From ICT:
OKLAHOMA CITY – Cherokee Chief Chad Smith wonders why the push to preserve tribal sovereignty by removing the descendants of freed slaves from his tribe was regarded as immoral at a Federal Bar Association meeting Sept. 10.
“We certainly want to be included in the fabric of this United States, but we always maintained that we are domestic dependent nations. The idea is why something is wrong when a tribe wants to be a tribe of Indians.”
Smith made the comments to around 150 onlookers at a discussion on the issue that included Harvard University law scholar Charles Ogletree, and Oklahoma Western Federal District Judge Vicki Miles LaGrange as moderator.
Ogletree and Smith each made 10 minute presentations summarizing viewpoints on the controversial issue. Panelists then fielded questions that went 20 minutes beyond the session’s scheduled time.
The discussion centered on the Cherokee Nation’s push to remove freedmen descendants from its rolls in March 2007. The freedmen ascertain that removal violates an 1866 treaty and has taken their case to federal court. No decision has been made on the federal level.
Meanwhile, Ogletree called the freedmen issue a “moral dilemma” and not one entirely of tribal sovereignty, while Smith outlined a history of case law precedent preserving the tribal right to define who qualifies for citizenship.
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