Transcripts For CSPAN3 Cherokee Nation After The Trail Of Tears 20240713

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Watch white house briefings, track the spread throughout the u. S. And world win the active maps. Watch any time unfiltered on cspan. Org coronavirus. Up next on American History tv, the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation talks about the tribes history following the removal from the south and relocation to present day oklahoma. He discusses how they concentrated on rebuilding and strengthening culture amid adversity. Its my great pleasure to introduce kenneth adams. As was mentioned earlier today, chief adams serves on preservation virginias board of trustees and it was at his urging that this symposium came to be. Chief adams served as a strong advocate for the federal recognition of the upper tribe. In the leadup to 2007, he participated in the Jamestown Steering Committee and activities associated with the commemoration. We spent a lot of time together. At various events around the state. The leadership in persistence ensured that events reflected the perspective of the Indigenous People, their culture, and their governance long before the ships arrived at jamestown as steve pointed out. He brought a lack of a permanent memorial on the capital grounds as did other tribal leaders to the attention of governor cane and delegate peace forming the indian kmemtive kbhigs akme kmemtive commission. He dedicated himself to numerous causes and organizations across the commonwealth and its an honor to introduce chief adams. Thank you, elizabeth, for those kind words. Good afternoon. Its an horror to be here today to be part of this event. We started this about 15 months ago, 18 months ago. When we just briefed each other on what the possibilities were for us to have such an vent as this. Were fortunate to have it in this presentation today. As indians know, know very well, the doctrine of discovery still very well. Still very well alive in the United States. In some cases, its very well alive here in virginia. And the Indigenous People continue to suffer from the effects of the doctrine of discovery which came about in 1452 or 1453 from the Catholic Church through the pope ease edict to claim that all peoples across the planet were available to be taken, were able to be killed, were available to be annihilated. And so it happened. So when the ships came to virginia in 1607, they knew full well by planting the flag of great brittage that they weain claiming this land for the united kingdom, england as it was known then. And yet today, we still, some of us, still suffer from the effects of the planning of the english flag at jamestown in 1607. When the british first came, they were hungry. They didnt have any food. So what did they do . They started going out and locating the indian towns, the small indian towns and stealing their corn, stealing their fields of corn and the ones they didnt steal, the corn they didnt steal, they destroyed so that the indian people there were living there they became hungry themselves. And as steve mentioned, shortly after the british came, on one of those trips they went to the town of passpahay on the james river. Jamestown looking for food and the goal was to take the corn from those people which is what they did. And as they were going back to jamestown, the kids they captured, the children they captured were thrown into the water and as the articles read, their heads were blown out. They were taking the wife of the king as they referred back to jamestown with them. They took her ashore. According to the article, ran her through with the sword because they had enough fighting for one day. They didnt want to take her back because they eluded to the fact she would be burned at the stake. So instead of doing that, they ran her through with the sword. But they basically annihilated the tribe. That process of annihilation and that process of stealing from the indians that started here and at jamestown in 1610, 1607 through 1610, that process continued from virginia all the way to the west coast. And in 100 years after landing, 90 of the population of the Indigenous People in virginia was gone. 90 . 300 years after landing, 90 of the entire indigenous population of this country was gone. 90 . Imagine that. Imagine what would happen today. If 90 of a population of a nation destroyed, was annihilated. We would be shouting from the roof tops. There wasnt much shouting then except for the shouting that came from the indians. They eventually showed up in a place name, place for leaders, place for chiefs. Not far from jamestown. That is the place where pocahantas and john smith, the governor of the colony and chief came togethand you no he the fa. They saved john smiths life and, therefore, the colony was saved. Is that true . She was only 10, 11, 12 years old at that time. Its doubtful she had the authority as a young indian woman to save the life of the governor of the colony. But that story has been perpetuated through film and other stories from time in memorial. The same rivers bear the same names today. The people still reside on a reservation which was established in early 1600s, possibly the oldest reservation in the country. Theyre one of the oldest reservations in the country. And in 1670, the largest concentration of indians in the entire commonwealth of virginia was a little town called alet. And that little town is where my people live today. But we got there in some ways because of removal. Because in 1640s after the second indian uprising in virginia against the british, all of the local tide water indians were moved west and north to a place called penn william county. And King William County is where the two reservations are today and one time there was another reservation there around 16 1670s to 1690s known as the reservation and they eventually moved back to their original place where they reside today in charles city county. On the map of 1673 shows the largest concentration