By Donna Hales
Phoenix Staff Writer
June 09, 2007 12:08 am
—
Cherokee Freedmen say temporary reinstatement and the right to vote in the June 23 tribal election is not enough and will seek injunctive relief in a Monday hearing.
The hearing will be in federal court in Washington, D.C., before U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy, who has been presiding over the federal case.
The tribe’s March special election stripping the Freedmen of their tribal membership “denied us the right to run for election — a right we’ve had since 1866,” said Marilyn Vann, of Oklahoma City, president of the Descendants of Freedmen Association.
“They (Cherokees ) are trying to erase our identity as Cherokees. We may have the right to vote now, but we will have no Freedmen candidates to vote for.”
Cherokee Nation Communications Officer Mike Miller called the requested injunction “a remedy in need of a wrong and asks this Court to order relief Plaintiffs have already obtained.
“There is no controversy. A small group of non-Indian Freedmen have asked the court to stop the election unless the election is open to non-Indian Freedmen to vote; it's public record that non-Indian Freedmen can vote, and have been sent absentee ballots.”
Miller also said no Freedmen candidate was denied access to the election process during the filing period because of their lack of Indian heritage, as no non-Indians filed for candidacy.
The Freedmen contend they were Illegally disenrolled tribal members recently when they requested Judge Kennedy issue an injunction against the Cherokees:
• Halting distribution of federal funds to the Cherokee Nation;
• Refusing to recognize Cherokee Nation elections; and
• Stop recognition of a government-to-government relationship with the Cherokee Nation (established in the Treaty of 1866).
The Freedmen are hoping for a favorable decision in the Monday hearing. Some Cherokees are hoping recent actions to get some Freedmen registered to vote in the tribal election will keep any further federal action at bay.
Kennedy earlier denied the Cherokee Nation’s request he dismiss the case or move it to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. It was only after that ruling that a tribal court then reinstated the Freedmen’s right to vote in the upcoming tribal election, Vann said.
The Cherokee administration does not want Kennedy to rule on the issues, Vann said.
Cherokee Nation Attorney General Diane Hammons repeatedly has stated there was a high probability that Kennedy would halt the June 23 tribal election if Freedmen tribal members were not permitted to vote in the election. She urged the tribal court to reinstate the Freedmen.
The tribal court granted an abbreviated time for Freedmen registration to vote — 11 days. But many Freedmen descendants have not been able to enroll as tribal citizens, so were not able to register to vote, in that 11-day enrollment period, Vann said.
“Many (Freedmen) have requested information on which individuals (candidates) we recommend should be elected to Cherokee Nation office,” Vann said.
Vann issued the following list of preferred candidates: Stacy Leeds for chief and Raymond Vann for deputy chief; councilors in District 1, Bill John Baker, David Walkingstick or Audra Smoke Conner; District 2, Bobby Leach and Joe Crittenden; District 3, Phyllis Yargee and David Thornton; District 4, Mickey Igert; District 5, Linda O’Leary and Melvina Shotpouch; District 7, Thelda Boen; District 8, Roy Herman; District 9, Chuck Hoskin and At-large, Taylor Keen and Sean Nordwall.
A draft of a bill being circulated by U.S. Rep. Diane Watson, D-California, includes stripping the Cherokees of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid, and suspending the tribe’s gaming rights. The bill also would require the U.S. Department of Interior to report to Congress on the status of Freedmen’s rights in all tribes.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has not sanctioned the tribe’s 2003 Constitution, because an amendment in it takes away a requirement in the 1975 constitution that the president or his designee would approve Cherokee constitutional amendments.
Meanwhile, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith, says that the right of Indian self-government is not negotiable.
“Cherokees should vote yes again on June 23 to remove federal oversight and approval of our Cherokee Nation Constitution,” Smith wrote in a guest column to be published in Sunday’s Phoenix.
Reach Donna Hales at 918-684-2923 or Click Here to Send Email
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