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Congress seeks BIA freedmen clarification
By JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau
Published: 3/19/2008 1:17 AM
Last Modified: 4/1/2008 11:46 AM
WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress are seeking
clarification from the Bureau
of Indian Affairs on the current status of the Cherokee
Nation freedmen descendants and why the agency has
not done more to end that
long-running controversy.
Four lawmakers, including
two House committee chair
men, met with BIA director
Carl Artman last week.
U.S. Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., the most vocal congressional critic of the Cherokee
Nation and its efforts to deny
citizenship to descendants of
former slaves, said both the
tribe and the BIA need more
oversight on the issue.
Watson expressed concern
that freedmen descendants
now are being treated as tem
porary members of the Cherokee Nation.
They are not being issued
cards they could use to receive certain benefits, she
said.
"From what I understand
they haven't issued one,"
Watson said.
Another issue raised at last
week's meeting with Artman
involved what some see as different approaches by the BIA
on the issue with the Cherokee and Seminole nations.
Watson has introduced legislation to strip the Cherokee
Nation of its federal funding
to get the tribe to give up on
its efforts to rescind citizenship of the freedmen descendants.
Others at that meeting included Reps. John Conyers,
D-Mich., chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee;
Barney Frank, D-Mass.,
chairman
of the House Financial Services Committee; and
Mel Watt, D-N.C., a key player on the issue for the Congressional Black Caucus.
Watson said a letter will be
sent to Artman to get his responses in writing.
Frank and Conyers did not
respond to requests for comment.
Nedra Darling, a spokes
woman for Artman, confirmed that the meeting with
the four lawmakers took
place but said some of the issues raised by the lawmakers
should be addressed by the
Cherokee Nation.
On the issue involving the
Seminole Nation, Darling
said that tribe sued the BIA
over the freedmen descendants issue and did not have
its own court system, unlike
the Cherokee Nation.
"There lies the difference,"
she said.
Last year, Artman said an
1866 treaty between the U.S.
and the Cherokee Nation affirmed the citizenship rights
of the freedmen, adding that
the government would consider taking the tribe to court to
make sure it lives up to that
treaty.
Mike Miller, a spokesman
for the Cherokee Nation, issued comments Tuesday offering assurances again that
the 2,867 freedmen descendants who were reinstated last
year pending the outcome of
ongoing litigation continue to
receive health care and other
services provided to tribal
members. They also have the
right to vote, Miller said.
"CDIB cards are given out
by the U.S. government," he
said. "Only people who can
show documentation of degrees of Indian blood can receive them by federal law."
Miller also urged Congress
members to avoid a rush to
judgment based on misinformation.
"We are a diverse and open
tribe," he said. "We have thousands of African-Americans
and more than 1,500 descendants of former slaves who are
citizens."
Jim Myers (202) 484-1424
jim.myers@tulsaworld.com
By JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau
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