of the indians in the commonwealth of virginia. Years later i witnessed a separation of my family as they were forced out of the commonwealth of virginia in order to get a High School Education. My family members had to actually leave the commonwealth of virginia in order to get a High School Education back in the 40s and 1950s. Several were forced to go to michigan to live with families in michigan to complete high school. Another piece of that whole puzzle is this thing called the racial integrity act. This caused a zeierous disrupti serious disruption because the General Assembly approved a law that indicathat tre were no indians living in virginia that were either colored or white. So what it did, what did it do . It just tore, ripped the hearts out of people you cannot document that youre a nativeamerican in this state. And because of that, my uncles and my uncles and grandparents and great uncles, they documented on the on the draft certificate, the draft certificate, they were documented as indians, yet, when they went to join the service, the service said, no, you cant do that. This history is the same for the other indians in virginia. But my time is up. And its my pleasure, chief atkins, you need to step this way, please. Im going to introduce the chief as our really special speaker this afternoon from the Cherokee Nation of oklahoma. He was elected to serve as the Cherokee Nation, largest tribal government with 308,000 tribal citizens in 2019. Prior to being elected, he serves the Cherokee Nation second of state as principal chief, he increased minimum wage at Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation businesses and secured the largest language investment in the tribes history to expand the cherokee language education and preservation, chief hoskin appointed the tribes first delegate to the u. S. Congress double Cherokee Nation for career Tech Education and established the housing jobs and sustainable communities act to repair hundreds of homes for cherokees, elders as well as Public Community buildings across the tribes 14 county jurisdiction. Additionally, as cherokee of state, hos kin worked to secure funding from the federal government to fund a billion dollar joint Venture Investment in better help nl for all cherokees. He is also served as Cherokee Nations largest strongest advocate on sovereignty protection. I like that very much. He served as a member of the council of the Cherokee Nation. Representing district 11 for six years and served had his two final years as dmu ti speaker. On the counsel he worked with fellow Council Members to Start Building homes for it Cherokee Nations, increase Education Funding and sponsor legislation to expand Health Care Service through casino dollars. He has tested at the United Nations on behalf of the Cherokee Nation and serves on multiple boar multiple boards and communications including the health and Human Services secretaries tribal advisory committee. Chief hoskin is from community where he lives with his family. He and his first lady, in january are parents two of children. He graduated from the university of oklahoma and university of Oklahoma College of law and is a member of the Cherokee Nation and oklahoma bar associations. Chief hoskin, we welcome you to this stage and this community. I have one little controversial word i have to say as i was researching the history of virginia many, many years ago, there was one brief Little Corner way down in southwest virginia that it appeared, not going to disagree with anyone, but it appeared there were cherokee people that lived in one little small area of virginia. Very small. But chief hos kin since the cherokee did live in virginia according to my little recognition, welcome home. We have a gift for chief hoskin from the virginia indians and preservation of virginia. Well, oco to virginia. What a wonderful opportunity it is to be before you. I am so honored that the Cherokee Nation has been asked to be a part of this. It speaks highly of the History Association and Virginia Preservation that you would include the indigenous aspects of the history of this great state and this great country. I would mention the woman that i wouldnt be without here, that is the first lady of the Cherokee Nation, january on the front row. It is quite something to be talking about history, cherokee history and law in front of and my former law professor lindsey robertson, so next month the symposium is on everything that chief hoskin got wrong about the history and law. And should take most of the day. It kind of feels like old times but there is no test. He is saying there will be a test. So well get through it. So im going to pick up where jack baker left off. Im going to attempt to get to the right slide. There is our great seal of the share key nation. Of course the Cherokee Nation, we say we existed from time in memorial. There is a date on that. That is when we got back together. We talked about removal. One thing that is worth touching on is before the trail of tears, there was an earlier migration of cherokees and when we got to what was our new home, there was quite a bit of fighting and controversy. You hear about people being at each others throat and in a figuretive sense, they were literally at each others throat. Part of the reason im here today. And quite honestly, john marshal and his decision might be the reason i even exist because who knows what would have happened to the cherokee people and my ancestors. I certainly wouldnt be here as chief of the Cherokee Nation i believe had it not been for that decision which is a bedrock of federal indian law that stays with us today. So im so honored to be here with you for that reason. So the dark chapter of American History leading up and including the trail of tears is something that this country ought to remember. I think jack baker did a great job of talking about it in very personal terms and how it affected his family and how it affected other cherokees. We have to remember that in