Freedmen case should be resolved

June 18, 2007 10:02 am

— Cherokee Freedmen are still fighting a battle that began quite some time back — the battle to be heard in the affairs of the Cherokee Nation.
A federal judge on June 15 denied a request to halt Saturday’s election until the Freedmen’s case can be considered, but he did say they had the right to vote in that election.
We’re happy for the minor victory, but the fact is, the Freedmen still have a high hill to climb.
When Saturday’s election is decided, it will be without the votes of some 24,000 people who could later be determined to be legal Cherokees with the right to vote.
According to Freedman advocates, only 1,000 of 25,000 eligible voters are actually registered to vote because the tribe is dragging its feet on considering their applications.
The Freedmen are the descendants of African slaves who were recognized as Cherokee citizens in an 1866 treaty.
Earlier this year, a Cherokee vote stripped them of that citizenship, and the legal action that is ongoing today started.
We still fail to see the reasonableness in excluding the Freedmen from the Cherokee Nation.
They are at least as legitimately Cherokees as many of the mostly-white people on the Cherokee tribal rolls, and they have been identified with the tribe for more than a century.
Stripping them of citizenship and voting rights now seems cruel and unwarranted.
Be that as it may, we’re glad they’re getting to vote in Saturday’s election, but we hope ultimately it is determined that they are indeed Cherokee citizens and should enjoy the same rights as any other Cherokee.
Hopefully any future decision on their citizenship status won’t call into question the results of Saturday’s election, which is in their minds being held without their input, because all that would do is lead to more legal action.
In the end, it would be wise for both sides to sit down and try to come to a reasonable solution in a civilized manner — something that is lacking in far too many negotiations these days.