections to Ms. Cowan-Watts
will cause the black and minority voters in his district to reject his candidacy.
Please join Cara and Sean Burrage, candidate for State Senate at Gripado s Day & Nite
Donuts located at 1210 North Industrial Boulevard in Claremore. Important issues will
be discussed.”
I don’t have the author of this posting, but I would have loved to have spoken to the
individual about these comments. Well getting back to the point, here is my take on their
Art legislation,
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CDIB: Cherokees, Delawares, Indians & Blacks
A response to the new “Cherokee Nation Truth in Advertising Act”
“Cherokee Nation Truth in Advertising for Native Art Act” is in effect at the Cherokee
Nation! Time to celebrate Indian Country!
“It’s different from the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act in that we actually require
federally recognized tribal citizens to actually say that you’re an Indian artist to sell art in
the Cherokee Nation….anyone buying Native American art in the Cherokee Nation can
be better assured that the piece was created by a true native American,” said Cherokee
Nation Tribal Council Member Cara Cowan-Watts in the Cherokee Phoenix on-line
1/21/08.
Not content with the moral failure of the recent Freedmen situation, the usual suspects
have once again waded into deep water with their constant barrage of identity politics.
And the irony isn’t lost on Indians across the continent. With the CNO’s tribal
enrollment standing at 300,000 and with over 80% below the ¼ blood quantum mark, it is
no wonder. One year ago a small group of Cherokee Nation citizens and tribal
employees formed an unknown task force, which was met by collective curiosity from
many. Their goal was to define who the “real” Indians are. Of course, a significant
percentage of this little group are low-blood quantum folks themselves. One was even an
enrolled member of the Cherokees of Northeast Alabama prior to becoming a CNO
citizen. She now advocates against her former tribe. Another admits publicly to a blood
quantum of 1/256 Cherokee.
As a former resident of Tahlequah, Oklahoma who taught Cherokee language at
Tahlequah High School and Rogers State University, had a child attending the Cherokee
Nation Immersion School, has relatives via marriage who are enrolled citizens of the
CNO and is married to a former CNO employee, we got to see the reality of life within
the Cherokee Nation. And what we heard from many cultural, identifiable Cherokees at
various ceremonial grounds and Cherokee churches doesn’t always correspond with what
the CNO sends out to the public. We all have to remember, that the CNO doesn’t define
Cherokee people. The Cherokee people, not the CNO, are still one of the most cultural
and fluent Indian communities in the Nation. A solid number of these identifiable
Cherokee are enrolled with the United Keetoowah Band, which has its own misgivings
with the CNO leadership.
Is misappropriation of Indian identity of grave concern to the Arts community or Indian
Country in general? Absolutely. Is the “Cherokee Nation Truth in Advertising for
Native Art Act” a realistic way to counteract this situation? Absolutely not. The “Act”
defines an Indian as, “Indian means a citizen or member, not individually adopted, of a
federally recognized Indian entity evidenced under the ‘Federal Recognized Indian Tribe
List Act of 1994,” PL 103-454. November 2, 1994, 25 U.S.C. 479a, as amended.” This
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act furthers the divide amongst indigenous people. It takes fuel and throws it on a fire
that is already burning a little too out of control. So lets take a look at who gets left out.
Any federally recognized Indian from Canada would be excluded from being “Indian” as
per the act regulations. Of course these are the same “Indians” Chief Chad Smith was
speaking to in Ottawa, Canada on Dec. 12, 2007 asking for their support in repudiating
the current legislation facing the Cherokee Nation due to the Freedmen situation. Over
600 First Nations leaders, speaking for the Assembly of First Nations, denounced what
the CNO has termed a “termination” bill in support of Cherokee Nation sovereignty.
Interestingly, these same Indians who the CNO was asking for support are excluded from
selling their art in the Cherokee Nation as Indians.
Another big issue comes down to the numerous tribal communities populating the U.S.
who do not have any or very few full-bloods or conversational speakers of their
traditional languages and who also have the further crutch of not being “federallyrecognized”. Where do they find themselves in the mix? How do they take the constant
barrage of negative comments thrown their way? While a student at Haskell Indian
Nations University, I went to great lengths to research histories of non-recognized Indian
people and their connection to federal Indian institutions. The Nanticoke, Chickahominy,
Pamunkey, Alabama Choctaws, Chippewas/Ojibwas from Canada and others, all
appeared in the Haskell yearbooks for generations. While at Bacone, I found many of the
same tribes in the old annuals. The fact the federal government won’t recognize them
now is telling of the greed and power politics that have infiltrated the federal Indian
system. An infiltration, began by white folks, but whole-heartedly adopted by federal
Indian leaders and bureaucrats today. Seems they were good enough to go through the
extreme difficulties of Indian boarding school, but not good enough to sell art at
Cherokee Nation. And the folks in the West such as the Mixed-blood Utes and
Muwekma Ohlone, have been kicked to the curb as well, despite their obvious Indian
identifiers and histories.
Indians in Oklahoma, such as a friend of ours whose daughter descends from four tribes
with her blood quantum being 3/16 of one, 7/32 of another and 1/8 of two more each do
not qualify as “Indian” in the CNO. Even though this young lady is brown, black headed,
cultural and was raised in an entirely Indian community. The fact that all four tribes she
descends from require a ¼ blood quantum, and she is just under, prohibits her from CNO
“Art status”. Of course, if she was 1/512 Cherokee she would be in. It reasons also if
you are half Mesquakie from Tama, Iowa, and your half comes from your mom, you are
out as well because they enroll based on patrilineal descent. If you are a ¼ Mississippi
Choctaw, born and raised at Crystal Ridge for example, you are also out as they have a ½
blood quantum requirement. Now in both cases here, it is a good chance that both of
these individuals are fluent in their respective languages and identifiable, but no matter.
They wouldn’t make the grade in the Cherokee art world.
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Indigenous people from Central and South America will also be unable to sell their art as
Indians at CNO. Because you know those brown skinned fluent speaking Indians down
there and who have immigrated here couldn’t possibly be “real” Indians.
Let us just get right to the point. It will never be determined. If you can accept this, than
you can go on with your opinions and your own life in relative peace. No one gets to
make the call in the end. No one is the authority. It is far too complex and far too driven
by cultural, social, political and physicality innuendo to ever be decided. Pessimistic or
realistic, I prefer the latter.
The complexity of Tribal, U.S. and Canadian History and law make determinations as to
the classification of someone as an Indian impossible. Even so, everyone seems to have
an opinion. The anthropologist, academic, full-blood car salesman, halfbreed tribal
council member, 1/1,024th blood quantum tribal citizen, etc. etc.
But in the end, the same result. No agreement as to “who is Indian”, and no agreement as
to who even gets to decide “who is Indian”. The Bureau of Indian Affairs and some of
the wealthy federally recognized gaming tribes and organizations such as USET (United
South and Eastern Tribes) have their opinion, which states that only members of federally
recognized tribes are legitimate Indians. Of course, this is the same Bureau, which
shepherded my father’s community members into the previously mentioned Indian
boarding schools such as Haskell in Lawrence, Kansas and Bacone in Muskogee,
Oklahoma. The former mentioned school is exclusive to federal tribes and funded
through the B.I.A., yet my dad’s folks (enrolled with the MOWA Band of Choctaw
Indians, near Mt. Vernon, Alabama) are not “federally-recognized”. But somehow the
B.I.A. viewed them as Indians and sent them packing. The latter school is historically
known as an All-Indian school. 50+ years later, when these former students show up at
an IHS clinic to receive services, they are denied. (and if you don’t know what IHS
stands for your probably are not Indian, he he).
Then there are the Yuchis here in Oklahoma. They still have their traditional language
and ceremonials, not unlike my dad’s people, and are loaded with identifiable Indian
community members, not unlike my dad’s people, maintain their traditional language, not
unlike my dad’s people, but yet they do not have federal recognition, not unlike my dad’s
people. In order to get this recognition they must enroll with the neighboring Creek
Nation of Oklahoma. So if they want to be federally recognized, they have to adopt the
identity of a non-related tribe. Ditto for the Delawares near Bartlesville. Defies reason,
but hey, it’s the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
And then of course, there are the traditional Miccosukees living in the Everglades of
Florida, who are not enrolled with the federally recognized Miccosukee Tribe of Florida.
Though most of them are full and half Indian by blood and fluent Miccosukee speakers,
by BIA standards, they are not Indians. In other words, if you are 1/256 Indian, or less,
by blood and enrolled with the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw or Potawatomi Nations, etc. of
Oklahoma or some other federally recognized blood descendant tribe then you are an
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Indian, but if you are an identifiable, MOWA Choctaw, Yuchi or Miccosukee, then you
are not. Interesting, but very real in this day and age.
And what about the terminated tribes who haven’t recovered their federal status since the
termination period? Are these people, who were Indians in the 1950’s, no longer Indians
today, due to the fact that a poor policy decision by the BIA was put into effect? And did
recently recognized federal tribes such as the Mashpee Wampanoag suddenly become
Indian, or does the “Indian” label get retroactive status if approved by the BIA? Heck,
they greeted the Pilgrims, so that tells you how long it takes the Office of Federal
Acknowledgment within the Bureau of Indian Affairs to get to backlogged paperwork.
Do you have to look a certain way? What about the Pequots, Poarch Band of Creek
Indians, etc. who have very few if any tribal citizens who “look” Indian? Does their
federal recognition validate their lack of physical characteristics? Are they not allowed
to pursue their traditional culture? Heck, does a person need to look or speak “Indian” to
be Indian? I say that these two tribes and others like them are Indian, but I realize no one
really cares what I say.
And then of course there is Canada again. Any non-Indian woman who married a status
Indian man prior to 1985 became a “federally-recognized” Indian by law and carries this
status on till today. Of course the reverse was true for status Indian women who married
non-status or non-Indian men, but this “status” was returned in 1985 to these women. Of
course their grandchildren were cut out of the deal. Then there is the case of legal
adoption. When a status Indian legally adopts a child in Canada, regardless of ethnicity,
they become a status Indian if approved through their band council. It goes with the
justification that those who are influential in your upbringing, assist in the formulation of
your identity. This sits in direct contrast to the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma where
culture, language, upbringing, community involvement, etc. do not equate into their
determination of citizenship. A fraction, no matter how small, of Cherokee blood
somehow creates the status of the individual. Interesting concept. Seems different to say
the least, but on the other hand there are no descendant based tribes in Canada. For the
most part, when you meet an Indian in Canada, they are identifiable. But that is changing
as well. The Metis issue is a whole other ballgame in Canada, which the confines of this
article can’t begin to explain in any depth. Suffice to say that my biological mother was
raised in the Port Albert Settlement in Canada, which is surrounded by three Ojibwa First
Nation communities. These border settlements, like Port Albert, are referred to as Metis,
due to their mixed heritages of either Scottish/Ojibwa descent or Cree/French descent.
These settlements can have official government designation, as in the case of Manitoba,
or could be extended community systems, as in the case of Ontario’s community council
system, which provides governance for regional areas in the form of one designated
community council. Depending on the level of admixture determines how the
community identifies itself. Some of these communities reject or partially reject the
Metis label and prefer to express their European ancestral ties, while others reject or
partially reject their European ancestry and identify as First Nations people. The
neighboring First Nations also have various opinions of the Metis, which depend on
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whether or not they still speak an aboriginal language (Michif, Ojibwa, Cree, etc.) or are
completely assimilated into the mainstream. Browner-skinned Metis families are
typically given more credibility, while lighter skinned Metis are not given as much, by
the surrounding Indian people. A perfect example of a Metis person accepted as Indian
would be the actress Tantoo Cardinal (Dances with Wolves, Legends of the Fall), an
outspoken supporter of Metis identity and existence. The complexity of the Metis issue
becomes even more difficult when non-Metis in the United States use this term to
identify themselves as “mixed bloods”, “non-enrolled”, etc., which is completely
unrelated to Metis identity. Tantoo Cardinal, along with actors such as Adam Beach
(Saulteaux), unfortunately, as artistically inclined as they are, also don’t qualify under the
Cherokee Art Act.
In the book Blood Politics: Race, Culture, and Identity in the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma, author Circe Sturm implies at length that most fuller blood Cherokees believe
in blood quantum and language ability as a determiner of Cherokee identity and white
Cherokees believe that blood descent and not higher blood quantum is what makes them
Cherokee. She states, “..Cherokee citizenship remains a question of blood and not degree
of blood, and this has had some unexpected political consequences. As the Cherokee
Nation has become larger and more diverse, traditional Cherokees living in rural
communities have been increasingly marginalized. As a result, the Cherokee state
apparatus has become an even more powerful force in the administration of Cherokee
identity and citizenship…” (p. 106)
But possibly the most telling quote comes from a Freedmen interviewed by the author
when she asked him what he thinks she should write about.
“I think you should write about the racism that permeates these Indian programs [tribal
benefits and who qualifies for them]. And point out that many of the so-called Indians
running the Oklahoma tribes are exclusive if the hyphenated Indian is black and inclusive
if the hyphenated Indian is white. I think you should go back to the Dawes process and
point out how degree of Indian blood was ignored among black people just as degree of
European blood did not and does not today affect one’s status if one is black. I think you
need to argue that these programs need to be made realistic……It is ridiculous to allow
white people to take advantage of Indian programs because they have some long lost
relative who was classified as an Indian, having some Indian blood on a tribal roll 100
years ago, when a black person who suffers infinitely more discrimination and needs the
aid more, is denied it because his Indian ancestry is overshadowed by hi African ancestry.
Few Blacks are 100 percent African, and to be frank about it, few Europeans whose
ancestors come from the South are 100 percent European…. Either the descendants of
freedmen should be allowed to take advantage of benefits, or the federal government, not
these cliquish tribes, should set new standards for who is an Indian- and save itself some
money.” (p. 169)
Now I am no fan of the government determining who is and who is not Indian, but you
can see the guy’s point.
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The Miko (Chief) of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians reiterates this point in a letter
sent on September 8, 2006 to the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Chief and Council
regarding their constant attacks on the identity of others, “I was educated at Bacone
College many years ago. I count numerous Cherokees as friends from my time spent
there. Upon more recent visits, individuals that I had known as white while living in
Oklahoma have suddenly become ‘Cherokee’. The individuals seem to be in the majority
amongst your tribal enrollment. Our people on the other hand, are not white, and have
never been white. We have experienced extreme prejudice here in Alabama due to our
marginal position in southern society. This bigotry and racism brought against our
people continues to this day. This is something the majority of your population has never
encountered.” Again, are we dealing with legal theories of identity or social realities?
In the same vein, the Kiowa Nation based in Carnegie, Oklahoma allows enrollment to ¼
blood or more captive descendents. This means that Indians of any tribe or non-Indians
captured by the Kiowas in the late 1800’s can have descendants who are currently on the
rolls of the Kiowa Nation of Oklahoma regardless if they have Indian blood or not. Of
course there are very few who did not marry into the tribe and therefore have Kiowa by
blood descendants, but Indian identity has become as much theory as reality, so lets be a
little theoretical here. In historical times the Six Nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga,
Tuscarora, Cayuga and Seneca) were famous for this as well. Those they brought into
their Nation, became a part of their nation and were treated as such, further adding to the
complexity of Indian identity.
The “Civilized” Tribes in Oklahoma are now dealing very publicly with the Freedmen
issue and the extreme failure of the Dawes Commission to accurately enroll some
individuals by blood 100 years ago. And the percentage of Freedmen who do not have
any Indian blood, are also dealing with the prevailing generational attitudes of Southern
Society and how these seek to disenfranchise people who were used as forced labor
within the “Civilized” communities. And how do the Freedmen fit in to the Act? As it
stands now, they qualify under the Art Act as CNO citizens. So if their art is sold now,
will it not be available for sale if they are thrown out again? And if the CNO leadership
is calling the Freedmen non-Indians in all their literature, then how would they then
qualify as Indian under the Act based on their citizenship? Seems the agenda pushers
didn’t really think this through too well. The worst part is that the big player in all this,
the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is preaching the sovereignty façade and it is working.
They are attempting to turn their rejection of black descendants into an anti-sovereignty
campaign, when the issue, for those of us who have lived within the community, is
simply far from this. This is about race and has always been about race. White with a
trace of Cherokee ancestry and you are in. Black, with even solid blood background on
rolls and documents other than the Dawes, and you are out. “You were good enough to
pick our cotton, but not good enough to be citizens of our Nation”, it seems a small
minority of Cherokee citizens is saying. Even the U.S., with its history of oppression and
injustice towards Indian people, made citizens of former slaves. But the “haves”, have
the money. And the money funds the lobbyists and the lobbyists grease the wheel and
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the wheel keeeeeeeeps on spinning. The best story I have towards this occurred, actually
more than once, while I was an Athletic Coach and Native American Recruiter and
Coordinator at Bacone College (formerly Bacone Indian College) in Muskogee,
Oklahoma when a student came into the office and asked, “Coach, can you help me get
an Indian scholarship?” Jokingly I replied, “Are you Indian?” His response…..”No, but
I have a Cherokee card.” He gave me a copy of his CDIB (if you don’t know what that
is, you probably are not Indian, he he) and it read 1/128 or some fraction to that effect.
Needless to say, he was getting his “Indian money” regardless of the way he viewed his
identity.
Then there is always the “you were an Indian recently, but not now” club. Ask the
Delaware Nation near Bartlesville and the Schagticoke and Eastern Pequot in
Connecticut about this. What the federal government giveth, they also can taketh away.
Unfortunately, all three of these “overturns” of federal recognition were fueled by
opposition from tribal and non-tribal neighbors, even more aggressively than the BIA
itself. And what about the Pechangas and the other casino rich tribes who have a made a
stir by tossing tribal members off left and right, even against professional genealogical
evidence determining without any doubt that they are community members by direct
family line? Can’t you hear the per cap checks rising now!
Don’t forget about all those border tribes such as the Ojibwa, Dakota and others who
have lands on the Canadian side of the border. They are out. Or what about those
Tohono O’dham, Kickapoo and others who have communities on the Mexican side of the
line? They are out of the Art Act as well.
Two of the most outstanding Indian authors I have ever read are Vine Deloria, Jr. and
David Wilkins. Vine Deloria wrote the foreword to the history book on my dad’s tribe
and David Wilkins is a citizen of the Lumbee Nation and a university professor
specializing in American Indian Studies. So am I supposed to right these men off
because one supports a non-federally recognized tribe and the other is not an enrolled
member of a tribe that appears on the federal register? That is ludicrous. But I thought
that the Lumbee were federal, or is that now quasi-federal, similar to the Shinnecock in
New York, who gained federal recognition through the courts, but are still being blocked
from inclusion on the federal register. I guess that the BIA’s take on them is that they
massacred all the Indians living on the historic reservation where they dwell, took all
their last names, made them teach them their traditional stories and culture prior to killing
them, and lived as oppressed people for centuries, so that they would have the
opportunity to build a big fat casino on Long Island and live like their rich white
neighbors in 2020. They must have had great foresight to concoct such an elaborate
scheme. Not unlike the scheme, the BIA feels my dad’s tribe concocted. I guess
professor Wilkin’s books will need to be taken off the shelves at the Cherokee Gift Shop.
In the end are there some fakes out there? Sure. Do they truly have any power to destroy
Indian culture or misrepresent Indian people. Yes and No. Yes, because some have
misrepresented themselves for commercial and repatriation reasons and no for the simple
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fact that most Americans and Canadians could give a crap about Indian Country when it
doesn’t relate to what new slot machine they are hoping to see upon their next visit. The
“wannabe” Indian issue is an internal issue that will never be solved. Academics can
keep on fighting, fake tribes can keep kissing up to their federal “relatives” and posting
pictures of themselves and a federal tribal member on their blogs, etc., Ward Churchills
reared in white privilege can come and go, and low blood quantum federally recognized
Indians can recreate their cultures with new found wealth, but in the end the argument is
all a supreme waste of time. The italicized Indian names such as “Wind Walker” and
others are said to be a dead giveaway of the frauds, until you take into account that
federally recognized tribal leaders currently have italicized names such as “Two Dogs”,
“Corntassel” and others. Life is not black and white, or red and white as the case may be.
We live life in gray and placing people in boxes just doesn’t stack up. No one has to
prove their worth to a national Indian forum. When it comes down to it, you have to
prove yourself to your local community. We have to prove our worth to our own people.
Start a youth group, volunteer at our local church or ceremonial grounds, show some love
for our language or the language we claim as our language, discard the “pan-Indian”
dress up clothes and focus on our particular tribe and their needs. When our community
no longer has alcoholism, domestic violence, drug addictions and apathy problems and
everyone can speak our own language fluently, then seek the approval of the outside
Indian world. But until that day, let’s all quit whining and worrying about what those
others think. In fact, lets take a few well-placed shots at those whose “job” it is to play
identity cop over others. Sometimes, the people with the largest mouths, have the most to
cover up.
When a person is truly invested in their community, they have no need for the approval
of those outside of their circle. In our Choclish language (yes, I said it, Choclish. The
term we affectionately use for our mixed Choctaw & English dialect we use in our
community) we value iyikowa (generosity), iti kana (a kind hearted way) and aiali
(justice). We do our best to live within a framework that encompasses these values and
at times we fail miserably. But it isn’t the failure, of course, that brings us forward, it is
the attempt at better lives and better viewpoints that propels us to better things. There are
many issues in life that are not under our control. The Cherokee Art Act is certainly one
that is not. The small group of Cherokee citizens pushing this agenda, without fully
informing their council as to all those who are being excluded, will continue to preach
their message of intolerance and division. They will say that because there are only a
minority of Indians in the state of Oklahoma that are identifiable that are not enrolled,
because there are only a handful of non-recognized or state-recognized tribes who are
legitimate, because the border tribes are small in number, because only a minority of
Canadian Indians would be selling there…because….because….because. So “throwing
the baby out with the bath water” seems to be the strategy. It is the U.S. government
strategy all over. Let’s find the smallest populations (Indians) and justify their
oppression, because they are small in number and nobody will stand up. Remember, no
one is contesting the CNO’s right to throw out tribal citizens and decide on who can
portray and sell their art to or within the Cherokee Nation jurisdiction. Of course, a
sovereign Nation has the right to make bad decisions. We are just saying that these
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decisions are unethical and immoral. No big deal, Nations across this world do negative
and hurtful things daily.
Let me also throw a final shout out to the United Houma Nation in Louisiana (who also
don’t qualify under the Cherokee Art Act), who just had their entire world turned upside
down due to the recent Hurricanes and who are still waiting for a final determination on
their federal petition. How a group of identifiable, brown Indians like the Houmas are
still waiting on a determination is beyond reason, but hey, who cares. They should have
hired a whole team of accountants down there to count up all the BIA emergency
assistance funding they received after the storms. Lets count it….0 + 0 = 0. Of course,
only 3,000 Houmas lost their homes, so no big deal. Remember, if you are not Indian
than you can’t get BIA money, but that seems odd, as the BIA response to their initial
petition stated that they were Indians. The catch was, they said they don’t believe they
are Houma Indians. What? Huh? Did those Indians kill all the Houmas and adopt their
identity too? Savages!!!!!
I would say Happy New Year, but different tribal calendars, have different views on that
one too. So I will just say, be blessed whether you are Indian, “Indian”, federal, nonfederal, Freedmen, married to an Indian, in love with an Indian, mommy or daddy of
Indian babies, traditional, Christian, Muslim (I am sure there are a few Indians out there
that are Muslim), Jewish (okay, that might be a stretch, but I don’t want to exclude any
Indians practicing Judaism), other (you have to throw that one in to cover anyone that
feels marginalized and oppressed), and finally, human. No offense to animal rights
activists or new-agers, I want the animals and rocks to be blessed as well. And we wish
the leaders of the “real” Indian movement at the CNO the best in turning social realities
into legal fictions and social fictions into legal realities. I “wannabe” a “true Native
American” too, even though my art career, which never existed, is over at the CNO.
So is being an Indian these days, about having to flash my status card from Canada, my
wife needing to flash her CDIB and our children needing to flash both, or is it about
cultural retention, language usage, shared historical trauma and marginalization and
community continuity and involvement? If it is the former, our family has a pile of
Indian cards for sale to the highest bidder. If it is the latter, Thank God, and I will leave
our cards and enrollment papers somewhere in a shoe box in the back of the closet
collecting dust. I think our two oldest kids drew some martians or animal pictures on
them, so if you need them for “proof” of who we are, excuse the drawings. (though our
kids are pretty proficient artists) Hey, that gives me an idea, maybe we can set up a booth
for them at the next CNO art gathering……
In final summation, as to the question of finding “who is and who is not an Indian” goes,
it is a “crap” shoot. Problem or blessing (it depends on how you look at) these days is,
there is so much crap in the shoot it is hard to see clearly anymore. (This article had
been published in the Tanasi Journal on the AIRRO website)
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One of Cara’s big targets became long-time Tahlequah artist Murv Jacob who is
originally from Kentucky and makes claim to some Cherokee ancestry. He was vilified
to the point of nausea. I don’t know Murv, but I do not he broke David Cornsilk’s nose
when David was rattling on attacking his identity some years back. David was the one
actually letting everyone know. But Cara, along with her group straight called him a
wannabe and banned his art from their stores and other retail spaces. This is the same
guy who used to illustrate books for their former Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller. This
was an article in the Tahlequah Press directed towards him.
Published September 10, 2008 09:55 am Citizenship defined
Editor, Daily Press:
Recent letters to the editor have characterized Cherokee Nation’s Truth in Advertising for
Native Art Act and other tribal activities as personal attacks on individuals. Tribal
identity and citizenship are determined by the tribal government and citizenship.
Outsiders do not determine what is or is not Indian for a tribe. Citizenship is determined
by criteria established by the Cherokee Nation government. The Cherokee Nation has
defined its citizenship using laws extending back to 1839 in Indian Territory (now
Oklahoma). Intruders do not determine citizenship.
Cherokee history is well-documented. It is clear the Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah; the
United Keetoowah Band, Tahlequah; and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians,
Cherokee, N.C., are the only existing Cherokee tribal governmental entities in the U.S.
Each of these tribal governments has its own citizenship criteria. To be a citizen of the
Cherokee Nation, one must have at least one direct ancestor listed on the Dawes
Commission rolls. The Dawes Roll was validated by the 1880 Cherokee Census.
There is no historical basis for any “lost” group of Cherokees in any state. For example,
Cherokees have no historical relationship with Kentucky. And Kentucky does not
recognize “tribes” or any group of Indians. There is no such thing as a “Kentucky
Cherokee.” Though there may be people with Cherokee ancestry in Kentucky, family
histories of Cherokee ancestry do not entitle anyone the right to claim to be citizens of the
Cherokee Nation or call themselves Cherokee artists, under laws of the Cherokee Nation.
The Truth in Advertising for Native Art Act was necessary to protect artists who are
Cherokee citizens from the proliferation of fraudulent Cherokee groups and individuals
proclaiming themselves Cherokee to profit off the growing “Indian art” market. To learn
more about the U.S. constitutional and tribal sovereignty issues surrounding fraudulent
tribal groups, visit www.taskforce.cherokee.org.
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The key difference between the Cherokee and Federal Indian Art Acts is that artists must
be federally-recognized tribal citizens or members to market their work as Indian art
under Cherokee Nation law; the tribal act includes the written arts such as books and
performing arts, such as storytelling and music.
To provide and maintain value to our Cherokee artists and those who support Indian art, a
line must be drawn to define Indian. Tribal citizenship is a reasonable definition. The
oath of office for the Cherokee national council states: “I will do everything within my
power to promote the culture, heritage and traditions of the Cherokee Nation.”
The appropriation of Cherokee culture by people who have no citizenship amounts to
identity theft. This is why the Cherokee Nation passed a law to prevent people who have
no citizenship rights from claiming to be Cherokee artists. No individual or group has the
right to appropriate Cherokee name(s), heritage, language, government, clothing, tribal
seal, art, story, ceremonies or other things Cherokee.
Identifying these fraudulent tribes and individuals is more than just defining Indian art.
Once I learned the extent of the problem, I stopped buying from folks who earn a living,
off the backs of Indian people, by yelling the loudest. These same fraudulent so-called
“Indians” are taking our children’s scholarships and working their way into federal
programs such as Indian Health Service and Indian housing by claiming to be members
of any of the more than 200 fake groups calling themselves Cherokee. The Cherokee
Nation is defending its sovereignty and the culture that provides the basis for our unique
sovereign status as a nation, indigenous to the U.S.
You will note, the same individuals scream the loudest, threaten us and call us “identity”
or “blood police.”
Cara Cowan Watts, District 7
Cherokee Nation Tribal Council
During the times of these letters Murv Jacob was removed by force from a Symposium at
Northeastern State University in Tahlequah when he attempted to defend himself after the
“panel” presenting, to what they thought was a staged crowd of supporters, was
interrupted by Mr. Jacob. The panel had not been discussing state-recognized and nonrecognized communities and individuals, but rather belittling them by donning
condescending “Indian names” as there own. There attempts to play victim when they
are clearly the instigator and the attacker are a complete smoke screen attempted to gain
pity since their false hypothesis has fallen flat and they now know that people know
better. The following letter was written by a non-Indian community member in response
to Cowan’s public comments and the Symposium. I do not know the author of the
article, but certainly wish I did.
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Who’s appropriating?
Editor, Daily Press:
Possibly I was the only person in attendance at the Friday session of the State of
Sequoyah Conference who neither possesses nor claims “Indian” or Cherokee ancestry.
But this intertribal warfare comes to us Scots-Irish backwoodsmen, and some of the
topics promised were of personal and professional interest. The Cains’ presentation on
“Hunting and Gathering in the 21st Century” was useful and interesting. Then, things
went south.
Without doubt, the actions of Murv Jacob were disruptive. But later I wondered: What is
an appropriate response to racism, slander and ignorance? For those who suck on the teat
of the Cherokee Nation, the response is likely to be silence. But some of the artists,
historians and writers who engage with and learn from Cherokee history and folkways
will never be tribal members or employees of Cherokee Nation. We are free to comment
and critique.
Shortly after Jacob was hustled out of the ballroom [at the Friday session], Dr. Richard
Allen said into the open microphone, “That was a local artist without any Cherokee
ancestry.” That struck me as a remarkably arrogant and ignorant statement, and perhaps a
libelous one. Can Allen prove Jacob has no such ancestry? Does his job as “policy
analyst” at Cherokee Nation provide him ample time to investigate the lineage of local
citizens and cultural workers? Next, Dr. Carol Morrow presented a talk on the “Missouri
Cherokee” and although she stated she is not a historian and it was not her field of
expertise, she told the audience what she had been paid to tell them, and she was greeted
with applause.
The last session, “Fraudulent Tribes and Individuals,” was part Klan rally and part selfcongratulation. If Troy Poteete believes “the federal government could save millions by
not awarding grants to dubious claims for tribal recognition,” he could go a step further
and say the feds could save hundreds of millions by instituting a blood quantum,
releasing from membership hundreds of thousands of “white” Cherokees. But Poteete is
not interested in saving anyone money. He is interested in keeping Cherokee casinos up
and running, unopposed, in his own 19th-century, racial ideology.
Even whiter than the 1/32-degree Poteete, the 1/256-degree councilor, Carol CowanWatts, complained of Ward Churchill’s “appropriating Cherokee culture.” I do not claim
to be an expert on Churchill’s work; I’ve only read eight or 10 of his books. He writes
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sourced history and extreme political commentary, but I remember nowhere in his books
where he deals with Cherokee culture. From this I can only infer Cowan-Watts is a bit
clueless. More interesting is the astounding delusional and racial worldview required for
a 1/256-degree Cherokee to accuse anyone of “cultural appropriation.”
There is some appropriation going on, and it’s more perverse than “new-agey” white
people taking Indian names and wearing feathers. It is the Cherokee Nation appropriating
discredited 18th- and 19th-century ideologies of “citizenship by blood.” These concepts,
retrieved from the ash heap of history, were learned from the white man. Nowhere do
they exist in the traditional Cherokee worldview. Now, they have returned under the
guise of “sovereignty.” These ideologies were learned from white colonialists, but the
“white” Cherokee “elite” have learned these lessons well. White Indians, like Cowan and
Poteete, mistake race for culture, blood for community, and exclusion for strength.
James Murray
Tahlequah
In June of 2009 I wrote an article in the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper concerning Cara’s
next issue of removing children from the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Immersion
School who were not enrolled Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma citizens, but came from
other federal and state recognized tribes. As a parent whose child attended the school for
almost two years, we found this quite insensitive, disrespectful and slanderous. You can
pull the article up on line: “Cherokee ‘Task Farce’ vs. immersion school”. It also lists
numerous comments. Check the dates to make sure that they are from June of 2009,
because as soon as they see this, they will attempt to have people write comments so that
they can seem like they were in the right.
Her response came the following month in the Cherokee Phoenix July 2009. “Tribal
culture and identity deserve protection” Please check this one out on-line as well to see
the comments posted by others. I have placed her lines below directed at me, though she
had comments for others in her article as well. Bold is hers, the other is my response.
In her article is seems the perpetrator is playing the victim. “Whoa is me”, she shouts
from high. In the past Cara and her crew claimed I did not have a degree in Indian
linguistics. Of course I do, and Stacy Leeds, a Cherokee citizen and former Supreme
Court Justice who currently is the Director of the Indigenous Nations Studies program at
the University of Kansas had to write a letter attesting to the reality that I did possess
such a degree from KU. This program was formerly known as American Indian
Linguistics. Building language programs is an acquired skill and has nothing to do with
one’s racial, ethnic or state or federal background. Again, Cara knows nothing about
language so how can she even engage this issue.
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Cara says, “While playing Cherokee, he came to Tahlequah and taught our children
how to sing ‘Ten Little Indians’. Somehow I do not find that culturally appropriate
or Cherokee.”
Response: What on earth would Cara know about what is or what is not culturally
appropriate for Cherokees? She was not raised Cherokee and didn’t even grow up within
the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma jurisdiction.
Cara says, “I have endured personal attacks by some individuals trying to reinvent
themselves as tribal citizens.”
Response: Who? This line “reinventing themselves as citizens” comes directly from a
letter I sent to her and her Task Force stating that I will reinvent my life whenever I so
choose. My wife and I both knew this would be the line in the lengthy letter that would
get the Task Force to snap.
Cara says, “Before you give much credit to Mr. Sunray’s letter, know this. His
original surname is Ray. But that did not sound “Indian” enough so he added
“Sun” and became “Sunray”.
Response: Huh? Sunray sounds Indian? That would be news to me. In our Choctaw
communities Ray, Billy, Billie, Sam, John, Johnston (i.e. first names for last names)
“sound” Choctaw. Why would someone change their name to Sunray in hopes of
sounding more Choctaw? Also, did Cara forget to mention that my father changed his
last name to Sunray in the 1970’s. Seems she missed printing that and that I followed
suit as a teenager? Of course not. She led you to believe this is some new thing that
occurred. Did she also fail to mention that my father and mother were hippies? Did she
mention that if you look at any article printed about me while in high school sports, etc. I
would be listed as Cedric “Sunshine” Ray and that my nickname growing up was
“Sunnyray” and “Sunray”. She probably forgot that one as well. Cause you know the
decisions we make as teenagers are predicated on our deep understanding and
engagement in Indian identity politics (sarcasm). Just pure silly. And what about Chad
“Corntassel” Smith. Gotta love that name. Did she also fail to mention that Sunray
comes from Scotland, Ireland, England and few other European countries? It comes from
the McRae, Ray, Wray, etc. families. Five minutes on www.ancestry.com can verify this.
Cowan is also a Scottish name, but I don’t see her claiming her Scottish heritage.
Cara says, “He is not an American Indian in the same sense as Cherokee citizens,
where we can be prosecuted in tribal court.”
Response: What does ‘the same sense’ mean. I can tell you. It means she had to dodge a
pertinent fact, but still attempt to belittle me. ‘The same sense’ that she is referring to is
the fact that I am an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe in Canada and a
state recognized tribe in the U.S. I am also a Canadian citizen, but I don’t think that
matters in terms of prosecution. Unfortunately, the other two cannot be tried in federal
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Indian courts within the U.S. as Indians, but can be tried in federal Indian courts in
Canada and in the state Indian court administered by the MOWA Band of Choctaw
Indians. Fair and reasonable, certainly not. Did I create the rule, certainly not.
Attempting to write things stating that I claimed to be non-Indian to duck a fraudulent
court case is sad. I clearly stated that I was Indian in papers submitted by my lawyer. To
say I did not is to falsify and mislead. Moving ahead with this case would have severely
divided the Pawnee community and I would never give the CNO such satisfaction.
Cara says, “Recently, the Pawnee Nation filed criminal charges on him.
Representing himself, he filed a brief for dismissal stating he is not an American
Indian subject to tribal jurisdictions and tribal laws.”
Response: Did Cara forget to explain the following key points:
1. I was charged of an act which supposedly occurred within the Pawnee Nation
jurisdiction SIX MONTHS after the made up incident.
2. John Parris, the Pawnee Nation prosecutor, was not even a prosecutor for the Pawnee
Nation when I worked there. Mr. Parris is a Cherokee citizen and a founding member the
Cherokee Task Force which my family and I have been in direct conflict with. Mr. Parris
is a racially white man with very little Cherokee ancestry. Mr. Parris purposefully
concocted a story with a leader within the Pawnee Nation who disliked me.
3. The presiding judge was a Cherokee citizen and one of the four sitting Supreme Court
justices for the Pawnee were Cherokee citizens.
4. I was warned by a lawyer and Pawnee citizen not to go through the court system as I
was being set up by those charging me and I would have no way of being heard.
5. I did not represent myself in the court case. My paid attorney was John Ghostbear
(Lakota/Cherokee) who is a practicing attorney in Tulsa, Oklahoma and an enrolled
member of a federally recognized tribe. He advised me directly in the matters concerning
this case, as well as filed responses.
6. The members of the Task Force were extremely upset with me standing up time and
again and outing them for the fanatics they truly are.
7. As an enrolled member of state recognized tribe in the U.S. and a federal tribe in
Canada I cannot be prosecuted under federal tribal law by rules which I did not create.
8. Why would I go into a “puppet court” and be convicted of something I did not do.
9. AND THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT: I was tried as an Indian by the Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma court, masquerading as the Pawnee Nation Court, so any statement
to the contrary is false. It is the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma leadership who change
my identity at their whim to satisfy their needs, not the other way around.
10. Notice her well worded line “he filed a brief for dismissal stating he is not an
American Indian subject to tribal jurisdictions and tribal laws.” This is about as sneaky
as a person can write. She attempts to say that I stated that I was not an American Indian,
but then she carefully words it so it reads ‘subject to tribal jurisdictions and tribal laws.’