this country. We have to remember there was a time in this country where the government of the United States thought it was a good idea to round people up into cages. That wasnt a good idea then. Its not a good idea today. We ought to always take those lessons from our history. But if you think about what happened, you think about the great destruction that befell the Cherokee Nation, you think about the fact in human terms we lost a quarter of our population, a quarter of our population, 4,000 men, women, children, grandmas, grandpas, grand babies, wiped off the face of the earth. And then you think further about the fact that it necessarily ripped our economy apart. I mean before removal, remember what was happening. It was touched on before. We had adapted and strengthened ourselves as a nation to deal with what was happening in terms of the encroachment of settlers to deal with the governmentst united statof the United States in a fairly rapid period of time getting a written constitution. The great genius was mentioned. He gave the cherokees something that is more powerful than any shield or any sword we could have ever wielded. That is the ability to communicate with each other and translating that to english, communicating with the world. There was a great resistance by the cherokee people before removal. We werent simply removed because the president of the United States said so or because a minority faction of cherokees signed a treaty. We stood our ground. John ross stood his ground and went to washington, d. C. , to plead his case to resist removal and if not ultimately defeat it to make it as good as it could be for his people. And that took a great deal of effort. I think that that period of time and the period that follows which ill get to did something, shaped something, built something in our National Character that stays with us today. People of tremendous grit and determination to have resisted, to have overcome, and as we got to our new home in what was what is today, northeast oklahoma, we had a lot of work to do. So we had to rebuild. Keep in mind what we were rebuilding. We were rebuilding the great cherokee democracy that existed before removal. We, again, had a system of rule and laws and rule of law and constitution. I think it says something about the cherokee people that when we were removed and we rebuilt and you sa you that date in 1839, thats when we got back together, the act of union of the cherokees that had moved out before and the treaty party and the ross party, all at odds with each other. We found it in ourselves to rise above that after some lives were lost but we still rose above it and got our Government Back together. It strikes me that even though justice in this country let us down, we still believed in it. Now that building, that institution is the First Institution of Higher Learning for any woman of any race west of the mississippi in the history of this country. It happened because the cherokee people believed in education. And we didnt just believe in that form of Higher Education. A free system of Public Education and what is now oklahoma long before there was an oklahoma. 1841 we passed an act establishing free Public Education y did we do it . Well, for the same reason i think most of the rest of society does it, because you want to invest in the future. I also think our people and possessions and with you lost so much blood and treasure that we knew this was going to be our home forever. It was promised to us. It was going to be our last stand. We ought to make the most of it. How do you do that . You look beyond what is happening right in front of you. Investing in education is a way to do. That you would predict that a people that were forcibly removed across the country, rounded up in stockades at the hands of an unjust article, at the hands of a fralg government that ignored its own Supreme Court and had its economy, the cherokee economy ripped apart, lost so many people. You would think it would take years and years, perhaps generations. In fact, you might predict that people would not sustain themselves. And i suspect there were people in this country that figured the cherokee problem would be solved not just by moving them but by moving them to their demise. What is remarkable to me and thats what happens after the chapter of removal is something that people in this country ought to know really as much as they ought to know about removal. This issy think its amazing and people ought to know about it. We did all this within a decade. So within a decade were saying there ought to be a free system of Public Education. There ought to be a system for Higher Education for men and women. We need to rebuild staple of commerce that we can build up our economy again. We were saying these things. We were saying that we ought to invest in a system of government that was a democracy and was based on the rule of law and we ought to have a constitution. We did all this within a short period of time. I think its remarkable and again, i think its what fuels leaders of the Cherokee Nation today. Thinking back to what our ancestors did. So i mention reunification. I cant stress enough the divisions within the Cherokee Nation. So it wasnt just that we were removed and we had to pick ourselves back up. It was that we were removed and we were split apart. John ross, the elected leader of the Cherokee Nation had been overrun. His government overrun because the United States believed that it ought to execute a treaty with a minority faction. Can you imagine if that happened today snt president of the United States doesnt like the way negotiations are going with france over some trade deal and he says forget the president of france. Were going to deal with these other french and well strike a deal and everyone will think thats okay. How they came together, honestly, i think is remarkable and every time i read about it, im struck by the level of compromise. From time to time tribal elections can get ruckus. They k. You