Here is the article from WaPo, via Pechanga.
Absentee votes, which account for approximately half of the voting, remain to be counted.
Cherokee Nation
Interview with Tiya Miles on NPR’s Tell Me More
Prof. Miles was yesterday interviewed about the history of the Cherokee Nation and Freedmen here.
MILES: Well, I think that those legacies remain with us. And I think that in the case of the Cherokee Nation and other native nations, there’s a felt conflict between the sovereignty of those nations and the question of what the role should be, what the place should be of minorities in those nations.
So, whereas the United States can and has at times protected the status of minorities and not felt itself threatened by Canada, for instance, about what it does. Native nations definitely feel themselves threatened by the United States government. They are concerned that their sovereignty, the right to make decisions for themselves, is going to be undermined by the U.S. government as it has been so many times in the past.
But what I feel is a real problem here is that the Cherokee Nation is taking its definition from what really has been a white supremacist U.S. nation that fought to – I’m sorry. Go ahead, Michel.
She also recounts what she was doing when she found out she won a MacArthur Genius Grant:
MARTIN: So before we let you go, we always have to ask. Where were you and what were you doing when you got the call? For people who are unaware of the MacArthur so-called Genius Grants are not things you can apply for. You have to be nominated. People generally don’t find out that they’ve won until they get the call. So, what were you doing when you got the call?
MILES: I was at home cleaning the kitchen when I got the call. And this was something that was so completely out of the blue and so completely overwhelming that I actually had to just sit down. I was on the staircase in our house. I had to sit on the steps just to kind of get my bearings and to let this sink in.
MARTIN: Any idea what you’ll do with the grant?
MILES: Well, I’ve never actually contemplated so much money, but I do have a couple of ideas. One thing that I’m really excited about is continuing my research and taking it into other areas within the U.S. and Native American history. So, I’ve worked so far on the South and Indian territory. But now, I want to really look at slavery in the north and in particular in Detroit and in Michigan, because this is a place where we also don’t really think about slavery existing, but it did. And the slaves in Detroit and in Michigan and Ontario were African-American and also Native American.
MARTIN: Well, I hope you’ll get a nice bottle of wine, too, in there, maybe.
MILES: Maybe. Maybe I’ll do that.
NPR Coverage of Cherokee Freedmen Controversy
The story (and audio) can be found here. An excerpt:
The Cherokee Nation has expelled about 2,800 African Americans who are descendants of slaves once owned by wealthy Cherokee. They are known as Freedmen, and for long periods in the past, these Freedmen enjoyed equal rights in the Cherokee tribe. But in more recent history, their citizenship rights have been challenged repeatedly.
The Cherokee’s most recent decision strips about 2,800 African Americans of benefits afforded to tribal citizens, including medical care, food stipends and assistance for low-income homeowners. It also prompted dozens of descendants who are known as “Freedmen” to protest.
Cherokee Freedmen Supporters Protest BIA Office in Muscogee
Cherokee Nation Election Dispute
Incumbent Chief Chad Smith has filed an appeal with the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court challenging the results of the recently held election, where at different times he has been declared the winner and the loser.
An article in today’s Tulsa World discussing the case can be found here.
Smith’s appeal to the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court can be found here.
Order of the Supreme Court setting the hearing in the case for Friday, July 8 can be found here.
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Elects a New Principal Chief by 11 Votes
From the Washington Post coverage:
OKLAHOMA CITY — In a close election that ran overnight, the Cherokee Nation elected a new principal chief Sunday, with final results posted on the tribe’s website showing longtime councilman Bill John Baker defeating three-term incumbent Chad Smith by 11 votes.
More than 15,000 votes were cast, and the margin between the men had been fewer than 30 since late Saturday.
Recent Books on Tribal Leadership During Treaty Times
We want to highlight two recent books — both excellent in their own ways — on Indian leaders during (roughly) treaty times. First, Anton Treuer’s book, The Assassination of Hole in the Day (available online at Birchbark Books, the greatest bookstore in the world), published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, is a truly entertaining read. It is one of the rare books that makes extensive use of Indian oral histories, and gives these histories the credence they so often deserve. The story of Hole in the Day’s murder by his own people is a classic tale of Anishinaabe political leadership that more or less tracks the rise and fall of Julius Ceasar. Important leader, does some great and terrible things, overreaches, loses power, and eventually loses life. But real import, however, is the impact of treaty negotiations on Aninshinaabe leaders.
The second book, Brian Hicks’ Toward the Setting Sun: John Ross, the Cherokees, and the Trail of Tears (available here), was published by the Atlantic Monthly Press, and is another entertaining read. And like Treuer’s book, this is a great study of how tribal leadership operated during these amazing times.
Press Release: Asst. Sec. Echo Hawk Issues Gaming, Land into Trust Determinations
From a DOI Press Release:
New Book by Steve Russell — “Sequoyah Rising”
Sequoyah Rising
Problems in Post-Colonial Tribal Governance
Here is the blurb from Carolina Academic Press:
Since 1789, the United States has had an “Indian problem.” Since 1492, the Indians have had a colonial problem. It’s the same problem.
Lawrence Baca on Mary Smith’s Stalled Nomination to the DOJ Tax Division
From ICT:
Mary L. Smith has been nominated to be the assistant attorney general for the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice. Having been nominated April 20, 2009, she is the longest-standing presidential nominee not to receive a full Senate vote. While I have kept a respectful silence during this process, the time has come when I can be silent no longer. She merits immediate confirmation.
An enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, Mary Smith is a historic first. When the Senate confirms her, Smith will be the highest ranking Native American in the 140-year history of the Department of Justice and the first Native American to serve as an assistant attorney general. All of Indian country should be outraged that a Native American nominee continues to be denied a full Senate vote more than a year after her original nomination. We must all raise our collective voice and tell President Barack Obama and the Senate to do everything possible to move her nomination to a confirmation vote.
Turtle Talk 
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