In other words, I never said I wasn’t American Indian. The submission asked the court to
take the case to the recognized court of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians where I am
enrolled, but they would not do this. It was also communicated that we could send this
matter to a federal Indian court in Canada, but this idea was also rejected. It was then
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communicated that we could take it to state court which was also rejected. I am subject
to tribal jurisdictions, just not, in this case, the jurisdiction of the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma masquerading as the Pawnee Nation. Again, through no rule of my own. In
other words they had three separate jurisdictions that could have heard this case, but
obviously, they didn’t feel their case could stand on its merits.
11. And then the most obvious, how does Cara seem to know so much about a Pawnee
Nation Court Case which no one else has ever heard about? Since when did she concern
herself with issues in Pawnee and how did she get the ‘inside’ info? Couldn’t possibly be
John Parris breaching his professional responsibility now could it?
12. Also, did she forget the ending….John Parris sent a letter asking that I plead guilty
and just pay a small monetary fine. Boy, this was a far cry from the 6 months in jail he
had promised. Of course, there was no plea or a nickel sent to those criminals. Oh yeah,
Cara said I was “criminally charged” to get a charge out of the reader. She forgets to
mention the outpouring of support from the Pawnee Indian community defending me.
How soon people forget….
The saddest part of all, however, was the way the charges came. John Parris stated that I
had threatened and harassed a pregnant white woman who was working at the Pawnee
Nation. He did this as he knew that she could not be counter sued in court, as she was
non-Indian. He also listed the Pawnee Nation as they are immune to lawsuits as a U.S.
federally recognized tribe. First, me threatening a woman is outrageous and a highly
inflammatory and ridiculous charge. Secondly, adding in that she was pregnant makes
the matter all the more unfortunate and slanderous.
Cara says, “I am unsure why he insists on claiming to be Indian. I guess he makes
those claims when it is convenient from him in his pursuit of a personal tribal
identity.”
Response: I have a tribal identity, so there is no need to pursue one. What Cara does,
when someone outs her for being 1/256 Cherokee and claiming that her dad is an
“undocumented” Choctaw and Cherokee (this was on her own website until recently and
is still on profile pages on the internet) is create a history of them attempting to claim
various tribal identities, being a wannabe, etc. It is grasping at straws and meritless. She
wants everyone who disagrees with her to be a wannabe. Hey Cara, there are actual
Indians who think you are completely full of it. Another thing is that if anyone has read
any of the numerous articles, books or chapters in books, scholarly articles, etc. which I
have written over the years they always say the same thing. The story is always the
same. I have no problem with the fact that I was not raised within any tribal culture.
This is readily explained year after year after year after year. Attempting to say I create
an Indian identity is just someone who needs something to hold on to.
Cara says, “He claims heritage to various so-called tribal communities. At one
point, he claimed to be Cherokee and speak Cherokee.”
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Response: Has Cara completely lost it? The time you are claiming that I was ‘claiming
to be Cherokee’ has articles printed about me in your own Cherokee Phoenix claiming to
be what I am, an enrolled member of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians and of
Cherokee descent, not Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma citizenship.. This is called lying.
Period. This is simply a lie. Go back into the Phoenix and look for yourself. Do I have
some Cherokee ancestry, yes. The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians have some
Cherokee ancestry,. Nothing can refute this fact. I know this pains her so. Claiming to
speak Cherokee? Aside from bits and pieces elsewhere, I learned Cherokee directly from
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma elder Benny Smith while a student at Haskell Indian
Nations University and the University of Kansas. I took his Cherokee I and Cherokee IV
classes. Aside from this, I WAS ACCREDITED TO TEACH CHEROKEE AT
TAHLEQUAH HIGH SCHOOL BY THE CHEROKEE NATION OF OKLAHOMA!!!!
Teaching a language does not mean you are trying to be the people who speak that
language. Would Cara say that the numerous non-Hispanic teachers in Oklahoma
teaching Spanish are trying to be Mexicans or Spaniards? That is ludicrous. Cara knows
nothing about language, so why does she even engage it. Cara has not had a Cherokee
speaker in her family for many, many generations. And so-called tribal communities?
She is referring to the “state” status of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians and the
reality that her buddy and Office of Federal Acknowledgment Director/Cherokee citizen
Lee Fleming stopped the federal recognition of the tribe; a tribe who attended Indian
boarding schools for generations. For proof of the histories of this and seven other state
recognized tribes just go to www.helphaskell.com. She also conveniently leaves out the
fact that I am enrolled member of a federal tribe in Canada.
Cara continues, “Later Choctaw was the claim and so on.”
Response: I am an enrolled Choctaw. What is she talking about? Cara claims that her
father, as I mentioned previously is an ‘undocumented’ Choctaw. What in the world is
that? I thought she said undocumented people are fakes? What is the ‘and so on’. Now
her words are carefully written to say I claim other tribes? What tribes is she speaking
about? What is she saying? Who have I claimed? Attempting to make everyone sound
like a “tribe shopper” to discredit the message is unfortunate. Cara epitomizes identity
change. And she does it in the only accounts that can be definitely stated as facts. Not in
articles written by others, not by researchers, but on her own website which she
constructs. Let’s take a look at her constant shifts. In the beginning her website
(www.caracowan.com) read:
“Cara is a direct descendant of Tiawah resident Dempsey Fields Coker, Councilor and
Solicitor for Cooweescoowee District in the late 1870s. On her grandfather’s side, Cara
is of the Tiawah Leerskov and Cluck Cherokee families… Cowan’s paternal
grandparents are Clara and Walter Cowan of Sallisaw. They are undocumented
Cherokee and Choctaw….” (this is from a download off www.caracowan.com printed
off on 1/4/2007)
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The following is from her posted profile on www.xing.com/profile/Cara Cowan Watts
which I downloaded and printed on 6/2/2009:
“Cara is a direct descendent of Tiawah resident Dempsey Fields Coker, Councilor and
Solicitor for the Cooweescoowee District in the late 1870s. On her grandfather’s side,
Cara is of the Tiawah Leerskov and undocumented Cluck Cherokee families….Cowan’s
paternal grandparents are Clara and the late Walter Cowan of Sallisaw. They are
undocumented Cherokee and Choctaw….”
Notice: Before it was the “Leerskov and Cluck Cherokee families”, now it is the
“Leerskov and undocumented Cluck Cherokee families”.
And the changes continue.
On the same day 6/2/2009 on her personal www.caracowan.com website, I downloaded
and printed the following:
“Cara is a direct descendent of Tiawah resident Dempsey Fields Coker, Councilor and
Solicitor for Cooweescoowee District in the late 1870s. On her grandfather’s side Cara is
of the Tiawah Leerskov Cherokee family….Cowan’s paternal grandparents are Clara and
the late Walter Cowan of Sallisaw.”
Notice: Now the Cluck family is completely missing and her paternal grandparents are
no longer listed as Indian.
At this point I simply stopped looking. Her Indian ancestry may eventually disappear
altogether. Why this matters is because it is firsthand information directly presented
about her, by her. It cannot be misconstrued as a reporter’s mistake or the mistake of an
editor, etc. When looking up her one Cherokee ancestor, it also becomes clear how
problematic claiming from him can be. In most federal records, i.e. Census records, he is
listed as white, as are most of his descendants.
Cara continues, “Unfortunately, for Indian Country, he continues to find jobs with
unsuspecting tribes.”
Response: Is Cara saying that Tribal Nations are not competent enough in their hiring
practices to hire who they feel is qualified and warranted in their programs? This seems
pretty insulting across the board. I work with developing language programs. Is
following the leadership of a man with two wives with two sets of children of nearly the
same age (i.e. Chad “Corntassel” Smith), appropriate “Cherokee culture”? It seems she
picks her criticisms depending on the circumstance. Playing Cherokee? Has she not read
my articles over the past TEN YEARS directed specifically at the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma for their fraudulent practices? Playing Cherokee? Cara dreams that I would
play such a thing. The problem is that she was out shone by someone else. I didn’t just
“show up” in Tahlequah. We have numerous community members on our reservation in
Alabama who are married to Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma citizens. These citizens
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reside on our reservation. I didn’t just waltz in the door.
Cara says, “After six years of tribal politics I have a fairly thick skin for personal
attacks such as Sunray’s editorial. I am sure he won many friends and swayed
many Cherokees by insulting the majority of the tribe with racial remarks about
blood quantum and physical appearances.”
Response: The Queen of Personal Attacks makes this remark? I had no intention of
gaining any friends from such an article. Disprove one thing in the article. Of course her
response piece doesn’t engage the article it does the old tired move of attempting to kill
the messenger in order to cover up the message. Blood quantum is the obsession of the
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. The attackers can’t play like they are the ones being
attacked. Cara is a racially white woman playing Indian and that is the end of that story.
It doesn’t matter how many elections she wins. She is a Cherokee citizen, not a Cherokee
Indian. She does not make the rules concerning who is and who is not Indian. She is
laughed at by many. If people want to laugh at me, I just say to any male, then do it.
Some have attempted, but the result has not been in their liking. The best rule of thumb
and cliché I learned while growing up was, “Don’t let your mouth write checks that your
butt can’t cash.” I practice this teaching when it is a man doing the discrediting. Cara is
free to write what she pleases as she is a woman and as much as I dislike her message, I
would even beat down any man who attempted to physically assault her in anyway. Her
gender is her safety valve in continuing her attacks and she is completely aware of this.
Her male colleagues have had to tuck their tales on a few different occasions. Lastly, I
would say this. Credible arguments can only come from credible people. In other words,
sorry Cara, but this last article just falls flat.
And oh yeah, was Cara saying all this about an article I wrote which began, “I was not
raised anywhere near the two tribal communities where I am enrolled. My predominant
influences in my early life were the black and Hispanic majorities who I lived amongst in
south Florida. My cultural aptitude outside of these ethnic communities was minimal due
to my father’s death when I was 4 and my mother’s complete abandonment of her
community as a teenager. I am by-blood whiter than Indian, though I am a member of
two tribes.”
Maybe Cara missed reading this first paragraph.
When a perpetrator begins their comments acting as a victim there is a definite problem.
There has been no uphill battle for the Cherokee Task Force. The Task Force believe
themselves to be the top of the hill and they feel their approval is necessary to affirm
identity. The first article concerning the Cherokee Task Force occurred in 2005, so they
must have been an underground society for a couple of years according to Cara CowanWatts continuously faulty timeline. This same timeline insinuates in her article that when
I came to Tahlequah “playing Cherokee”, I also claimed to be Cherokee and to speak
Cherokee. That is extremely interesting as an easy paper trail of all my numerous
published articles which extend over a decade can be looked up with the listing “MOWA
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Band of Choctaw Indians” as a primary designation with minor designations of
Cherokee, Scottish-Canadian, English-American and an enrolled band member of a
federal tribe in Canada. Articles written about me also list this as my primary
designation. Articles concerning me have also made incorrect designations as well, such
as saying that I grew up in New Orleans, that I was a full-blood Cherokee (any reporter if
they had seen me would have known that to be ridiculous) and other mistakes. We have
no control over what gets printed whether fortunately or unfortunately. Any talk with
any person at the immersion school will refute her statements about my continually
“changing background”. Any discussion with any of my former university professors or
classmates will eliminate her statements as well. The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians,
while primarily of Choctaw descent, also possesses Cherokee and a few other tribal and
non-tribal bloodlines. The denial of the tribes federal petition was decided upon by
Cowan-Watts’ friend, Cherokee citizen and the Director of the Office of Federal
Acknowledgment for the BIA Lee Fleming. Mr. Fleming claims that my father’s
community is “Cajun, black and/or mulatto.” Interestingly, Cajuns live in Louisiana, but
that doesn’t stop Lee from making the designation about a community which exists in
Alabama. The late Vine Deloria, Jr., the National Congress of American Indians and
numerous federal tribes have supported the federal recognition of the tribe. My claim of
Cherokee descent is for my people to verify not hers. My family and I moved to
Tahlequah in 2004. My Cherokee aptitude was primarily learned as a student at Haskell
Indian Nations University when I took Cherokee language courses under the direction of
Cherokee Nation elder Benny Smith. Mr. Smith skipped me from Cherokee I to
Cherokee IV due to my ability to quickly acquire language proficiency. Upon moving to
Tahlequah, I was supported in written form by the Cherokee Nation Language
Department to teach Cherokee at Tahlequah High School. Of course Cowan-Watts
omitted this as well. My grandfather was in the military with some Cherokee guys as
well, where I believe he picked up some language. When I was younger I believed that
he was a fluent speaker of both Cherokee and Choctaw. In 2006 or 2007 I completely
abandoned that belief after coming across some old family material regarding this
situation from his time in the service and at home. He was a learner, just like many
others, including myself. I was about thirteen when he passed so I had no reference point
other than ignorance. When I am wrong, I make adjustments and apologies. I expect the
same from others, though I know this is not realistic. Language has always been my
primary passion having studied or taught the following languages at the high school
and/or college/university level: Cherokee, Chickasaw, French, Gaelic (Scottish),
Mohawk, Ojibwa, Pawnee, Sauk (Sac & Fox), Spanish. I have also been exposed to
Arapaho, Creek, Houma, Kiowa and Osage under teachers of these languages. CowanWatts leaves the reader with the impression that people who learn or teach languages are
attempting to be the language they learn or teach. In other words, the predominant
number of Oklahoma public school Spanish teachers, most of whom are not Hispanic, are
attempting to be Hispanic. Cowan-Watt’s lack of study in Cherokee and coursework she
surely took in English over the years would then render her English if I am following her
logic. One can see how these types of arguments are as merit less as the next. CowanWatts has listed her own father as an “undocumented Choctaw and Cherokee” on her
own web page. (she recently took this down due to the contradiction, but it can still be
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found on various other bio pages on the web). I wouldn’t doubt that her father does
possess some Choctaw and Cherokee ancestry, however, his own daughter believes that
individuals who do not have “provable” ancestry are frauds. In reality then, what is she
saying about her own father and in turn her own ancestry?
I should add, going back to the Cherokee Task Force’s belief that I am violent, that I was
charged in a separate case with beating another man, causing a broken arm, nose and
other bodily injuries. This landed me a trip to jail and supposed public humiliation in the
press due to the fact that the “victim” was the starting quarterback of a major college
football program. Yes, I did it many years ago and do not hide from it, so don’t bother
replaying that one.
I think it all comes back to the Cherokee Task Force’s feeling of supremacy, which also
led Cowan-Watts to spearhead an effort to “rid” the CNO of the majority of its black
citizenry. Imagine a nation in this world who would terminate the citizenship of the
descendants of those who were their slaves and disguise it as some sort of “exercise of
sovereignty”. Her and her colleagues’ constant feeling that the world revolves around the
CNO is getting a little tired. They would ask why spend so much time writing about us
here? The reason is simple. The CNO is the power broker in terms of policy in Indian
Country. Their sheer numbers, high levels of generational white education, access and
control of BIA programs, etc. means that you can’t, “not deal with them”. They should
never flatter themselves that anyone is obsessing over them. Most people would rather
not even think about them, but tribes have no choice. They control such a large
percentage of the BIA budget, “Indian” academics at universities, positions in various
national Indian organizations, etc. that they can’t be avoided. People don’t want to talk
about their reality because it can adversely affect their tribes. Their non-identifiable
community members claim Indian preference all the time. In every hiring I have
received during the course of my career, the hiring has been based on ability and
credentials, not tribal enrollment or Indian preference. My performance evaluations are
clear indicators of this reality. If someone says that I marked “Indian” on an application,
I would simply respond, “What am I supposed to mark?” Should I mark non-Indian?
Maybe I should mark Indian, but that I don’t want hiring preference.
In an email forwarded to me, Cara claims that there is nothing wrong with the federal
recognition process. Yes, Cowan-Watts, your list serve “friends” regularly forward me
your emails. For years I have read more biased emails than I can count. My argument
from the beginning has been as follows; People who were not raised culturally, who are
not identifiably Indian and who have small fractional descent from an Indian ancestor
should not be involved in attacking the identities of others. It is a shameful and hurtful
practice. The Cherokee Task Force has only recently changed their tune to say they are
only fighting “Cherokee groups”. Prior to this they were, and to be truthful still are,
attacking all state recognized tribes and state recognition processes.
In June of 2010 at the National Congress of American Indians meetings in South Dakota,
Cara showed up at the Federal Recognition Task Force meetings attempting to discredit
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people. The Lumbees and others basically showed her the door and called her on her lies.
When she attempted to tell them that she and the CNO are only against Cherokee groups,
a Lumbee leader pulled out documents showing that she was clearly against all state
tribes as she herself has said on many occasions. Her response was that she had said that
four years ago. So her logic is that she is free to create a monster, disparage people’s
identities, hurt others and then not have to be responsible for it in the end? My own
MOWA Choctaw community members were at this meeting when it occurred. One of
them has a MOWA Choctaw parent and a Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma parent. She
found Cara’s comments highly insulting. When Cara attempted to show a video that was
produced by the CNO disparaging tribes, she was voted down and the video never shown.
People, in massive numbers, are beginning to see her for the person she is in regards to
this issue.
In the article she wrote that mentioned me in the Cherokee Phoenix, Cara just keeps
changing her story. She claims to be gone from the Cherokee Task Force, but there she is
in South Dakota at NCAI still preaching the same hateful message. She is not gone from
the Task Force or from this issue of federal recognition and identity. Her article
responding to this book will be proof positive of this. She misleads people by listing
infractions committed by individuals or “tribes” who are not affiliated with state
recognized tribes in her postings. She neglects to remind people that the white
population of CNO citizens (200,000+ of less than 1/8 Cherokee blood with numbers
dropping into the 1/4,000+ range) is nearly as large as the entire population of all 50+
state recognized tribes in the country combined. Lumping everyone into one group is
called lying through omission. It is clear by the comments expressed by many
concerning articles written by or concerning Cowan-Watts that her sphere of influence is
shrinking rapidly. The Lumbee tribe, who her group feels are fakes and “playing
Cherokee”, will be receiving recognition soon due to support from both the Bureau of
Indian Affairs and President Barack Obama, unless the CNO pulls off another one.
Which is highly possible. There is a simple way to bring all of this nonsense to an end,
which I have proposed prior to all of this. At the invite of the CNO leadership I will
simply bring down the leaders and elders of ten state recognized tribes (6 in Virginia, 1 in
Alabama, 1 in Delaware, 1 in Louisiana and 1 in Connecticut) and the CNO Task Force
and some of the leadership can speak with them directly and tell them that they are
wannabes. Of course the CNO would have to substantiate all they say and deal with the
reality that they would be talking directly to members of state-recognized tribes who
attended mission and federal boarding schools exclusive to Indians such as Haskell in
Lawrence, Kansas, Bacone in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Cherokee Boarding School in
Cherokee, North Carolina, etc. I relish the day the Task Force and certain members of
the CNO leadership have the guts to do such a thing. The saddest part of all of this is that
I am sure the Cherokee Task Farce began all of this with the best of intentions. Instead of
admitting where they were wrong along the way as more information became available,
they simply dug in deeper and continued their rhetoric. In the end nothing good is going
to come of this back and forth, never ending discussion. Hard feelings and anger will be
the only result. As a person who never once instigated any of this confrontation, I will
continue to respond, critique and engage in repelling any attacks that are merit less in
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their presentation which are placed against my tribal people, my family, myself or any
state-recognized tribal communities. Attempting to turn me into a fraud in order to
discredit the reality of my words is about as desperate as one can get. Social reality is the
only thing that matters in Indian Country. Are you accepted by your community and are
you involved within your community? That is the key question. Political Indian identity
ebbs and flows. Within the last four years over forty federally recognized tribal
communities across the United States have disenrolled their own tribal membership. In
other words, “Indian today, non-Indian tomorrow”. While these people’s political
identity has changed, the social reality of their lives has not. Federal tribes protect
themselves from any repercussions to these crimes by claiming sovereign immunity and
by loading their court systems with lawyers and prosecutors who are at the beckon call of
the standing tribal leadership. I would say that I am a person of diverse interests and
backgrounds. My upbringing within primarily black and Hispanic communities from
Miami to Key West, Florida is one I value and hold in high regard. My many years spent
living within Scottish and tribal communities are also held in similar fashion. It is
difficult for someone like Cowan-Watts to appreciate people who value all of themselves
instead of some fractional piece. With a whopping blood quantum of 1/256 and being
someone who was not raised at a traditional Cherokee ceremonial ground or church and
who was not even raised within the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Cowan-Watts is the
perfect example of a Johnny-Come-Lately white descendant who has parlayed a
romanticized history search into a position as power and identity broker on the Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma Council. Who you calling wannabe?
So when the Cara Cowan-Watts article was published in the Cherokee Phoenix, I
responded to the allowance of the printing of this article (when each statement was a
complete lie), by asking if I would be able to write an article in response to their
newspaper which they herald as a free and unbiased press. Something I should have
known better to believe when in my original article they omitted the factual blood
quantum designations I had placed next to the names of the offenders, as well as a name
of another offender. This was the response.
From: Travis-Snell@cherokee.org
To: highhilllanguage@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 08:17:17 -0500
Subject: response
You are more than welcome to respond to Cara’s column. Just remember that it should
follow Phoenix guidelines.
Travis Snell
Assistant Editor, Cherokee Phoenix
Cherokee Nation
P.O. Box 948
Tahlequah, OK 74465
(918) 453-5358
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These were the letters that I sent that same day.
Cherokee Phoenix Staff
July 1, 2009
Not surprised by the recent comments that were allowed to be printed by Cara CowanWatts, even though comments attesting to her history (which are provable and factual)
were not allowed to be printed in the article in the June edition. I am asking for your staff
to meet with me in Muskogee where you can view the following documentation, which
will completely refute each and every insinuation made by Cara. I will provide the
following to you:
1. Documentation of my name change as a teenager in Florida. Sports articles in the local
newspaper written about me as a youth attesting to my nickname of “Sunshine”,
“Sunnyray”, “Sunray”, etc.
2. Full documentation of Pawnee Nation court proceedings where I was prosecuted as an
Indian, documentation showing that I did not represent myself, but was represented by a
lawyer of a federally recognized tribe. Documentation showing that John Parris, an
original founding member of the Cherokee Task Force and Cherokee citizen was the
person who prosecuted me, as he now works for the Pawnee Nation, and made up
charges EIGHT MONTHS AFTER I HAD ENDED MY TERM WITH THE PAWNEE
NATION. (Note: I think it was five or six months so I was mistaken on this) Proof that
the presiding judge in the case was a Cherokee citizen. Proof that one of the four
Supreme Court justices hearing any appeals was a Cherokee citizen. Proof that members
of federally recognized tribes in Canada and state recognized tribes in the U.S. cannot
legally be prosecuted in U.S. federal Indian courts, etc. I did not make up the rules.
Proof that this entire court case was a set up by Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma citizenry
who detest me. Proof that the case was completely merit less and that supposed dates of
my "infractions" were routinely changed during the course of the case when no evidence
could support such things occurring. Testimonies from witnesses showing that they had
never felt threatened by me even though the powers that be said they were victims, etc.
3. Proof that I have never “played Cherokee”. This will include articles in books,
magazines and newspapers for a decade which show clearly that I am enrolled member of
the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians. Even your own newspaper has two articles about
me where I state that I am enrolled member of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, so
you know better than to take Cara’s advice.
4. Proof including copies of enrollment, etc. that I “do not claim ‘heritage to so-called
tribal communities’, but that I am actually an enrolled member.
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5. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I will provide documentation as well as any contacts
you need to verify my enrollment, ancestry, job performance evaluations at the
“unsuspecting tribes” who employ me, etc.
6. I will provide documentation attesting to the social reality of the MOWA Choctaw
community as well as generations of documentation attesting to the attendance of the
tribe at ALL INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS. Of course, you already have some of
that documentation since you have visited the www.helphaskell.com website.
7. I will also provide documentation, transcripts, letters unrelated to the article to refute
claims by Cara Cowan-Watts that I do not possess a Master’s Degree in Tribal Language.
8. I will present a letter of certification from the CHEROKEE NATION OF
OKLAHOMA attesting to my competency in the Cherokee language and their support of
me teaching the language at Tahlequah High School.
9. I am sure there are many other things I am forgetting here, so I will just bring that
documentation along when I meet with you or at your request.
All I ask is this. As a FREE PRESS I am sure you will meet with me and view all the
documentation which clearly refutes each and every statement made by Cara CowanWatts and you will run a retraction in the August edition of the paper. I had already
contacted you prior concerning any proposed statements made by Cara Cowan-Watts and
that I would refute them prior to going to press. You knew you could contact me to do
so, but you chose not to. I am sure this had as much to do with time constraints, other
responsibilities, the need to insure a full rebuttal from Cara, etc. I live in the real world so
I know these are legitimate considerations. You edited my article to not discuss the
backgrounds of the individuals involved even though what I mentioned about them (their
blood quantums) is a provable fact, so I am unclear as to the Phoenix guidelines and I do
not write the following sarcastically. Do Cherokee citizens get to disparage nonCherokee citizens backgrounds in the paper (even though what they print is pure fantasy),
but their backgrounds can’t be disparaged? You edited out my background concerning
the www.helphaskell.com website, which made it impossible for people to view my full
background and see the very people who Cara has been attacking. Will this be edited out
again in a future rebuttal? It is my hope that you have this meeting with me and view the
facts and not Cara’s never-ending crusades to discredit everyone who disagrees with her
and her constant writings claiming that she is the victim. I can also bring along with me
people who have known me long before “moving to Tahlequah” and who can attest to
who I am as a person and my racial background. These individuals are all members of
federal tribes. Please contact me at 405-395-4522 or at this email. My wife feels that it
was the best article ever written about me, because as she says “Only opinions by
credible people hold merit, while opinions expressed by liars only serve to assist the
position of the person who is being attacked.” Hope to hear from you. Let’s end the lies
once and for all through an unaltered reading of the facts.
Thanks,
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Cedric Sunray
Realizing I forgot a few things, I then sent this:
We also forgot...if you would like to view some real "non-federal" indian communities
who attended federal Indian boarding schools for many generations prior to members of
the "task force" ever even knowing they were part Indian, just go to
www.helphaskell.com. Our bios are on there as well. If you need copies of our tribal
enrollments, just give us a call. Last time we checked, members of the 'task force' said
we weren't even enrolled, had no college degrees and that Cedric was from a wannabe
tribe in Georgia. I think the only time we have ever been to Georgia was driving through
it on I-95. In other words, people should be able to substantiate their claims when they
discredit others. As a newspaper staff, I am sure you make sure that all facts check out
before you put them in an article. We believe, however, that ommissions should also be
considered lies. And in this article there were a ton of ommissions to say the least.
Please put a disclaimer on all members of the task force when they appear in your
newspaper. It should state their blood quantum, the state and town in which they were
raised, when they enrolled with the CNO, etc. Give people the full picture. Writing
"Cherokee Nation Councilor", "Cherokee Nation Supreme Court Justice", etc. gives the
impression that the person is a culturally raised, identifiable, Cherokee Indian. Or at least
this is how it is perceived by many who are not familiar with these individuals. We
appreciate your consideration and are looking forward to hearing from you. Cedric &
Randi Sunray
We may have sent this, but I can’t remember and haven’t checked our emails on this one.
“The Cherokee Phoenix is saying that parents affected declined to comment about this
issue. As parents whose daughter attended the Cherokee Immersion School, whose
daughter's pictures were routinely used to promote the school in print media such as the
Cherokee Phoenix, whose daughter spoke and sang at numerous Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma community events, whose daughter could speak Cherokee better than any of
these individuals who are attempting to throw these children out, whose daughter has
more Indian blood than all those attempting to throw these children out x ten, etc. etc.,
and whose daughter, such cowards even attempted to throw out years ago
(unsuccessfully), we would love to speak to this issue with the Cherokee Phoenix. 1/256
by blood white folks who can't speak Cherokee and who were not raised within an Indian
community should not be engaging this issue. The children affected by this utterly
senseless legislation are ten times the Cherokee Indian these frauds will ever be. If
people like Cara Cowan-Watts, Troy Wayne Poteete, Terri Rhodes, etc. are looking for
frauds, all they need to do is look in their wallets and take a look at the fractions on their
CDIBs. Hurting children for political reasons? What a joke. The Drowning Bear family
has been at the school from the beginning and have been a wonderful and committed
family to the school and Tahlequah community. If you want to write an article call it
what it is, pure and simple jealousy on the part of some "never weres". Our phone
number is 405-395-4522. Our address is 1615 N. Union Ave. Shawnee, OK 74804. 40
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million in stimulus funds, 300 million a year, casinos dotted across Northeastern
Oklahoma, but the CNO is concerned about these "4-5 kids". Let us all not be ridiculous.
This has nothing to do with money or "truth in advertising". If we were talking about
truth in advertising then 1/256 white folks wouldn't be able to run around acting like
"Super Indians". We hope to hear from you all, but at the same time, when it comes to
the CNO we have learned not to hold our breath. Cedric & Randi Sunray”
The Editor ended up denying the approval to write a response article that was already
approved by the Assistant Editor. He said this was a personal issue between Cara and I.
How convenient. Of course, the Editor is Cara Cowan-Watts cousin.
There was more back and forth, but I am sure by now you have stopped reading all of
this.
The following letter was sent to the Cherokee Phoenix and to me from my cousin Rachel
Verret and was written by both she and her mom. It was never printed in the Cherokee
Phoenix, though to their credit, they did print other articles which placed Cara and her
Task Force in a negative light. That is why it is hard to be critical of the Cherokee
Phoenix. They did print my article, with some alterations, after all. And as a supposed
Free Press, of course, they have to deal with the political reality of their own community,
so how far can they really go? It is all about as complex as Cherokee identity.
“I read with amusement Cara Cowan-Watts article in the Cherokee Phoenix about my
nephew Cedric Sunray. Each and every comment was false. Cedric’s father Cris was
extremely proud of his Choctaw and Cherokee Indian heritage. Unfortunately for Cedric,
his father died when he was young and he was unable to learn much about this side of his
family until later in his teen years. His father took the name “Sunray” as his own and
names like “Sunshine”, “Sunnyray” and “Sunray” became Cedric’s nicknames while
growing up. He changed his legal name to Sunray as a teenager. How this has anything
to do with wanting to “become an Indian” is beyond me, but it seems a little more
obvious that Mrs. Watts is simply unable to refute the statements made by my nephew
and so she attempts to attack his identity. Maybe she should go ask Chief “Corntassel”
Smith, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne) or Bruce “Two Dogs”
Boszum (Mohegan tribe) about Indian names. Since they are all from federal tribes
maybe they could fill her in. Of course my nephew is only one of many that Mrs. Watts
attacks. The list is very long. As a fullblooded elder of a state recognized tribe in
Louisiana; the United Houma Nation I am well aware of Mrs. Watts and her funny little
group which includes the guy responsible for giving federal recognition to state tribes.
He too is a “Cherokee”. An regarding the Cherokees medling in everyone else’s affairs I
would like to point out the glaring thing Mrs. Watts left out of her remarks about my
nephew’s court case. The guy who instigated the charges on him was a founding member
of Cara Cowan-Watts little group. He serves as the Attorney General for the Pawnee
Nation and his name is John Parris. He too, like the one at the BIA, Lee Fleming, is a
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white Cherokee. And yes, I won’t say more, though there is much more to tell about this
nonsense. I hope people are starting to see a pattern. As someone who attended Indian
boarding schools for many years, I am extremely offended by her remarks and the deeds
of her and her group. They attack state recognition and state recognized tribes and yet we
have never seen their faces once in our communities. I have more Indian blood in my left
toe nail then these three individuals have combined in their whole bodies. What they
need to realize though, is that blood does not matter. It doesn’t matter how many legal
documents from a hundred years ago they can dig up, they will never be an Indian like
me. I have been discriminated against purely on the basis of how I look and I face the
day everyday as an Indian. I have been actively involved in my nephew’s life for ages. I
wish I could have been fully involved when he was a little kid, but distance and the
expense of travel made that impossible. To say he made up some sort of identity is so
ridiculous I am almost embarrassed to have to respond to this garbage. Unlike Mrs.
Watts who is fixated on some very small piece of her ancestry, my nephew is someone
who stands up for all sorts of people whether they be black, white, Indian or of another
nationality. He cares about all parts of his history and he loves language no matter what
the language is. I guess attempting to turn a person who is enrolled with a state
recognized tribe and federal recognized tribe into a “wannabe” is the only way Mrs.
Watts can have people not hear the message. Mrs. Watts has severely disrespected the
life of Cedric’s mother in her statements, but I believe Cedric’s sister will be responding
to that so I will leave that alone as well. The state recognized tribe his father’s family is
from is the Mowa Choctaw in Alabama. They are an Indian tribe to say the very least. I
understand Mrs. Watt’s group says that they are black Cajuns whatever that means.
Cajuns are from Louisiana Mrs. Watts, not Alabama. I should know, I was born and
raised in Louisiana. Houma Indians down here have real issues like recovering from
Hurricanes and feeding our families while people like you have time to run around
making fun of others. Very sad. Of course there are fake tribes out there, but you have to
be real careful about who you put in that barrel. I saw that my tribe is on her website as
well as fake.. I sure wasn’t a “fake” when they sent me to Indian boarding school! I am
proud of my nephew’s work in all the communities he has been involved with and I am
proud to say that our families adopted one another many, many years ago. He is a
testament to his father for carrying on this work against those who would seek to hurt
others. I know from first hand experience that his father Cris is looking down on him
proud of the work he does to assist the “underdogs”. If we would spend more time taking
care of one another things would be much better for all Indian people.
Morning Dove Verret-Hopkins with assistance from my daughter Rachel
TenderheartVerret
United Houma Nation Gretna, Louisiana”
Mrs. Cowan-Watt’s unwillingness to respond to my article concerning what the article
was actually written about is typical of people attempting to kill the message, by
attacking the messenger. And it is not that I don’t feel there are fake groups out there. I
have no argument with that. At the Sovereignty Symposium in June of 2009, I even
remarked that I concur to what their group is saying concerning, non-state recognized
“tribes” who have recently formed and are making claims in order to attempt fraud. Who
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would disagree with that? But back to the article I wrote, which spoke directly to funding
allocations in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. The logic behind their reasoning is way
off and in regards to money, the following article should be of great concern to any
taxpayer. Cara Cowan-Watts is basically begging all people enrolled with the Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma, no matter how small there amount of blood, to claim Indian on the
Census in order to provide more funding to their tribe. If you need to encourage someone
to claim Indian, are they really Indian?
CHEROKEE CHAT — 2010 U.S. Census
By Cara Cowan-Watts, Cherokee Nation Tribal Councilor District 7, Will Rogers
CLAREMORE DAILY PROGRESS
June 16, 2009 —
The 2010 US Census has already begun. The Federal government is seeking Cherokee
citizens and others conduct the Census. In addition, we need to make sure our Indian
families are informed about the implications of the Census.
Census data is used to determine the distribution of Congressional seats to States, define
legislature districts, school district assignment areas and other important functional areas
of government. In addition, the data is used to make decisions about what community
services to provide for the folks such as the elderly, where to build new roads and
schools, where to locate job training centers and many other Federally-funded programs.
Data can affect public health and education programs, as well.
Based on my understanding of the Census, I am asking all Cherokee Nation citizens to
list themselves as ‘Cherokee Nation.’ If you are married to a non-Cherokee and you live
in the Cherokee Nation, the Cherokee citizen should list themselves as head of the
household. If you are more than one ethnicity, claim only Cherokee Nation.
For example, a mixed-blood Cherokee woman is married to a non-Indian with four
children in the household. The Cherokee woman lists herself as head of household and
‘Cherokee Nation,’ only. The husband is listed as his ethnicity and the children listed as
‘Cherokee Nation,’ only. The Census would then count the entire household of six as
Cherokee, Cherokee Nation citizens.
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Otherwise, the entire household can be listed as non-Cherokee when the data is analyzed
or made to be not Indian enough if listed as mixed-blood. To me, you are either a
Cherokee citizen or you are not. We do not fund partial Cherokees.
By ensuring all of our citizens are properly counted as Cherokee Nation citizens, we
bring more money to Rogers County and Oklahoma. The Tribe needs you to stand up and
be counted. When the Census comes to your door, please take time to be counted. If you
or your family benefit from Tribal programs, Census data makes the continuation of those
programs possible….. (end of article)
But Cara Cowan-Watts and her group need the extra money so they can fly around the
country preaching a false doctrine to “unsuspecting” people. I believe that is what she
said about me, that I was working for “unsuspecting” tribes. Because of course, she must
regard the tribes as children who are unable, without the assistance of her group, to hire
their own employees. That smacks of so much paternalism that it is sickening.
CONFERENCE
Native Identity in the 21st Century
Saturday, February 7, 2009
1–5:15 p.m.
Diker Pavilion, George Gustav Heye Center
National Museum of the American Indian, New York
Join us for a day of discussion and examination of Native Identity.
Topics include New Definitions of Indianness and Urban Calling–Where Art and Native
Identity Meet.
Keynote address by award-winning author David Treuer (Ojibwa), University of
Minnesota. Participants include Cara Cowan Watts (Cherokee), Cherokee Tribal
Council of Oklahoma; Randy Reinholz (Choctaw), San Diego State University and the
Autry Museum; artist, Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band Choctaw/Cherokee); Charlene
Teters (Spokane), activist and professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts; and a
dramatic monologue from Tales of an Urban Indian by author/actor Darrell Dennis
(Shuswap Nation). Moderators: NYU Silver Professor Karen Kupperman and NYU Asst.
Professor Noelle Stout (Cherokee).
Presented in collaboration with the Native People’s Forum
at New York University and The Public Theater.
I called the presenters of this conference prior to her arrival and they explained to me that
she was a fill in for someone who had cancelled and that they were aware of the
controversy she has generated and that she was of very little Indian ancestry herself.
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In response to a website my wife had found on the net called “State Tribal Advocacy
Group”, which we forwarded to our list serves, we received the following email from
Cara.
Cara Cowan-Watts (cara@caracowan.com)
RE: non-recognized tribes
Wednesday 1/28/09
“State Groups are illegitimate and improper….” It included some court cases and state
decisions concerning federal and state recognition. She had attempted by then to say that
her protest was only with Cherokee groups as the Haskell Endangered Legacy Project
website had clearly shown people that there were identifiable, Indian boarding school
attending Indian communities out there who were not federally recognized. This email
showed clearly that her mind had not changed.
As the email was not only sent to us, but to numerous people from our list serve, my wife
and I decided to co-draft a response or more accurately, a disclaimer so that people would
know who had sent them the e-mail so that they could make a more informed decision as
to her contribution.
“The individual who you received the email from attacking state recognized tribes is Cara
Cowan-Watts. We will need to provide a disclaimer for her at this time. This disclaimer
will create a great war of words, rhetoric and disrespect. Unfortunately, that is the day
we live in and the reality we all face.