know, they can get pretty rough. Ive been involved in politics a long time. Honestly, mainstream politics dont have anything on tribal politics in this guys opinion. There is a lesson to be learned. There plenty of things that divide cherokees and there are things that divide us but if we focus on those things that unify us and if we look to the horizon like the cherokees after removal, we can put enough of that aside to do something that is bigger than ourselves and we ought to do that in this country, i think. So reunified the act. You saw it on the seal in 1839. Remarkable time for the Cherokee Nation. Heres two amazing individuals in history of the Cherokee Nation. You see john ross. That is probably jackle know this better than i do. Probably closer to the 1806s. And then you have stan wady. That swh he was on in years. So these represent two factions of cherokee political life that would continue on through the 19th century. There is a streak of stubbornness among some cherokees. Not you, jack. Not you or i. Were reasonable gentlemen. But there is. And so therepresent factions th would carry through. The cherokee people were split concerning the civil war. And some of those reasons probably had something to do with what split the United States. There were slavery in the Cherokee Nation before removal and after removal. That surely was a difference john ross urged his foam stay neutral. He believed not just for respect for the United States but that, look, were a recognized sovereign who are we recognized by . The United States. St who are we party to a treaty with . What happens to the Cherokee Nation if we side with the confederacy that has split from the United States . What are the consequences . They offered a better deal. It didnt help anything that the United States wasnt really keeping a lot of its promises during this time period. I dont know if you can imagine that. The United States and Indian Tribes. But it happened. And so, the government of the Cherokee Nation wanting to remain neutral was feeling a great deal of pressure from people who said, look, the United States is not really living up to its word. And it looks like these southerners may have an edge and the southerners are offering us so much. Theyre offering us in terms of treasure and land and control. Maybe we have a better deal with that. And so the folks who largely sided with the confederacy lined up with stan wady. And ross, of course, lines up with the ross party. That split continues. Ultimately he signs an agreement with the confederacy which is a remarkable shift in what is happening in cherokee government in about 1861. There was a great deal of resistance. The civil war is building up even before 1861. He signs it and even then hes not fully bought n he just think its the best way to keep the cheer key nation whoele and intact. But because that pressure is too much, it starts to rip us apart again. Much now we lost a lot of blood and treasure and life in the removal. We lost more life in the civil war and property destruction in the civil war. Certainly the political divides reopened during the civil war. And so sort of was repeating itself. So this nation that had gone through so much, that had built up so much and started to invest in a future so it could keep its home forever. And keep in mind the treaty said we would have it forever. There is a land patent in washington, d. C. , signed by martin van burn. If you read a lot of that language that, land is ours forever. And so were starting to get ripped part again. The future is not looking so bright even though we had invested in the things i think a Great Society ought to invest in for a sustainable future. So the civil war again is ripping us apart. A lot of destruction. A lot of the communities that we built. Those communities, if youre from oklahoma or go back, there you look at this map and youre seeing communities that still stand today but much of it suffered the great deal of destruction. Getting ahead of myself. I jumped all the way to 2020 from the 1860s. So let me focus for a moment on here we go. So we get through the civil war with all its destruction. Somehow we get back together. This has been mentioned. If youre going to rejoin the family of governments and the United States, if youre going to get your recognition back with the United States, youre going to sign a new treaty. Thats where we have the treaty of 1866, the last treaty that we have with the United States. Still in full force and effect. So this treaty did some things and its been mentioned. We had to give up some things. One thing had to give up that really hastened our denies is the ability to keep the railroads how the. Nobody knows probably where vaneta is. Oh, my goodness. By the way, this is the washington, d. C. Cherokee organization right there. Theyve come all the way here. What a great thing. If you look, that map doesnt go there. If you look there. Railroads are just the way it is. There are two Railroad Tracks that cross right there. It was founded in 1871. The railroads start coming in, settlers start going in. What happens to cherokees when settlers start going n i remember something about that in the state of georgia. Its the same old story over again. Not just for the cherokee story but really the story of Indigenous People all over the continent. You might say all over the world. Outsiders in this case more white settlers wanting what we had. That pressure of western migration. That philosophy not withstanding what john marshal might say, the whole country, most of the continent belongs to the United States and white settlers. So that pressure started to come to bear on the great Cherokee Nation. But we still did a great deal of rebuilding. If you go there now, youll see a capital building, its our old capital building. It became our Supreme Court building. And youll see our old Supreme Court building and youll see a prison. Those buildings and others were built after the civil war. So we start to rebuild again even after