March 5, 2007 - by Joseph Quesnel
First Perpective - National Aboriginal News
Aboriginal leaders from the United States are in hot water over a move recently to deny tribal membership to descendants of former slaves.
Cherokee Nation members voted this past weekend to deny tribal citizenship to an estimated 2,800 descendants of the Black people the Cherokee once owned as slaves.
In a recent vote, about 77 percent voted in favor of the amendment to the tribal constitution limiting citizenship to descendants of "by blood" tribe members as listed on the federal Dawes Commission's rolls from more than 100 years ago.
The vote involves territory in Oklahoma.
Some opponents of the ballot question argued, in a recent CTV news report, that attempts to remove freedmen from the tribe were motivated by racist attitudes.
Tribal officials, in response, said the vote was really about Native American self-determination.
According to the CTV, the petition followed a March 2006 ruling by the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court that said an 1866 treaty assured freedmen descendants of tribal citizenship. Since then, more than 2,000 freedmen descendants have enrolled as citizens of the tribe.
Court challenges by freedmen descendants seeking to stop the election were denied, but a federal judge left open the possibility that the case could be refiled if Cherokees voted to lift their membership rights.
Obe Tribal spokesman said the proper time for a challenge was from now until March 12. Those contesting the change will be able to appeal it through Cherokee Nation courts.
In the the United States, tribal courts are given broad jurisdiction to deal with many issues.