Cara Cowan-Watts is an elected council member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
Mrs. Cowan-Watts believes that Indian identity is based on enrollment with a federally
recognized tribe. She formulates this belief on associations with the federal government
and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. If you go to www.helphaskell.com, you will see that
even when state recognized tribes have attended federal Indian boarding schools run by
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Cara still disrespects these elders with her words. Cara is
1/256 Cherokee by blood. She has publicly admitted this in Muskogee, Oklahoma after
being questioned in Tulsa. She claims that her father is an "undocumented"
Choctaw/Cherokee on her own website. This, of course, is irrational, as she believes that
people who do not belong to federal tribes are not Indian. The Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma, Cara's tribe, has nearly 300,000 enrolled members. Of these 85% are less
than 1/4 Cherokee By Blood. Many are in the 1/256, 1/512, 1,024 range and their blood
quantums even drop as low as 1/4,096. Too many reading this email, this will sound
unbelievable, but it is true. This means that the amount of non-Indians in this tribe
exceeds the entire population of all state recognized Cherokee tribes that she continually
attempts to discredit (along with other non-Cherokee state recognized tribes; proof of this
is on the website she forwarded to you all which lists these non-Cherokee tribes as well.)
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We both lived in Tahlequah, Oklahoma for nearly two years and our daughter attended
the Cherokee Nation Immersion School. Randi worked for the Cherokee Nation Health
Department and Cedric taught Cherokee Language at Tahlequah High School. We are
both enrolled members of federally recognized tribes. For more information on our
background please go to www.helphaskell.com and click on the "Project Coordinators"
and "Background" sections. You will see our histories, photos of our family etc. While
living in Tahlequah, Cedric purposefully neglected to mention that he was enrolled
member of a federal tribe and only mentioned that he was enrolled with the MOWA
Band of Choctaw Indians (a state recognized tribe). You can also link to their history off
the website. He was able to get the real story this way about the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma and their intent to disrupt the lives of "non-federal" tribes. While working
there we encountered any number of people who were white, but told us they had a
"Cherokee card". One of Cedric's former students came to his office, while he was
teaching at Bacone College and asked him if he could help him with an "Indian
Scholarship". He asked the young man if he was Indian, to which the young man replied
"No, but I have a Cherokee card." He then pulled out his CDIB and showed his 1/128
blood quantum. We have more stories like this than we can count. Cedric became the
brunt of attacks after we supported the Cherokee Freedmen, who Cara Cowan-Watts, was
a main instigator in having removed from the tribe. She says it is not about race, but if
you know the racial and political climate of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma then you
will know different. Many of the individuals who started the "Cherokee Task Force"
website are questionable as well. Troy Wayne Poteete is 1/32 Cherokee. Terri Rhodes is a
former enrolled member of the Cherokees of Northeast Alabama, sat on the Tennessee
Indian Affairs Commission and attempted prior to this to get the state of Pennsylvania
(her home state) to state that she and her brother are Indian through a lawsuit. She claims
in this suit that her family suppressed their Indian identity for fear of being sent to
boarding school. A reality, our website illustrates plainly, that 170 members of these
eight state recognized tribes endured. Some being sent as early as the age of 13, 7001,300 miles away from home. Lee Fleming, the Director of the Office of Federal
Acknowledgment, who is charged with making the call for the BIA on who is and who is
not Indian is a sympathizer of this group. He has continually railed against "non-federal"
tribes. Mr. Fleming was raised in Maryland and did not take on any significant Indian
identity until moving to Tahlequah, Oklahoma to attend college. He is idenitifiable as
white. He claims to be 15/32 Cherokee, but others have told us he is 1/32. Either way is
fine with us, as his deeds are what define him, not his blood quantum. He said in 2005
that the attendance of the 170 state-recognized community members at federal Indian
boarding schools was a "mistake". What all of these hold in common is that they were not
raised in the traditional Cherokee communities of Oklahoma, do not speak Cherokee and
did not grow up attending Cherokee ceremonial stomp grounds or churches. They came
into their claimed identity later in life and hey, all the power to them. No problem, there
is nothing wrong with that. The lone, close to fullblood in their "Cherokee Task Force",
is the brown face of their organization. There are others who started this "Cherokee Task
Force" that we don't have time to mention. If you would like any information verifying
these things, please email us or call us and we will provide you with the documentation
or get you in touch with those who can. In the end we can only say this. Indian identity
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is based on community, not having some distant ancestor on an ancient tribal roll. Cedric
was raised far from the Indian community in the Florida Keys. He does not attempt to be
a historical revisionist like members of the "Cherokee Task Force" when they lie through
omission and lead people to believe that they were raised in Cherokee communities or are
the "authentic" voice of the Cherokee people. They have their own enemies within their
own community to be concerned with. In fact, Cedric not mentioning that he is an
enrolled member of a federal tribe placed his credibility and employment at risk in the
areas we have lived in Oklahoma. It wasn't until members of the "Cherokee Task Force"
thorougly researched his background in hopes of discrediting him, that they found this
out. Randi is an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and was raised
primarily in the city of Moore, Oklahoma. Cara Cowan-Watts has recently attempted to
change the rules of AISES (American Indian Science and Engineering Society) to
exclude anyone who is not a member of a federally recognized tribe. John Herrington,
the Chickasaw citizen and former NASA astronaut, has gone against her in this fight.
What you will notice about people who are "fanatical" (as one of your responded to us
about her response to the email) is that they live off of a failed hypothesis. When the
www.helphaskell.com website came out, it made virtually everything the "Cherokee Task
Force" is preaching, null and void. Do we agree with Cara that there are some fake
organizations out there? Of course there are. Does sensationalizing these cases in a
website and then grouping every "non-federally" recognized tribe in with them make
sense? Of course not. This black and white philosophy of defining things is outrageous.
Should we believe that all federally recognized tribes are legitimate or that all the
membership of federally recognized tribes are legitimate? Of course not. Would you
label someone who is 1/256 Indian by blood an Indian? How about a person with this
much black blood? Would they then be considered black? Would the black community
accept them as black? Let’s be serious. In all honesty these things don't really matter.
What matters, is that people with little Indian ancestry should not be leading the charge
against the racial identity of others. People from tribes whose majority of
citizens are socially and physically identifiable as white should not be leading this
"charge". I guess their theory is that if they yell loud enough no one will take a look at
them. It is embarassing to Indian Country. We have sent some heated letters to these
individuals in the past, which they choose to ignore. These letters question their stance
on these matters. We certainly did not want to send out an email that brings these things
to light, but after years of listening to all this rhetoric, we guess it is time to jump in
with all four feet. The only thing "illegitimate" and "improper" about these series of
emails, is the disrespectful nature of Mrs. Cowan-Watts and her misguided beliefs. If
federal recognition and the political sovereignty it brings is the exclusive thing that
makes one an Indian, as per the definition expounded by Cara Cowan-Watts, then both of
us are Indian. But we feel that being Indian is much different than that designation. A
letter like this won't give members of the "Cherokee Task Force" pause to think and
rationalize, but will only make them more and more angry. And so is life. Prepare for a
series of emails attempting to discredit us, but remember that we have always put our
lives and realities up front. Again, check the website or any articles Cedric has written
from the late 1990's until the present. For those who have been burdened by her words or
ours, we apologize for you having to be involved in this discussion. All we did was
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forward an email link about state recognized tribes and received a difficult response.
Unfortunately for Cara, many of the people she replied to have not been very happy about
her response. Of course she will always have her minority of fans to tell her that she is
right and to keep going. That is the difference, as we always say, between social realities
and legal fictions. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma hands out CDIB cards like candy.
A card can't make you an Indian. If you ever want to speak with any of us you can
always call us at 405-395-4522. Our address at home is 1615 N. Union Ave. Shawnee,
OK 74804. We are supposed to treat people with kindness and respect. The Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma has its own problems to worry about which have nothing to do with
"state" and "federal" recognition. Despite the bright lights of the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma's numerous casinos there are Cherokee communities facing issues of poverty,
lack of adequate housing, cultural loss, etc. If we were elected members of our tribal
council we would be tackling what is impacting our community and not being burdened
by things that are truly not relevant. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma receives nearly
300 million dollars a year from the feds. As a taxpayer, do you want to be paying for
Indian Health Service bills, college tuition costs, etc. for people with virtually no Indian
ancestry and who for the most part rarely claim to even be Indian except when it
financially benefits them. We will assist in paying the bill for the 50,000 legitimate
Cherokees in the Nation, but we don't feel responsible for the other 250,000. We don't
see state-recognized tribes bringing in 300 million a year from the feds. And as far as the
constant insinuation that people who have italicized Indian names should be considered
fakes is concerned....we thought their Chief was Chad "Corntassel" Smith, or did they
forget. We also have ten federally recognized tribes documentation in our filing cabinet
whose leaders sport such names. Cedric's dad legally changed their family name from
Ray to Sunray back in the day. So. This means what? The government changed Randi's
father's Ponca family name from Gives Water to Waters. So. This means what? So
with the large body of evidence refuting the constant insinuations of the "Cherokee Task
Force", why do people still listen to them? You all are educated people and will do the
necessary research to form an opinion. We are just offering the other side of the story
that state-recognized tribes do not have the millions of taxpayer dollars to get out there.
Oh yeah, we almost forgot, the "Cherokee Task Force" is made up of volunteers (as they
claim on their website). Don't make us laugh, on company time, you can see numerous
of the "Task Force" members speaking at conferences and seminars and the Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma even had people hired full-time to fight "non-federal" tribes or
anyone else who they felt was a threat to their sovereignty. Cara and Troy even called
Rogers State University where Cedric was employed as an adjunct instructor, and told
them that he should be removed from his job because he belonged to some "wannabe
tribe in Georgia". If someone is going to call and make such accusations at least get the
state of the tribal community correct. Of course the Rogers State administration laughed
at this and Cedric retained his job. The "Task Force" also attempted to have our daughter
removed from the Cherokee Nation Immersion School. Imagine removing a four year
old from a school over politics. There is dirty and then... When confronted, as usual,
they go silent, hang up phones, or leave. When they get called out they then start making
up things. Can't wait to hear their response. Take Care, Randi & Cedric”
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And Cara Cowan hates the MOWA Choctaw because one of her best friends was done
wrong by a MOWA Choctaw guy as she explained to me at a tribal council meeting
many years ago. Love is a battlefield, is what I hear.
In this email we mentioned Terri Rhoades (Ellenwood). We talked one evening and she
told me, like Cara, that she was no longer a part of the Task Force. Unfortunately,
whether this is true or not, she also helped create the monster and sadly, she has no leg to
stand on whatsoever. She is probably the worst case scenario of a no history member of a
federal tribe hurting other’s identities. This was written about Terri after she came out in
the press as founding member of the Cherokee Task Force. I would love to meet the
author of this piece as well. I also have a lengthy court case where she tries to have her
white identity legally changed in a Pennsylvania court, but how much more can we take.
Just Google her name and it will come up anyway. You won’t believe the following
email:
From: "Donna" < gringa@centurytel.net>
Subject: Re: [I-T-Roots] some history behind the "News Item"
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 13:31:54 -0500
References: <45AAFD11.9090903@cherokee.net><8C906D326CE6408-14B09FF5@mblk-d51.sysops.aol.com>
Teri Rhoades, Youth Business Loan Center councilor
about 15 to 20 years ago, Teri didn't even know she was Indian, never mind knowing
anything about Indians.
"I don't think anyone (on the task force) has an objection to someone having a Cherokee
heritage club and not trying to be a tribe or nation," Rhoades said. "A large part of our
objection comes from when you pretend to be an Indian tribe or nation and lay claims to
treaties you have no right to. That's just wrong."
but it was okay for Teri to do it through the Cherokee Tribe of North east Alabama.
Rhoades said there are more than 200 bogus Cherokee tribes.
One of the "more than 200 bogus Cherokee tribes" is one Teri used to belong to in
Alabama, just a couple years back!
"A lot of people use that (state recognition) as a stepping stone, ..." Rhoades said.
Teri asked me for a list of state-recognized groups to join; the easiest one to join was the
Cherokee Tribe of North East Alabama (CTNEAL), which is the one she joined. Previous
to this, she claimed to have all her documents in order to get a CDIB but felt she didn't
need or want one. She then used her State membership in the CTNEAL to apply for the
position of Commissioner on Tennessee's Commission of Indian Affairs. After a couple
of years with CTNEAL, she claims she was then advised to apply for CNO membership
by the CTNEAL genealogist - probably with the idea that Teri could help CTNEAL
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achieve federal recognition or, at the very least, help CNO see the CTNEAL as legitimate
group. This, after saying she already had all her documents in order for a CDIB ??!! How
is one able to enroll with the CNO and have no parents, grandparents, g-grandparents, gg-grandparents, g-g-g-grandparents, etc. previously enrolled?
Rhoades said Alabama's state recognized tribes have received federal education, health
and housing funds as well as the right to sell arts and crafts as authentic Indian art.
And Teri should know, going from selling Dead-Head items to more Indian-styled items
with legitimacy through her membership with the CTNEAL.
Rhoades said she knows a woman belonging to a fraudulent group who became a
member of the Tennessee Indian Commission but didn't know what IHS (Indian Health
Service) meant.
This was probably Teri, herself, before she knew much about Indians.
Once admitted into the groups, members usually get membership cards, bogus "Certified
Degree of Indian Blood" cards and genealogy certificates "proving" they are eligible for
membership.
Teri admits the CTNEAL genealogist advised her to apply for membership with the CNO
and undoubtedly, Teri had the above-mentioned documents. She had said she had a reallooking CDIB card from a group in OK also, which may or may not have helped provide
"proof" of legitimacy for membership. All of the above is what Teri used to gain a seat on
the TN Commission of Indian Affairs. Her claims to being an attorney helped also,
although she didn't have a valid license at the time. Having a full-blood, enrolled Nez
Perce husband to 'hang her hat on' didn't hurt her agenda either.
The Pennsylvania court case where Teri petitioned the court to ammend her birth
certificate to show she's indian using photos of her brother and her children:
http://www.courts.state.pa.us/OpPosting/CWealth/out/1078CD00.pdf
"Becoming a Cherokee in a certain region affords them a status that they didn't have,"
Allen said. "The county commissioner might start visiting with them as Cherokees. The
state legislator might acknowledge them as a tribe or as leaders of a tribe. For some, it's
status, taking on an identity that they did not have."
Such as Teri has managed to achieve.
"People who want to claim Cherokee heritage, who have legitimate claim to it, usually
don't act in the manner as wannabes. It's those who put on feathers and act like an Indian
tribe are the ones we have problems with."
Like Teri did with her children at powwows here in TN.
Teri made a LOT of enemies in Tennessee and is not welcome. Unfortunately, for as
much as I honestly believe / feel she forged her genealogy documents, I sincerely doubt
anyone in the CNO would be willing to seriously investigate them. I also firmly believe
that as the folks in Tennessee came to know her for what she is, so will the folks in the
CNO who've placed their trust in her. One local woman wrote:
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Teri Rhoades-Ellenwood gave to people in Tennessee in massive quanties: Lies, using
people for personal gain, backstabbing, betrayal, conning/duping people out of money,
goods, and labor, misleading people only to leave them holding the bag, scorn, ridicule,
abandoning people she had sworn to support and assist ... This list could go on forever.
Other comments about Teri's previous activities and her current alliance with the CNO:
I wonder if she remembered to tell her task force buddies about the time when she found
it acceptable to be a member of a (cover your eyes children) STATE RECOGNIZED
TRIBE.
She was once in collusion (as a commissioner with the TN Commission of Indian
Affairs!) with one of those imposter groups to help them achieve state recognition.
The CNO probably doesn't care whether or not Teri has her "bonifides" in order, as long
as she is serving what they perceive as a "need." She is using them & they are using her.
Conscience plays no part in this marriage.
For many of us, the inclusion of Teri as someone who's supposed to be speaking "with
authority" makes the rest of the article and reasoning given for the 'hunting' of "bogus
tribes", suspect in the highest degree. A sad commentary, indeed.
Donna
Terri used to be married to a fullblood Nez Perce. Her children are from that marriage.
Her former enrollment with the Cherokees of Northeast Alabama just makes anything she
says regarding attacking people’s identity and state recognition simply and utterly not
worth even considering. No matter how long she is a CNO member she will always be a
former enrolled tribal member of the Cherokees of Northeast Alabama. That is her
reality.
Aside from all this mess, is the worst scenario of all. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
has permanently stained itself as the most racist tribal organization in the nation. There is
no return from this. Dispossessing black tribal citizens is something that puts the tribe
back sixty years in terms of sophistication, tolerance, moderation and self-respect. This
was an older article I wrote about this situation. I have included some of its contents.
“FINDING FEATHERS IN YOUR FRO” A view from inside the Cherokee Freedmen
situation
“There will never be any just resolution in this matter. The stakes have become too high.
Everyone, including myself, will stand guard of their positions and continue to rail
against one another in the press, public forums and throughout our communities. We all
have friends or relatives on either side of the issue. We are all obligated. There will be
no peace and there will always be an opinion or fact that is challenged or refuted with
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another opinion or fact. There is no taking the “higher road” or “being the bigger man”
in racial struggles. There is no way out for anyone who has engaged in the
conversation…
The Chief of my community, wrote a letter to the Cherokee Nation Council and
Administration on September 8, 2006 which stated, “I was educated at Bacone College
many years ago. I count numerous Cherokees as friends from my time spent there. Upon
more recent visits, individuals that I had known as white while living in Oklahoma have
suddenly become ‘Cherokee’. These individuals seem to be in the majority amongst your
tribal enrollment. Our people on the other hand, are not white, and have never been
white. We have experienced extreme prejudice here in Alabama due to our marginal
position in southern society. This bigotry and racism brought against our people
continues to this day. This is something the majority of your population has never
encountered”….
And no, it didn’t stop there. Vice-Chairman Michael Dardar of the United Houma Nation
in Louisiana also sent a letter to the Cherokee Nation Council and Administration in
September 2006 which stated, “I see these guys all the time in their suits and ties, looking
and sounding like all the other right-wing political hacks out there. Having grown up in
the bayou country of Louisiana I’ve learned that if it flies, swims and quacks like a duck
it usually is one. I’ve grown really tired of these ‘experts’ exclaiming the importance of
their federally-recognized indianess and pushing an agenda that runs counter to genuine
indigenous sovereignty and self-determination.”…
And the insinuation that the Freedmen will soak up the federal dollars is crazy when
everyone living in Tahlequah has seen numerous ‘recruitment drives’ for members placed
in the local newspaper and witnessed the CNO fighting to keep the Delawares attached to
their tribal roll when they were seeking to exercise their own sovereignty and remove
themselves permanently….
If you were to live here in Oklahoma you would know that none of this issue surrounding
the Freedmen has anything to do with sovereignty, treaty rights, federal statutes, Dawes
Rolls, Civil Rights or any other theoretical or lofty federal construct. It is simply about
race. You feel it on the streets here. You can sense the tension in the tribal council
meetings. Everyone knows that many of the Freedmen are of Cherokee ancestry. But the
problem is they have afros too. The final vote to remove them from the tribal rolls wasn’t
an overwhelming majority as Chief Chad Smith would have anyone believe. It was
simply an example of what happens when an Indian tribe lays voter registration cards in
the hands of white tribal citizens who are of little Indian ancestry. Sure, a few full-bloods
voted against them too. Big deal. Only about 2-3% of the tribal enrollment even took the
time to cast a ballot. “The Cherokee people have spoken”, as so widely reported, is
hardly the case. If anyone wants to hear the Cherokee people speak they need to go down
to their ceremonial grounds, Indian churches or over to their immersion school. There
you will hear the Cherokee speak. What we are hearing is simple rhetoric and talking in
circles from a select few tribal councilors and administrators at the Cherokee Nation of
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Oklahoma. When a recent email was floated around Oklahoma and forwarded by a
Cherokee councilor describing Marilyn Vann, the president of a large Freedmen
organization, as a terrorist, I knew that any rational thought had completely left the
building.
Remember, Oklahoma is a rural, conservative and at times, racially divided state. A
place where white folks uncovering long lost Indian ancestors and then attaching
themselves to Indian rolls is acceptable and “finding feathers in your fro”, simply is not.
Another article…
CHEROKEE FREEDMEN & THE STORY OF JIM
Sometimes we become lost in legalities and lose sight of realities. In the 1960’s my
people, the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians lives straddled two Alabama counties
facing the Mississippi state line. We were barred access to the black and white schools in
the rural South. We had encountered Jim.
Our family members returning from the World Wars and Korea were unable to join the
American Legion upon their return. Jim barred their entrance.
In 1965 integration became an act of national law, but legalities sometimes lose sight of
realities. It took a few more years, but eventually Jim went into semi-retirement.
It seems over 40 years later he has resurfaced in Northeastern Oklahoma. You see, Jim is
a trickster and he is telling lies again. He plays off the voice of the uneducated and
commands strength through fear, while his own greatest fear is truth.
An educated person understands oppression and works towards its erasure. An educated
person shows kindness to those who have been mistreated. An educated person
recognizes long held historical relationships and doesn’t rewrite them in order to protect
their political positions and satisfy the racist ideology of a sometimes misguided public.
Jim Crow has landed firmly within the confines of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
And in her midst he has found friend and foe. One understands the loosely translated
spirit of cooperation which exists in the Cherokee term Gadugi. The other sweeps away
the footprints of their neighbor who walked along side them on the Trail of Tears.
The current legal issues surrounding the Freedmen situation can be difficult. The
following was taken of the internet, I apologize for not having a footnote.
Marilyn Vann, president of the Descendants Of Freedmen Of the Five Civilized Tribes
organization, and four Freedmen descendants filed a case with the United States Federal
Court over the Cherokee Nation’s disfranchisement of the Freedmen descendants. Efforts
by the Cherokee Nation to dismiss the federal case or move the case out of Washington
have been denied so far.
265
On December 19, 2006, Federal Judge Henry Kennedy ruled that the Freedmen
descendants could sue the Cherokee Nation for disfranchisement [58]. The Cherokee
Nation's administration appealed the decision on the grounds that as a sovereign nation,
the tribe is protected by sovereign immunity and cannot be sued. On July 29, 2008, the
Washington D.C. Circuit Court Of Appeals unanimously ruled that the Cherokee Nation
was protected by sovereign immunity and could not be listed as a defendant in the
lawsuit. However, it was also stated that the Cherokee Nation's officials were not
protected by the tribe's sovereign immunity and the Freedmen descendants could go
forward with a lawsuit against the tribe's officers. [59] The ruling means that the case will
go back to district court.
United States Court of Appeals decision, July 29, 2008
And hey, my friend Jenni Monet (Laguna Pueblo) who just shot the movie “Cherokee by
Blood”, (how did you like the trailer?) about the Cherokee Freedmen situation was
incredible. I loved how she caught Ketcher saying, “well you know how those black
people are.” That was classic.
So I figured I would finish up this chapter with a top ten list like my man David
Letterman’s. This is in honor of Chad and him as they both have something in common,
they cheat on their wives. Way to go boys!
TOP TEN REASONS THE “LEADERS” OF THE CHEROKEE NATION OF
OKLAHOMA ADMINISTRATION AND TASK FORCE ARE THE CLOWNS OF
INDIAN COUNTRY
10. Against gay marriage due to moral concerns, but fine with electing a chief with two
sets of children of nearly the same age with two different women.
9. Number 1 identity cop is 1/256 Indian by blood.
8. "Oppressed Indians" removing "oppressed former slaves."
7. The people kicking kids out of Indian language school can't speak Indian. Maybe they
want the spots for themselves.
6. Task Force's total blood quantum (minus Richard Allen) doesn't add up to one Indian.
5. Richard Allen took kids into sweat lodges and taught them about the four directions in
his former job and continues to wear a Kiowa gourd blanket and shaker at powwows, but
likes to speak about cultural appropriation. Oh yeah, and he also claims to be Navajo.
4. Lead councilor for the CNO gets multi-million dollar contract for a family member,
just shortly after having the law changed within the nation that prohibited such contracts
for family members of elected tribal leaders.
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3. CNO attacks state-recognized tribes who attended federal Indian boarding schools for
generations, but the majority of the currently enrolled CNO citizens didn't know what a
boarding school was until about ten years ago.
2. Chief “Corntassel” says we need to honor the decisions of the courts, but when the
Cherokee court said the Freedmen stay, he said we must hear the people! And the white
folks ran to the polls to vote them out.
1. My favorite: When a kid came into my college office and asked me if I could help
him get an Indian scholarship. Jokingly, I asked him if he was Indian and he said, "No,
but I got a Cherokee card." After which he promptly took out his CDIB and I think I had
to go to the Math department at the college to figure out the fraction.
ii
Interview with MOWA Choctaw Tribal Councilor and MOWA Choctaw Housing
Authority Chairman Verma Reed , 1/21/06
ii
Interview with MOWA Choctaw Tribal Councilor and MOWA Choctaw Housing
Authority Chairman Verma Reed, 1/21/06
ii
http://www.muwekma.org/history/tribe.html , 8/11/2005
ii
http://www.muwekma.org/history/tribe.html , 8/11/2005
ii
“The Bush-DeLay-Indian Casinos Campaign Money Laundering Operation: Wampum
‘til they’re dead” Laurence A. Toenjes, OpEdNews.com, 5/4/05
ii
“Mankiller: An original thinker with a warrior’s spirit” Wilma Mankiller; Indian
Country Today, 1/10/05
ii
May 2006 phone conversation with Office of Federal Acknowledgment Director Lee
Fleming
ii
Sequoyah Research Symposium : University of Arkansas at Little Rock November 1517, 2001
ii
Cherokee Nation website www.cherokee.org (language goals/charts)
ii
Cherokee Phoenix corrections piece, January 2006, p.10
ii
“Cherokee Nation denies working with
Abramoff”www.indianz.com/News/2006/011857.asp January 4, 2006
267
ii
Samford University genealogy seminar conversation including Lee Fleming, Sharon
Scholars Brown and Professor Don Rankin, June 1995
ii
“Inside the BIA according to Jack Abramoff” www.indianz.com , Wednesday,
November 23, 2005
ii
Invisible Indigenes: The Politics of Nonrecognition Bruce Granville Miller; University
of Nebraska Press, 2003, p.86
ii
Invisible Indigenes: The Politics of Nonrecognition Bruce Granville Miller; University
of Nebraska Press, 2003, p.132
268
CRACKERS IN OUR SOUP: LOBBYISTS
269
And let us not forget Michael Scanlon.
“Jack Abramoff received at least $21 million in tribal monies during the period April,
2001 to October, 2003, paid to him by Scanlon from the $66 million he had received
from the tribes. Abramoff is a major Bush supporter, listed on the website of Texans for
Political Justice (TPJ) as a Bush Pioneer in 2004. The Pioneers are scouts responsible for
bringing in at least $100,000 to the Bush war chest.” ii
In the same article Laurence Toenjes goes on to show,
“ Why was Mike Scanlon so interested in the successful candidacy of Bob Riley in
Alabama? In addition to the fact that Scanlon was an ex-press aide to Riley, it seems that
Riley’s opponent in the race, the incumbent Don Siegelman, was intent on opening up
Alabama to casino gambling. Since the Alabama border is only about an hour by car
from the Mississippi Choctaw tribe’s casino, this possibility posed a threat to the
Choctaw’s casino revenues, from which Scanlon was benefiting. Hence a victory for
Riley was a victory for Abramoff, Scanlon, and the Mississippi Choctaws.”ii
Riley received $600,000 to seal the deal and out endorse his opponent.ii
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has been found to have received $35,000
from the Mississippi Choctaw tribe in 2003. ii
Are we keeping score? Phillip Martin, Eddie Tullis, Ralph Reed, Michael
Scanlon, Haley Barbour , Sonny Callahan, Jack Abramoff, George W. Bush and it is still
not even close to being over.
How about former Eastern Band Cherokee Chief Leon Jones, who is now
deceased, in his remarks in front of the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs in
2000,
“We hope that the BAR will always be very methodical because if they were not the
consequences would be very serious. An example of this is a previous BAR petitioner
group calling itself the Mowa Choctaw of Alabama. This group, among other things,
claimed to be descendants to the Choctaw Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which,
understandably, greatly angered our good friend Phillip Martin from the Mississippi Band
of Choctaw Indians.” ii
Mr. Jones could not answer any of the questions I posed to him during a telephone
conversation in 2003. He had no idea of any of the facts related to the MOWA Choctaws
270
and told me that he did not recall any such remarks made to the Committee on Indian
Affairs. Yes, he was in Phillip’s pocket also. He was playing expert in an arena where
he had accumulated no knowledge.
And what about Tom Cole, the only Indian in Congress? He excused himself in
the probe of Tom DeLay. His tribe, the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, is currently
paying D.C. lobbyists to block gaming initiatives for tribes in the bordering state of
Texas. His tribe was reportedly supportive of the Mississippi Choctaw community as
well. In fact the New York Times reported,
“The two lawmakers each provided $5,000 last year to a fund being used to underwrite
Mr. DeLay’s legal expenses as he fought accusations of misconduct…”ii
The other lawmaker referred to was Lamar Smith of Texas. Tom Cole represents
Oklahoma.
In a memorandum issued to interested parties by Melanie Sloan she states,
“Abramoff also has a close relationship with Grover Norquist. Thomas B. Edsall,
Abramoff Allies Keeping Distance, The Washington Post, November 8, 2004. The two
were college Republicans together and , at Abramoff’s direction, Norquist’s organization,
Americans for Tax Reform, has received substantial contributions from Indian tribes,
including the Choctaw.”ii
It is common knowledge that 6 tribes paid Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon a
total of $82 million between 2001 and 2004 with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw
Indians and the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana donating the lion’s share. And that
common knowledge ended up in the following ways.
The Many Faces of the Abramoff Scandal
Posted: 10:00am et 02/4/2009 by Derek Kravitz
“Seventeen politicians, aides and lobbyists have been charged in connection with the Jack
Abramoff lobbying scandal since 2006, with nine people having been sentenced prison
terms and probation.”
Jack Abramoff (guilty), Adam Kidan (guilty), Robert Ney (pleaded guilty), J. Steven
Griles (pleaded guilty) Ross Swimmer conversation, Italia Federici (pleaded guilty),
Robert Jared Carpenter (pleaded guilty), William Heaton (pleaded guilty), Neil G. Volz
(pleaded guilty), David H. Safavian (convicted), Trevor Blackann (pleaded guilty), James
F. Hirni (pleaded guilty), Todd Boulanger (cooperating with investigators; guilty),
Michael Scanlon (pleaded guilty), Tony C. Rudy (pleaded guilty), John C. Albaugh
(pleaded guilty), Mark D. Zachares (pleaded guilty), Robert E. Coughlin II (pleaded
guilty), Roger Stillwell (pleaded guilty), Kevin Ring, a former lobbyist for Abramoff and
aide to ex. Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.) was charged in September 2008 with
271
conspiring with Abramoff and others to corrupt public officials. He pleaded not guilty to
10 conspiracy, fraud and obstruction-of-justice charges. Ring is accused of lavishing
sports tickets and meals on lawmakers and executive branch officials who helped his
lobbying efforts.”
It seems a bunch of educated, manipulative tribal leaders are running around Washington
D.C. telling people how they were “duped” like little children. “Whoa is me” type
nonsense. What a joke. These tribes were as much in the bag with these con-artists in
D.C. as anyone. These were mutual relationships which ended up with white scapegoats.
ii
“The Bush-DeLay-Indian Casinos Campaign Money Laundering Operation: Wampum
’til they’re dead” Laurence A. Toenjes; www.opednews.com/toenjes, 5/4/05
ii
“The Bush-DeLay-Indian Casinos Campaign Money Laundering Operation: Wampum
‘til they’re dead” Laurence A. Toenjes; www.opednews.com/tonenjes, 5/4/05
ii
“RNC donation raises questions on federal monitoring” Michael Kranish; Boston Globe
www.boston.com 10/1/2005
ii
Clarion-Ledger Business www.clarionledger.com/news/0403/04/b04
ii
“Presented to the Committee on Indian Affairs of the United States Senate; S. 611, the
Indian Federal Recognition Administrative Procedures Act of 1999” Testimony of Leon
Jones, Principal Chief and dan McCoy, Tribal Council Chairman Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians; Washington D.C., May 24, 2000
ii
“2 on Ethics Panel Withdraw From Any DeLay Inquiry” New York Times, 5/5/05, p.1
ii
“Memorandum: Jack Abramoff’s Ties to Members of Congress” Melanie Sloan, March
1, 2005
272
USET: Undermining South and Eastern Tribes
273
One of the MOWA Choctaw’s other main adversaries is the United South and
Eastern Tribes, formerly headed by Poarch Creek tribal member Tim Martin, who in
2001 was interviewing for the top job at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. My telephone
conversation with Tim ended up with him unable to answer basic questions, similar to
Kenneth Carleton, and he said that the Eddie Tullis letter previously supporting the
MOWA Choctaw petition was a mistake and that USET does support the MOWA
Choctaw as long as they go through the then BAR process. He eventually hung up the
telephone. He told me that the federal process had nothing to do with gaming.
Unfortunately he said quite the opposite to the House Committee on Resources in 2004.
“A monumental factor in increased costs is that the political climate at the time of the
Poarch Band of Creek Indians was totally different than now due to the onslaught of
Indian gaming.” James T. Martin March 31, 2004 House Committee on Resources
A follow up email I sent to him was never returned. In 2001 he was also involved in the
move of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Eastern Agency office to the Nashville, Tennessee
area where USET is situated. The Las Vegas Journal reported on the move on 2/13/01
and indianz.com wrote that move,
“…is being questioned as a conflict of interest. The offices would be housed in a building
owned by the United South and Eastern Tribes (USET).”ii
But that of course, was light stuff in regards to Tim Martin. Upon his bid to head
the BIA, which eventually didn’t materialize with Neal McCaleb‘s hiring, Tim had two
well known backers.
“ ..before Neal McCaleb, an Oklahoma Republican, was chosen back in the spring of
2001, Abramoff endorsed Tim Martin, the executive director of the United South and
Eastern Tribes (USET). The organization represents the two tribes who were Abramoff’s
biggest clients--the wealthy and influential Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and the
Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.”ii
The article proceeds,
“ ‘Please let me know what I can do to help…Tim Martin (Bureau of Indian Affairs) to
be placed,’ he wrote on January 30, 2001, the same day Interior Secretary Gale Norton
was confirmed by the Senate.”ii
The direct emails between Jack Abramoff and Italia Federici bear all of this out.
And his other backer….was also mentioned in the article,
“Tim Martin was never chosen for the BIA job, although he has been reconsidered for the
post since there is currently a vacancy. Some people in Indian political circles believe a
Washington Post item about Martin being endorsed by casino mogul Donald Trump
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caused him to be passed over back in 2001.”ii
It seems that T. Martin is in more pockets then we previously imagined. So how
and why did he yield this power against the MOWA Choctaw? Could gaming be the
ulterior motive? In Tim Martin’s Testimony before the House Committee on Resources
regarding the Federal Acknowledgement Process (March 31, 2004) he had a lot to say.
“Federal recognition ensures a Tribe the dignity it deserves…”ii
Would it be fair to say that James T. Martin does not feel that the MOWA
Choctaw community deserves this dignity? The same MOWA Choctaw community who
stood beside the Poarch Creek in the 1950’s and fought for the rights of Alabama
Indians? Then the butt kissing begins. This is typical of the MOWA Choctaw
opposition’s rhetoric.
“Poarch Band of Creek Indians recognizes that Congress has the power to extend
recognition to certain groups, but in its infinite wisdom Congress has considered the
federal recognition process a complex and tedious one, not to be entered into lightly.”ii
Infinite wisdom? Are you speaking of the same Congress who would not for
many generations recognize the Poarch Creek as Indian people? He then suggests to the
House Committee on Resources that,
“ Money and politics must not be a concern of a petitioner for federal recognition.”ii
This may possibly be the most outrageous statement in this entire book. The man
who is supported by Jack Abramoff and Donald Trump, led a political federal tribal
organization opposed to the MOWA Choctaw, and whose own tribe has spent time and
resources on fighting the MOWA Choctaw just spoke those words. Hypocrite does not
begin to explain how completely ridiculous that statement was. Just the year prior, the
same James T. Martin spoke in front of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs against
the Lumbee Acknowledgement Act of 2003. He rambles on about how USET is not
against Lumbee recognition, but rather against them going through the Congress to
receive it. It is the typical backhanded answer, “Don’t do as we do, do as we say.” Many
USET tribes, as previously mentioned, have never been through the BAR process and
yet they are federally recognized. The Lumbees, due to special legislation, are unable to
go through the BAR process, so the insinuation that they should is even more complex.
This book does not allow space for the stories of additional petitioning tribes, but suffice
it to say that the Lumbee are decidedly Indian and have been recognized as such for over
100 years. I wonder if the fact that our MOWA Choctaw Tribal Judge Samuel M. Hill is
Lumbee plays into the thinking of Mr. Martin? Even a member of USET, the TunicaBiloxi Indians of Louisiana support the MOWA Choctaw. In a letter dated July 12, 1991
to Daniel Inouye, the Tunica-Biloxis clearly state their opinion.
275
Dear Senator Inouye:
As Chairman of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe, I wish to express our full support of the
Mowa Band of Choctaw Indians in their efforts to gain Federal recognition.
We have been witness over the years to their struggle to maintain and preserve
their cultural identity as a Native American tribe, and realize the importance of their
quest for recognition as such by the federal government. As Chairman of a tribe which
received its federal recognition as recently as 1981, I am all too aware of just how
difficult this struggle is, and of the many hours of work that must be put into proving
something to others that we feel so natural about.
We hope that your Committee will give its earnest consideration to the efforts of
Alabama’s Mowa Band of Choctaw Indians in its petition for recognition, thereby
enabling it to begin its journey toward a better standard of living for its members and the
establishment of future goals for the tribe.
Sincerely,
Earl J. Barbry, Sr.
Chairmanii
Also, many members of USET belong to National Congress of American Indians.
So let’s just see what the largest national organization for American Indians thinks about
the MOWA Choctaw:
January 3, 1988
Chief Framon Weaver
P.O. Box 119
McIntosh, Alabama 36553
Dear Chief Weaver:
The legislative road to federal recognition is a laborious one which does not end with the
approval of the act of Congress. There are the appropriations hurdles and the seemingly
endless barriers of the various bureaucracies, particularly those of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs. It is often difficult to maintain appropriate diplomacy throughout it all, but that
is perhaps the most essential ingredient to a successful effort.
Anything that I might do to make your journey a bit easier, I would be pleased to do.