this treaty, even after the destruction of the civil war, we start to reinvest again in what it means to have a Great Society. So we reinvest in education. The seminaries burned, we rebuilt them. We start seminaries burned, we rebuild them and do commerce again and improve infrastructure around the Cherokee Nation so were more connected. We try to keep our foot hold in an our an area that the United States said would always be ours but all of the pressure came to a tipping point. Now there was a there was a quote up there earlier, i think during jack bakers presentation when they talked about the point of a bayonette. You could say we lost a great deal at the point of bayonet before removal. It wasnt the point of the bayonet, it was the pin. It was federal law at this point that would probably do in some ways more destruction to the Cherokee Nation than the removal ever could in terms of our institutions. So in 1887 you have the general allotment act which was to a lot tribal lands. Didnt quite get to cherokee lands just yet. But it was more than just the Cherokee Nation. In other words, the Cherokee Nation, a lot of tribes, held their lands in common. This is completely antithetical in the United States in terms of Property Ownership and the allotment was to individualize the Land Holdings instead of communal Land Holdings. 1898 passed the curtis act and suppressed our government. I will never say they extinguished but abolished courts and our council. The writing was on the wall at that point. And so after those acts pass, and then the cherokee people had to vote on it. But by that time all of this pressure is being brought to bear. Even elected chiefs of the Cherokee Nation are telling their people it looks like were going to have to accept statehood and our government is never going to be the same. That is essentially the message tribal chiefs at the turn of the 20th century are telling their people. What a dark time in Cherokee Nation. Think about a people that went through so much. The folks that are dealing with this in the late 19th century have grandmas and grandpas and great grandmas and grandpas that could tell how they rebuilt and stand their ground and live forever and theyre looking at federal statutes that are going to result in the almost extinction of the Cherokee Nation. Almost. Well get to that. So a land gets allotted. A small thing happens next in 1907, the state of oklahoma is created. Imposed over so many tribal lands. The allotment issues are interesting because the land that was a lllotted was still hd in the restricted status. Into the 20th century that is a problem for the new state of oklahoma and companies that want the land and land owners that want the land. The oil industry and others. Because if it is held in restricted status, you cant lease that unless the government of the its says so. But if you could get its restriction out of there, well its fair game. It loses its special status. So here is the next thing that happens that i think is a great significance. In 1947 a law called the stigler act was pass ed and if you fall below a half blood quantum, it loses its restricted status forever. So that law and other pressures meant from 1907 until now weve lost more than 90 of our restricted land. So the destruction of the Cherokee Nation land base continues into the 20th century. And to add insult to injury, i told you the government of the United States had suppressed and dismantled so much of the cherokee government but they had to had a chief to deal with. So through much of the 20th century chiefs of the Cherokee Nation were not elected by the people, they were appointed by the president of the United States. My grandfather, born in 1906, died in 1996, full blood cherokee, as proud of a cherokee as ever known, most of his life he never got to think about voting for a chief and imagining that his grandson might be chief some day. So during that time period, the great cherokee democracy is effectively dormant. Why does the president of the United States appoint a cherokee chief . Usually to sign a document. And jack, i think if we look at these documents he might not have gotten the best end of the bargain on that with these appointed chiefs. But i think it is significant that the government of the United States continues to recognize the Cherokee Nation in some form or fashion even the socalled chiefs for a day. That i think is important even today. Because, look, that is what john ross was trying to preserve in facing the civil wars. We have a government to government relationship with the United States. That is what John Marshall was talking about in his decision. The relationship between the government of the United States and the Indian Nations and Cherokee Nation. And so that, i think, is still important. As offensive as it is to think about our chief appointed, this continual relationship with the government of the United States is absolutely critical, critical to the Cherokee Nation and thats why throughout history its ebb and flowed and without it i wouldnt be here as chief today. What are we doing today . That is a picture of the 200 Million Health center, the Largest Health center in the United States for native americans. But that was just opened last year. So how did we really get here . From appointed chiefs during the 20th century to now looking at an elected chief. And i have a the pleasure of working with the council that is an elected council and we have a functioning judiciary and Supreme Court and district courts. How did we get there . In the 1960s there is more of a push for rights for a lost folks in this country that ought to have had righted and had their rights suppressed but indigenous rights and in 1971 i think the principal chiefs act is passed. It recognizes the rights of the five tribes. They were mentioned earlier, including the Cherokee Nation to elect their own chiefs. Elect their own chiefs for the first time in decades and decades. The cherokee people could once again elect their