The Cherokee freedmen

[Lamplighter]

It is absolutely none of my business, but this is a story I find to be absolutely fascinating...

Count of votes for Cherokee Nation principal chief to start Sunday, expected to take 3 days
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS**

Last Updated: October 07, 2011 - 11:35 am

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Cherokee Nation election officials say it likely will be Wednesday
before unofficial results from the Sept. 24 election of the tribe's principal chief are known.

The Freedmen were former slaves of the Cherokee Nation listed in the Treaty
between the Cherokee Nation and the US government, at the close of the US Civil War.
The Cherokee constitution gave the Freedmen citizenship in the Nation and full voting rights.

The two men running for office of Principal Chief in this election are long term opponents.
If the "Cherokee Freedmen" were excluded from voting it would undoubtedly tip the balance,
which in turn could decide if all Freedmen would (again) loose citizenship in the Cherokee Nation.

The initial exclusion of Freedmen came in August, 2011
with a change in the interpretation of the Cherokee Constitution .
The US Bureau of Indian Affairs then warned the Principal Chief that their $33 million grant
would be withheld (frozen) if the Freedmen were excluded from voting.
For some reason or other , the Freedmen were re-instated as full-voting members. !!!

Cherokee Nation freedmen to meet in Bartlesville
Friday, October 7, 2011 3:00 PM CDT

According to a press release about the event, the [Freedmen] organization fights
for the enforcement of 1866 treaty rights of African Cherokee Indian people
whose ancestors were listed as freedmen tribal members on the Dawes Indian tribal rolls
more than 100 years ago by the U.S. government.

Cherokee, freedmen agree to move forward with election
Sequoyah County Times
by Sally Maxwell, Managing Editor

The right of the descendants of former slaves to receive Cherokee Nation citizenship rights
has been debated over the years and citizenship was terminated
in August [2011] for approximately 2,800 freedmen.
Freedmen were guaranteed citizenship again in September.

The freedmen, some of whom have relatives on the Dawes Rolls,
are descendants of the slaves once held by Cherokee citizens,
and freed after the Civil War.
Some freedmen claim they are members of the tribe by treaty.
The Cherokee Nation responds that all members of the nation
must trace ancestry back to the Dawes Rolls.
Both the Cherokee Nation and freedmen base their arguments
on an 1866 treaty and changes to the Cherokee Nation Constitution.

This whole thing sounds very much like the US current immigration debate
over Hispanics and their children born within the US.