You and the Mowa Band of Choctaw have the support of the National Congress of
American Indians membership. If I need to call on their support at various stages, you
only need to let us know what would best help.
I look forward to working with you on these important matters.
Aho.
Sincerely,
276
Suzan Shown Harjo
Executive Directorii
Tim Martin is protecting his position and stretching the truth beyond its limits.
That is called lying I am told.
I have spoken with USET (United South and Eastern Tribes) Executive Director Mike
Cook and President Brian Patterson about issues effecting Indian Country and USET’s
role in disenfranchising legitimate “non-federally recognized” tribal communities. They
seem like solid guys who have inherited a mess.
How fortunate this organization, which constantly rails against the decisions of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs and the federal government, yet bases their membership criteria
on the federal acknowledgment handed out by these two, is to constantly duck
controversy. Now don’t get me wrong, USET has done many positive things over the
years for its member tribes, but for those legitimate “non-recognized” tribes in the South
and East, they have been a constant source of harassment and disrespect.
“USET has expressed serious concerns about federal recognition being conferred
legislatively to non-federally recognized Indian groups because it allows these groups to
circumvent an established process based on objective criteria and because the legislative
recognition process is vulnerable to subjective, political, and ephemeral considerations.”
(USET 2003) It would seem clear that established does not “circumvent” inherent
corruption in the process and that the vulnerability to political influence is exactly what
the lobbyist efforts of USET have assisted in creating. Over half of their member tribes
were not even recognized in the BAR, now OFA, acknowledgment process. Their
organization knows full well that publicly announcing that they support the federal
petitions of tribes, which they term groups, through the federal acknowledgment process
is a complete smokescreen to the reality of such “support”. The quagmire created by the
Office of Federal Acknowledgment is a non-man’s land, which only the petitioners
supported by extremely wealthy gaming backers have even the slightest chance of
navigating.
Even stranger is where a prior resolution realistically against the Lumbee Nation of North
Carolina,occurred. Ledyard, Connecticut, home of the USET member and
Congressionally recognized Pequot Nation, is hardly the place for throwing stones. The
front page of USET member Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians’ website reads, “On
November 26, 1991 after complex legal maneuvering and political lobbying the
Aroostook Band of Micmacs finally achieved Federal Recognition with the passage of
the Aroostook Band of Micmacs Settlement Act.” We thought the process was about
fairness, integrity, blah blah blah? Example after example of these types of contrary
difficulties exist in the published record. Also in 1991, my tribal community, the
MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, was cut off at the pass by two neighboring USET
tribes, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.
277
Their political influence assisted in disenfranchising an 11 to 2 vote in favor of federal
recognition from the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs in order to protect their
hoped for regional gaming monopolies. They cited the protection of the integrity of the
federal process as justification, while in the Poarch Creek’s case they haven’t had a fluent
traditional language speaker in their community for over 100 years in contrast to our
community’s final fluent speaker not passing on until 1984. And then there is the
infamous letter written by former Poarch Creek Tribal Chairman and USET leader Eddie
Tullis, which asks the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians for support for the Poarch
Creek’s federal petition in the “spirit of Indian Brotherhood” with promises of “being
there for you when your time comes with the BIA”. Federal recognition came and Mr.
Tullis caught a case of amnesia.
In the same regional locales as USET member tribes, remain tribal communities who
have been sent to federal and mission boarding schools exclusive to Indians for many
generations such as Haskell Institute (now Haskell Indian Nations University), Bacone
Indian College, Cherokee Indian Boarding School and others. Many of these same tribes
still live on historic reservations, which predate the United States, and engage in the same
tribal traditions that they have for centuries. These tribes include the MOWA Band of
Choctaw Indians in Alabama, the Nipmuc Nation, Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, Eastern
Pequot Nation and Golden Hill Tribe of Paugussett in Connecticut, the Nanticoke Indian
Association in Delaware, the United Houma Nation in Louisiana, the Shinnecock Indian
Nation (federall recognized June of 2010) and Unkechaug Nation of Poospatuck Indians
in New York, the Lumbee Nation of North Carolina, the Yuchi/Euchee Nation and
Delaware Nation which now are located in Oklahoma and the Mattaponi, Pamunkey,
Upper Mattaponi, Chickahominy, Chickahominy Eastern Division and Rappahannock in
Virginia. Yet today, according to USET, BIA and the Office of Federal
Acknowledgments Director Lee Fleming, himself a non-identifiable Cherokee, they are
no longer Indian? They are no longer cohesive tribal communities? The political and
misleading nature of the federal acknowledgment process and the work of USET to
maintain business as usual at the BIA has been the perfect fit for keeping their associated
tribes gaming revenues rolling. So while USET can herald its many accomplishments
and righteous causes, it still continues to avoid the fundamental question, “How can such
tribes, who have endured Indian boarding schools and/or reservation life not be tribal
communities today?”
USET can maintain political sovereignty, but we will continue to exercise our cultural
sovereignty, historical legacy and social reality. CDIBs don’t make Indians.
I will close with the words of USET President Patterson at the latest USET conference in
Cherokee, North Carolina, as reported on May 30, 2008 in Indian Country Today. “A lot
of tribes have prophecies that speak to the times that we are living in. We have to look to
those prophecies, and I think the tribal leaders, the elders and the spiritual people of our
tribes need to rise to the forefront and exercise strong leadership. Certainly it then
becomes not only an Indian issue, but an issue of people living together with peace and
righteousness. That’s where the issue has always been.”
278
We are waiting.
Final email request response from USET Executive Director Michael Cook after I posed
the question as to the number of USET tribes recognized by Congress and not by the BIA
federal recognition process.
BAR/OFA REQUEST
Mike Cook (mcook@usetinc.org)
Wed 4/09/08 1:55PM
highhilllanguage@hotmail.com
Mr. Sunray,
In regards to your request for a listing of our members and details of recognition process.
I am not able to comply.
If we had the information readily available we could certainly forward but we do not
have at our immediate access.
Michael Cook
Executive Director
United South and Eastern Tribes
615-872-7900
Now that is funny.
ii
“BIA office move questioned” www.indianz.com , 2/13/01
ii
“Inside the BIA, according to Jack Abramoff” www.indianz.com , Wednesday,
November 23, 2005, p.2
ii
“Inside the BIA, according to Jack Abramoff” www.indianz.com , Wednesday,
November 23, 2005
ii
“Inside the BIA, according to Jack Abramoff” www.indianz.com , Wednesday,
November 23, 2005
ii
“Testimony of James T. Martin before the House Committee on Resources regarding
the Federal Acknowledgment Process” James T. Martin; March 31,2004, p.1
ii
“Testimony of James T. Martin before the House Committee on Resources regarding
the Federal Acknowledgment Process” James T. Martin; March 31, 2004, p.1
ii
“Testimony of James T. Martin before the House Committee on Resources regarding
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the Federal Acknowledgment Process” James T. Martin; March 31, 2004, p. 3 &4
ii
Letter from Tunica Biloxi Tribal Chairman Earl J. Barbry Sr. on behalf of the TunicaBiloxi Tribe to Senator Daniel Inouye in support of MOWA Choctaw federal recognition
efforts
ii
Letter from National Congress of American Indians Executive Director on behalf of the
National Congress of American Indians to MOWA Choctaw Chief Framon Weaver in
support of the MOWA Choctaw federal recognition efforts
280
OTHER STUFF
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So we had called them all. The responses were few and far between. April of
2006 was rolling around. It was time to become direct. Academic knowledge, sworn
testimony, boxes full of documentation proving fraud and basic common sense were not
proving any results. Justice was not being served. We issued warnings and in typical
fashion they were not heeded.
On April of 2006 Phillip Martin arrived on the campus of the University of
Oklahoma. He was slated to speak at the University of Oklahoma’s annual American
Indian symposium. Tribal leaders and citizens, as well as Oklahoma politicians were in
attendance when the usual dialogue of praise bestowed on Phillip Martin was expounded
on by conference moderator Jerry Bread, a Kiowa/Cherokee university professor. Jerry
Bread also happens to be related to Phillip Martin due to the fact that their wives are
sisters. Jerry Bread has long encouraged the young people of Indian Country to be
protest minded, but what occurred next hit a little to close to home. With three cameras
rolling, Todd York an enrolled Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma citizen and reporter for
Indianz.com stepped up to the microphone after Chief Martin’s speech and began to ask
him questions about his involvement in political contributions and his contradictory
statements on the National Indian Gaming Commission, of which the Mississippi
Choctaw are exempt. Not surprisingly, Mr. Martin was unable to respond directly to any
of the questioning and replied to the questions in long form about topics that had nothing
to do with the original question. He is a true politician in every sense of the word. Next
up… I came to the microphone. After explaining to the crowd about my home
community, I preceded to ask Mr. Martin why he called our people “a bunch of
mulattos”. He responded by saying “I don’t recall saying that.” I responded, “Mr.
Martin, it is in the letter you wrote which I am holding in my hand.” I then proceeded to
tell the people about his fraud and distribute packets to those in attendance attesting to the
factual statements which I made. Chief Martin sat motionless for the next little while.
Security was called as Jerry Bread ranted and raved (as did I) and finally the incident
ended, but not before, in regards to my “allegations” Chief Martin said “prove it”. Hey
Chief, sometimes you get exactly what you ask for. I met Dr. Bread a year later and
think of him as a stand up individual. I would have stood up for my brother-in-law as
well if I didn’t know his “attacker” or the situation.
Days later, the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, my employer, received an overnight
delivery letter from Chief Martin regarding the incident. In the letter he states,
“ Cedric Sun Ray, who allegedly (emphasis mine) speaks for the MOWA Band of
Choctaw Indians….”.ii
The letter was accompanied by the packet I gave out to those in attendance at the
conference. If he read the packet he would have realized that there is nothing alleged
about it and not only am I an enrolled citizen, but I also have official title within the
community to speak on matters affecting our tribe. There was no call made to our tribal
office by Chief Martin or his staff. I wonder why? His letter also went on to state that he
felt it was his duty to inform the Pawnee Nation of the type of employee they have within
their midst. After we all laughed and my bosses told me that, of course, nothing would
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be done in regards to this letter, I got back to work. Shortly thereafter, I sent a lengthy
email to Jerry Bread explaining the relationship between Phillip Martin and our people.
Mr. Bread has been unable to respond in anyway. Again, no surprise. Calls to Chief
Martin’s office have also not been returned. He can write letters behind the backs of
people, but he can’t talk with them directly? That is sort of perplexing. The following
week I received a call from a student in one of Jerry Bread’s American Indian Studies
classes at the University of Oklahoma. The student informed me that he had been badmouthing me in class after the event. That is interesting, seeing as he couldn’t respond to
my own personal inquiry. It is the mark of an individual when they act in such a
backward manner.
The next step was being looked forward to. For months, if not years, we had
hoped to go and visit as many Choctaw communities in the country as possible. On
Friday, April 21st, 2006, our daughter and I packed up the car and did just that. Our first
stop was at the state recognized Choctaw-Apache of Ebarb tribal office near Zwolle,
Louisiana. There we were greeted by 4 community members including Chief Tommy
Bolton. We talked about issues affecting the Choctaw people and the corruption that had
been leveled against our communities. They painted the same picture and attributed it to
their lack of federal recognition.
The view at the Clifton Choctaw reservation in Central Louisiana the following
day wasn’t much better. A community of people known for their Choctaw basketry, who
have endured generations of poverty, were still unable to crack the federal ceiling. Chief
and Council were gracious in their speech and excited about the future prospects of
cooperation with our community and theirs. Similar to the Choctaw-Apache, corruption
and prior racial attitudes labeling them “mulattos” had slowed their push for recognition
by the federal government.
After the meeting I spoke with Suzan Shawn Harjo in Washington D.C. As the
former head of the National Congress of American Indians, she wrote a support letter for
the MOWA Choctaw federal petition. Her stance had not wavered all these years later.
During the conversation she told me of an incident that occurred just prior to the signing
of the support letter. An incident that is troubling at best and horrific at worst. She
explained that both Phillip Martin and Eddie Tullis had come to her office making racial
remarks about our people, which labeled us as an unflattering term used by bigots
towards blacks.ii They were there to stop the support of the National Congress of
American Indians. Interestingly, she noted, that no other communities had come in to
stop the signing of the letter of support. She also found it interesting that both were
located in our regional location and both had strong gaming interests.
Our next stop was in front of Chief Christine Norris and members of the Jena
Band of Choctaw Indians tribal council. (May 2006) Councilor B. Cheryl Smith offered
an apology on behalf of her people for views formally held about my father’s community
by herself and other members of the Jena Choctaw community.ii She felt that they had
been misled by Phillip Martin. They did not know our people, so they were not able to
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make an informed judgment. Political pressure at the time in 1995 forced them to tow
the line in order to achieve federal recognition. The Jenas are Choctaw. There is no
question about it. Sadly, Phillip Martin and the Coushatta Nation of Louisiana were also
against their federal petition. Only in the waning hours prior to federal recognition did
Phillip Martin support their efforts. Efforts which were hoped to alleviate poverty for
this small band of Choctaw people in North-Central Louisiana. 11 years after federal
recognition this proud and culturally intact community of Choctaw still has little to show
for their efforts. Their land based has barely increased and their ambition of casino
ownership has been stifled by politicians allied with Phillip Martin and the Louisiana
Coushattas. We left with assurances of visitations and cultural sharing.
The United Houma Nation was our next destination. Unanimous amongst all was
the best way to describe it. “It is time we get this corruption addressed”, was the overall
perception. They would help in leading the effort to expose the truth that had been
suppressed for so long. They, a people who had just been overrun by the Hurricanes,
would be at the front of the effort. Vice Chief Michael Dardar of the United Houma
Nation and my Aunt Dove would accompany us to our next stop at Lacombe, Louisiana.
The Choctaw people of Lacombe, Lousiana, known as the Bayou Lacombe
Choctaw, are one of the most heavily documented post-removal Indian people in the
East. Noted anthropologist David Bushnell spent a great deal of time photographing the
people and interviewing them. He made generous notes of language and cultural
attributes held by the people and also made constant mention of their full-blood genetic
makeup. 96 years later it seems that the world had written them out of existence. There
were no more Choctaws at Bayou Lacombe reported. They had been erased from the
literature. They had become a figment of history. We knew better. After numerous
telephone and written inquiries, I was able to reach the grandson of one of the Choctaw
informants in David Bushnell’s photographic and anthropological review of the Bayou
Lacombe Choctaw. His name was Ernest Celestine. I knew who he was the moment we
met in person for the first time. Word had been spread in the small community that a
linguist from Oklahoma was coming to the community. Everyone was invited. One by
one the people started filing in to the Lacombe Heritage Center, a cultural museum
located in the home of one of the local Lacombe community residents. Noted basket
maker Tom Colvin, a non-Indian who had learned the traditional art of Choctaw basket
making from the elder women of the Bayou Lacombe Choctaw community as a teenager,
walked in. He was 60 now and had difficulty hearing, but he read lips easily in English
and in Choctaw. He spoke to me in Choctaw and I responded. This gentleman had never
read a Choctaw language book or heard a tape of the language. He learned it the oldfashion way, by listening to those around him and respecting what they had to say. The
thing that struck us all the most about the community was their humble nature in the
midst of politics which had erased them as even a state recognized tribe. They had no
official status, yet the photos of their people have adorned the Smithsonian and the covers
of recently published books on the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
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As we viewed David Bushnell’s old book, they explained who their grandparents,
aunties, uncles and great-grandparents were. It was an off-handed reunion of sorts. Their
ancestors stared at them from the pages of their own book. This was a book which had
occupied the upper part of a storage closet for a little too long. They talked of our
language and culture. They took us over to a 5 acre tract of land held by one of the
community members where foods of all kinds were growing planted in Choctaw rows.
Medicines were planted all over the south end of property. Their aroma was easily
acknowledged. On the west end of the property Choctaw pottery was piled under ashes
in its final stage of production. Choctaw baskets from the 1850’s until the present were
brought out for viewing. My daughter pulled clay from Bok Losa, a creek that adjoined
the property, and was taught how to craft the pottery. A dance grounds sat in the center
of the property.
There was nothing unreal about the setting. People didn’t visit here. In fact, the
owner of the property couldn’t recall a time when people had stopped by outside of the
communities’ own members or other relations. It was just real. Some changes had
occurred since David Bushnell’s visit in 1910, but many things had stayed the same. The
people found it strange that pictures of their relatives were being used to promote a new
book about the history of the Mississippi Choctaw people. They also found it odd that
their traditional stories from Bayou Lacombe were being used by university professors
along side Mississippi Choctaw story tellers to tell of the Mississippi Band’s history. As
they read each one from the texts we brought along they recalled not only those stories,
but the people who sat down for prolonged periods of time with David Bushnell. The
grandchildren and great grandchildren were advanced in age, but their offspring had eyes
on better opportunities and ways to connect with the larger Choctaw population. “Chi
pinsa sa la chi gay” was heard throughout as we exited the property. We would see each
other again soon.
The following day was supposed to be spent speaking about Choctaw language
issues at the daycare in the Mississippi Choctaw community of Bogue Homa. The week
prior, however, a community leader called me and said that the southernmost of all the
Mississippi Choctaw communities would have to have approval from the Chief
concerning my visit. They regretted having to make the call. Chief Martin strikes again.
So on we drove to Alabama. It was good to be back home amongst my own people. We
went over to our tribal elementary school and were greeted with a big “Halito” by every
student as we approached the playground. Our youth still speak our language. It is a true
blessing to say the least. The following morning Chief Wilford Taylor, Todd Johnston
and I drove down to the Poarch Creek Reservation near Atmore, Alabama. Arthur
Mothershed, Robert McGhee and Daniel McGhee had come through and arranged a
meeting between the two communities. A meeting I had previously alluded to in the text.
Eddie Tullis showed up and we got down to the matters at hand. We outlined through
documentation how Eddie Tullis had misled his own people regarding the MOWA
Choctaw in order to secure his gambling ambitions. Eddie sat respectfully silent nearby,
only nodding in approval to the documentation we provided as if to say, “Okay, you got
me”. The council listened intently and asked to come visit us the following week for a
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tour of our community. The three councilors who had called the meeting had little
practical experience with our community. Robert and Daniel McGhee’s father has been
a long time supporter of our community and critical of Eddie Tullis’ comments. On
Monday, May 1st , 2006 they arrived. After a day of meeting they pledged their support
for the MOWA Choctaw’s quest for federal recognition. Not only for the current bill, but
for all future federal recognition endeavors. They were a little in disbelief that our
obviously Indian community had been denied federal recognition. They are the new
generation of Poarch leadership. It seems that honesty is a part of their portfolio.
On May 2, 2006 I called Lee Fleming at the Bureau of Indian Affairs to ask him
some more questions related to our petitions denial. I also asked him why in June of
1995 he agreed with Sharon Scholars Brown that we were blacks and would not be
federally recognizedii He then abruptly hung up the phone with the word “peace” being
his final comment.
After the phone call I attempted to contact his boss James Cason at the
Department of the Interior. His special assistant, Robin Bellmard spoke with me at
length about our community. In her own words she described our tribe as “legitimate and
deserving of recognition”.ii Unfortunately, she concluded, “The recognition process is
flawed and that the BAR/OFA has not been consistent in its determinations.”ii She
encouraged me to send in any documentary evidence that implicated bias on the part of
Lee Fleming. She also said that our contemporary name of MOWA Choctaw (MOWA
meaning Mobile and Washington Counties in Alabama) was a reason used for denial due
to the fact that it was not our historical community name. We sent the information
immediately and are awaiting a response.
So day finally comes to an end and the letter Phillip Martin and his sidekick
Kenneth Carleton wrote in 1991 is finally explained. In 1990 the Mississippi Choctaws
purchased acreage in Southeastern Mississippi, not far from the Alabama state line and
major thoroughfare Interstate 10. This land is also close in proximity to the MOWA
Choctaw Reservation. In May of 2006 the announcement was finally made.
“Chief Phillip Martin has notified the Jackson County Board of Supervisors that the
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians wants to put a casino on 100 acres it owns near an
exit off Interstate 10.”ii
The same paper ran a follow up article a week later.
“If he could pull it off- and that’s a big ‘if’- the Choctaw casino would be the closest
gambling facility to casino customers coming in from the east.
That would be a huge competitive advantage. And, as Martin told the Sun Herald last
week, existing casino operators ‘would be foolish if they didn’t oppose us.’ “ii
But hold the press, a new revelation arrived on WLOX News on June 3, 2006,
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“WLOX News has obtained new information about the Choctaws and their Jackson
County gamble. Documentation that indicates the Indian tribe tried to bring gambling
action to Jackson County last fall without a referendum….While Mississippi Choctaws
were telling Jackson County supervisors they needed local support to put a casino on
Highway 57, several letters indicate their chief was playing a completely different
hand….The letters in question were sent from Chief Phillip Martin to the Department of
the Interior….The first letter is dated September 15th, 2005—just days after Hurricane
Katrina slammed into south Mississippi….Chief Martin wrote that the Mississippi Band
of Choctaw Indians wanted to turn its Highway 57 property into a casino resort……What
nobody knew until now is that the chief’s initial plan was to put what are called Class II
gaming machines into his First American Printing property. And he wanted between
1,500 and 2,000 of those bingo style games turned on as quickly as possible….The
chief’s letter asked the Department of the Interior to immediately approve the request.
But in a December 21st response, the Department of the Interior said no.”ii
Interestingly, the Clarion Ledger wrote on the very same day in their paper,
“The Choctaws ran an advertisement this week in two Gulf coast newspapers that said
‘the tribe would not move the first shovel of dirt to build a resort unless the majority of
Jackson County voters-through a 2008 referendum- embrace the proposal.’ “ii
Why the sudden concern for the Jackson County people Chief Martin? Oh yeah,
because you tried to sneak one by them already and it didn’t work. The ultimate
politician strikes again.
Eventually it all falls down. As I walked out of the Creek Nation of Oklahoma
complex on June 5, 2006 after facilitating an Indian language curriculum development
workshop with the Creek Nation language staff a call came on my cell phone. One of my
relatives told me to get to a computer and get on to the Indian Country Today website.
He told me that justice was being served. When I got home an article by Suzan Shawn
Harjo entitled, “Fire takes the vulnerable ones” appeared before me. In it was stated,
“Tullis joined forces with Chief Phillip Martin of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw
Indians to keep the Mowa Choctaws in Alabama from being federally recognized.
Disgraced lobbyist and felon Jack Abramoff was hired as the attack dog to keep the
Mowa Choctaws and others from competing for gaming business.”ii
On June 9th, 2006, MOWA Choctaw Chief Wilford Taylor , myself and a large
contingent of MOWA Choctaw community citizens spoke in front of the Choctaw Nation
of Oklahoma Council. It was obvious that they were taken back by the level of deceit we
were able to show them evidence of. We are hopeful that our invitation to visit our
community in the near future will produce positive results.
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B. Cheryl Smith, Councilor for the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, also talked
with me on the phone and explained that they would be down to visit in the Fall.
On Friday, June 16th, 2006 four bands of Choctaw citizens (MOWA Band of
Choctaw Indians, Bayou Lacombe Choctaw, Choctaw-Apache of Ebarb, United Houma
Nation; Clifton Choctaw was unable to attend due to financial constraints on travel)
walked into the council chambers of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians to discuss a
memorandum of understanding which designated mutual community support as one of its
main tenants. These communities would work together from now on in order to promote
cultural, as well as economic maintenance and growth for the Choctaw and culturally
related people. As of July 2006 all the communities have passed council resolutions
supporting their inclusion in the organization. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Jena
Band of Choctaw Indians and Alabama-Coushatta, will be asked to support the
organization in the near future. Individual Mississippi Choctaw communities would be
approached as well. This consortium of Choctaw and related communities was named
“Chata Ibafoka” which loosely translates as “unifying the Choctaw” or “Choctaw Unity”.
While all these Choctaw citizens and related people from around the country pledged
their support for one another, one chair was glaringly absent. The Mississippi Choctaw
leadership was not present for this historic event. Calls to the tribal office were
disallowed or constantly transferred to other departments. Phillip Martin had allowed
personal pride to offset reason…..again.
And why would we think anything different? A June 23, 2006 article in the New
York Times, “Senate Report Lists Lobbyist’s Payments to Ex-Leader of Christian
Coalition” states,
“The report says that Mr. Abramoff turned to Mr. Reed in his efforts to defend Indian
tribes that were threatened by competition; Mr. Reed organized lobbying to block the
opening of new gambling operations in those states……The Senate report documented
payments to Mr. Reed from two sources, $1.3 million from the Choctaw Indians of
Mississippi, paid through Mr. Abramoff’s law firm…..The report found that Mr. Reed’s
involvement with Mr. Abramoff’s Indian tribe clients dated from 1998, when Mr. Reed
sent an e-mail message to Mr. Abramoff noting that he was ‘done with electoral politics’
and, ‘I need to start humping in corporate accounts!- I’m counting on you to help me with
some contacts.’ The report said that Mr. Abramoff ‘recommended the Choctaw hire
Reed to orchestrate an anti-gaming effort’ to block the opening of new casinos. ii
And the National Journal continues, in relation to the Senate Select Committee
Report, on July 7, 2006,
“The report disclosed that Reed’s consulting firm, Century Strategies in Duluth, Ga.,
received a total of $5.3 million from the Choctaws and the Louisiana Coushattas tribe.
The payments came from Preston Gates & Ellis, where Abramoff worked in the late
1990s, and from two Scanlon-run entities, the American International Center and the
consulting firm Capitol Campaign Strategies…But the committee’s report didn’t include
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another $1 million that was funneled to Century Strategies through anti-tax activist
Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform. The Mississippi Choctaws provided that
money in 1999 for a successful drive in Alabama spearheaded by Reed and other
religious conservatives against a proposed state lottery and video-poker bill in the state
Legislature that threatened Choctaw revenues.”ii
And what about the $13 million which recently hit the wire.
“The story concerned a U.S. Senate committee report, which quoted a Louisiana tribal
leader as saying embattled Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff told him the Mississippi
Choctaws spent $13 million to have Alabama Gov. Bob Riley elected….William Worfel,
the Louisiana tribal leader, said Abramoff told him Mississippi Choctaw Chief Phillip
Martin spent the money on the Riley campaign in a move to keep gambling out of
Alabama.”ii
In the same article the Mississippi Choctaw responded,
“ The latest report released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on June 22, 2006,
details matters regarding the Jack Abramoff investigation. In this report, quotes from
various testimonies and interviews were made public. Unfortunately, the quote from
William Worfel, former Vice Chairman of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, when read
in the context of a footnote in the committee’s report, is used to make the point that Jack
Abramoff used the good name and reputation of the Choctaws to fraudulently advance
his agenda with other tribal clients. In this case, erroneous information was being
provided in an effort to persuade the Louisiana Coushatta tribe for various purposes. In
addition, claims involving the Mississippi Choctaw contributions to the 2002 Alabama
Governor’s race are outlandish and patently false. The Mississippi Choctaws did not
contribute to either candidate of this race. The tribe will have no further comments.” ii
When a tribe uses an intermediary to make payment to a political candidate does
that mean that they didn’t make the contribution? And, “the tribe will have no further
comments”, sure sounds familiar. Chief, you get the last word. And as usual, truth is
absent.
A call to Poarch Creek Councilor Robert McGhee at the end of June 2006 brought
his verbal commitment again to our community and his assurance of a support letter in
the near future. He also explained to me that Phillip Martin had been bad mouthing our
community at the USET meetings the week prior and asking for the member tribe’s
support in opposing us. Unfortunately for Phillip, he had no takers. You see, it is not
politically advantageous to support a corrupt tribal leader in his final days of political
leadership. Especially, when everyone knows the “gig” is up.
July 2006 talks with Bogue Homa residents, enrollee’s in the Mississippi
Choctaw’s southernmost community, also shed light on Mr. Martin’s image within his
home communities. “Forgotten” was the term usually used by community members
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there. Though, I am sure, he must have supporters there as well. Typically his supporters
stay far away from us.
I wanted to give Kenneth Carleton one last chance so I called hime July 6th, 2006
and he told me that Chief Martin had told him “not to speak to me at all”. He then, as
usual, hung up the phone. He seemed rather nervous in our brief conversation, where I
assured him we would be meeting soon.
A call to Poarch Creek’s new Tribal Chairman Buford Rolin on July 7th, 2006
requesting a decision on their stance regarding the MOWA Choctaw has not been
returned.
And one of Dr. Richard Allen’s buddies also attempted to take my language
teaching job at Roger’s State University away. He left a message on a Roger’s State
University employee’s phone saying, “This is Troy Wayne Poteet (could be spelled
wrong) calling about some wannabe Choctaw group in Georgia or Alabama and a teacher
by the name of Cedric Sunray from this bunch of wannabes who wants to teach there.
We hope you won’t allow this to happen. Dr. Allen and I like to paddle these wannabes.”
Of course, this Cherokee Nation employee doesn’t even know a MOWA Choctaw, much
less where we are even located. So I called this gentleman on July 17, 2006 and he
quickly proceeded to hang up the phone, when he couldn’t respond to any questions I was
asking him. I called back immediately and he let his answering machine pick up. He still
hasn’t called me back. And it turns out he is just a good buddy of Dr. Richard Allen. He
paddles who? That guy would be crying the second I showed up at his office. It is
individuals like these that embarrass the tribal community they are purporting to
represent.
This propelled the MOWA Choctaw council to issue a letter to the Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma demanding an apology and a face to face meeting between tribal
councils. Stay tuned.
On July 31st, 2005, the Strategic Studies Program Director for Johns Hopkins
University made the following comment.
“Politicians come in with predisposed ideas and natures. Books given them on issues are
typically not read or sighted in their decisions. It truly does not influence them to receive
them as they will typically not take the time to read them.”ii
That is just what Mississippi Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin, Poarch Tribal
Councilor Eddie Tullis, Mississippi Choctaw Tribal Anthropologist Kenneth Carleton,
OFA Director Lee Fleming, Anthony Paredes, Jack Abramoff and their corrupt
colleagues… are counting on.
But not so fast. On behalf of our community we have a few questions for those
mentioned above. Who did you think you were dealing with? Did you believe in your
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short sighted minds that the teenagers whose family members you disrespected and
dishonored in the 1990’s weren’t going to grow up? Did you believe that we wouldn’t
bring a mentality reared in impoverished circumstances along with us? Did you think
that we wouldn’t become educated to the issues? How long did you dream that this lie
would stand up? We hold you all personally responsible for our poverty. It is one thing
to misconstrue, falsify and belittle the history of adults and quite another thing to hurt
their children in the process. Any parent can tell you that an attack on a child’s health
and welfare is a very serious injury that brings with it very serious consequences. Your
words have kept basic IHS funded health services from our children. They have disabled
our young people’s access to much needed post-secondary educational support. (Oh yeah,
we can hear it now, the MOWA Choctaw are in it for the money!) But most of all, your
words have attempted to send bullet holes through the cultural identity of our babies.
You have intentionally set out to hurt our young people. And you will be brought to
account for these criminal acts. Again, you have perpetuated our poverty, which was
“gained” through our forced racial isolation from the black and white society that
surrounded us. We were unable to access the systems of employment available to others,
which has left us with an annual family per capita income below $7,000. And even so,
we work day by day to better our lives, while you sit behind your desks and preach theory
based in theory, while collecting your government pay checks and casino perks and per
caps. And when will you be accountable to your own people? In particular, Chief
Martin, when will you explain to the Mississippi Choctaw people where $16 million
dollars has gone? Where did this money, which could have been spent benefiting the
people of your community, come from? How happy the Mississippi Choctaw people
must be paying for golf trips and catered dinners for white politicians, while homes are in
need of repair and funding for youth activities is sought after. So take yourselves back to
your gated communities and your money and be very careful how and where you walk.
Where we are from talk is just talk. Pandering in scholarly journals and newspapers is
just pandering. Acting big in the press is just an act. Where we are from, you just
wouldn’t make it. And if you want us to bring our neighborhood to yours…all you have
to do is say the word. Be careful about what you say, where you say it, why you say it
and how you say it. And most of all, lower your voice and your rhetoric in our presence.
This book is only the tip of a very large and surfacing iceberg. In our Choctaw language
we have a word for the way you all have been presenting yourselves. It is hobak. It
needs no English translation. Even someone with as much nahollo blood as I, can
understand that term. And you, Chief Martin a.k.a. “the definer of Choctaw identity”,
should have no trouble translating it to all the hattak nahollo in your camp.
What you all and the former Coushatta of Louisiana leadership (also the current
leadership if they don’t apologize soon) have done to the MOWA Choctaw, AlabamaCoushatta and Jena Band of Choctaw Indians and others, is a phenomenal testament to
your personas and most importantly, the legacies you will be leaving behind.
On July 24, 2006 I spoke in front of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribal Council on
their reservation near Livingston, Texas. On the same day, Poarch Creek and USET
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head James T. Martin began his new job as Poarch Creek Enterprises president back
home on his reservation with no concept of what was about to befall him. On the
following morning of July 25, 2006 I spoke again with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
at their tribal headquarters in Durant, Oklahoma. These meetings will not end until every
tribal community, family and individual who has been impacted by these individuals has
heard the full and complete story of this injustice. We are relentless.
This book is a call to the reality that there are legitimate “non-federally
recognized tribal communities” across this country. From the Shinnecock in the East to
the Yuchi in the Central Region to the Muwekma Ohlone in the West, and numerous
others in between, Indian Country remains a place defined by culture and reality, no
matter how many dollars are poured into D.C. and no matter how many ill attempted
propaganda campaigns are created. Defining Indian communities with a “cookie-cutter”
formula is so typical of the federal government and those with gaming interests who
would like to keep the status quo going. Brown folks are still brown folks.
And for those that would argue that this book only furthers and accelerates a
negative non-Indian view of Indian people and their communities, we have only three
things to say. Whey were the requests for apologies and truth never undertaken? Why is
your complaint coming now when you had tons of time to make things right? How long
did you expect the oppressed to continue to be assaulted without firing back?
In the end, the reader has to separate any concern they may have over a “white
looking”, “turned Indian when he was 18”, “guns loaded”, “chip on his shoulder”, “slang
talking”, “enrolled, but low blood quantum” author writing these things, with the reality
of the message being brought to light. If it is the opinion of one that because I didn’t
grow up in the Indian community where I am enrolled, then I am truly not from the
community and thereby I am not a “real Indian”, then so be it. If these identity
arguments are what empowers the reader, then that is okay. I can be white for anyone
who needs me to be. I don’t take it as an insult at all. The tragedy, however, would be
not to heed what is going on. The tragedy would be to not have an understanding of the
true depth of the problem at hand. The tragedy would be to forget those real, identifiable
Choctaw and Houma people born and raised in the pine brush of southwestern Alabama
and the bayous of Louisiana.
“ ‘There are two things that count in Washington, money and your ability to deliver
votes. Tribes will never be able to deliver a significant number of votes for either party.
No where near the labor unions or the pro-life or pro-choice groups. Tribes have money.
That’s their bargaining chip.’
Senior Department of the Interior staff member who requested anonymity “ii
As reported in Indian Gaming Business, July 2006.
With no money and a tribal population of around 3,500, wish us luck.
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ii
Letter to Pawnee Nation President Ronald Rice from Mississippi Choctaw Chief Phillip
Martin, April 2006
ii
Telephone conversation with Suzan Shown Harjo, May 2006
ii
Jena Band Choctaw community visit May 2006
ii
Samford University genealogy seminar conversation including Lee Fleming, Sharon
Scholars Brown and Professor Don Rankin, June 2005
ii
Telephone conversation with Department of Interior special assistant Robin Bellmard,
May 2006
ii
Telephone conversation with Department of Interior special assistant Robin Bellmard,
May 2006
ii
“Jackson County Casino?: Choctaws take first step towards approval” Karen Nelson
and Tom Wilemon; Sun Herald, May 12, 2006
ii
“Choctaws should not use their tribal status to circumvent gaming law in South
Mississippi” Sun Herald, May 21, 2006
ii
WLOX news June 3, 2006 8:59 pm www.indianz.com
ii
“Choctaws’ casino a no-go minus local consent” Clarion ledger.com, June 3rd, 2006
ii
“Harjo: Fire takes the vulnerable ones” Suzan Shown Harjo; Indian Country Today,
June 2, 2006, p.1
ii
“Senate Report Lists Lobbyist’s Payments to Ex-Leader of Christian Coalition” Philip
Shenon; New York Times, June 23,2006
ii
“Reed in the Rough” Peter H. Stone; National Journal, 7/7/06
ii
“Choctaws deny donating to Alabama governor race” The Sun Herald, Friday, June
30th, 2006
ii
“Choctaws deny donating to Alabama governor race” The Sun Herald, Friday June
30th, 2006
ii
C-Span July 31/05
209 “Native Voice on Capitol Hill” Dave Palermo; Indian Gaming Business, July 2006
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SINCE 2006
POLITICAL PENMANSHIP: How one tribe is embracing their new “non-indian”
identity
It has been hard adjusting to the fact that we are no longer Indians as of a couple of
weeks ago. Whoa is me. Whoa is me. U.S. District Court Judge Ginny Granade ruled
that our federal lawsuit forcing federal recognition was filed after the statute of
limitations was up. It was just another technicality decision following in the footsteps of
a litany of technicality decisions over many decades. First, the petition for federal
acknowledgment whose requirements changed miraculously right when our tribe was up
for consideration, was denied. Then the appeals, where all relevant materials such as
language recordings, yearbooks and papers showing attendance at All-Indian boarding
schools, etc. was supposedly received “out of time” and therefore not eligible for
evaluation. (Because you know the BIA and the Office of Federal Acknowledgment
always do things in a timely manner.) And during all of this more Congressional Bills
than can be listed here came and went; all dying in the waning moments as lobbyists and
casino rich tribes came rushing to the table in order to protect their gaming monopolies.
Even an 11 to 2 vote in favor of federal recognition with the Senate Select Committee on
Indian Affairs couldn’t save the day.
You see it is hard not being Indian anymore, but for us, we have chosen to embrace it!
We understand there are quite a few perks to being non-Indian and we want our fair
share. We had hoped that upon the decision being rendered that we were no longer
Indians, that our per capita family incomes would increase in relation to the surrounding
non-Indian population. Unfortunately, that hasn’t occurred. Next, we were under the
impression employment opportunities in our region would swing wide open and our
unemployment rate would miraculously increase. Once again, spoiled. Two weeks ago
our diabetes rate was bound to go down, but it was the same old story. It just hasn’t
happened. And what are our family members going to do about the upcoming annual
reunions at Haskell Indian Nations University, Bacone College and Choctaw Central
High School? There will be lots of Indians there! We can’t still go to the reunions of the
schools we attended can we?
