Dear Hon. Jeff Miller:
I do not know of a single person that can honestly say that the federal government has handled this nation’s American Indian problem in the best manner possible. As it stands now, there are 3 Cherokee tribes that are federally recognized. None of these tribes, singularly or collectively, take in all of the Cherokees that once comprised the ORIGINAL Cherokee nation that existed before the infamous Trail of Tears.
Therefore, scores of thousands of TRUE CHEROKEES are left out because of a number of reasons. For some, it is because they do not meet some out-dated, ambiguous, and racist blood quantum rule (i.e., one tribe requires 1/4 Cherokee while the other only requires 1/32 Cherokee). For others, they do not meet residency requirements (i.e., they may have relatives that were on the Dawes, may have the CDIB card showing 1/2 Cherokee, but they do not live in Oklahoma). Still, for others, they may have strong ancestry that is demonstrated on a rolls or other legal document that is not accepted by one of these 3 federally recognized tribes.
We generally like to refer to these people as the “LOST CHEROKEE” because they have a real ancestral claim to the pacts, treaties, soverignty, etc. of the 3 federally recognized tribes but they cannot make that claim due to recognition laws. In fact, some have speculated that as much as 1/4 of the Eastern US would qualify for recognition if blood quantum rules were dropped (or at least levelized to 1/16 blood quantum), all verifiable rolls and court documents would be made acceptable, and there be no in-state residency requirements.
Congressman, that is a lot of people that are “lost” in the political process that is known as Indian Recognition.
To solve for the federal government’s inability to protect the rights of ALL of America’s First Peoples, some states (Florida is excluded from this list), have opted to recognize tribes at the state level. Because of this wonderful option, thousands of citizens in several states have the right to sell their tribe’s traditional crafts, go to school, start businesses, etc.
What the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma proposes would rob these citizens of their rights. More over, it would go against our very Constitution by taking away powers from States that is entitled to them.
I beg that you please do something about this matter immediately.
Sincerely,
Ken Johnson
Wolf Creek Cherokee Tribe, Inc. of Florida
Chief: Ken “Soaring Eagle” Johnson
PO Box 263, Milton, FL 32572-0263
850/564-4484