Some people thought we were now in a predicament, but I beg to differ. I have
concocted a plan for my folks. First I am going to get in touch with Michael Jackson and
find out what stuff he used and then give bottles of it to my people. That should take care
of the brown skin. Next, we are going to divide up our reservation like the Allotment Act
of the early 1900’s or maybe just turn it into a “nature preserve”. Ecological tourism is
racking in the money these days and heck, we have a bunch of people who look like
Indians so the tours will seem even more authentic to visiting people from Europe.
Unfortunately, the court custody cases we won through the Indian Child Welfare Act will
have to be repealed. So do we send the kids back to their non-Indian foster parents now
or do we get to keep our own children? Our tribal court will now be a “court”, we guess.
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So since it will no longer be valid, maybe we could get on one of those cable shows as a
mock court. We already paid all the money for space, so why let it go to waste. Our
Indian art can become “folk crafts” and our tribal school can now be a mainstream school
with no “mainstream” children. As you can see we have a lot of work to do.
We do have one major problem however. We have this despicable Indian language to get
rid of. It is really going to hinder our progress with our new identity. We thought we
could teach Spanish in its place (since our people can’t pass for black or white), but
everyone was speaking Choctaw in the class and it was very distracting. They kept
thinking I was saying “halito” when I was saying “dorito” and “cheese and nachos” when
I was saying “Chisnato?”
Well, we better get going, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has asked all people of less than
¼ Indian blood to leave the building and I see about 80% of their staff heading out the
door. We might get stampeded. Chipisalachiki, oops, I mean “adios”.
SUBMITTED: Thursday, December 6, 2007 for publication in the Saturday
December 8th edition of the Mobile Press Register in response to last Saturday’s
“Government wants MOWA suit rejected” article by Robert McClendon
Resubmitted: December 17, 2007
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians is an Indian community with 3,600 tribal citizens
residing on two recognized Indian reservation tracts and 10 small settlements between the
southwestern Alabama towns of Mt. Vernon, Citronelle and McIntosh. The tribal
community is currently in court with the federal government over the status of our federal
recognition status within the United States.
The current response to the lawsuit, filed against the government in District Court in
Mobile this July by our tribe and law firm was expected on all levels. The Bureau of
Indian Affairs has no other recourse, but to take this route. The federal bureaucracy must
stop this case by attempting to claim that the statute of limitations has expired, as this is
the only way in which the facts of the case will not be submitted to the court.
The U.S. Government, by way of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, will face a very difficult
challenge if the merits of the case are brought to bear in this proceeding. The final denial
of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians petition was made possible through the
Bureau’s ability to count much of the pertinent information necessary for a positive
result, as received “out of time” and therefore not applicable for review. Once again, the
Bureau of Indian Affairs will attempt this maneuver to halt the inevitable recognition of
the only tribal community in the State of Alabama to have attended All-Indian boarding
schools and to have never lost their traditional Indian language. These schools were
Bacone in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Haskell in Lawrence, Kansas and Choctaw Central in
Choctaw, Mississippi. The latter two are still exclusive to members of federally
recognized tribes. The federal government would have to refute the findings and support
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of numerous federally recognized tribes, national Indian organizations, the State of
Alabama, linguists, anthropologists, ethnologists, university professors and historians, as
well as the presence of over 20 different federally recognized tribes being resident
amongst our population (through large scale intermarriage with our community members
over the last 50 years), if this case was heard on its merits. Indians from New Mexico,
Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma and elsewhere don’t move halfway around the country to
marry on-mass into non-Indian communities. It is social impossibility.
They would also have to face the reality that the very former Assistant Secretary of the
Interior, Kevin Gover, who was responsible for the denial of our petition after only three
days on the job, recanted his decision after leaving office and admitted that it had been a
mistake. This was done during sworn testimony to government officials. Kevin Gover is
now the Director of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
They would also have to deal with the statements of the current Director of the Office of
Federal Acknowledgment for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who dictated this decision to
Kevin Gover, Lee Fleming, who was heard by four university professors in 1995 at
Samford University as stating that “they are black and will never get recognized.” This
statement was made one year prior to him even working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs
and not having reviewed any documentation on our community or having ever met a
community member. This has been testified to under oath. This is the same man whose
federally recognized tribe, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has virtually no blood
quantum requirements for enrollment and who have recently removed over 2,800
Cherokees with African-American ancestry. (Though they are currently “reinstated”
pending a court case that will only serve to uphold this decision). These are just hurdle
number one for the federal government before the litany of lobbyist activities and the
undermining work of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians current tribal council member
Eddie Tullis and former Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Chief Phillip Martin is
taken into account. Eddie Tullis is famous for his support of the MOWA Choctaw and
then 180 degree reversal, once the Poarch Creek gained federal recognition. He currently
stands in opposition to the majority of the members of his own council who support the
federal recognition of the MOWA Choctaw and was once instrumental in the overturning
of the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs 11 to 2 vote in favor of recognition for
the tribe. And then there is the toughest hurdle. The Choctaw were the only tribe in the
State of Alabama to have never had their rights terminated, unlike the Creek and
Cherokee. We have never ceased being federally recognized and have only petitioned for
this determination to once and for all clarify this position which is already legal historical
fact and supported by the very state in which we are recognized and have reservation
lands.
The remarkable part of this is that the federal government is penalizing a culturally,
physically and linguistically identifiable Indian community, whose majority of citizens
live at or below the poverty line, for not having the funding to hire a law firm within a
time frame of six years to refute the negative determination. And as far as “a gap of time
occurring with no response” is concerned….. we will leave that up to the Court to decide.
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The Bureau of Indian Affair’s only hope to stop this case is through the types of political
and legal maneuvering that has shaped the likes of lobbyist and convicted felon Jack
Abramoff and has labeled the B.I.A. as one of the most politically influenced federal
departments in existence today. The Bureau intends to once again turn our community,
which exists as a social reality, into a legal fiction. And they once again intend to do it
by dodging facts and relying on evasive legalities.
The Courts will see through this smokescreen and the merits of the case will be heard.
Big money and corruption only last so long. Our first petition for federal Indian
assistance occurred in 1908. On the century year anniversary of this milestone, after
years of marginalization and poverty, we will be well on our way to federal recognition
and a healthier and more opportune life for ourselves and our non-Indian neighbors.
Can we see into the future? No. But truth is easy to see.
July 2nd, 2007
A letter of appreciation for the article “Hopes of federal recognition are rekindled for
MOWA” and its author Robert McClendon are extended by the MOWA Choctaw Chief,
Council and Community. It seems the lies continue for Eddie Tullis and Phillip Martin.
Phillip Martin not answering calls from the Mobile Press Register? What is new? Nor he
or Mr. Tullis answer the calls we send their way. Phillip ducked and dodged the
Abramoff affair, while most of the players involved are now either serving time or
awaiting trial. The documentation showing he was directly tied to money being spent
and influence being peddled in Washington D.C. against the MOWA Choctaw is so thick
at this stage, that any remarks made by him on this issue are now mute. In April of 2006
at the University of Oklahoma he would not respond to any direct questions we
personally posed at him regarding the issue of MOWA Choctaw federal recognition and
his participation in its erasure. A direct call I had with his former lobbyist Kevin Ring on
July 26, 2005 even implicated Chief Martin and Jack Abramoff as having conspired
against the MOWA Choctaw people in order to protect themselves from what they
viewed as a gaming threat.
And as for Mr. Eddie Tullis stating “I think they are dumb if they do accept a federal
recognition that doesn’t include the right to gamble. They would just be half a tribe then”,
what can we say? Is Eddie’s view of his own identity based on gambling? Without his
casino dreams would he only be part of half a tribe? I think that line best exemplifies
where Eddie Tullis places his values. And Mr. Tullis calling the MOWA Choctaw
people dumb is about as hypocritical as the letter he wrote asking for the support of the
MOWA Choctaw people and now pawning it off as if it “was written by staff without his
permission.” We have that letter and it was certainly written and signed by Eddie Tullis.
And why make comments now, when he said not word at the meeting conducted last year
between our tribe and the Poarch Creek Council at their tribal complex discussing our
federal recognition petition?
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The documentation concerning the misadventures of these two now covers 3 decades and
fills 23 binders on our shelves. If the Poarch Creek and Mississippi Choctaw people
knew the full extent of what these two “leaders” have done in their name, they would be
stunned.
The facts are simple. The National Congress of American Indians (the largest advocacy
institution of American Indians in the U.S.), Vine Deloria, Jr. (the most esteemed Indian
author in contemporary U.S. History), the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Indians (a federally
recognized tribe in the USET organization that also includes the Mississippi Choctaws
and Poarch Creeks), elected and former leaders of federally recognized tribes throughout
North America, more anthropologists, historians, university professors and other
academics than can be named here, and numerous enrolled members and leaders of the
Poarch Band of Creek Indians and Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians all support the
federal recognition of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, a community of physically,
culturally and linguistically identifiable Indian people who have maintained ourselves
and our community against all the hardships, prejudices and persecutions poor
government policy and southern racial segregation laws and rhetoric could bare against
us. Even with these pressures and a history of MOWA Choctaw tribal members being
sent to Indian boarding schools such as Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, Bacone
Indian School in Muskogee, Oklahoma and Choctaw Central High School on the
Mississippi Choctaw Indian Reservation in Choctaw, Mississippi (schools exclusive to
Indians; Bacone only having changed their enrollment criteria in recent decades), the
tribe is still the only Indian community in the state to have retained it’s traditional
language and have it’s children attend the only Indian school in the state, Calcedeaver
Elementary, whose amalgamated history dates to 1835 (Weaver School) and has become
the highest academically achieving elementary school in the state, due in part to its
inclusion of Choctaw language and culture in the curriculum. These realities alone make
any attempts to discredit the community laughable at best.
The only real enemy to the MOWA Choctaw people in all of this, aside from the usual
suspects of money, greed and politics, is the medical term amnesia. And its seems
Mississippi Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin and Poarch Creek Council Member Eddie
Tullis have contracted a severe case of it.
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WE WISH YOU WELL: The Politics of Disenrollment
299
p. 140 Indian Orphanages , Marilyn Irvin Holt
“In March 1906 all functions of tribal government, courts, and schools were terminated
by the Curtis Act. It was an immeasurable blow to the Chickasaws, as well as other tribal
nations in Oklahoma. Their school systems, long a source of pride, were no longer theirs.
The federal government finally achieved something it had wanted for a very long timecontrol over Indian education among the Five Civilized Tribes.
To allow some flow in education while the Curtis Act was implemented, federal
authorities kept a number of schools operational while Chickasaw neighborhood schools
were consolidated with white schools or closed….”
What does this have to do with disenrollment one may ask? It sets the stage for the future
disenfranchisement of certain citizens of the five Civilized tribes.
p. 173
“The Creek government created one orphanage for Creek children and another for Creek
freedmen.”
And the process continues…..
p. 182
“ In Oklahoma this was underscored by the white culture’s inclination to exclude rather
than include. Whites and Indians attended public schools together, but AfricanAmericans, including those of Indian extraction, were segregated.”
And the process continues….
Craig Womack in his offering, Art as Performance, Story as Criticism: Reflections on
Native Literary Aesthetics goes head on with the perception of Freedmen fraud
predicated by certain tribal citizens of Oklahoma’s five civilized tribes. The chapter is
“Aestheticizing a Political Debate”
p. 105 “ No doubt they have a complicated backdrop, especially given the reconstruction
treaty that some argue was forced on Creeks in 1866, requiring them to accept their
former slaves as full tribal members. Yet the confederacy also has to recognize its
responsibility as one of the oppressors of its Afro-Creek relatives through the institution
of slavery, another reality of that same history. This chapter is mostly about a literary
response to the freedmen issue, but a serious question is a moral one. What are the
responsibilities of a nation that once embraced the institution of slavery? Can it dismiss
those responsibilities by simply claiming a biological, cultural, or historical difference
from those it enslaved?”
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p. 107 “…that is to say, where the freedmen leaves off and the Creek blood begins cannot
be separated one from the other. Whatever the arguments might be for
disenfranchisement, segregating Creeks from freedmen is, in reality, an impossible chore
in terms of any kind of rational basis. The bottom line is that it simply cannot be done,
whatever the legislative efforts have been to the contrary. Genetics, and its
interpretations, resists easy categorization.”
p. 108 “…freedmen were written out of the Creek Constitution in 1979. At one time
Creek political parties, especially the politicians more closely aligned with the ceremonial
grounds in the late nineteenth century, had a black constituency that helped elect them to
office. Exactly opposite to what some claim as Creek traditionalism today, these
traditionalists, like Isparhecher, for example, were running on platforms that vigorously
asserted the full rights of freedmen (see, for example, Gary Zellar’s African Creeks).”
p. 111 “In 1979, the Creek Nation replaced its 1867 constitution, which had enfranchised
ex-slaves. Article II, section 1, of the new constitution reads, ‘Each Muscogee (Creek)
Indian by blood shall have the opportunity for citizenship in the Muscogee (Creek)
Nation.’ By restricting citizenship to people whose ancestors were on the Dawes-byblood census and no longer recognizing the freedmen rolls, Creeks excluded the
descendants of their slaves. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Cherokees, led by Principal
Chief Ross Swimmer, similarly disenfranchised the descendants of their slaves, and the
Choctaws followed suit in 1983.”
p.112 & 113 “People are going to be arguing until the cows come home about whether
or not the freedmen are ‘really Creek’. Everyone has a different opinion and no one
agrees. A practical consideration has to be prioritized. Freedmen were legal citizens
from the time of the Reconstruction Treaty in 1866 until they were disenfranchised when
the Creek constitution was rewritten in 1979. After 113 years of citizenship, it was
simply too late to kick them out of the confederacy. Some argue that the Treaty of 1866,
which forced the nation to accept their former slaves, and other black Indians and black
non-Indians, as full citizens was a colonial imposition. Yet by 1979, after 113 years of
Afro Creek citizenry and hundreds of years of amalgamation of mutual destinies, it was
impossible to disentangle Creeks and freedmen in any way that made sense or could be
justified whatever the painful colonial histories may be that created the situation in the
first place. The appropriate response to colonialism is not more colonialism, this time
self-imposed by the colonized. If one believes in sovereignty and citizenship, why
impose a set of criteria not applied to any other group but those with black skin? Other
Creeks seeking citizenship have to trace lineal ascent to the Dawes roll (as before
disenfranchisement freedmen had to trace lineal ascent to the freedmen roll) not answer
questions like some of those I’ve heard: can they prove their matrilineal side of the
family is Creek? Do they participate at the grounds or the churches? Why do they only
come around when they want something? Do they speak the language? And on and on,
with everyone requiring a different set of criteria and no one agreeing. If these same
requirements were applied to the entire nation, assuming anyone could agree on which
ones provided the true test of Creekness, those few qualifying for citizenship could gather
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at a small country Baptish church barely big enough to fit its baptismal in the building.
An important historical reality is that a faction of the tribe has always supported the
citizenry of the Creek freedmen. Those who argue that the Treaty of 1866 was a colonial
imposition overlook one important historical reality. If the Treaty of 1866 was forced on
the Creeks, Article 2, which recognized the freedmen as citizens, was not. Loyalist
Creeks who had sided with the union (and who made up the main body of Creek
ceremonialists) fought hard to get the rights of Creek freedmen recognized in the treaty
and for decades afterwards many of them continued to resist any threats to the integrity of
Article 2. It is ironic, to say the very least, that today, disenfranchising the freedmen is
argued to be consistent with Creek traditionalism.”
p. 99 “ Today, some Creeks would argue that just because the group got to vote during
this time period does not prove they were ‘real Creeks’, an argument that I find lacking in
terms of artistic imagination.”
p. 100 “…while I want to examine the mutual destinies of Creeks and freedmen in these
stories, I do not want to simply conflate them into the same tradition, nor negate the
complexity of their history. I believe that freedmen also have a culture of their own (it
does not follow that this provides a logical excuse for disenfranchising them, by the
way!)
p. 103 “Creek genetics is just about anything under the sun. DNA has never been the
glue that holds the confederacy together.”
“You can contain multitudes” -Junos Dias Dominican-American author
I thought I would never say this in my life. I am usually much more open-minded than
this. I believe that people can feel emotion even when outside of the circle of
understanding. Moral and ethical situations can be clearly understood from afar. But in
this instance; this instance of the removal of black Indians from Indian nations, I am not
so sure. I have lived in the middle of this fight here in Oklahoma. My wife and I both
lived in Tahlequah and watched first hand the underhanded, political and racist nature of
this situation. As an employee of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Health Department
my wife heard first hand comments that people are now denying so as not to be deemed
racists. Oklahoma is a Red State. It is the only state in the U.S. where President Obama
lost in everyone county. Hatred towards Blacks is a longstanding tradition amongst many
tribal communities who were indoctrinated and made to bare white southern racism. The
oldest situation known to man is when an oppressed people attempt to find someone else
to oppress, so that they are no longer considered at the very bottom. As an Oklahoma
resident, I have heard the term nigger thrown around so casually, by both whites and
Indians that cries out for some form of intervention.
A friend of mine by the name of Ron Graham is the youngest son of Creek Freedmen and
former Arbeka Creek Ceremonial Grounds member Blue Graham. He sued the Creek
Nation for prohibiting his enrollment within the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the Creek
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Nation claimed sovereign immunity. His case was dismissed and he has no recourse.
Since 1980 the Creek Nation has been enrolling thousands and thousands of
predominantly white individuals with little to no connection to a Creek history or culture,
while the son of a ceremonial grounds person is kept out. The same situation has been
repeated amongst the Five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma. The Seminole Nation removed
their Freedmen community members only to have their federal funding suspended until
they were placed back on the tribal roll. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is currently
holding over 3,000 Freedmen in limbo over the same issue of racial superiority. The
Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations of Oklahoma have simply decided to not even address
the issue of Freedmen and act like it is not happening. For all the condemnations these
tribes have beset upon the United States for their oppressive policies towards Indian
people, it seems that in the case of citizenship towards their former slaves and
descendants that they are morally and ethically inferior. I would have never believed in
my wildest of imaginations that in 2011, tribal communities would become the
resurrected face of Jim Crow.
An email forwarded by Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma tribal council member and cooriginator of the petition to remove the Cherokee Freedmen is so incredibly ignorant and
outwardly racist that it almost defies logic that an elected official would distribute it to
others.
-----Original Message----From: "Cara Cowan" <cara@caracowan.com>
To: <cara@caracowan.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2007 22:49:26 -0500
Subject: Marilyn Vann's (Freedmen) Weapons of Mass Disinformation
-----Original Message----From: Twila Pennington [mailto:twilap@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2007 10:40 PM
Subject: Marilyn Vann's (Freedmen)weapons of mass disinformation
Wanted to share an interesting opinion on the Marilyn Vann (Freedmen organization
Pres.) attacks..
Marilyn Vann's weapons of mass disinformation
Who is Marilyn Vann: It appears that Marilyn Vann is a non-Indian insurgent
terrorizing Cherokee Nation families, children, elders and leadership. She and her allied
terrorists attack the Cherokee people with weapons of mass disinformation and
falsehoods. Marilyn Vann is aligned with anti-Indian sovereignty groups and inside selfserving mutinous malcontents who seek to destroy the Cherokee Nation if the Cherokee
Nation doesn't give them what they want. Marilyn Van and her anti-Indian sovereignty
allies cloak their terrorism in the name of racism. They avoid the precise truth and deny
readers the truth. She lied when she said that non-Indian Freedmen and Inter-Married
whites have been citizens of the Cherokee Nation for years and years. She avoids the
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existence and the objective basis for truth in her zeal to force the Cherokee Nation to
abrogate it's sovereignty and give her and allies what they want.
What do Ms. Vann and allies want: Non-Indian citizen Marilyn Vann and her fellow
non-Indian Freedmen allies want $50,000,000.00, allotment land, and apparently the right
to operate gaming facilities within the Cherokee Nation's jurisdictional boundaries.
Further she is demanding that non-Indians be allowed citizenship status and receive full
benefits and services that belong to Indian families, children, and elder citizens of the
Cherokee Nation.
What has Ms. Vann and allies done in the name of greed: In Marilyn Vann and allies
zeal to extort and bully the Cherokee Nation into meeting their demands they have
launched a campaign of lies creating unwarranted criticism against an Indian Nation.
They have attempted to diminish the sovereignty of a federally recognized tribe. Their
self-serving falsehoods, claims and actions have cruelly terrorized thousands of Cherokee
Indian families elders and children with threats to withhold needed federal funding. Their
actions threaten the jobs of 6,500 individuals employed by the Cherokee Nation.
What do thousands of Cherokee families, children and elders want: We want
Marilyn Vann and her fellow terrorists to come to their senses and end the soulless and
heartless disregard of the fundamental principles of right conduct. We want good people
who have been victimized by exposure to Marilyn Vann's weapons of mass information
to please seek the truth, do not yield to anger; and before we judge another it is best that
we have the truth before us. I know you will agree that it is cruel and unjust to accuse
someone of something they did not do. Our good Cherokee leadership and citizens are
not racists. I wish you well.
-Best regards,
Twila Pennington
I think that email simply speaks for itself. I love the part when she says, “…do not yield
to anger; and before we judge another it is best that we have the truth before us.”
Marilyn Vann is one of the most mild mannered and humbled person anyone could meet.
There is not an intimidating part to her. This is the type of fanaticism employed by a
minority of members amongst former slave holding tribes in response Black Indian
identity issues. There is much more to discuss concerning these issues, but when the
Speaker for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Council is willing to forward such
information with the tag line, “ Wanted to share an interesting opinion on the Marilyn
Vann (Freedmen organization Pres.) attacks..”, one already realizes they are dealing with
highly irrational and narcissistic people.
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Cowan-Watts fellow Freedmen petition organizer had a flowery editorial in the Cherokee
Phoenix this past year written about him saying what a great statesman he is. An exact
match for the types of articles that were once written about Alabama Governor George
Wallace in the early 1960’s prior to integration. Unfortunately for John Ketcher he was
caught on tape by Laguna Pueblo filmmaker Jenni Monet saying in relation to the
Freedmen “well you know how those people are” in reference to their black heritage.
But it seems that disenrollments have become almost normalcy in the past decade. The
following list of tribal communities have either disenrolled their tribal members or in less
cases, have prohibited those rightly entitled to citizenship from enrolling or have shunned
their own people who oppose certain political leaders within their respective tribes.
Boise Fort Band of Ojibwe, California Valley Miwok Tribe, Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma , Chippewa Cree (Rocky Boy Reservation), Cold Springs Rancheria ,
Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, Creek Nation of Oklahoma, Dry Creek Rancheria ,
Enterprise Rancheria, Grand Portage Band , Guidiville Rancheria, Isleta Pueblo, Jamul
Indian Village, Las Vegas Paiutes, Laytonville Rancheria, Lummi, Maidu Berry Creek
Rancheria, Mashpee Wampanoag, Mille Lacs Band, Mooretown Rancheria Narragansett
Tribe, Oneida Nation of New York, Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians Picayune
Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians, Pinoleville Rancheria, Prairie Band Potawatomi,
Puyallup Tribe, Redding Rancheria, Robinson Rancheria, Sac & Fox of Iowa, San
Pasqual Indian Band, Santa Rosa Rancheria, Sauk-Suitattle, Seminole Nation of
Oklahoma, Snoqualmie Tribe, Table Mountain Rancheria, Te-Moak Western Shoshone,
Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, Viejas Band of Mission Indians
On top of this there are at least ten other tribal communities who have also disenrolled
tribal members/citizens and another dozen or so who are currently considering the
removal of tribal members. One of these, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is even
considering the use of DNA testing to remove its members. A process which Chief
Michell Hicks supports.
Enrollment audit a slow, uneasy process for Cherokee
By Giles Morris • Staff writer
In a 2002 referendum, the members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians voted to
authorize an audit of the tribe’s enrolled members. Almost eight years later, the process is
coming to a head as the Tribal Council considers how to use the findings of the study.
The primary issue facing the council is what to do about the 300 names the audit showed
to have no connection with the Baker Roll, the tribe’s benchmark for enrollment
qualifications.
“The Cherokee people are currently working through the procedures and policies to be
set in place to deal with these individuals,” said Principal Chief Michell Hicks. “This is a
difficult situation for us all, but a necessary step to ensure we are all in compliance with
the Eastern Band’s enrollment guidelines.”
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After perusing 18,000 files and more than 115,000 documents, the staff of The Falmouth
Institute presented the final enrollment audit report to the Tribal Council last October.
Now the council is charged with setting the policies and procedures that will be used to
implement the findings.
The auditors found 1,405 files they deemed actionable, 683 files that did not meet the
current enrollment requirements, and 300 people with no connection to the Baker Roll
At stake is not just who can be considered a member of the tribe, but also the benefits and
rights that come with recognition as a tribal member, including the right to own land in
the Qualla Boundary and the right to per capita payments. There are currently about
13,000 enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee.
During committee meetings last month, tribal council members considered the possibility
of taking land back from disenrolled members and asked their legal team whether they
would have to provide compensation for it.
EBCI Attorney General Annette Tarnawsky said the Pechanga Tribe in California and the
Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan are in the midst of similar enrollment verification
proceedings, but neither has used the enrollment audits to expel people from their
reservations or to repossess land.
Jennifer Bainbridge, a tribal attorney in charge of researching the issue, said the lack of
precedents makes for slow going, but that property rights issues would be the sticking
point.
“There’s not any case law out there about tribes who have disenrolled people and taken
their property,” Bainbridge said.
As complicated as it is, figuring out how to enforce the enrollment audit may prove
simpler than determining how to interpret it.
Tribal Council member Terri Henry, who represents the Painttown community, pointed
to the fact that the original Baker Roll was a contested document. When the roll was
adopted in 1926, the Tribal Council approved 1,924 names and challenged 1,222 names
on the 3,136-person list. For Henry, that fact shows that even at that point the tribe felt its
membership should be a smaller group than the one the federal government recognized.
“To me, this kind of answers the question about the body politic at the time,” Henry said.
“This was actually at the time the roll was enacted. This would be at the genesis moment
of the enrollment of the tribe.”
The dispute over the Baker Roll can be traced to the fact that it was a document that
relied on land records belonging to William Thomas, who facilitated the purchase of the
land used to establish the Qualla Boundary. According to Tarnawsky, the Baker Roll
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“was derived from landholdings of Cherokee enrolled members who either sold or gave
land to Mr. Thomas that then became part of the boundary.”
The Thomas papers date to the 1840s.
The difficulty of verifying all of the records available to the Cherokee that could establish
enrollment criteria was made evident when David Wyatt, head of the tribe’s GIS mapping
program, began discovering historic documents during his research of land tracts.
“In the process of scanning all that information at BIA, we came across a little bit of
everything,” Wyatt said
Wyatt found original copies of Thomas’ records, census records from as early as 1912,
and a 1967 revised version of the Baker Roll, among other documents. None of these
were included in the enrollment audit conducted by Falmouth, and their staff indicated to
Tarnawsky that the scope of their project would be limited to records in the possession of
the tribe’s enrollment office.
So far, the Cherokee have spent $746,000 on the audit, with another $100,000 budgeted
for its completion. But with the discovery of new records that could be pertinent to the
effort, it’s not clear when the job will be done.
Tribal Council member Teresa McCoy was clear in the meeting last month that her
constituents want closure.
“I do prefer that there be a deadline placed on this. Let’s not let it drag out for another six
months. Our community met last week, and they were adamant. They were ready to start
the next morning. They are tired of waiting. They have waited for seven years, and they
don’t know what’s taking so long,” McCoy said.
But the council will have to decide whether to push disenrollment proceedings on the list
of 300 or on a broader group identified by the audit.
With a vocal part of the membership clamoring for resolution, the council will have to
negotiate intricate legal issues in addition to sorting out how to deal with records in
possession of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the State of North Carolina that could
shed light on the status of enrollment claims.
Tribal Council member Tommye Saunooke asked for patience.
“I think the public needs to understand that the results of the audit did not come back to
the council until late 2009. Council has not drug their feet on this,” Saunooke said.
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The following is a response to the enrollment audit by B. Lynne Harlan, a reporter and an
enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
Audit raises old issues of who is Cherokee, April 2, 2010
Our tribe has undertaken a tribal enrollment audit. The purpose of the audit was to
ascertain the validity of people’s whose names appear on our tribal rolls, the official
listing of our tribal members. Our tribal government uses a U.S. government list devised
in 1924 as the base listing of those Cherokee who lived in the Qualla Boundary,
Snowbird and Cherokee County communities when United States citizenship was granted
to American Indians.
It is ironic that our tribe asserts its sovereignty in many matters but in this most basic
question of who is a tribal member we have decided to rely on the federal government
standard established more than a century ago. We have chosen to use a list that was
questionable when it was developed to determine the future of our people more than a
century later. The Baker Roll, as is the case with many rolls of Cherokees for much of the
19th century, was actually intended to disenfranchise community members from our
community and our property. That list and the number of individuals it represented was
and continues to be used as a population base in federal funding formulas.
Throughout the 20th century, tribal leaders manipulated the enrollment data, righty and
wrongly, to best benefit the tribe. Our community has many stories about the manner of
the enrollment of some individuals such as cash payments to enrollment officials and the
oral agreement of tribal leaders to individuals for enrollment in exchange for property
which was to be included in tribal lands. No matter the past circumstance our tribe has
now relinquished the right to decide membership on an individual basis for a blanket
policy which reflects a federal government policy.
We have chosen to use a standard which does not take into account the basic principle of
family and community. No longer do we include people who live and work here as part
of our community because we choose a standard devised to separate us as tribal people.
The most basic of our traditions is to remain connected to one another no matter the
adversity and to remain together as a means of survival. That is no longer our focus. We
can now divide ourselves and segregate our families based on a list that affected our great
grandparents.
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The enrollment issue has a potential negative affect on our youth. We are struggling to
provide our youth with a positive self-image but at the same time telling them that their
identity can be taken away. For generations our people have suffered loss and the result
of that loss is tremendous.
Now we have presented another generation of the Cherokee with the notion that the loss
of their identity can be done with the stroke of a pen.
B. Lynne Harlan, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, works as a
freelance writer, curator and tribal historian.
IN THE END, THE EASTERN BAND OF CHEROKEE INDIANS DECIDED IN
FAVOR OF MAKING DNA A REQUIREMENT FOR ENROLLMENT! An
unbelievable assault on the essence of family and community.
In mainstream America such issues could be fought in court, but in the sovereign
immunity and nepotistic world of federal Indian judge and jury, there is no recourse for
the dispossessed as attested to here in an article regarding the Chippewa Cree Rocky Boy
Reservation.
“They tell us to take it to tribal court, said St. Pierre. ‘But the tribal council controls the
tribal courts.”
Jodi Rave: Speak ill, get kicked off reservation Bismarck Tribune 3/29/08
The following is in relation to the removal of tribal members from the Robinson
Rancheria in California.
“…The disenrollment of the former tribal members resulted from the discovery by the
Tribal Council in 2008 that a provision added to the tribe's enrollment ordinance in 1982
expanded the criteria for tribal membership beyond that permitted by the tribe's
constitution. The Tribal Council struck down that provision and notified people who were
enrolled under the unconstitutional provision that they had to demonstrate that they were
eligible to be members of the tribe under the criteria set forth in the tribe's
constitution….”
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In what may well be considered the worst quote ever put in print concerning the sheer
heartlessness of the disenrollment process, Robinson Rancheria Tribal Chair Tracey
Avila, says the following in regards to the recent disenrollments of her own community
people,
"The Tribal Council receives no satisfaction from disenrolling these people," Avila said.
"They have been part of our community for many years. Unfortunately, the Tribal
Council had to carry out its obligation to uphold the tribe's constitution. Once it came to
the Tribal Council's attention that the amendment to the enrollment ordinance expanded
the criteria for membership beyond that set forth in the constitution, the council had no
choice but to strike the amendment and to disenroll the people who had been improperly
enrolled. The tribe wishes them all well."
Disenrollment decision upheld
By Buffy White -- Contributing writer
Updated: 04/15/2010 10:59:34 PM PDT
Heartless and cowardly. Now a flawed Constitution that can be changed by the
community and leadership is greater than a human being.
In the same state of California, the The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians is maintaining
a first place lead in the number of disenrolled tribal members in the state. They currently
stand at 230 adults, with the Picayune Rancheria in a close second. Congratulations to
Pechanga on there first place lead in the standings and for the per capita payment increase
to the currently enrolled membership! Way to go guys!
REGION: Indian families face disparate outcomes in disputes
Enrollment feuds continue at two local tribes
By EDWARD SIFUENTES - Posted: January 17, 2010 9:40 pm
Members of a local American Indian family are one step closer to regaining part of their
identity as San Pasqual Indians. Another family is one step closer to losing its status ---and huge monthly checks ---- as members of the Pechanga tribe.
The Alto family was told late last year by the U.S. Department of the Interior that the
federal government continues to recognize them as members of the San Pasqual Band of
Mission Indians, a tribe in Valley Center.
However, a federal court judge told the Madariaga family in late December that it could
not interfere with the Pechanga Band of Mission Indians' decision to remove them as
members of the Temecula tribe.
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The two families are part of a growing problem among American Indian tribes.
Thousands of tribal members have been expelled from American Indian communities
throughout the country in recent years.
Indian-rights advocates say that many of the ousters are driven by greed.
Membership has long been a topic of heated debate in tribal communities, but those
questions have become even more contentious in recent years with the advent of casino
wealth.
Tribal casinos have become a nearly $8 billion-a-year industry in California since
gambling was legalized on Indian lands 10 years ago.
Before gambling was legalized, membership in most tribes meant little more than kinship
and identity within a tribe. Now membership can include large monthly payments, free
health care, education and housing.
That means that people who are rejected by casino-rich tribes stand to lose not only their
identity as members of American Indian tribes, but a long list of benefits, including
thousands of dollars in monthly casino earnings.
Tribal leaders, including those at Pechanga and San Pasqual, have said the enrollment
disputes are internal tribal matters and have nothing to do with money.
At issue in both cases is whether the federal government or federal courts can intervene
in tribal matters. Tribal governments are sovereign nations and control most civil matters
on their reservations, including who belongs and who does not.
Pechanga
In Pechanga's constitution, enrollment is solely an internal matter. San Pasqual's
constitution, however, allows the federal government to intervene in enrollment disputes.
In the Temecula case, Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro said he was pleased with the
court's decision not to intervene in what it said was a tribal matter.
"Although this has been a very difficult and emotional matter, we are satisfied with the
court's ruling," Macarro said in a written statement. "We view this decision as yet another
affirmation that Pechanga upheld the rule of law."
The tribe owns the Pechanga Resort & Casino, one of the largest and most successful
Indian casinos in the state, with 3,400 slot machines and a 517-room hotel.
Members of the Madariaga family filed a lawsuit against Macarro and other tribal leaders
in 2007 after about 140 people, including 50 children, were expelled from the tribe.
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The case disputed whether their ancestor, Paulina Hunter, was of Pechanga descent. The
tribe's enrollment committee said in 2007 that "Hunter was not an original Pechanga
Temecula person."
Family members say that the committee ignored the findings of an anthropologist hired
by the tribe itself who said the family was indeed part of the Pechanga reservation.
Losing their status as tribal members meant that their children were ousted from the tribal
school, the monthly casino revenue checks stopped and the family's movements on the
reservation restricted.
Each adult member of the family received about $250,000 a year in casino revenue, often
referred to as per capita, according to court documents.
In a 2-1 decision issued Dec. 22, the 9th District Court of Appeals declined to hear the
case, saying that it did not have jurisdiction over tribal enrollment matters.
Patrick Romero Guillroy, an attorney for the family, said the family is considering
appealing the decision, which he said was a blow to American Indian and civil rights.
People who are born members of a tribe should not lose their status, just like citizens of a
country.
"If that is allowed, what rights do Indians have?" he asked.
San Pasqual
Members of the Alto family in San Pasqual got some welcome news late last year. In
their case, the Bureau of Indian Affairs reaffirmed an earlier decision that said family
members are legitimate members of the tribe.
San Pasqual owns Valley View Casino in Valley Center, a mid-size casino with 2,000
slot machines and a 12-story, 161-suite hotel under construction.
In June 2008, the tribe's government stopped making the $3,500 monthly payments to 59
members of the Alto family, saying they didn't belong. The payments were diverted to an
escrow account until the membership issue was resolved, according to tribal documents.
The family members also were barred from voting in a tribal government election and
lost tribal government jobs and positions.
On Nov. 30, 2009, the bureau issued an interim decision that restored the family's
benefits pending a final decision in the case, which could take up to six months, said
Glenn Charos, an attorney for the family.
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The dispute stems from a challenge filed by another tribal member, Ron Mast, in August
2007, saying that the family members are descendants of Marcus Alto Sr., who was
adopted by a tribal family, but was not their biological son.
San Pasqual's chairman, Allen Lawson, repeatedly has declined to comment on matters
related to the disenrollment of the Alto family. He did not return a call for comment for
this article.
Mast said the tribe would continue to appeal the case.
"We have to," Mast said. "They are not Indians. We know that for a fact."
Mark Macarro’s views that federal courts are supporting their decision to disenroll is
complete spin doctor ideology. The federal government is viewing the decision to
disenroll at Pechanga as a sovereignty issue and has not in any way shown support for the
disenrollments. The federal government has simply affirmed in its rulings that they
cannot become involved in the disenrollments. This in no way implies support.
What one will commonly find in issues of disenrollment are community disagreements
and family divisions unrelated to identity. In many cases tribal communities,
reservations, bands and dependent nations have become little else than fiefdoms whose
court decisions and political decisions change year after year dependent on the seated
leadership and their imaginings of their own sordid histories. American Indian
communities are dealing with issues of historical trauma, which mainstream communities
do not have a context in which they can fully understand. Disenrollment is a control
mechanism employed by narcissistic, self-righteous and highly charismatic and
economically powerful people in Indian Country. For every Marc Macarro, Chad
“Corntassel” Smith, Tracey Avila and others, there exist many community members
whose only response to such issues is silence. Silence and fear have become the death
song for our tribal people today. In silence we allow corruption to multiply.
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INDIGENOUS IDENTITY?
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I was very fortunate to work with a young man by the name of Kelley Riley when I
served as a volunteer for the Indian Brotherhood group at the Bluewater Youth
Correctional Center near Goderich, Ontario in the Summer of 1994. Kelley was one of
the older inmates at the center having committed a crime prior to turning legal age and
serving out his sentence at the youth center as a legal adult. Kelley was the boss and he
knew it. He was a full-blood Chippewa as he told it and certainly looked the part. He
was trying to get his life together in the best ways he knew how. One day he said
something to the group which resonated with me as someone who had just turned twenty
(barely older than he) and was only in the beginning stages of even understanding my
own identity. It set the course for my understanding of engaging identity and some
sixteen years later it is still a foundational piece for me in looking at the myriad of issues
which surround it. As he looked at the group, almost all of whom were from Indian
reserves in Canada, but most of whom were mixed white to some degree, he exclaimed,
“You all have a choice, but I don’t. When I walk out into the world I am just Indian. I
can’t hide or be something else. But most of you have a choice. You don’t have to deal
with this bullshit. You can be like the rest of them out there and no one would know the
difference. I wish I was that lucky.”
And I realized he meant to direct it as me as much as them. Though someone could
argue that this was oversimplifying the issue, there certainly was truth to his statement. I
have been cautious throughout my life to insure that as someone who is not the
stereotypical phenotype imagined of Indians, that I realize the inherent privilege in this. I
can sympathize or empathize with his situation, but I will never be able to fully
understand it myself. Many of the people you will read about here did not have the good
council as younger people to hear such a statement. In their zeal to re-envision
themselves as an oppressed person fighting for the rights of their oppressed tribal
community, they in actuality are for the most part insulting those who have been truly
marginalized. I realize it makes them “feel warm and fuzzy” inside to fight the good
fight, but in the end it is self-serving and insincere.
We are held together by common misconceptions about our origins.
Fintan O’Toole Irish and Scottish Encounters with Indigenous Peoples Conference,
University of Toronto, June 12, 2010 recounted from someone else whose name I
cannot recall at this time.
It is a truly funny and honest statement to say the least. One that is added upon by a
quote from the book Indian orphanages in relation to experiences at Haskell Institute,
“When students at Haskell were asked to tell stories from their particular tribes, some
were at a loss and borrowed stories from other students or combined stories from several
Indian societies into one. Still, they were stories told by Indians, and the Indian Bureau
published some of those gathered at Haskell in a bulletin with the notation they ‘were
told by the Indian children at Haskell Institute, as they had been told by the old men and
women of their tribe.’ Evidently no one questioned the possibility that these stories were
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not old or traditional but simply stories made up on the spot or gathered from a number of
sources. Whatever the stories’ makeup, poignant and to the point was the ending given
by one of the storytellers: ‘This is told by one of the old Indians and now the old Indians
are nearly all gone. Maybe they are now in the land of the spirits.’ p. 198 Indian
Orphanages, Marilyn Irvin Holt
Contrary to popular belief in Indian Country, Indian youth are some of the greatest
appropriators in North America. One can hardly walk through a cultural gathering or
community event and not see the highly urbanized talk, manner of dress and means of
expression which primarily identifies with urbanized black culture. So while people run
around attempting to “out” those they feel are appropriating Indian culture, we need to
take a strong look at ourselves, our children, our nieces and our nephews. Appropriation
is certainly not a black and white issue, no pun intended.
People are obsessed with notions of authenticity.
“Part of it is the anthropologists’ sort of colonialism that spawned anthropology in the
first place. It’s where you’re always looking for the pristine…people who have their
culture. It’s the old Boazian thing about finding a whole culture intact. See [John]
Swanton wasn’t interested in mixed families at all. He was looking for ‘real’ Indians.
Like there’s a letter, you might run across it, he went below Azeel [sic] and he said, ‘I
heard there were some Indians there and I went….but when I got there, there were just a
bunch of Choctaws mixed with Black.’” Cultural Representation in Native America
Edited by Andrew Jolivette 12 “Examining the Regional and Multigenerational
Context of Creole and American Indian Identity p. 169/170
Of course, those obsessed with “authenticity” tend be those the farthest removed from it.
They hunt the identities of others, but it is all a ruse. They are truly hunting for their own
far gone identities and in the process they advertently and inadvertently hurt those who
are already father along in their journey than themselves.
Names are an ideal example in terms of conceptions of appropriation. I have been asked
on a few occassions where my surname Sunray comes from. Until this year I had no idea
where our original family surname of Ray or Sunray came from. In 1978 my dad
changed his surname from Ray to Sunray. I was four and he passed on not long after. He
had been divorced from my mom for two years prior and I lived with my mom and she
didn't know why he changed it either. When I was of legal age I changed my name
legally from Ray to Sunray to match my dad's. “Sunny Ray”, “Sun Ray”, and “Sunshine
Ray” were nicknames given to me by my friends when I was growing up as well. My
friends were primarily black, Cuban and Conch where I lived. It turns out Ray is a
Scottish name, which comes from McRae, Wray, Ray, etc. Sunray is another Scottish
and Irish form, which is also found in England. I even saw it listed in Hungary and
another Eastern European country which I can’t remember at this point. A
few individuals recently sent me copies of immigrants to the U.S. and Canada as well as
ship records of passengers and individuals with the Sunray surname, as well as those who
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still reside in the U.S. They also sent me census records and other important
information. One of my dad's long ago paternal ancestors was Scots-Irish. People tend
to confuse names such as Morningstar (German), Redman (Irish), Savage (English &
Scottish) and other surnames as "being or sounding Indian". Indians do not have a
monopoly on "natural" sounding names. The vast majority of American Indian people
in the country, as you all know, possess names which generally descend from European
people, due to intermarriage, names given by Indian agents to their "wards", forced
acceptance of surnames from prominent area people of European descent, etc. So maybe,
once again, we are appropriating not only material culture but also names. We have
become so caught up in identity wars that now other Indian people with axes to grind are
accusing our own people as having “Hollywood Indian Names”, when in actuality these
supposed “Hollywood” names come from Europe and have nothing to do with Indian
culture. We have become that crazy now in our want to hurt others.
We are asked to dismiss the non-Indian parts of ourselves. Why should we have to
deprive ourselves of our non-Indian ancestry in order to assert our indigenous selves?
And then of course there is the tri-racial label placed on tribal communities as
discussed by James H. Nickens,
Melungeon Genesis
The Indian Ancestry of the Melungeons
A Summary of the Lecture Series Delivered Before the
Melungeon Heritage Association 2000 – 2006 Regarding the
Indian Ancestry and Other Origins of the East Tennessee Melungeons
James H. Nickens
Virginia Indian Historical Society
Melungeon Heritage Association
Mid-Atlantic Native American Researchers
Sixth Union
June 8-10, 2006
Kingsport, Tennessee
www.melungeon.org
…….so-called mystery people, populations which fell outside of the white-black-mulatto
racial construct. The term Tri-Racial Isolates was adopted in reference to these aloof
rogue elements of American society. The uninformed assumption was made that these
populations were some ill defined mixture of the perceived races, presumably Indian,
white and Negro.
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The conclusions of the Tri-Racial Isolate theorists are marred in four critical areas:
1. Lack of sufficient knowledge of Indian history
2. Lack of knowledge of Indian genealogy
3. Failure to identify Indian people outside of a historical tribal context
4. A race driven paradigm which ignores ethnicity
In short – Insufficient Research.
Minimal genealogical effort and research into Indian history would have clearly
identified the so-called Lassiter Tribe as Chowanoke Indians. These same Chowanokes,
who settled among the Alabama Choctaw in Mobile and Washington Counties, Alabama
were called Cajans by tri- racial isolate proponents. They are still there among the
Choctaw.
In fairness to Tri-racial isolate theorist, it should be noted that the research upon which
their theories were based occurred in a timeframe which predated the information age.
The information disseminating power of the internet is not to be understated.”
People who are involved in identifying cultural communities typically are not of primary
Indian descent themselves, which makes some of their efforts at best misguided. The
problem however, is that we can’t paint everyone with the same brush. The two quotes
below depict the complexity of the exchange as Devon Mihesuah, an enrolled Choctaw
Nation of Oklahoma citizen of minor blood descent who is married to an identifiable
Comanche, speaks to issues of identity which in quote one I clearly disagree with and in
quote two I see as unfortunate due to her lack of addressing an issue that she herself
raised. My brief encounters with her have been positive, so I do not make any statement
as to her personal demeanor, but I do question her write to print to such things.
Some black or mixed-heritage Indian-black individuals identify as Natives in an attempt
to escape racism against blacks. As Brewton Berry describes the mind-set of many
Nanticokes, Chickahominys, and Lumbees, “Most of them would doubtless prefer to be
whites. But, since….Native..better? (bad photocopy job on second page, couldn’t fully
read the quote)
Indigenous American Women: Decolonization, Empowerment, Activism
Devon Abbott Mihesuah
As someone who has spent considerable time in these communities and who has
completed research projects directly related to, in the case of the Nanticoke and
Chickahominy, their long standing attendance at all-Indian boarding schools, I find their
mention in the book in this way as highly offensive, without the publication of a
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competing viewpoint or any facts to back up the comment. It leaves the reader with the
belief that this is factual information, when in fact it is an erroneous statement with no
backing in scholarship.
A question of identity
www.kansan.com
may 2, 2008
“Ray Pierotti said in an email that he wrote to the Comanche Nation and told them that he
had never identified himself as an enrolled member of the tribe. However, he declined to
discuss the specifics of his Comanche ethnicity.
Others have also expressed concerns about Pierotti’s claimed heritage. After Nick
Pierotti sent the e-mail with the allegations about his brother Ray, Devon Mihesuah,
professor of indigenous nations studies, sent him a reply thanking him. Her e-mail reply
was intended only for Nicholas Pierotti, but he posted it online on discussion boards
without Mihesuah’s consent.
In her response, Mihesuah said that she had questioned Pierotti’s Comanche identity and
challenged his ability to teach in the indigenous nations studies department. She said she
complained ‘endlessly’ to KU administrators and even asked to be removed from the
department. Her husband, Joshua Mihesuah, is an enrolled member of the Comanche
tribe. In the message, she said that they had ‘been aware’ of Pierotti’s claims for almost
10 years, and that she was ‘frustrated that KU chose to look the other way.’
I was a student at KU during a time when Pierotti was teaching. Though I did not know
him or take one of his classes, I do not find it fair that someone making accusations
would decline comment with a newspaper who is inquiring as to her statements. It leaves
too much conjecture floating around. She had her time to make the statements publicly,
but chose not to. This leaves many uncharted questions as to the validity of her
statements. Whether Pierotti is a Comanche or not was determined on a political level by
the Comanche Nation enrollment office. Whether he is socially a Comanche is an
entirely different matter that cannot be determined by low blood quantum members of
unrelated tribal communities. Comanche community members themselves make that
determination. I have met numerous enrolled citizens with ancestry from primarily
Eastern Oklahoma tribes whose political existence as Indian in no way matches any sort
of community involvement or acceptance by actual community members from within the
nation they hold enrollment with.
It seems as though professorships in Indian academic circles are receiving a lot of
attention. There are two primary factors to this in my opinion. The first is the growth of
Indian people receiving degrees, which leads to job scarcity in American Indian Studies
programs. The second is an open door policy on defining indigenous people, as well as
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facing the reality that definitions are not static and attempting to define such things is a
highly complex issue.
The Association of American Indian and Alaska Native Professor’s website states, “The
following prioritized recommendations are intended to affirm and ensure American
Indian/Alaska Native identity in the hiring process. We are asking that colleges and
universities:
1. Require documentation of enrollment in a state or federally recognized
nation/tribe with preference given to those who meet this criteria;
2. Establish a case-by-case review process for those unable to meet the first criterion
(website)
In this criteria, there are open ideas as to identity. The very mention of state recognition
as an identifier sends Indian identity police running for the protest sign. Unfortunately,
most of these individuals have no concept of historic, identifiable, state-recognized tribes
and the identity police officers themselves are typically “reclaimers” who have minor
blood descent from a federal tribe, which they themselves have parlayed into a tenured
track position.
Of the 49 Oklahoma tribes, 18 base their enrollment on descendancy. This insures that
the complexity of Indianess in the future, not only in the Academy, but in many other
areas is only becoming more and more complex.
How tribal communities determine identity is highly debatable from all corners. The
Kiowa and Comanche tribes in Oklahoma are considered highly traditional Indian
communities nationally. In the case of the Kiowa, they enroll members of ¼ Kiowa
blood or ¼ Kiowa captive blood. Kiowa captives were made up of white, Mexican and
other Indian tribal blood. So in essence, through their Constitution they are stating that
Kiowa blood, is not what determines Kiowa identity. I know this clearly as my wife is an
enrolled Kiowa as are two of our three children. This flies in the face of comments made
by members of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma that all tribes in the U.S. require
particular blood descent. General statements rarely hold up to truth. Another of the
most traditional tribal communities in the United States, the Texas based AlabamaCoushatta require a ½ degree of tribal blood or adoption for enrollment. Many highly
identifiable and cultural First Nations communities in Canada hold similar standards for
enrollment. It is believed that those who raise you typically are representative of the
identity one forms. This is called common sense. I was raised by my mom and her best
friend, my Aunt Cheryl, who is of Ojibwa descent. Obviously, the impact Aunt Cheryl
had on my life was great and meaningful. While I don’t consider myself Ojibwa, I do not
negate the cultural traditions of her people or the values I learned from her during my
growth as a young person. Identity police cannot deconstruct the vital part of my life that
an Ojibwa woman was of great contribution to.
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Identity, culture and community are socially constructed realities. Misguided legal and
political issues, however, are now beginning to channel identity as the following article
attests to.
Smokey Mountain News 5/19/10
Cherokee enrollment quandary leads to talk of DNA testing
By Giles Morris • Staff writer
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is talking about moving to DNA testing as a
way of verifying the blood requirement to be enrolled as a tribal member.
The tribe’s latest quandaries over its enrollment audit have led Principal Chief
Michell Hicks and a number of members of the Tribal Council to point to DNA
testing as the way forward when enrolling new members of the tribe.
“Going forth DNA is the only way to correct this issue. I’ve said this from day one,”
Hicks said. “Council has control over the enrollment process. The chief’s office
doesn’t have any control here. But that’s always been my recommendation. If we
want to get it right, let’s get it right, going forward with the DNA process.”
Making DNA testing mandatory for those who want to be included on the tribe’s
rolls became the focal point of discussion at a Tribal Council meeting earlier this
month. The conversation ensued after two enrolled members from the Snowbird
community asked the tribe to stop enrolling new members until the auditing process
had been completed.
The Tribal Council received the results of the enrollment audit in October. Since that
time, an enrollment committee has worked on implementing the policies and procedures
that would allow the tribe to proceed with disenrolling tribal members who don’t meet
enrollment requirements.
The auditors report showed that 50 people on the rolls don’t meet the blood degree to
qualify as a member of the tribe. Another 303 people on the rolls can’t prove they have
an ancestor on the Baker Roll, a 1920s-era federal roster of tribal members considered a
litmus test for enrollment today.
Even the Baker Roll is a contested issue. When the roll was adopted in 1924, the Tribal
Council approved 1,924 names and challenged 1,222 names on the 3,146-person list.
Big Cove Representative Theresa McCoy said the audit can’t be considered complete
until the council acts on the findings of the consulting firm that conducted the study.
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“The process included the removal of the names of persons who do not meet the criteria
for enrollment when they were enrolled, so to me, the enrollment audit is not complete,”
McCoy said. “The paperwork is, the findings are, but the audit is not.”
While the enrollment audit was approved by a vote of tribal members in 2002, it was not
until 2006 that the Falmouth Institute, an outside consulting firm, began its work. The
Tribal Council is scheduled to vote on the policies and procedures it will use to enforce
the results at its June meeting and the process could be complete as early as September.
The painstaking and lengthy audit has led some sitting council members to push for the
use of DNA testing in the future.
“Let’s start doing DNA. We’ve got that technology, and we need to utilize it. Instead of
putting people on that aren’t supposed to be,” said Snowbird Representative Diamond
Brown.
The tribe has enrolled 157 new members, mostly infants, since last June. At its meeting
earlier this month, the Tribal Council voted to pass an amendment that would prevent any
new members, except those ages 0 to 3 and 18 to 19, to enroll until the audit process is
complete.
One of the major issues concerning the tribe’s rolls centers on the right to per capita
payments. Every tribal member gets two checks a year as a share of casino revenue. It
amounts to about $8,000 a year. Per capita payments will be released to members on June
1.
Snowbird Representative Adam Wachacha said a complete enrollment audit and DNA
testing were the only ways to save the tribe from repeating the painstaking review process
again in the future.
“The people want the rolls to be cleaned up and unless we fix the process which we’re at,
20 years from now we’ll be in the same boat we are in now,” Wachacha said.
Hawk Brown, an 18-year-old enrolled member from Painttown, said DNA testing could
make for painful realizations for some families.
“Everybody’s got skeletons in their closets. But if we want to clean this up, the people
voted on it and that’s what they want to do,” Brown said. “Them things will have to
brought out. Them things will have to be brought out in my own family.”
The Tribal Council will vote on the issue of whether to include DNA testing as an
enrollment requirement and on policies and procedures governing disenrollment hearings
in June.
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These types of pursuits harken back to the scary days of eugenics.
But of course this all arises out of confusion caused by internalized mainstream
expectations of Indianess which even the most learned of individuals sometimes fall pray
to. An interesting analysis on this in my mom’s home country of Canada bares this out.
Wall, Sharon.
Totem Poles, Teepees, and Token Traditions: 'Playing Indian' at Ontario Summer
Camps, 1920-1955
The Canadian Historical Review - Volume 86, Number 3, September 2005, pp. 513-544
University of Toronto Press
In a broad sense, summer camp was hailed as a recreation of 'the Indian way of life,' a
place where (mainly) white children learned 'to live like Indians' during the summer
months. This article explores this curious cultural phenomenon and concludes that the
camp's Indian programming had little to do with honouring or even understanding
Aboriginal peoples and more to do with seeking a balm for the non-Native experience of
modernity. Drawing on recent scholarship on antimodernism, 'playing Indian,' and childrearing, it suggests that a racialized form of antimodernism expressed itself at camp, as
did modern infatuation with questions of childhood, identity, and race.
Umberto Eco warns us that “American imagination demands the real thing, and to attain
it, must fabricate the absolute fake” Travels in Hyper Reality (San Diego, New York,
Lond: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983 p.8)
Indianess becomes an imagined entity, not only from the colonizer’s descendants, but
also from the colonized who are attempting to recover loss and are not completely sure as
to what is or is not “authentic”. People demand clear cut and easily understandable terms
of definition, but of course, such terms rarely exist with any hope of accuracy or
accounting for the variation of historical experience. This easy identification in the U.S.
or Canada simply stems from one’s perception that people enrolled with federally
recognized tribes are legitimate and those who do not belong to such category are not.
When questions are raised as to their views on Indian people who have been disenrolled
from tribes or who come from tribal communities who the Bureau of Indian Affairs
terminated in the 1950’s, there suddenly becomes a reluctance to answer the question of
“legitimacy”. The reasons for people backing off of hard questions are due to ignorance
and the obvious as described here.
It comes from those who are already carrying their own emotional baggage about their
own personal identities as quoted
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In a book released in 2007 by Fitzgerald she interviewed members of federal tribes who
have more recently asserted their Indian identities. She labels these individuals
reclaimers.
“Brayboy concurs that this ‘policy’ of Indian authenticity also stems from feelings about
his own authentic Indianness: ‘My sense of not feeling ‘Indian enough’ in certain
contexts, however, led me to my being critical of others who might be labeled ‘wannabes’” this appeared in Fitzgerald’s book on pg. 220 and was quoted from a previous
text as (2000 p. 423)
This holds true in virtually every case, with only minor exceptions.
In Resolution Number FY09-07, signed by tribal leaders from the Five Civilized tribes in
Oklahoma, it states basically that state-recognition is fraudulent on some level or another
and insinuates that members of such tribes are wannabes. Of course, this resolution was
put forth by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and was signed based on political
considerations and not on any study conducted by the tribal signatories. Kelley Haney,
who served as the Chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma attends the same Indian
church both my wife and I attend and in knowing him, understand clearly that he holds
no such opinion. Bill Anoatubby, the Governor of the Chickasaw Nation is married to a
non-Indian and their children are also married to non-Indians. His family photo shows
him and about ten blonde people in it. Through his leadership, his tribe has expended
tons of money and influence in insuring that non-Indian political leaders in Texas enact
legislation to insure that the tribal communities located in the state cannot pursue gaming
initiatives. This is due to the reality that the Chickasaw Nation’s largest casino is located
on the Texas border north of Dallas and the advent of tribal gaming in Texas will
severely negatively impact the economic future of the Chickasaw Nation. The problem is
that communities like the Alabama-Coushatta, who the Chickasaw Nation has
devastatingly impacted, are made up primarily of identifiable Indians, while the
Chickasaw Nation consists of primarily non-identifiable and non-cultural, low blood
quantum tribal citizens. In other words, a corporate highly educated entity has crushed
the rights of a visible, cultural minority. Another signatory, Chief Greg Pyle of the
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a lighted headed, blue eyed non-culturally raised
Choctaw citizen of mixed descent. In knowing people who attended school with him, it
is clear that his Choctaw identity was developed as an adult. While I certainly have no
problem with people reinventing themselves, I definitely have a problem with people
such as Chief Pyle attempting to re-identify others. I do not know much about Chief
A.D. Ellis of the Creek Nation of Oklahoma, except for the fact that he is involved in
continual lawsuits and repeal affidavits within his own tribal community. Chad
“Corntassel” Smith is simply a liar in terms of his personal life. One’s personal life is the
very foundation of their leadership. With two sets of children of nearly the same age, two
from his legal wife and another three from his mistress, his morality and ethics are so
distorted, that anything he says at any time must be questioned assertively.
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Who they are representing must be analyzed as well for as long as they choose to belittle
and misrepresent people. The cases are too numerous to write here, but I will share a
very few.
-Shawnee “Choctaw” incident from Waiter at restaurant near interstate. He asked me
what language I was speaking with my kids and I said Choctaw. He pulled out his 1/128
CDIB and told me that he got it when his relative did a genealogy search that showed
they had some Indian descent. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma paid his way through
school because of this.
-Shawnee School board waiting for superintendent “CDIB” incident where woman got
her CDIB in her 30’s and acted as though it were an accomplishment. So I was just
sitting at the school board waiting for an appointment and this woman comes flying down
the hall practically jumping up and down exclaiming to everyone that she just got her
“CDIB and now she was officially Indian”. How ridiculous.
In a recent conversation with an acquaintance of mine regarding identity, this person
commented that myself and my dad’s tribe, were the proverbial “cog in the wheel”.
What he explained was that due to the fact that my father’s community (MOWA Band of
Choctaw Indians) still had our tribal language and that many of our people attended
federal and mission boarding schools exclusive to Indians, it messed up the argument that
non-federally recognized tribes are just a bunch of wannabes. Our century long struggle
for federal recognition, which has included 9 Congressional Bills, 30 years of appeals
with the BIA and one federal lawsuit which was thrown out in 2008 based on a
technicality concerning the statute of limitations. All pertinent and conclusive
information concerning the tribe was deemed received “out of time” by the BIA and
therefore was never reviewed. Our federal lawsuit forcing recognition was filed, as
defined by the Court and BIA, beyond the statute of limitations and therefore the merits
of the case were never heard. And who was the decision maker at the BIA, none other
than Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma citizen and former tribal registrar Lee Fleming.
Fleming, raised in Maryland, a hotbed state of Cherokee culture and traditionalism ( I
apologize for the sarcasm) is a friend to the current Indian identity police calling
themselves the “Task Force” at the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. He is the same
person who called my father’s people black and said would never gain federal
recognition because of it, in front of university professors at Samford University in 1995,
while he attended a genealogy conference in the capacity as Tribal Registrar of the
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma under the Wilma Mankiller administration. A signed
letter from one of the professors in attendance shows this clearly. A year later he would
become an employee of the very branch of government, which decides federal
recognition status (the Office of Federal Acknowledgment) which was formerly known
as the BAR (Bureau of Acknowledgment and Research). Shortly thereafter, he would
become Director. Lee, the leader of identity policing with the most powerful position
existent in the country for such power, is embodiment of bias in his decision making
processes. So with this in mind, I would like to attempt to define the anatomy of the
typical identity cop in Indian Country:
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1. Typically low blood quantum or extremely low blood quantum; though there is usually
one or two identifiable, higher blood quantum individuals in the group to assist with
bringing “legitimacy” to their message.
2. Usually married to someone who is not a member of their respective tribe, even though
they constantly talk on the importance of maintaining their tribal culture.
3. Typically raised away from their traditional homelands and almost always raised away
from the traditional communities within their homelands.
4. In most cases, they show descent from historical political figures within their nation,
not from traditional figures within their nation. In descendant tribes there is a huge
difference between being descended from a former judge or from a traditional grounds
leader. These are two very different socio-political viewpoints.
5. Talks about sovereignty relentlessly, even though most of them acquired this word
after taking a American Indian Studies class in college.
6. Attempts to turn their issue against certain people into a national sovereignty issue
which will somehow affect all “real” Indians.
7. Believes that by talking really loud, people will somehow believe that what they say
makes sense.
9. Typically does not have children, or is at the age where their children are out on their
own, thus does not come from the viewpoint of a committed parent.
10. Constantly brings out worst-case scenarios of “fraudulent tribes” as justification for
belittling all non-federal tribal communities and people.
11. Is racially intolerant and typically comes from an area where discrimination against
African-Americans fits the mainstream norm of the surrounding white community.
12. Typically, do not belong to a traditional Indian church or grounds, but always talks
about the few times they have attended such services and ceremonials.
12. They act like politicians and not like people with traditional ethics who value
showing respect for others.
13. They “contact” others by belittling them in the press and not having the maturity to
speak to them one on one or in a smaller group setting.
14. Typically, they are only considered to be “Indians” by the political powers that be
and by those they meet while representing their tribal nations at various national boards,
conferences, etc., do to the fact that these people do not know their full story.
15. Are not fluent speakers of their own tribal language.
“Fakes”, “frauds”, “wannabes” are the titles that are consistently advertently or
inadvertently thrown at the small minority of legitimate Indian communities existent here
in North America by these individuals. These are typically spearheaded by federally
recognized “thindians”, or people whose Indian ancestry knowledge was acquired
through a family member finding a long lost relative on a genealogy chart. While most
of these individuals are satisfied with the free IHS and college benefits that their newly
acquired CDIB brings them, there are some who morph themselves into full-fledged
tribal politicians and develop revisionist histories of their families. Some, as we have
seen in Indian Country lately, even spearhead the removal of other enrolled citizens from
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their ranks. They bring up terms like sovereignty and even go so far as to insinuate that
blood matters. If blood mattered, then why would they be on the roll? Since when has a
minute amount of Indian blood made an Indian who can then attack the Indian identity of
others? Shared cultural experience, family kinship, collective historical experience and
language surely stand far beyond federal blood ties. So if by some accident one’s four
times great grandmother didn’t take up an allotment in Oklahoma and someone else’s
four times great grandmother did, that should matter? That makes an Indian? And
worse, that makes them more Indian than the other person? That is irrational. Luckily,
for tribes like the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, they have enough money to recreate a
cultural aptitude for any of their tribal citizenry, while also using this money to refute the
identity of others. They can go on-line and learn the language (though never achieving
any kind of fluency), send their children to cultural camps and find comfort in a corporate
structure. While it seems that I would have a problem with this, I truly don’t. My
problem is not with their existence, but with the obviously contradictory message they
preach. Nation’s define their own citizenry. I get that. What great problem there is in all
of this is that these Nations are now becoming the identity police for other Indian people.
Not satisfied with the moral failures of throwing out their own tribal citizens, they now
believe that they can make identity calls on others. The United States of America didn’t
even have the moral ineptitude to disenfranchise the citizenship of the very people who
labored in the fields as slaves and produced the economic profit that drove the “growth”
of the country. Outside of the counties contained in their tribal jurisdiction, Nations such
as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, hold no legitimacy in the larger Indian world. In
fact, even within the CNO’s jurisdiction their legitimacy is constantly questioned by the
United Keetoowah Band and the numerous other tribal citizens who have moved into the
area. That isn’t political theory, that is social fact and there is a definite difference
between the two. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma’s Indian police love you until you
disagree with them. They put you in the tribal newspaper, herald your work with Indian
children, use your brown children in their advertisements, ask them to sing and recite
prayers at your functions and then they attack you when you question their ridiculous
banter. Of course, they attack you without revealing their identities. And when you
confront them, they start backpedaling and breaking down. They attempt to drag you into
tribal court and charge you with a litany of nonsensical things. And, of course, they
charge you as an Indian in court. Oh the irony. They legitimate your identity when it fits
their goals and change it when it doesn’t.
And the identity police love to mention the things that are identifiers of the fakes, such as
italicized Indian names (oh you mean, like Chad “Corntassel” Smith and Bruce “Two
Dogs” Boszum (Mohegan Nation) and the other 100 or so leaders and members of federal
tribes who also carry these names?), the wearing of Plains Indian headdresses even
though they claim to be Eastern Indians (Oh, like the twenty pictures I have in my file
here showing federally recognized tribal leaders in the east doing the same thing?),
always talking about some distant Indian Grandma (oh, like 85% of the enrolled
population of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), having monthly “tribal” council
meetings (Oh, like 90% of the federal tribes in the U.S.), not growing up “Indian” (what
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on earth does this mean when very few of them ever grew up in a traditional community)
and the list goes on and on.
A pamphlet was created by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma in 2009 and posted online, which talks about supporting the current clearly corrupt federal recognition process.
It states that non-federal tribes portray false culture, which is harmful. The best part is
that the pictures on the pages that are attempting to show “authentic Cherokee culture”,
show a pair of Choctaw stickball sticks. And of course, you know who gave them those
very sticks. If you guessed me, then you would be right. They also had a Choctaw
Nation of Oklahoma citizen and I come down and teach them tournament style stickball,
organize the event and bring the sticks for them to use. If they want to talk about
representing “authentic Cherokee culture”, please don’t us our Choctaw cultural symbols
or at least know enough to not print pictures of them in your “cultural” pamphlets.
So while members of my father’s community and other tribal communities were sent out
to Indian boarding schools, disenfranchised from attendance at the local white and black
schools, endured extreme racial prejudice in the Deep South and were continuously
marginalized due to our impoverished economic status, there were a bunch of nonIndians walking around experiencing the ease of being deemed non-Indians. Many of
these people who were non-Indians in the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, and even 70’s are now card
carrying members of federal tribes and are truly acting the part in many fashions. This
issue is the 800 pound gorilla in the room that people only talk about behind closed
doors. In this group there are sincere people. There are people who are involved for
positive reasons. They want to stop cultural appropriation, protect burial sites, etc. These
are good things, but in this group there are also opportunists, fakes and deceivers. People
who attempt to hurt the identity of others so that people don’t scrutinize their identity. I
have heard some classics since moving to Oklahoma in 2004. One of my favorites is
when a student came into my office at Bacone College and inquired if I could help him
“get an Indian scholarship”, as he put it. I asked him jokingly, “Are you Indian?”. His
response, “No, but I got a Cherokee card.” Instantaneously he pulled his CDIB from his
wallet, which showed a whopping degree of blood hovering at 1/256. 1/256 seems to be
a recurrent theme over at the Cherokee Nation, even amongst tribal council members. I
asked this student a few questions about his “Cherokee” history and he was not able to
answer any. Or the trip to a local restaurant where we lived in Shawnee, Oklahoma,
when a waiter asked us what language we were speaking at the table and we replied that
we were speaking Choctaw. He became excited and remarked that he was Choctaw. As
in the previous case, the CDIB came flying out and it showed that he was 1/128 Choctaw
by blood. I gave him the “Choctaw Test”. He didn’t get an F. I would say he got the
grade below an F, if there is such a thing. The best thing was when he remarked that his
aunt’s husband was from a “fake Cherokee tribe” in Arkansas. Now this guy was calling
someone else a fake? And in June of 2010, my wife and I went to eat at the New York
Cheesecake Factory in Oklahoma City for my birthday, when our blonde, blue-eyed
waitress explained to us that she recently received her CDIB so “they” (in reference to
the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) could pay her college costs. And one of the best ones
I have ever been able witness to was when a member of the Cherokee “Task Force” was
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revealed to have been a member of the Cherokees of Northeast Alabama prior to
becoming a CNO citizen. You have to love that. This person now advocates against the
very people that she was enrolled with previously. In essence, she advocates against her
own real and undeniable past. Yelling in front of and blocking the closet door, doesn’t
stop the skeletons from coming out.
I find it necessary to mess with these people; sending them letters full of half-truths and
innuendo. Pushing their buttons at meetings and confronting their hypocrisy. I was the
kid who used to beat up the bullies in high school. When we moved to Tahlequah, I
made sure not to mention that I was an enrolled citizen of a federally recognized tribe.
Our family even placed a family genealogy website up on the net, so people could
scrutinize and take a look. We added “Cherokee” beside the names of various, nonCherokee and presumed Cherokee relatives. I told one of the Identity police I met that
my uncle claimed to be a Cherokee “Shaman”. I wrote that my parent’s looked like the
front of a romance novel (you know the Indian with braids carrying the white woman in
distress in his arms) and that if you looked up white in the dictionary you would find a
picture of my mom. That really isn’t relevant, but it is funny. The best part was
watching them scramble, trying to make sense of it all. Finally, through research, they
found out that I was an enrolled citizen of a federal tribe, my dad’s tribe was legit (though
not federally recognized) and that I spoke my tribal language. My cover was blown, but
it was a good run. It allowed me to see inside the minds of those who attempt to do harm
to others. I would have never been able to hear and see the things I did unless I played it
this way. It was a flashback from my younger days. Sometimes you have to beat down
and humiliate the bully. People who do things in support of others without consideration
for the harm it will do to themselves are genuine people. I was accused of being a “a
Ward Churchill in reverse” by another identity cop for not talking about the fact that I
was an enrolled citizen of a federally recognized tribe. A “Ward Churchill in reverse”?
Now that has got to be some kind of compliment I would assume. Claiming to be less
“Indian” than you really are is now a crime? I thought that claiming to be Indian or more
Indian than you are is a crime. I love it! I might get charged with a felony, as one Indian
identity cop, the before mentioned Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma tribal councilor Cara
Cowan-Watts, wants to do with those who “misrepresent” themselves (i.e. assert their
Indianess when they are not a member/citizen of a federally recognized tribe).
Indian identity police deserve sympathy however. They typically are hurting themselves.
They are covering up their own shortcomings, faults, insecurities and lack of a tried and
true Indian identity by questioning others. However, they are entertaining; in the way
that bad reality television is entertaining.
The problem with the identity issue is that the majority of people with the loudest
mouths, don’t have the necessary research level regarding the issue to make any type of
informed decision. They have become so emotionally involved in the issue as to defy
reason with their remarks. They pull “facts” out of the air based on the opinion of a
friend or someone they want to gain political favor with. The development their “ideas”
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of real Indian identity based on federal and state court cases which have nothing to do
with social reality, but rather with legal rhetoric.
So the new rules are as follows:
1. If you are not at least ¼ Indian please do not make identity calls on others.
2. If you do not speak your own tribal language, please do not attempt to make identity
calls on others, as you don’t even know your own culture fully at this time, because of the
lack of essential and foundational knowledge that your tribal language inherently
possesses. And don’t say that it isn’t your fault that you don’t speak your language. If
you are not trying to learn then it is your fault and no-one else’s.
3. If you do qualify under criteria #1 and #2, please use sound judgment and respect in
your deliberations concerning the identity of others and don’t make exceptions for your
own family members when doing so. What is good for one, is good for another.
So if the Indian identity cops from descendant federal tribes are really looking for what
they define as non-Indians, all they need to do is go down to their local IHS or their
tribe’s annual gathering. But I forgot, the definition they apply doesn’t count when it is
directed at their own people. This is truly the 800 pound gorilla sitting in the room.
Blood based enrollment is geneticist blood purity nonsense. Tribal communities never
attached blood to community identity and therefore individual identity. You can’t make
communities off of federal rolls, only off of community belief. Adoptions were common
and necessary. The contemporary position of our own family clarifies this point.
Our daughter, who has been raised by my Kiowa and Ponca wife since she was two years
of age, is another clear example. To say that she, eight years later, is not Kiowa is
insulting. Her family members are Kiowa, her daily life is Kiowa and her worldview is
Kiowa. Her biological mother is 7/8 Ojibwa, but our daughter was not raised in this
culture. Kiowa people accept her as Kiowa and therefore she is. She will never be a
political Kiowa as she does not meet the blood criteria for enrollment, but she will always
be a cultural Kiowa even though she is enrolled with a federal Canadian Ojibwa band and
a state Choctaw community. Enrollment is not a dictator of culture. The two are separate
situations. This plays out routinely with students who I work with. They will identify
themselves as say Seminole, but when they turn in their enrollment for JOM programs,
etc. it will state Creek. They may be being raised by their Seminole mom, but be enrolled
with their Creek biological father. This is typical amongst many tribal youth today.
Those obsessed with the identity issue forget that growth creates change. Knowledge
acquisition requires change. This is a life reality. If you are the same person you were as
an eighteen year old, as you are today, then there has been little acquisition or change.
This is resultant in a stagnant life. If you perceive the world around you in the same way
have you viewed things fully? I choose to reinvent my life as I see is healthy for my
family, my community and myself. I cannot be the same person I was at the age of
eighteen as I am today. Too much has been learned in the past eighteen years to prohibit
change and to be afraid to reconsider my identity as a person and community member.
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This “new federalization” of indigenous North America would have some citizens of
large, economically powerful, federally recognized nations in the U.S. making identity
calls on others as we have discussed. While many of these federal nations themselves,
have populations where the majority represent the phenotype and culture of the typical
Euro-American. These same dependent nations are also responsible for the systematic
oppression of other indigenous people in the past and today. The removal or avoidance
of conversations concerning the indigenous Freedmen, who are the direct descendants of
indigenous tribal Africans, is a primary example. When does one forfeit their indigenous
status?
“By the first decade of the twentieth century, most of the peoples had been forced out of
their indigenous home environments to different environments in Oklahoma….”
Going Indian p. 11
The distance between Glasgow, Scotland and Toronto, Canada is 3283 miles (5284 km).
The distance between the pre-Removal area of Northern Georgia and Tahlequah,
Oklahoma is around 800 miles. The distance from West Africa to coastal Carolina is
however many miles. So is there a mileage distance inherent in defining who and who is
not indigenous. Say, if you are relocated 1,000 miles away from your homelands, are
you are no longer indigenous? If not does your traditional indigenous language and
culture revert to a non-indigenous status? If you are 800 miles away from home are you
still to be considered indigenous? It would seem that this fits into the current logic of the
certain elements of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma who feel that even though they do
not live in their traditional homelands, that they should still be viewed as indigenous,
while a Highland Scot living in Canada or a black person descended from tribal Africans
should not.
If you were sent to schools where you were punished for speaking your indigenous
language and then you were relocated to an area where you continually intermarried with
people primarily of this same removed group, which maintained your traditional culture,
do you now forfeit your indigenous status? Or if you are one of the members of the eight
currently state recognized tribes, one in Delaware, six in Virginia and one in Alabama
who attended federal Indian boarding schools, do you now lose your indigenous status
because a few idiots in Oklahoma feel only “federally-recognized Indians” are truly
indigenous? So people who never endured any of the historic trauma of being
identifiable boarding school attending Indians can be indigenous, but not those who
actually did? So Native Hawaiians, Maoris from New Zealand, Aborigines from
Australia, the indigenous people of Thailand or others who have found new homes in
what is North America are suddenly non-Indigenous? Everyone is a wannabe these days
it seems. No one has the opportunity to grow, relearn, re-educate, re-evaluate and redefine themselves based on the knowledge and understanding they acquire during their
teen and adult years? We are supposed to be only what we are defined as at birth? We
can’t grow in our understanding of our indigenous selves, because some white folks with
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a few strands of Indian ancestry operating behind big casino wealth and massive federal
allocations have re-defined the rules of the engagement?
The indigenous blood of African-Americans far outweighs that of the current indigenous
population of North America. The indigenous blood of “immigrants” from Mexico far
outweighs that of the Indian population of North America. I realize that is hard for most
to swallow. In our quest to be MOPE (Most Oppressed Person Ever), it is hard to allow
reality in the door.
Self identification is a fundamental human right. Appropriation is not. This is a tough
line to draw; a difficult space to negotiate. In the cases of some Eastern Oklahoma tribes,
their supposed sovereignty consisted of a double wide trailer serving as an
“administration center” back in the seventies, with possibly an acre or two of land
underneath. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma’s entire administration and government
was literally an office space in downtown Tahlequah, OK with one and a half employees
in 1971. But this is not the history they want told today as their casinos blanket Eastern
Oklahoma and their annual federal allocations eclipse 300 million dollars. Money creates
revisionism. The Cherokee corporation is now a rule and image maker. A recent video
they released attacking non-federal Cherokees conveniently locates the minority brown
Cherokees within their tribe and puts their faces all over the release. In the real world
this is called false advertising, but to the Cherokee administration and their Task Farce
this is all in a days work. Selling identity is big business at the CNO. Big, big business
and takes up a great deal of their time speaking nationally and within their own tribal
council meetings and gatherings.
I have heard identity police throughout the country as they accuse people who don’t
know the definitions of IHS, CDIB, BIA, etc. with being frauds, because as they say,
“Any real Indian would understand this.” How would someone know the Alphabet Soup
that is federal Indian Country if one had no access to it?
They say that people with so-called “Indian names” are frauds, while their own tribal
leaders go by such names. Chief of the Cherokee Nation Chad “Corntassel” Smith,
Mohegan Chief Bruce “Two Dogs” Boszum are just two such examples.
They say that Eastern Indians who wear Plains War Bonnets are fakes, when my filing
system is filled with pictures of Eastern federal Indian leaders who have done the exact
same thing, including the leadership of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Because this
stopped in the 1990’s with some of these doesn’t mean it did not happen on a continuous
and regular basis, because it did.
They always have something to say about just about everyone, but a hesitancy to look
directly in the mirror and see that in many cases their fallacies are even worse. During my
teaching at six universities and colleges in both Canada and the U.S. in the field of
Indigenous Studies I think I have heard it all.
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Some of the same people complaining about wannabes today were using these supposed
“wannabes” to illustrate their own books. The case could not be more obvious than that
of Wilma Mankiller and artist Murv Jacob, who had illustrated books by her. Murv has
worked extensively in Cherokee country and produced many fine artistic pieces.
Attempting to portray him as a fraud, when he is not attempting to misrepresent himself
is the work of people who are simply hurtful. I do not know or have ever had a
conversation with Murv, but it is clear that the actions taken against him by a few
“Cherokees” are wrong. When Chief Chad “Corntassel” Smith of the Cherokee Nation
of Oklahoma received an award at the Red Earth Festival concerning his life
achievements, he accepted it, even though it was crafted by a member of state recognized
Cherokee tribe in Alabama. I wonder if all his children were in attendance ot see him
receive his award. It seems that ego trumps one’s stance when it really comes down to it.
My enrollment with a federal tribe, state tribe or any heritage organization does not
validate or invalidate an indigenous identity. As an indigenous person, I choose to
exercise my identity when and where I choose. No one defines this reality to me. No
federal organization or dependent tribal nation, supported by my tax dollars, defines this
for me.
As indigenous communities we suffer from a collective case of self-doubt and self-pity
typified by what we view as scant resources. But this is utterly false. The needs of
indigenous communities throughout North America are divergent and even contrary in
many cases. Building one up, by tearing another down is the definition of the “isms” that
we constantly allow to surface within our community lives. Internalized racism, sexism,
etc. are killing indigenous communities.
Our oldest child is brown skinned, brown eyed, brown haired and an enrolled band
member of a federally recognized First Nation in Canada, and a state recognized tribe in
the U.S. can’t access the J.O.M. program or use IHS, while a ton of white kids with scant
Indian descent can? This is silly and preposterous.
Indigenous communities of people are not defined by outside governmental organizations
or federal Indian tribes who view them as competitors in the market economy. They are
defined by their traditional cultures, languages, history of historic oppression and
hopefully a day in which such oppression is but a minor footnote in the progression of
their existence.
These same Identity cops are always running around speaking about plastic medicine
men. Good, root out these very few people who are exploiting others for money, but
don’t attempt to equate this with “non-federal” tribes. That is like me equating every bad
deed committed by a Guatemalan citizen to federal U.S. tribes. The two don’t relate and
they are not one in the same.
A lot of these discussions, books being written, and so on concerning identity are coming
out of contemporary American Indian studies or Indigenous Nations Studies programs.
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These programs cannot exist without the contributive and equally valid voice of those
people who for many divergent reasons have been left outside the realm of “federal
recognition”. Most indigenous people in the world do not have recognition from the
colonizers where they have lived since time immemorial, yet I continually see such
programs, perpetuating the federal recognition myth.
This reality and diversity of experience seems to be missed greatly in the contemporary
application of AIS programs. Ethnic Fraud in academia is always at the epicenter of
many discussions taking place in these programs. While ethnic fraud is a worthy topic of
discussion as has been already mentioned, there remains an absence of a solid definition
of what this term constitutes. The current definition includes “someone who claims an
Indian identity for the betterment of their own careers who is not an enrolled member or
citizen of an American Indian tribe.” But that of course leaves out obviously indigenous
people from countries where there does not exist state or federal recognition. But let’s go
back to the narrow first view. After that it all gets pretty cloudy to say the least. Are we
talking about an enrolled member of a:
A. Federal blood quantum tribe of ½ blood degree requirement.
B. Federal blood quantum tribe of ¼ blood degree requirement.
C. Federal blood quantum tribe of 1/8 blood degree requirement.
D. Federal blood quantum tribe of 1/16 blood degree requirement.
E. Federal tribe based on descendant (no minimal) quantum requirement.
F. State recognized tribe with blood quantum requirement.
G. State recognized tribe based on descendant (no minimal) quantum requirement.
H. Member of a terminated tribe who has not “regained” federal recognition.
Or how about a non-enrolled person:
A. Whose parent is a an enrolled member of federal or state tribe
B. Whose grandparent is an enrolled member of a federal or state tribe
C. Whose family was removed from a tribe for political reasons
D. Who qualifies for enrollment in a tribe, but chooses not to enroll (a clear case would
the traditional Miccosukees in Florida who will not enroll with the federal tribe)
….and the list goes on and on.
What about aboriginal professors from Australia where tribal rolls do not exist and
identity is based on group acceptance? What about Maoris and Hawaiians? What about
people such as Don Ahshapanek from the Nanticoke in Delaware who graduated from
Haskell Institute and taught at Haskell for 20 years? Should he not have taught at the
“federal only” school? Was that a 20 year mistake?
Defining academic fraud should not be complicated in the least. Does your tribal
community whether state or federal consider you a part of them? If the answer is yes
than you are not a fraud. If you are a disenrolled member of a tribe you are not a fraud. If
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you are being disenfranchised from a tribe, but are obviously of the community, you are
not a fraud. If you exist on your own and are not affiliated with a tribal community then
you are out. It doesn’t mean you don’t have Indian descent, it just means that you don’t
have Indian community. But I better stop. What about those who have been shunned by
their tribal communities in recent years? They are not accepted politically or socially
anymore, but the reality is that they once were. So we probably need to include them as
well. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell was not raised up Cheyenne and his racial
identity in terms of Cheyenne blood is irrelevant as he is accepted as Cheyenne by the
Northern Cheyenne community. Therefore, he is Cheyenne and he can make claim to
being Northern Cheyenne. That case is closed. Shania Twain has been blasted for not
being truly “Ojibwa”. She is an enrolled band member and is accepted by her community
in Canada as Ojibwa. Her siblings are all half-Ojibwa by blood and her father who had
raised her since she was one on the reserve is full-blood Ojibwa. If she wants to teach
Indian studies she is in. I am an enrolled MOWA Choctaw. And though I descend from
the community by blood, it would not matter if I did not. I am accepted and enrolled as
MOWA Choctaw and therefore I am MOWA Choctaw. If I want to teach AIS courses I
have every right to do so. An individual who is not affiliated with a tribal community,
however, has a tougher case to make, as Indian identity is based on group identification
and not on individual identification typically. One can identify as an individual and that
is their right. But to claim a certain tribal affiliation one has to be accepted by the tribe.
Where a tribe strips the rights of citizenship from an already enrolled tribal member, or
someone who under regular circumstances should be enrolled, that is an entirely different
matter as was spoken about. One cannot be an Indian yesterday, and not be one today.
That is political pandering and irrelevant to identity. Indian Studies deserves a diversity
of experience which is backed by a disclaimer amongst those who participate. I get to
participate, but I have a responsibility to tell those around me my story and how I was not
raised in an Indian community and have only come back since the age of eighteen.
Without the disclaimer I am not being honest and people will view me in ways that are in
correct.
Circe Sturm, the author of Blood Politics, which focuses on the issue of identity and
blood within the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is quoted in a book by Kathleen
Fitzgerald.
Sturm (2002)
“I investigated whether or not I was eligible for tribal enrollment through my
grandmother. I was surprised to find that the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma had no
minimum blood quantum requirement and only asked for proof that my greatgrandmother had moved to Oklahoma and was listed on an earlier tribal roll. However,
my grandmother had been born in Mississippi, the original homeland of the Choctaw
people, and had never moved west. Moreover, even with proper records, I failed to meet
the Mississippi Choctaw Nation’s minimum racial standard of one-half Choctaw blood or
more. Had my grandmother moved to Oklahoma, I would have been in but because she
stayed in Mississippi where the racial definitions were stricter, I was out. This frustrating
experience is a common one for Native Americans whose identities are administered and
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verified through what are often haphazard paper trails leading to racially qualified
ancestors.” (p. 6)
What is identity appropriation?
" What matters about identity, writes J.M. Bumsted, 'is not whether it is real or
mythological, whether it is based on historical record or the imagination of its
inhabitants, but whether it exists and whether a large number of inhabitants subscribe to
it.' In Jenni Calder's words, 'in the U.S., a Scotland survives that many Scots may not
recognize, but which has a powerful reality for those who subscribe to its blend of
heightened images.' In other words, traditions and symbols may be 'phony but full of
meaning'". White People, Indians, and Highlanders: Tribal peoples and colonial
encounters in Scotland and America, Colin G. Calloway; pg. 269
If a tribal community has to research its origins through field study, literature, etc. it is
thereby "re-studying" itself through the eyes of an outside interest and therefore, any
information it may find cannot conclusively be viewed as gospel truth. Where research is
needed to recover culture, a traditional culture no longer truly exists in the original
traditional form, but that does not make it invalid. Most Eastern Oklahoma tribes are
reinventions that pull the colonization card even though the vast number of their
membership have acted as colonizers for many generations. This dynamic exemplifies
colonization on many levels. When it became more politically acceptable to define onesself from the point of the oppressed, as opposed to the oppressor, these
"communities" had to look a long way back or over to the very neighbor who they had no
interest in prior, to establish their new oppressed identity. My father's Choctaw
community, whether viewed as Negro, mulatto, mixed-Indian, etc. is a truly oppressed
community who has not existed at any time within its history as anything other than
marginalized. Communities like this allow for tribes from Eastern Oklahoma to continue
their colonial ways, through attacking their identities, while perpetuating a "woe is me"
scenario on a national scale.
The following quotes from Going Indian by James Hamill 2006 University of Illinois
continue to raise some tough questions.
p. 37 “Some where left out” echoes today, not as it concerns allotted land but rather as it
concerns the legitimacy of Indian Identity. For example, I talked to a Cherokee man one
hot summer evening at a Powwow. His great-uncles and grandfather had been Eastern
Cherokee and had migrated to Indian Territory in the early twentieth century for the
purpose of getting an allotment. This was apparently not uncommon. Garfield Shoals
talked about the Mississippi Choctaws who were allotted near his allotment, and Mack
McDonald remembered moving to Indian territory at the age of twelve in 1904 so his
family would get their Choctaw allotment. The problem with my acquaintance at the
Powwow had was that, while his great-uncles had enrolled and been allotted, his
grandfather had missed the deadline to enroll, so he did not get an allotment. His
grandson could never, therefore; be an official member of the Cherokee tribe.”
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p. 59 “The process that led to allotment required that official lists of tribal members,
rolls, be drawn up so that all those on the roll got their allotment. Today, while the
requirements of tribal membership vary from tribe to tribe, all the tribes require that
members be on the allotment rolls or be a direct descendant of someone on them. So in
important ways today the allotment program defines who can and who cannot claim
Indian identity.”
This reminds me of when Jess Oosahwee, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma, and his buckskin regalia wearing white wife came to our community
gathering and powwow in Alabama. Jess’ wife took the microphone and began to
explain how we should all be blessed to be in front of a real Indian from Oklahoma. He
was a full-blood she told us, he lived on real Indian allotment land, and he could speak
Cherokee fluently. After she was done orating to the crowd I strolled up to her and began
speaking Cherokee to both of them. Jess was uneasy and his wife turned three shades of
red. That was back when I was teaching Cherokee language in Oklahoma, and my
Cherokee speech was solid enough. She, of course, had no idea what I was saying.
People like this, in these types of circumstances, are absolutely horrible. Here she was,
on an actual Indian reservation, surrounded by actual Indians, and she was up there
blowing her horn and talking about her Oklahoma obsession and her husband was going
right along with it. Our entire community was laughing at them. If they wanted to be the
real Indians running around the Southeast from powwow to powwow then they had better
take a number. We have so many of those hustling around the Southeastern states who
have no credibility in their own home states, that they are starting to outnumber us.
“… conversation with Carol got around to this topic one April morning when we talked
in her office. A lot of families did not sign up on the rolls…. One of the interesting
things, I know there are full-blood Cherokees who are not on the rolls who still speak
Cherokee, not English, and they cannot vote with any tribe. I don’t know to what extent
that’s true of some of the other larger tribes, I would guess it is, so again the ongoing
question is who is Indian? When I was going through the Dawes rolls years ago, I was
interested that lots of people were one-three hundred twentieth at the beginning of the
rolls- what does that make them now? “
Now there is no such thing as 1/320th, but I get her point. Exactly, what does that make
them now?
p. 60 “If the allotment program is constructed in terms of a divide-and-conquer policy,
the allotments themselves are sometimes seen as symbols of Indian resurgence. People
praise those in their communities who still live on their family’s allotment, and they
strive to regain allotments that were lost. Ed talked proudly about how, soon after she
was married, her family was able to buy one of her tribe’s original allotments from its
white owner. She saw this as a small part of the recent strides her tribe had made in
revitalizing its language and culture. So despite its original intention to force Indian
people to assimilate into white society, the residue of the allotment program works in two
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ways to reinforce the boundaries that protect Indian ethnicity. The program is seen as an
example of white disrespect and abuse of Indian culture, while at the same time,
allotments in Indian hands today are seen as strengths in Indian communities.”
During a conversation with Dr. Richard Allen, who considers himself the pre-eminent
scholar on ‘wannabes’, he remarked to me that our tribe does not live on a reservation. It
is not a real reservation, because it was purchased. The land he was talking about is a
state-recognized reservation where MOWA Choctaw families have lived without
interruption since prior to the 1830 Choctaw removal. It was “purchased back” for a
pittance as a gesture of good faith from a local church in the 1990’s to insure that the
state would hold it in trust and that it would be within our families forever, not just as
“squatters” on our own land. It seems that when the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
purchases land and puts it into trust it is legitimate, even though it is not their historical
land, but when the Choctaw people of Alabama “purchase” the very land they have
generationally lived on, it is fraud. When the Pawnee’s reacquired land in Nebraska,
which was given to them by a white couple, it is legitimate, but when….. I think we all
know where this is heading.
p. 95 & 96
“A little bit earlier, in the mid-1950’s, my elder brother wanted to participate in local
Powwows. He was in high school, and two of his classmates and close friends were
members of a local Powwow club. My brother wanted to make his regalia and Fancy
Dance with them in the club. He was not allowed to dance because he was less than onequarter blood. There is no dispute that our grandmother was Choctaw. She was born in
the Choctaw Nation in 1877, and her mother came to Choctaw Nation on the trail of
tears. She was in her twenties and married when she put her name on the Dawes
Commission Rolls of the Choctaw Tribe and took her allotment. Our grandmother would
talk about her life as a Choctaw whenever we saw her. These facts made no difference,
however, because our grandmother was on the Dawes Rolls a one-eighth blood quantum,
making my brothers, sisters, and me one thirty-second, far below the one-quarter required
for the federal government’s lower limit. Thus my brother had no claim of being Indian,
and the Powwow club would not admit him.”
p. 96 from a summer meeting in 1969 where Senator Henry Bellmon was the guest
speaker
“ Before Senator Bellmon delivered his remarks, several tribal leaders were recognized to
address their concerns to the senator. One of those leaders was Charles Lohah, an officer
of the Osage Nation Organization, who said: ‘We ask not only for our sakes but also for
all tribes…that treatment be limited to those with not less than one-fourth degree of
Indian blood, and their spouses and children.”
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p. 98
“Thirty years later in 1968, Reverend James Martin, an Osage, echoed many of the same
themes when he was interviewed by Katherine Red Corn.
‘It’s funny to think that one day, that our particular tribe, the way that we’re branching
out into the different races…that even now it’s hard to find a full-blood Indian, Osage.
But it seems, though, that we’re going out fast. Our old people are dying off, our young
people are marrying into different races, establishing themselves. Just in the real near
future, it will be hard for us to find a real genuine Osage. [Martin 1972: 4-5]
p. 99 & 100
“Carol expressed this explicitly in her discussion of the Oklahoma Indian Chamber of
Commerce:
‘ Somebody stands up in the Indian Chamber meeting and you are supposed to tell your
tribe, well, when I even tell my tribe, what does that mean? I can identify with two
tribes….People do not only tell their tribes but they will say, ‘I’m full-blood,’ it’s a mark
somehow that makes them superior to other people, so what I would call an accident of
birth makes you superior…”
p. 113 Cherokee speaking
“Leslie juxtaposes official blood quantum with community here. On the quantum side,
the official tribe provides services (car tags, land payments, etc.), while participation
marks the community side. The car tags are ambiguous, because while they are a tribal
service, there is usually little or no economic advantage to having them. The tribes
usually charge about as much as the state for the tags, so tribal members purchase them,
at least partly, to express their identity. But to Leslie, participation in the community
defines her identity, so she is taken aback when she sees a license plate that claims
membership but does not recognize the driver of the car. To Leslie, quantum is
associated with politics and the official tribe, whereas community and participation are
associated with cultural identity…”
p. 114 Osage talking about CDIB, blood
“Leslie knows that she is a full-blood, and she knows that her CDIB does not reflect
that….”
“ ‘ I think that identity as far as a Native American, and I think I was easily intimidated
because there are so many people in the Native American community, Osage and
otherwise, that talk about ‘Well, I’m a full-blood’ that makes this blood quantum
nonsense, and I think my age and maturity and coming to realizations about things, I
think now I have a different attitude. Now I’m like, I know who I am and I know who I
come from and I know who I descend from and I know more, I don’t need to prove
anything to you. That attitude, and you have people from other tribes who want to… I
don’t know if it’s territorial or what it is, but there is this prevailing attitude sometimes
especially around the Powwow circuit like, ‘I know everything because I’m full-blood,’
and you have to say, ‘You’re not my elder and you’re not in my tribe….’
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p. 115 Talking about Comanches (Chris)
“You know it is, and I’ll tell you, it’s something that has developed post-Cavalry, postremoval, because Comanches for instance raided villages a lot, they took prisoners, it was
not uncommon for them to take people with them, and they often became Comanches,
and they were Comanches as much as the next warrior. This blood quantum thing, a lot
of people want to take that to say, ‘I’m half, my husband is nearly half.’ They think
because they are full-blood or because they are half, that somehow gives them the
privilege….”
p. 174 & 175
“Indian people commonly tell stories about individuals they know whose children cannot
be in their parent’s tribe. These anomalies emerge in tribes that specify a minimum blood
quantum for membership. Other tribes who, rather than specifying a minimum blood
quantum, choose to require lineal descent descent from an ancestor on a base roll have
their own anomalies. The stories about lineal descent tribes concern people with little or
no connection with a tribe’s cultural heritage acquiring some credentials and benefits of
Indian identity. One way excludes people who should be included, but the other includes
people with little understanding or loyalty to Indian values and traditions.”
From the author p. 6 & 7
“This project also represents a kind of homecoming to me. I was born and raised in
Oklahoma, and much of my family still lives there, as they have since before statehood. I
hoped to find some of my family in the Indian Pioneer papers. My paternal grandfather
and grandmother came to Indian Territory sometime in the late nineteenth or early
twentieth century, before Oklahoma became a state in 1807. On my mother’s side, my
great-grandmother, Martha Marlow, was born in Choctaw, Mississippi, in 1827. She
survived the forced removal, and sometime in the 1840s she married a man named Beals,
a non-Indian, in north Texas, with whom she had thirteen or fourteen children. The last
of those was my grandmother, Virginia Bell Beals, who we always referred to in the
family as Bell, she was born in 1877.
When I was growing up in Oklahoma, these genealogical conditions entitled one to claim
the mantle of being ‘part Indian,’ and my family did. That my grandmother was
Choctaw, that she was on the rolls and had taken her allotment, and that her mother had
come on the trail of tears was common conversation in our home and formed a part of
how I and my siblings think about ourselves. Because Martha Beals died before my
mother was born, the focus on our Indian connections was on Bell. She seems to become
more important to me personally as I grow older.
Today these same genealogical conditions present me with conflict about labeling myself
as Indian. On one hand, my grandmother is very important to me, and in acknowledging
her significance I must acknowledge her and my Choctaw heritage. On the other hand, a
lot of people in Oklahoma and elsewhere, live every day as Indians. They understand
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their world from Indian or tribal perspectives and they participate in their world through
Indian points of view. Their families, their religions, their articulation to the EuroAmerican world, in short everything about them comes from their Indian heritage and
community. I do not live that life; rather I live the life of a white university professor in a
dominantly white community. For me to claim Indian identity in this context belittles
those who live as Indian people. So when people ask me if I am Indian, I tell them about
Bell.
Pointing to my grandmother Bell, however, does not answer the question, but if I use
what I have learned in this work, the answer must be ‘No, I am not Indian.’ I was raised
as a Catholic of Scottish and French-Canadian ancestry. I attended mass in the
mainstream Christ the King Parish in Tulsa, and I was educated through high school in
mainstream Tulsa Catholic schools. The fact that my great-grandmother, Martha Beal
(nee Marlow), had come from Alabama to Choctaw Nation was all I ever heard of the
trail of tears, and my one-thirty-second blood quantum was well below the one-fourth
minimum to be considered Indian (a situation that was all right for my family). I have
lived all my life as a white person in all-white or racially mixed groups on EuroAmerican cultural terms. I speak no North American Indian language, and I do not
participate in Indian community activities, except on a professional basis as an
anthropologist (a white endeavor if there ever was one). Indian people in Oklahoma are
educated as Indians, they worship as Indians, and they engage their communities as
Indians. They live being Indian every day of their lives.”
Mixed authors usually add a section describing their situation to justify their positions.
That is a big reason for anyone, including myself, to write a book concerning identity. It
gives us a chance to talk about our own struggles with identity and to wax philosophical
about these feelings and pretend that most people really care when in actuality they do
not. These types of readings are typically subscribed to by a very few in indigenous
North America. Blogs, responses to articles, etc. seem to project an image of great
interest in the subject of identity, when it fact it is usually the same one hundred people
nationwide making the same comments under ever changing pseudonyms. The same
holds true for liberal and conservative political sites. The views are usually drawn from a
very few and projected as wide ranging.
How does one sort out this diversity of thought and opinion? There is simply no way. I
have been saying this for many years. I do not see “tribes” such as the Cherokee Nation
of Oklahoma as legitimate entities, though there are certainly some Indians enrolled. And
some within the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma administration do not see me or my tribe
as legitimate. The difference, however, is simple. My tax dollars pay for their image,
scholarships, health care and opportunity. Their tax dollars do not pay for mine. If they
want to run around being Cherokee I have no problem with that. I do have a problem
with paying for it however.
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I am quoting the entire following article as it exemplifies, as does the numerous
previous quotes, how impossible blood quantum determinations are and how truly
problematic they have become.
Archive » July 23, 2009
FALLACIES OF INDIAN BLOOD QUANTUM: AN EXAMPLE
By James P. Lynch, Contributing Writer
In his recent Santa Ynez Valley Journal essay “Who is a Native American Indian,”
Attorney Jim Marino addressed the vagrancies of “blood quantum” and “blood
requirement” in determining claims to Indian tribe or band, membership and its benefits.
Attorney Marino spoke of “vague and incomplete historical records” based upon centuryold BIA “Indian census taking” and “field surveys” that oftentimes form the basis of
validating contemporary membership in the aforementioned Indian organizations.
With Marino’s comments in mind, let’s take a look at a local example of the use or
misuse of blood quantum in regard to the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, in
particular the blood lineage of the band’s current leader Vincent Armenta.
On April 1, 1934, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) conducted a census of the Indians
residing on lands allowed for their use at Santa Ynez.
The total enumerated Indian population was 90. Later that year, on Dec. 15, 1934, a vote
was undertaken by the adult members of the Santa Ynez band to decide whether or not to
come under the aegis of the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA).
The purported results were, out of a total 90 adult registered Indian voters, 48 voted yes,
and 20 voted no.
If the total BIA enumerated population at Santa Ynez was 90 — men, woman and
children — how could there be 90 registered adult voters 21 or older?
Such a discrepancy leads to deeper enquiry.
When the names of those who voted were compared to the 1933 BIA census, after-thefact hand-written alterations to individuals’ blood quantum were noted on this census
concerning at least nine of the voters.
Previous to the 1934 census, these individuals were listed as having less than one-half
blood quantum.
This change was subsequent to the April 1, BIA census and prior to the December 18,
1934 IRA vote.
According to the Indian Reorganization Act, in the case of non-recognized bands or
tribes, such as Santa Ynez, a voter had, in part, to have to had at a minimum one-half
Indian blood quantum to vote.
Two of those named, whose blood quantum raised by BIA in the months preceding the
IRA vote, were Florencia and her daughter Eulialis Armenta.
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Both women, as well as others so altered, were apparently satisfied during the three
preceding BIA censuses to be identified at a lower one-eighth to one-quarter blood
quantum level.
These hand-written “claims” were to assume an unsubstantiated reality of fact.
In the 1930 census, both women were cited as having one-quarter blood quantum.
The same appeared for both in the 1931 and 1932 BIA census.
However when the April 1933 census is reviewed, both mother and daughter now had
one-half blood quantum.
Of interest to note was that on the April 1, 1934, census, Florencia was again cited as
having one-half blood quantum, but a handwritten notation on the census document states
she “claims F” (full).
Upon what evidence was her claim based? Why wasn’t she aware of this situation in the
preceding years?
Did she suddenly have an epiphany of sorts that she was a full blood?
It was certainly not based upon the existing BIA historical and genealogical records held
by the National Archives.
Florencia Armenta was now considered a full-blood Santa Ynez Indian, even though she
was born at Senora.
Florencia (Pina) Armenta was born in 1892. She was purportedly the daughter of Jose
Deserderio and Maria Antonia Pena (Florencia’s firstborn son was named Jose).
Florencia and her family were, according to the Santa Ynez 1900 Federal Indian
population census, from Senora (Mexico, New Mexico?), not Santa Ynez.
Given that Florencia was cited by BIA as having one-quarter Indian blood quantum up
until 1934, the data suggests that Jose Deserderio’s parents had some Indian ancestry.
The 1910 Federal Census for Santa Ynez (Township #4) cites him as being one-half
Indian.
Jose was born at Purisima in 1866, the son of Juan Jose Pena and Guadalupe Nachana
Pena.
The ethnicity of either parent is unknown. Maria Pena’s mother was one Maria Solares.
Maria Pena’s father’s Christian name and ethnicity are unknown.
His last name was Aguirres, a name not on any area regional BIA band rosters during this
time period.
They were not Santa Ynez band members. She had no genealogical ties to any of the five
families who were cited in 1906 as being legitimate descendents of the original Santa
Ynez Mission Indian community.
Neither Jose Deserderio nor Maria Antonia (Aguirres) Pena, nor Maria’s mother (Maria
Solares) and seemingly non-Indian father (Aguirres) were among the families mentioned
as, or related to the “ … five separate and distinct families of the said Santa Ynez band or
village of Mission Indians” identified by the Roman Catholic Church documentary
sources as being the rightful descendants of the Santa Ynez Mission neophyte Indian
community.
According to the 1900 Indian Population Census, Florencias’ entire family was cited as
being part of, and born into, the Senora “Tribe.”
There was also a Jose Solares cited as a “Head of Household” in the same census.
He and his spouse also belonged to the “Senora” tribe.
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Thus the family name Solares is not linked to the Santa Ynez pre-1900 neophyte Indian
descent population, as depicted in 1906.
Neither Florencia Pina, her parents nor her husband appeared to belong to the Santa Ynez
band.
The fact that Florencia was carried on the Indian Agency rolls as having a one-quarter
Indian blood quantum prior to the 1933 alterations, suggests that possibly both her
parents, or possibly just one had a low Indian blood quantum.
If Jose Deseriderio was her father and was one-half blood, then her mother must have
been less than one-half for BIA to carry Florencia as one-quarter.
Florencia married a Spanish-Mexican man named Loretto (Loreto) Armenta around
1920.
The couple had eight children, one of whom was named Manuel.
Manuel is the father of the current Chairman of the Santa Ynez Chumash Band, Vincent
Armenta.
Manuel appeared on the 1931 census roll as having one-quarter degree of blood.
In the 1934 BIA census, Manuel was still listed as having one-quarter blood while his
mother, Florencia, was then claiming to be full (four-fourths) blood (BIA officially listed
her as one-half in 1934).
How can a mother be a full-blood Indian, the father of her children be Mexican-Spanish,
and their son only one-quarter?
On the other hand, if we follow the preponderance of evidence rule, Florencia had onequarter blood quantum, her husband had none, Manuel, the father of Vincent Armenta,
would be at best, one-eighth blood quantum.
Florencia’s son Manuel Armenta married Iona Selig, the daughter of German immigrants.
Vincent Armenta, was born of that union. Given that Manuel married a non-Indian, Iona
Selig, their children (including Vincent) would have had one-sixteenth Indian blood
quantum.
At this point in time (1940), there was no genealogical connection between this SenoraMexican family group and the 1906 descendants of the original neophyte Santa Ynez
Mission Indian population.
In fact, it appears that by 1940, there were no remaining descendants of the 1906 Mission
Indian population remaining at Santa Ynez.
What were the consequences?
As a result of the 1934 alteration of Florencia Armenta’s blood quantum, she was
depicted as being a full-blooded Santa Ynez Indian.
All her children as a result were then (1940) cited as being of one-half blood quantum.
Manuel’s son Vincent would be one-quarter.
On Feb. 7, 1964, the “Santa Ynez Indian Band” belatedly qualified to come under the
1934 IRA by formally instituting its first Articles of Association.
Membership requirements in these articles stipulated that a band member or his or her
descendents had to be cited on the 1940 BIA census — completely ignoring the 1906
Mission Indian list — and that such persons have at least one-quarter “Indian blood of the
band.”
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Sans the unsubstantiated claims of being one-half or full blood by Florencia, none of her
children and grandchildren would have met the second Santa Ynez membership
requirement.
Mr. James P. Lynch is a nationally recognized ethno-historical research consultant.
He is the author of three books, numerous research publications, reports, and
articles on tribal land claims, tribal sovereignty, tribal recognition, historical land
title, tribal land into trust issues and tribal history.
He has also testified as a qualified expert witness on historical and anthropological
issues in federal and state courts.
Lynch is the owner of Connecticut-based Historical Consulting and Research Services
LLC.
“There are two basic methods by which man can feed his ego and make himself seem
important. One is by genuine accomplishment. The other is by making a second party
appear inferior…This is the root cause of bigotry and can occur in the most learned of
men, when circumstances are such that ethics can be conveniently shunted aside.
Politics…can create these circumstances.” (When the Great Spirit Died: The Destruction
of the California Indians 1850-1860; William B. Secrest)
The 800 pound gorilla in the room these days is what few will venture to speak about due
to political ramifications, fear of offending their neighbor or friend, or in protection of
their descendant tribe’s sovereignty. You see, citizens and Indians are not the same. An
Indian is someone who comes from an identifiable Indian community or one whose
parent or parents come from one. For the most part, they tend to have the physicality of
an Indian person and thus a history of receiving discrimination within their lives or the
lives of their families. They have knowledge of their culture that wasn’t presented to
them in book form. You can’t become an Indian by deed or participation in Indian
ceremonials or churches later on in life. You can’t become one by gaining advanced
degrees in American Indian Studies or by teaching such courses at the university level.
You can’t become one by serving on national Indian boards or being appointed or elected
to positions within tribal nations or national organizations. And you definitely cannot
become one or attempt to be perceived as one by omitting key facts.
This leads us to citizens. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma’s tribal citizenship is
primarily made up of white people with some minor descent from an Indian individual
many generations prior whose name can be found on the Dawes Roll. They are not
Cherokee Indians. They are Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma citizens. The majority of
these have lived their lives as white people and have been involved fully in mainstream
American life far removed from the traditional Cherokee Indian communities of
Northeastern Oklahoma. From within these communities come Cherokee Indians, though
much smaller in number in comparison to white Cherokee citizens, who are also citizens
of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Their history and experiences are much different
then the white people with whom they share citizenship.
345
Would you consider a black or Hispanic person of 1/256 black or Hispanic ancestry black
or Hispanic? If you were of this ancestry would you walk into either of these
communities and attempt to have them recognize you as such or take up a leadership role
in their midst? The answer for most, is no. They would show you the door as quickly as
you arrived.
What this phenomenon of creating an “Indian image” off of a minority of Indians within
a massive enrollment population should be called is “Living off the Core”. Due to the fact
that the majority of mainstream Americans are not fully knowledgeable about Indian
issues and histories, it is easy to present an image of legitimacy, when in reality,
taxpayers, including myself, are paying for the health services, college tuition assistance,
small business loans, low interest home loans and other financial incentives accessible to
white “tribal citizens” who until more recently, were mostly our white neighbors. As
crazy as this may sound, it is legal reality. However, their participation in life as Indians
is legal fiction. Social reality always trumps legal fictions in Indian Country.
For instance, I am not an Indian. While I am an enrolled band member of a federally
recognized Ojibwa First Nation in Ontario, Canada (Wabaseemoong Independent
Nations) and an enrolled citizen of the state recognized MOWA Band of Choctaw
Indians in Alabama, I am neither an Ojibwa Indian or Choctaw Indian. My minor
Cherokee ancestry also does not make me a Cherokee Indian in any way, shape or form.
Though the vast majority of the enrollment in these two tribal communities of whom I am
enrolled are physically and culturally identifiable as Indian, I am not. Descent does not
equate to being an Indian. Citizenship does not equate to being an Indian.
White “federal tribal citizens” acting as Indian professors in academia and acting as
experts on Indian issues are the true definition of cultural appropriation. If they want to
be accurate in their portrayal of themselves than they will admit to not being Indians, but
rather being the citizens that they are. Sovereignty is being used as a smoke screen.
Even the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has shown what they truly believe to be a
Cherokee Indian by mandating for years a ¼ blood degree requirement on those
participating in the Miss Cherokee pageant. If they truly thought that citizens were
Indians, there would be no need for this requirement. But why hunt all over the country
for those they view as fake Indians, when all they have to do is go down to their tribal
enrollment office and select from over 200,000 files already accessible? The goal of a
tribal citizen should be to assist their tribal community where needed in a sincere,
meaningful and progressive way and to be grateful to those Indian people who appreciate
their contribution to their tribal nation. In essence, to become a sincere citizen and not try
to insult Indian people by playing Indian.
If I had a dollar for every email, letter and phone call I have received over the years
regarding the debate over who or what constitutes an Indian or an Indian tribe or nation,
well you know the rest. “Don’t rock the boat, we are almost federally recognized.”
“They are going to go after you!” Blah, blah, blah. Federal recognition is not the gold
standard for who or what constitutes an Indian or an Indian tribe or nation. Never was
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and never will be. Secondly, tribes or nations who base their enrollment process on
descent and who have no requirement necessary for things which they clearly view as
inconsequential such as continual habitation of community lands, culture and language
retention, intergenerational marriage amongst their own, etc. simply have no place in
being the decision makers as to the entire identity issue.
The facts are that of the 62 state-recognized tribes existent within the United States, the
total federal allocation received by all of these combined is 1/100th the amount received
by the white population (1/8 or less non-culturally raised predominantly) of current
Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek and Chickasaw tribal citizens in Oklahoma. This population
alone exceeds over 300,000 people. The entire enrolled population of state tribal
members does not even reach this number. And this is only four tribes. Oddly, it is the
very people from these tribes, though primarily Cherokee, who say that the state-tribes
are defrauding the federal government of money.
The last time I checked, not one dollar of Indian Health Service money was being used
by any state-recognized tribe in the country, but my taxpayer dollars were exiting my
hands in streams to fund “Indian” health care for my white neighbors in Eastern
Oklahoma. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma alone received 300 million in stimulus
dollars this year. If state tribes received even a small percentage of these funds
combined, it would be cause for great celebration.
As someone who has worked for years directly assisting Indian students with higher
education, I cannot tell you how many times applications for aid have come across my
desk with CDIB attachments that would take one of my math colleagues a great deal of
time to analyze. Of course these same scholarships prohibit applications from state tribal
members. Fortunately, my tax dollars also go to assist the scholarship programs
administered by numerous federal agencies to assist members of federally recognized
tribes. These scholarships are disproportionately received by extremely low blood
quantum tribal members over identifiable tribal members.
Luckily, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has created an Arts act which prohibits staterecognized tribal members from selling their art within the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma’s now rightfully contested jurisdiction. This way there will be room for
another former neighbor of ours, who discovered he had a Dawes Roll ancestor in his
mid-40’s to sell his wares as a Cherokee artist. The truth is, the guy is very talented and
was a very talented artist even back when he was white about three years ago.
The difference between “Indians” and “citizens” ; the remix
“There are two basic methods by which man can feed his ego and make himself seem
important. One is by genuine accomplishment. The other is by making a second party
347
appear inferior… This is the root cause of bigotry and can occur in the most learned of
men, when circumstances are such that ethics can be conveniently shunted aside.
Politics... can create these circumstances.” (When the Great Spirit Died: The Destruction
of the California Indians 1850-1860; William B. Secrest)
It is really not as complex as people make it when you view it through the arena of social
reality. Now viewing it through the lens of legalities is an entirely different story, so let’s
try and keep it simple.
In the context of Indian Country there are legitimate tribes and illegitimate tribes. There
are federal tribes, state recognized tribes and non-recognized tribes. There are federal
and state tribes made up of Indians, federal and state tribes made up of Indians and
citizens, federal and state tribes made up primarily of citizens, federal and state tribes
made up exclusively of citizens. There are also a few tribal communities who have
neither state nor federal recognition, but are made up primarily of Indians. In other
words, recognition is not a basis for legitimacy in a social sense, but it is for legal
purposes.
It has also been brought to my attention that in the case of the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma, citizens are typically those who were original Dawes enrollees, and their
descendants are more accurately defined as members, though the CNO has recently
changed the term from member to “citizen”, further adding to the complexity of such
designations. While I will use the term citizen throughout this book, this should be taken
into account at each turn. The Bureau of Acknowledgment and Research (who “handles”
federal recognition) with the Bureau of Indian Affairs had a name change to the Office of
Federal Acknowledgment after receiving such harsh criticisms of its professionalism,
consistency in evaluation and freedom from political influence. Even so, it still has the
same coach with the same team on the field, up to bat in the same old ballpark. And yes,
performing to the level of the same old broke down results.
So what is the difference between an “Indian” and a “citizen”? Most Indians are also
citizens, but many citizens are not Indians. Being an enrolled citizen of a tribal nation or
community does not make one an Indian. For instance, I am enrolled band member of a
federally recognized First Nation in Ontario, Canada. However, I do not possess the
blood quantum and cultural upbringing requisite to consider myself an Ojibwa Indian,
even though I have the rights as a citizen within the band to vote, run for office, receive
preference in hiring for community jobs, receive tax exemptions for purchases made on
and off the reserve, etc. I am not an Ojibwa Indian, but I happen to be a citizen of an
Ojibwa First Nation. Further adding to the complexity of enrollment in Canada is that the
Indian Act system of enrollment, which has been adopted by the majority of First Nation
communities in Canada is paternal. This means that ancestry is traced through the
paternal line for enrollment purposes. The only way around this is for the First Nation to
legally adopt their own descendants back into the band when their Indian ancestry comes
through the mother or grandmother. This has now become a “logical” way of enrolling
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the children of women who married non-Indians or Indians in the United States, because
the amount of red tape, politics and paperwork it would take to undo over 100 years of
the same system is overwhelming. We don’t have time to go into all the fine points of
this system, but let us just say it smacks of so much colonialism, sexism and paternalism
that some of the tribe’s increasingly liberal enrollment standards in the U.S. are
beginning to look pretty attractive.
The other reality is that many of the current federally recognized Indian nations who
support the OFA process could never pass its requirements if they had to go through the
process today.
But the citizenship issue goes far beyond this as well. A quick look across North
America will show the social and economic factors present in the decision of tribes to
either base their enrollment on descent or blood quantum. Descendant based tribes
usually fall into one of two categories, either they exist in regions which make the
possibility of great wealth acquisition, primarily by gaming, impractical or they are more
newly recognized communities, who have few people of high blood quantum to make
instituting a blood quantum requirement practical. For some in the latter category who
also happen to exist in areas advantageous to gaming wealth, they are still able to stem
the tide of increased membership simply by removing people from tribal rolls based on
false pretenses, family divisions and political alienation. In the first group, their decision
to allow the enrollment of anyone with a minute blood descent to enroll is based on the
need for money which can only be practically and more easily accessed through the
larger population, larger funding capacity equation. The majority of these funds received
are used for those living within the jurisdictional reach of the tribal nation, but the large
outlander population, which drives the enrollment numbers, rarely accesses these funds in
many regards. It is the perfect marriage of convenience. The tribe gives those who have
no or only a minimal physical, social, cultural and linguistic connection to their nation the
status as “Indians”, but more truthfully citizens, and in return they provide the nation with
huge populations sometimes reaching in the hundreds of thousands, which give the tribal
nation increased political power, governmental sway and greater cash returns from the
feds. And through this big money they are able to provide highly financed cultural
programs, to those whose cultural connection may have disappeared seven generations
previous, and eventually turn them back into “Indians”. The problem with this is that
most actual Indians within these communities view these citizens as non-Indians
completely and resent many of the powers and privileges that they are able to garner due
to their enrolled status. Unfortunately, for those who seek justice in regards to issues
surrounding Indian identity, these individuals who detest the assumption that citizens are
also Indians, typically will not speak up about the issue for fear of the political
ramifications that could occur and the damage it could do to the image of their own tribal
nation. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma actually used to advertise “membership
drives” in the local Tahlequah Daily Press. In essence they were defining their
enrollment process as kin to a Kiwanis or Lions Club. More citizens, more money. More
citizens, more political power.
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On the other hand, blood quantum tribes or nations, have various reasons for making the
decision to base their enrollment on this criteria. The first reason, is the obvious one;
they want their Indian tribe to consist of Indians. There are exceptions to the rule,
however, as in the case of Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma who requires a ¼ blood degree from
a Kiowa or a ¼ blood degree from a Kiowa Captive. Most Kiowa captives, however,
married into the Kiowa Nation and thus there are very few these days who are non-Indian
or Indian of another tribe who still meet this ¼ degree requirement. Another reason, and
the reason why the ¼ designation is paramount in many tribal communities, is that the
government told Indian people that ¼ or more equals an Indian and tribes bought into this
belief early on either willingly or through force. These days another huge reason has
emerged, especially amongst those tribal nations who have lands in close proximity to
major urban or vacation destination areas that are conducive to gaming . Money, money,
money. The less enrolled, the bigger the cut. Simple math creates large ethical and
social problems in many communities today. Just ask the Pechanga in California who
feel it fine to remove their own long-term tribal citizens from the tribal rolls. And a final
reason is existent in some more newly recognized tribes who proscribe a ¼ blood degree
requirement Constitutionally, in order to seem more legitimate, when they know that the
blood quantum is being made up or seriously manipulated. Two eastern tribes who
belong to the United South and Eastern Tribes, an organization representing twenty-five
federal tribes in the South and East, simply made everyone a full-blood on their base rolls
when they received recognition.
Very few tribes in the nation base their enrollment on social factors and realities, which
falls perfectly in line with how the Office of Federal Acknowledgment makes similar
decisions. Language retention, physicality, close kinship ties, identification as Indian by
local non-Indian populations, continual residence on historic tribal lands, etc. are rarely
taken into consideration when enrolling tribal citizens or members. The result at times
can be comical. The Office of Federal Acknowledgment bases much of its work on
genealogy as opposed to social reality. Ironically, most impoverished smaller tribal
communities do not have the types of records that middle and upper class white people
possess in regards to these matters. Aside from this elder community members are highly
offended that they are required to prove to a white bureaucracy that they are Indians, as
they have been such their entire lives.
But what can we do about the exceptions. What do we say about one of my friends from
back in the 1990’s who is ¼ Mohawk and whose daughter is 1/8 Mohawk and 7/8 white?
The great grandmother of this baby is a full-blood Mohawk and fluent speaker raised on
the Tyendinaga reservation in Canada. The grandmother is a half-blood Mohawk raised
in the same fashion. The mother is enrolled and still has her clan and position in the
community because of the matrilineal descent required for legitimate cultural status. The
baby has no Indian status, but is raised in a strong matrilineal and culturally Mohawk
reservation home by her mom and her mom’s husband (a full-blood Mohawk), who she
met when she was one year of age. So is this baby not Indian? In social reality the baby
is completely Indian. In legal reality the baby is not. Quite a lot to put on a baby.
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In the 1950’s and 1960’s it was difficult to find a Cherokee in Northeastern Oklahoma.
The Cherokee people lived in primarily isolated, rural communities whose borders were
loosely defined geographically, but strongly defined culturally. Language, close family
ties and a connection to stomp grounds and Cherokee churches were and still are in these
communities, primary designators associated with a Cherokee identity. This element,
though much smaller in number then the enrolled tribal population, are what are defined
as the core. Once being Indian was no longer as much a social detriment to mainstream
America, the outlying lower blood quantum Cherokees who had held governmentally
obliged leadership positions over the generations caught a hold of a new tomorrow and
the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma “rose again”. In 1970 an old nation had become new
and the demographic shift began. Twenty thousand Cherokees would become nearly
300,000 by 2011. The brown people had become the face of brochures and cultural
survival. They were shuffled in when needed and paraded out when unwanted. A few
were chosen as tribal leaders to continue the image of the tribe, as well, tribal. Their
citizenry is dispersed across the world and has found its way into Academia in record
numbers. Its watch word is “sovereignty”. It is a politically advantageous word that
masks the social reality absent from the majority of its citizenry. The word is
uncontestable in Indian academic and political circles. To speak against its usage as a
façade is perceived as speaking against the basic principles it solicits; Nationhood, the
revitalization of Indian people and the braking free from government control and the
shackles of oppression. Of course, this same word is used to justify the removal of
thousands of Cherokee Nation citizens, Freedmen, whose ancestors existed in literal
shackles, from the tribal rolls. That is what happens when an Indian nation’s population
is primarily made up of white citizens. That is the flipside of sovereignty.
You have to clean up your own house before you decide to involve yourselves in the
affairs of others.
The worst mistake is when Indian communities feel the need to fit into mainstream views
of Indian identity and feel the need to be viewed as Indian by other tribal communities.
You see, the Lumbees don’t need the Eastern Band of Cherokees to exist any more than
the Eastern Band of Cherokees need the Lumbee to exist. There is no pinnacle to reach
in Indian Country. There is no gold standard to achieve. Tribes like the Lumbee,
Waccamaw, etc. are all Indian communities and will continue to exist as such. Federal
services or not, does not change this definition. If tribes like the Houma and MOWA
Choctaw can survive hurricanes and oil spills, the BIA should be a breeze, no pun
intended. Being comfortable in one’s own skin is what creates solid identities and
community health.
Indian identity is in a constant state of flux and is currently undergoing a “federallyrecognized” isolationist mentality. Within two generations many of the very people
supporting this viewpoint will be on the opposite end of its wrath. Dr. Jerry Bread
(Kiowa/Cherokee), a University of Oklahoma Native Studies Professor, remarked in a
South Coast Today article entitled, “Indians struggling with self image”, “If tribes aren’t
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careful, they can turn into big business corporations that say to hell with culture…I’d like
to see the physical traits of American Indians remain, but it’s not happening.” I can’t
hold him to these statements now, because people are allowed to change. They are
allowed to grow and shift their worldviews. You can’t encapsulate the life of someone in
a quote and you definitely can’t count on what a paper writes as factual and accurate at
all times. Life is cyclical as is opinion and ever changing scholarship. He may still feel
this way or he may not. Knowing him personally, I believe he is someone who has the
capacity to adjust his opinion when given the facts.
So how can we truly define this phenomenon of “late arrival” identity? I like to think of
it as bottles of Coca-Cola. You see in a regular bottle of Coke you get all that good stuff;
taste (culture; powwows, annual festivals, stomp dances), sweetness (language), goes
down smooth (validity), ice cold refreshment (academia advancement), etc. But on the
other side you also get diabetes (historical and contemporary discrimination), risk of
tooth decay (social ills such as domestic violence, drug usage ), obesity (overt
discrimination in mainstream job hiring, bank loans), etc. Identifiable Indians are a bottle
of Coca-Cola in the classic sense. But citizens are Diet Coke. With Diet Coke you get
all the great taste, sweetness, going down smooth and ice cold refreshment of the real
Coke but with out the bad after taste of diabetes, risk of tooth decay and obesity. You
can come home once a year for the annual powwow, gathering or festival and feel great
about “your” culture and “your” people. Then you can go back to a world where you are
rarely if ever viewed as Indian while walking on the street, teaching in higher education
or attempting to gain a mortgage from a bank. It is like the best of both worlds. But what
it is really called is appropriation if a disclaimer is not placed up front. We can justify it
all we want, but it still tastes bad when it is all said and done.
Citizens need to redefine our purpose, as the only social reality amongst us is that we
probably aren’t going anywhere due to swelling enrollment numbers, our insistence on
honoring our heritage and our strange need to have the “core” like us and validate us. So
the purpose is to assist where needed in the betterment of our tribal communities or
nations, to respect the core by being honest and open about our own ambitions, wants,
needs and insecurities and being able to completely remove ourselves from playing
identity cop on other people. We can’t decide the legitimacy of some state recognized
tribe or some artist claiming to be from a tribe other than our own.
People usually use as a weapon against you, what they most fear themselves. If someone
is attacking the identity of another in a way that exceeds reason, it is only a cover up for
what they pray never happens to them. It is a cover up for their own identity insecurities.
I have never met a traditional Indian person in my experience, who is overly concerned
with people attempting to play Indian. The reason is simple; such people are usually so
overt in their desire that anyone with eyes and ears can see them plainly for who they are.
They require no study.
Understanding whether or not citizens or identifiable community members should lead
tribal communities is another complexity. So if my friend is 1/256 black and 255/256
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white than he can now lead the NAACP? And if my other friend is 1/256 Mexican and
255/256 white he is a shoe in for a leadership position in the Mexican communities of
Southern California? That would make sense, right, because the black community would
surely embrace someone like that. They would rush out to meet him and they could talk
about their collective oppression and the difficulties experienced by their elders, because
my buddy would understand that, right? Sure he would, he has a black ancestor back
eight generations, so he is now an expert on the marginalization of minorities in society.
He feels the pain. And my white buddy, oops I mean my Mexican friend, can truly
understand the difficulties faced by Mexican communities with migrant populations.
Heck, his ancestor came over in at least the early 1800’s. That is only 200 years removed
from him! He is still feeling the sting. There are people with these types of connections
to an Indian ancestor running the political futures of tribal nations today. If they are
sincere, then maybe it works, but I am sure there are great variant opinions on this one.
One citizen I briefly met at a conference in 2009 and who objected to my viewpoints, told
me that as long as they have a by blood Indian ancestor on the Dawes Roll than they are
an Indian. When I discretely pointed to a young man seated across the room, who looked
African-American, and inquired if he was an Indian the man told me no, that he was
black. When about three minutes later the young man’s phenotypical full-blood Indian
mom walked in, all I could do was laugh.
I have met members of federal tribes whose own close relatives call them “the Indian in
the family”, alluding to the fact that they don’t consider themselves Indian, but that the
particular individual has become more Indian over the years through research and
attempts at cultural participation. I have even met a family member of a citizen of a
federal tribe who referred to his own brother as “playing Indian” and told me that they
never knew about having any Indian ancestry until they were in their twenties. And what
about federal tribes on the East Coast who hold cultural evenings where they teach tribal
members how to make bone chokers, fancy dance bustles and other items under the
context of relearning their own culture when these things have nothing to do with their
traditional culture. Oh, we want it to be so simple.
And then the subject comes up of what defines a Nation. I am a citizen of the Choctaw
Nation….but not of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The Choctaw Nation consists of
all the small and larger bands (as I alluded to in a previous chapter) which originally
made up the Choctaw Nation for centuries. These include the MOWA Band of Choctaw
Indians in Alabama, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the Jena Band of Choctaw
Indians, Choctaw-Apache of Ebarb, Clifton Choctaw, Bayou Lacombe Choctaw (yes,
some of their descendants are still there) and United Houma Nation in Louisiana, the
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, the Okla Chata Clan of California who were relocated to
California and some other families of Choctaws residing in Texas. It doesn’t mean any
one of these gets along with the other or is politically responsive to each other’s needs. It
simply means they are identifiable kin based communities originally descended from a
larger Nation of people. There are no “wannabe” Choctaw communities or at least none I
have ever visited or heard of and to say I have done extensive research would be an
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understatement of the largest proportions. And besides the communities in California
(which is represented by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) and Texas, there is not one
whose tribal council or leadership I have not spoken in front of. One of these Choctaw
descended bands, the Houma in Lousiana, was a community my father was very close to
and his culturally adopted sister and mom are from that tribe. Those are some of my
family members, whether it fits into the definition of “family” prescribed to by the reader
or not. Those are my chuka achafa. In Choctaw and Chickasaw this means family or one
house. They are so close to me and my immediate family, that they are a part of my “one
house”. We speak almost weekly, visit regularly, are emotionally connected to one
another and are always there for one another. My Aunt Dove is a full-blood and fluent
speaker of the Houma language (a language that is heavily laden in French with a
Choctaw admixture). She attended three Indian boarding schools. She is not “federally
recognized”. Imagine being a full-blood, fluent speaker who attended All-Indian
Boarding Schools and not being considered an Indian by the BIA. What a joke. It really
puts the value of federal recognition as to identity in to perspective.
Chukash akkalusi (humility) and Aiokpachi (respect) should be the defining traits of all of
us tribal citizens who don’t exactly meet the definition of an Indian. We should be
grateful for the opportunity to participate in Indian Country and take none of this for
granted. There is a tremendous difference between a tribal citizen and a sincere tribal
citizen.
While a student at Haskell Indian Nations University I met a Cherokee citizen who told
me his mom had found out during his senior year in high school in Tahlequah, Oklahoma
that they had some Cherokee ancestry and that because of this he could come to this
school for free. He was a young guy and he told me that he wasn’t Indian and showed
me his CDIB card, which registered in at 1/1,024 if I remember correctly. I had never
seen anything like that. But it wasn’t that piece that I remember the most. It was what he
said afterwards that always struck a chord with me. “I know I am not Indian and that
everyone here will always consider me a white boy. I needed this opportunity because it
would have been too difficult for my family and I to afford college. So the best I can do
while I am here is learn about Indians so I have a better understanding of them, so I can
get rid of my own stereotypes. I am actually kind of nervous to be going to college here.”
Many years later when my family was living in Tahlequah and I was teaching and
coaching at the public high school I ran into him. He said his attendance at Haskell was a
life changing experience. I asked him if they still were calling him a white boy by the
time he left. He said yeah, but that some would tell others he was a Cherokee tribal
member and a smile broke across his face. I told him they still called me a white boy too,
no worries. We both laughed. It was obvious that he had become a sincere tribal citizen.
It seems as though indigenous identity will never be determined. If you can accept this,
than you can go on with your opinions and your own life in relative peace. No one gets
to make the call in the end. No one is the authority. It is far too complex and far to
driven by cultural, social, political and physicality innuendo to ever be decided.
Pessimistic or realistic, I prefer the latter.
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The complexity of Tribal, U.S. and Canadian History and law make determinations as to
the classification of someone as an Indian impossible. Even so, everyone seems to have
an opinion. The anthropologist, academic, full-blood car salesman, halfbreed tribal
council member, 1/512 blood quantum tribal citizen, etc. etc.
But in the end, the same result. No agreement as to “who is Indian”, and no agreement as
to who even gets to decide “who is Indian”.
And what about the terminated tribes who haven’t recovered their federal status since the
termination period? Are these people, who were Indians in the 1950’s, no longer Indians
today, due to the fact that a poor policy decision by the BIA was put into effect? And did
recently recognized federal tribes such as the Mashpee Wampanoag suddenly become
Indian, or does the “Indian” label get retroactive status if approved by the BIA? Heck,
they greeted the Pilgrims, so that tells you how long it takes the Office of Federal
Acknowledgment within the Bureau of Indian Affairs to get to backlogged paperwork.
Do you have to look a certain way? What about the Pequots who have very few if any
tribal citizens who “look” Indian? Does their federal recognition validate their lack of
physical characteristics? Are they not allowed to pursue their traditional culture? Heck,
does a person need to look or speak “Indian” to be Indian?
And then of course there is Canada. Any non-Indian woman who married a status Indian
man prior to 1985 became a “federally-recognized” Indian by law and carries this status
on till today. Of course the reverse was true for status Indian women who married nonstatus or non-Indian men, but this “status” was returned in 1985 to these women. Of
course their grandchildren were cut out of the deal. Then there is the case of legal
adoption. When a status Indian legally adopts a child in Canada, regardless of ethnicity,
they become a status Indian. Seems different to say the least, but on the other hand there
are no descendancy tribes in Canada. For the most part, when you meet an Indian in
Canada, they are identifiable. But that is changing as well. The Metis issue is another
issue as well. The Metis in Ontario vary in their enrollment standards from those Metis
existent in the Plains Provinces of Canada. In historical times the Six Nations (Mohawk,
Oneida, Onondaga, Tuscarora, Cayuga and Seneca) were another example of diverting
from blood acceptance. Those they brought into their Nation, became a part of their
nation and were treated as such, further adding to the complexity of Indian identity.
The “Civilized” Tribes in Oklahoma are now dealing very publicly with the Freedmen
issue and the extreme failure of the Dawes Commission to accurately enroll some
individuals by blood 100 years ago. And even that percentage of Freedmen who do not
have any Indian blood, are also dealing with the prevailing generational attitudes of
Southern Society and how these seek to disenfranchise people who were used as forced
labor within the “Civilized” communities. They are attempting to turn their rejection of
black descendants into an anti-sovereignty campaign, when the issue, for those of us who
have lived within the community, is simply far from this. This is about physicality and
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has always been about physicality. White with a trace of Indian ancestry and you are in.
Black, with even solid blood background on rolls and documents other than the Dawes,
and you are out. But the “haves”, have the money. And the money funds the lobbyists
and the lobbyists grease the wheel and the wheel keeps on spinning.
Then there is always the “you were an Indian recently, but not now” club. Ask the
Delaware Nation of Oklahoma near Bartlesville and the Schagticoke and Eastern Pequot
in Connecticut about this. What the federal government giveth, they also can taketh
away. Unfortunately, all three of these “overturns” of federal recognition were fueled by
opposition from tribal and non-tribal neighbors, even more aggressively than the BIA
itself.
Two of the most outstanding Indian authors I have ever read are Vine Deloria, Jr. and
David Wilkins. Vine Deloria wrote the foreword to the history book on my dad’s tribe
and David Wilkins is a citizen of the Lumbee Nation. So am I supposed to right these
men off because one supports a non-federally recognized tribe and the other is not an
enrolled member of tribe that appears on the federal register? But I thought that the
Lumbee were federal, or is that now quasi-federal, similar to the Shinnecock in New
York, who gained federal recognition through the courts, but are still being blocked from
inclusion on the federal register. I guess that the BIA’s take on them is that they
massacred all the Indians living on the historic reservation where they dwell, took all
their names, made them teach them their traditional stories and culture prior to killing
them, and lived as oppressed people for centuries, so that they would have the
opportunity to build a big fat casino on Long Island and live like their rich white
neighbors in 2020. They must have had great foresight to concoct such an elaborate
scheme.
In I believe 2007 I received a call from Schaghticoke Tribal Nation Vice-Chairman
Michael Pane. Indian Country should be very well versed on the Schaghticoke, they are
the modern day Menominees. A reservation based tribe who has resided on their tribal
lands since first contact were recently terminated. Yes, terminated. It seems almost
unimaginable that an Indian Nation could be terminated these days, after the termination
policy which the Menominees and many other tribes faced was repealed as hurtful and
discriminatory. Many tribes “terminated” during this time have regained their federal
recognition status over the years, after continuous struggle with the federal government.
The Schaghticoke Tribal Nation received word from the BIA that their federal
recognition had been rescinded on October 12, 2005. It seems the state of Connecticut,
its politicians and members of the Bureau of Indian Affairs had decided that another
casino in Connecticut was against the wishes of their powerful friends. The answer?
Easy. Terminate them. They have been appealing unsuccessfully ever since.
And it seems the Department of the Interior just can’t return phone calls. “Why won’t
the BIA call back?” by Gregg Herrington on Friday, January 12, 2007 tells the tale in the
THE COLUMBIAN. I won’t go into the entire article, lets just say it outlines clearly the
ability of the BIA to play the turtle in the shell game when they don’t want to answer
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questions or simply don’t have answers for questions. And with out responses and federal
immunity, what is anyone to do?
In the end are there some fakes out there? Sure. Do they truly have any power to destroy
Indian culture or misrepresent Indian people. Not very much. For the simple fact that
most Americans and Canadians could give a crap about Indian Country when it doesn’t
relate to what new slot machine they are hoping to see upon their next visit. The
“wannabe” Indian issue is an internal issue that will never be solved. Academics can
keep on fighting, fake tribes can keep kissing up to their federal “relatives” and posting
pictures of themselves and a federal tribal member on their blogs. Imposters reared in
white privilege can come and go, and low blood quantum federally recognized Indians
can recreate their cultures with new found wealth, but in the end the argument is all a
supreme waste of time. No one has to prove their worth to a national Indian forum.
When it comes down to it, you have to prove yourself to your local community. Get
involved with your own people. Start a youth group, volunteer at your local church or
ceremonial grounds, show some love for your language or the language you claim as
your language, discard the “pan-Indian” dress up clothes and focus on your particular
tribe and their needs. When your community no longer has alcoholism, domestic
violence, drug addictions and apathy problems and everyone can speak their own
language fluently then seek the approval of the outside Indian world. But until that day,
let’s all quit whining and worrying about what those others think. In fact, take a few
well-placed shots at those whose “job” it is to play identity cop over others. Let’s quit
talking about how much we hate Indian mascots, when our son or daughter is playing for
the local T-Ball team called the “Savages” and we only have the guts to criticize and
discuss these misappropriate and demeaning names on a national level and not with our
non-Indian neighbor, who also happens to be the coach. It is easy to stand up to the
world, but not to our own communities in constructive and progressive ways that don’t
lead to anger and bitterness and further division.
When a person is truly invested in their community, they have no need for the approval
of those outside of their circle. In our Choclish language (yes, I said it, Choclish. The
term we affectionately use for our mixed Choctaw & English dialect we use in our
community) we value iyikowa (generosity), iti kana (a kind hearted way) and aiali
(justice [well that is as close as I can get]). We do our best to live within a framework
that encompasses these values and at times we fail miserably. But it isn’t the failure, of
course, that brings us forward, it is the attempt at better lives and better viewpoints that
propels us to better things. Remember, there are many issues in life that are not under
our control. Choose your battles wisely, and where they do not assist in the betterment of
your own community and children, learn to prioritize your pursuit of them.
Let me also throw a final shout out to the United Houma Nation in Louisiana, who just
had their entire world turned upside down due to the Hurricanes and recent oil spill and
who is still waiting for a final determination on their federal petition. How a group of
identifiable, brown Indians like the Houmas are still waiting on a determination is beyond
reason, but hey, who cares. They should have hired a whole team of accountants down
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there to count up all the BIA emergency assistance funding they received after the storms
and during the current oil spill crisis. Lets count it….0 + 0 = 0. Of course, only 3,000
Houmas lost their homes in the hurricanes and only 30% lost their jobs due to the oil
spill, so no big deal. Remember, if you are not Indian than you can’t get BIA money, but
that seems odd, as the BIA response to their initial petition stated that they were Indians.
The catch was, they said they don’t believe they are Houma Indians. What? Huh? Did
those Indians kill all the Houmas and adopt their identity too? Savages!!!!!
I would say Happy New Year, but different tribal calendars, have different views on that
one too. So I will just say, be blessed whether you are Indian, “Indian”, federal, nonfederal, Freedmen, married to an Indian, in love with an Indian, mommy or daddy of
Indian babies, traditional, Christian, Muslim (I am sure there are a few Indians out there
that are Muslim), Jewish (okay, that might be a stretch, but I don’t want to exclude any
Indians practicing Judaism), other (you have to throw that one in to cover anyone that
feels marginalized and oppressed), and finally, human. No offense to animal rights
activists or new-agers, I want the animals and rocks to be blessed as well.
Some days I feel more Conch, some days more Scottish, some days more Cherokee,
some days more Choctaw. I have never felt Ojibwa or Houma, but I have felt “Ojibwa
supportive”, “Houma supportive” and a part of both an Ojibwa and Houma family, just as
I have felt supportive and a part of both Cuban and Black families. The identities of
people who are of mixed-race and mixed cultural upbringing are complex. They defy
pigeon holing and outside construction. As they say, if you haven’t lived it, it is pretty
hard for you to understand it.
In final summation, as to the question of finding “who is and who is not an Indian” goes,
it is a “crap” shoot. Problem or blessing (it depends on how you look at) these days is,
there is so much crap in the shoot it is hard to see clearly anymore.
I was recently asked by someone what I felt my primary identity was. I said “father and
husband”. He said, no I don’t mean that I mean your identity. I said “white”. No, he
didn’t mean that either. Of course, I knew what he was getting at. My response was
“Conch”. Then I had to explain to him what that was. I told him that it was someone
raised in the local population of Key West, Florida. They were a mix of Black
Bahamian, White Bahamian and Cuban descendants. He was perplexed and told me that
he didn’t know I had any of that ancestry. I told him I didn’t, but that was how I was
raised the first eighteen years of my life. I didn’t know anything else. He kind of
frowned. “Well”, he said, “what is your second identity. I told him probably ScottishCanadian. That wasn’t what he was hoping for. I could tell by his tone of sheepish
frustration and his want to not make me upset. How about third identity? I am going to
go with Choctaw I told him. I could tell that was what he was hoping I would say. He
quickly chimed in, but you are more non-Indian by blood then Choctaw right? I said yes.
Well, what about fourth identity? I told him I would go with Cherokee. How much
Cherokee are you he pondered? I told him that he would have to ask his momma. I
thought it was funny, but he chose to stop the conversation and hang up the phone.
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While this is a made up story, it is exactly what Identity Police are trying to do to people.
When you are not the raving, hair dying, powwow regalia wearing, buckskin tassled
jacket sporting, half-grown pony tail having, etc. etc. person they need you to be so they
can attempt to discredit your message, they simply start making one up. Of course they
were doing these types of things and donning this type of gear back in the day, but now
that has gone underground.
Look, it is really easy how people who question the identities of others can go about
things. The first thing is to focus on one’s own community. Every community in Indian
Country has numerous issues that need to be resolved. All one can ever be is a member
of their own community. And each community defines its identity in different ways.
Going after a group of people with Cherokee in their tribal name in South Carolina, for
instance, is just not practical. They are not trying to be the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma. They are just being themselves. How they act is not a reflection on the
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Thank goodness, because I would not want the actions of
the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma reflected on my tribe. They would think that we were
led by a polygamist who hired a hit man to dispose of his own people (alluding to the
Freedmen). But hey, I have love for Chad “Corntassel” Smith. He was the oldest guy
out on the field during a competitive full contact Choctaw stickball game that I played in
some years back and he definitely held his own. And I got love for Richard Allen. He
was brave enough to go to Vietnam. And you have to give it to Cara. She is fearless for
sure. She knows that her views, no matter how misguided I feel they are, reflect a solid
number of her constituents. She is a politician and she has to stand for the views of
constituency even if she does not always agree with them herself. I know what it is like
to be marginalized as an indigenous person for being too non-Indian looking. I get that.
I understand the internal struggle she feels going through that. John Parris, I don’t know
the guy well enough to have a full opinion of him. I just know him in the context of
someone who talks big on paper. Maybe he can back it up. Maybe one day I will get the
chance to see. Gayle Ross is pretty wild with her comments, but I give it up to her,
because at least she has the guts to get up and say it. Terri Rhoades is a skilled artist and
seemingly a good mom to her daughters. I respect that. I understand that she went
through a process of recovering some form of an indigenous identity that was taken from
one of her lineal relatives. I get that. As for Charles Dry, I don’t know the guy and I
understand he may be too old for me to confront about his words. He should have called
me directly if he had something to say, but we all know how that goes. There are about
100 MOWA Choctaw that would love to ‘talk’ with him after his recent comments about
the tribe. Lee Fleming has a tough job that deals with politics on a daily basis. I am sure
the kid is stressed. They all knew this was going to come out eventually. In this day and
age no one can escape their pasts or their deeds. My willingness to be so upfront with
people about my own identity has always made others uncomfortable. I saw a comment
someone had made calling me a professional Indian. Of course none of these types of
comments have actual full names and contact information associated with them, so they
can basically say anything they like without fear of consequence. That is what makes
someone like Cara Cowan-Watts so different and worth commending. At least she has
the strength to stand up and be counted. What is a professional Indian to me? My
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employment opportunities are based solely on my skill set. I need Indian preference to
find a job about as much as Sam Bradford needs help finding a pro football team to play
for. People are just too caught up in this “Indian” thing. They are real caught up in a
way that has become obsessive.
I can’t be corrupted. I can’t be manipulated. I have no skeletons to hide from anyone.
My life is a complete open book. I will answer any question asked of me without spin or
the need to “think about it”. That is just how I am. I will fight any man who wants a
fight and debate anyone who wants to debate. I am not saying I will win every debate or
every fight, (I am not narcissistic enough to say that) but I will be there for the challenge
each and every time. Our voices count.
Well, I guess it is time to close up shop, but not before one last article and response.
by: Brent Wesley - Wawatay News
Find more:
Well, we still have point-of-sale tax exemption when the new HST takes effect. A nice victory. Although it
won’t happen until September as a process is figured out.
It all makes me think though, is this the only reason First Nation people use status cards these days?
And as I think more about the status card sitting in my wallet, identifying me as “an Indian within the
meaning of the Indian Act,” I realize how offensive such a thing really is. For a long while, I never thought
much about it.
I’m sure we all take it for granted that our identity, according to the government of Canada, is marked at
birth with the granting of status. Without this status, we are not entitled to the rights guaranteed to us by
way of treaty or social policy.
When I was in New Zealand earlier this year, I had an opportunity to meet with some Maori, the country’s
Indigenous peoples. It was quite the experience to meet, talk and share with the people I met. We shared
our cultures, our differences, our similarities.
Eventually, the conversation turned to identity. To the Maori, identity is as simple as if you consider
yourself Maori, then you are Maori. There is a social order in how the Maori are organized which starts with
the family, the extended family, the community, the tribe and the nation.
It’s similar to First Nations in Canada, but with the Maori, the families belong to a Marae, a traditional
meeting place/building, which forms the community. Several Marae make up the tribe.
As I very casually explained the many nations of Aboriginal people in Canada and such concepts as clans
and such, I said things are much different today. When we’re born, each of us is given a status card, which
tells us we’re Indian according to the government.
The reaction I received was one of shock. Then appalled. It was incomprehensible and offending to the
Maori I met that another nation would do such a thing to the Indigenous people of the land. The Maori in
New Zealand would not stand for such imposing treatment, that upon birth, a number is assigned certifying
Indian status.
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I could only reply that I agree, but that it was the way things are and we seem to have accepted things as
such.
Since then, I’ve asked myself how did it come to this point? Why do we continue to allow the government to
choose who is Aboriginal? Sure, our communities now make these decisions and to administer who belongs
to the individual bands. But the decisions are still made according to the standards of the Indian Act. It’s not
by our own standards.
And I wonder, if we lost the point-of-sale exemption, what else would our status cards be good for? Well,
education and health rights come to mind.
But these days, these things seem more like a privilege (a concept my mom often talked about in my youth,
that our rights are in danger of eroding and things such as education will become a privilege).
As it is today, there’s often not enough money to go around to fund everyone for school. And if Indian and
Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) has its way, post secondary education funding will no longer be freely
provided, but rather loans or grants provided at their discretion.
With health, I have to wonder what’s on the horizon. But as we know, INAC provides these things as a
matter of social policy. While we view them as treaty or inherent rights, INAC has a much different view.
So the question remains, does our status mean much these days? Well, for the time being, we’ll still be able
to use it when making retail purchases. But if you’re like me, it’s the only time my card comes out of my
wallet.
Published in Wawatay Online, June 24, 2010, Volume 37, No. 13
What a timely article. I just returned from presenting at a Conference in Toronto
and Guelph, Ontario hosted by the University of Toronto, University of Guelph
and the University of Aberdeen in Scotland in June of 2010. The Conference was
entitled, “Irish and Scottish Encounters with Indigenous People.” It certainly
was representative of my heritage on all levels. Presenters and attendees came
from Indigenous communities all over the world. Aborigines from Australia,
Maoris from New Zealand, First Nations, American Indians including a
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma citizen and a member of the Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians (don’t worry, we got along well), Native Irish and Indigenous
Highland Scots. Like the article stated, the world indigenous community was
having a difficult time understanding how indigenous identity could be based on
a card. In fact, they were basically make fun of us from the U.S. and Canada that
we would accept such a situation willingly. I have a status card from Canada
and therefore I am “an Indian within the meaning of the Indian Act.” What that
means is nothing. I am not Ojibwa though I am enrolled with an Ojibwa band, I
can get tax off purchases, vote in band elections, put in for some college tuition
assistance (a little late for that) and can even run for Band Chief. I won’t do the
later for three reasons. The first is that I am not a politician. The second is that I
am not a politician. And the third is that I would probably get about two votes.
Our oldest child has one of those status cards as well, while our youngest two
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possess the coveted, monumental, incredible, death defying, never to be
duplicated CDIB! Yeah baby! Real NDNS! Time to throw a party! Go boys, it’s
your birthday! Go boys, it’s your birthday! The Indian Act does not determine
an indigenous identity any more so than a federal tribe in the U.S. granting
“citizenship” to an extremely low blood quantum tribal descendant or a CDIB. A
lot of these “American Indians” should get cards that say, “I am an Indian within
the meaning of my particular tribe, but that does not mean that I am accepted as
Indian by anybody else. I qualify to be charged in federal tribal court and I am
very proud that I can be charged in federal tribal court, because somehow that
makes me feel more indigenous. I am so lost in my tribal enrollment world that I
am not sure what an indigenous person from outside the U.S. and Canada is
talking about and since they don’t have a federal card I must view them as fake
indigenous people. When they become civilized like me and are able to trace a
ten generation papertrail back to an original native ancestor I will be able to
believe that they are Indian like me. However, until then they cannot be
indigenous.” Yada, yada, yada.
Oh yeah, I have to run. I have a diaper to change. One of my “real” Indians
pooped. Today is a great day to be indigenous.
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