own chief. I was looking at some Cherokee Historical Society Archives the other day and in the Cherokee National Historical Society there is a council book the very day that the appointed council of the Cherokee Nation, we started to appoint our own council, left their seats, this is in the minutes, and who took their seats, the elected members of the council. An elected chief. The great cherokee democracy is back in the 1970s. And ill tell you what happens since then is weve been on a trajectory of progress and prosperity. And the lesson also for me is this and the lesson for the country is this, that what the government of the United States takes its thumb off the Cherokee Nation and exercise our sovereignty, when it lets us exercise our god given right to selfidentify and govern ourselves we do incredible things. And it is not just the cherokee people, all of our friends and neighbors benefit. So there is the health care facility, the crown jewel of the largest Tribal Health system in the country. But it also generates thousands of jobs in northeast oklahoma. And if you take that out further, you could look at Government Programs and businesses anz see we employ 11,000 people and one of the largest employers in oklahoma. We support about 20,000 other jobs. They are in casino gaming. It was mentioned in 1988 the National Indian gaming regulatory was passed. Congress said we have to do something about this. So they did. And they basically said some gaming okay. You get to be doing Las Vegasstyle gaming and you better have an agreement with the state in which you are operating. That is the federal statutory scheme right now. But it has been very good to the Cherokee Nation and all of our friends and neighbors. Because this building, so many of the programs that weve talked about, the ability of a chief of the Cherokee Nation in 2019 with the council as i did last year to boost our minimum wage up to 11 an hour, i dont know what it is here, back in oklahoma it is 7. 50 an hour and then unless you work for the Cherokee Nation and it is 11 an hour and benefits. To save the cherokee language and keep it from going extinct because weve been able to engage in casino gaming. How we could invest in elders homes. We passed a law to fix up elders home and were putting 30 million into that. Again it is the revenues that we generate. And isnt to begrudge any tribes that give out checks to their citizens. Cherokee nation we have 380,000 citis if we cut a check it is about 75 cents a piece and that is a coupon or something at our casino. But we dont do per capita payments. What we do is we invest in our people and the communities in which they live. And i mentioned several of those investments. Right now 5,000 cherokees are going to college on a scholarship funded again by the business activities. Were putting people through career training. Were going into the there was a map earlier that shows all of the towns that cherokee created and some of them are still small and some are struggling. Some of the towns on the map are towns that the rest of the world forgot about. And you have them too. You have them all over the country. They are little towns and they havent grown. And we founded them so were going into the towns and helping with infrastructure, helping with attracting companies to come in and do business there. Were doing this not just to send money to our people, or to have programs that help our people directly, even though that is important. Were doing it because we have the same philosophy today that we had after removal. Which is that oklahoma, what is now oklahoma, is our home forever. It is our home forever. And were going to make the most of it. And were going to invest in our communities. And were doing that in such a remarkable way. That is why i think that the cherokee story is such a story of grit and determination. And it is something that i think kids in this country ought to know not just because they ought to know the history of Indian Tribes in this country, they ought to know stories of people who overcame things, that they understand the dark parts of American History and then they ought to celebrate the great things and if you come to tallica and you see people learning language again and see people elders getting homes repaired and young people who are going to be doctors in that building tomorrow because we have the first med school in the history of Indian Country right next to that building, you say that is something to celebrate. The Cherokee Nation is something to celebrate. And i think we ought to celebrate it all over this country and you all are helping celebrate it here. Now, lets go back to the treaty of new chota imposed on the cherokee people and removed us. Not with standing what John Marshall said. Well that treaty is a dark spot in American History. It is a source of pain for the cherokee people. When i think about it, when i hear jack baker talk about what happened to cherokees in the death and the suffering. So that is, i think, both a symbol of injustice and it was injustice but it is the law of the land. And if you go to the next treaty, the treaty of 1866, the last treaty we have, it incorporated all of that treaty except to the extent that was inconsistent with the treaty of 1866. It is still the law of the land. By the way, i need to get to my final point but the treaty of 1866 said that those slaves and their descendants were free and they should have the same rights of native cherokees. Now it took about 150 years for the freedom and descendants to achieve their equality and citizenship in the Cherokee Nation but im proud that in 2017 the cherokee freedman desendents are equal with all cherokees and, folks, we are a stronger Indian Nation because of it and im proud to be chief while its happening. [ applause ] but back to the treaty of new ochota. A source of pain for the cherokee people. Down deep in the treaty is something that were seizing upon today. And ill read you the relevant language. It was mentioned just a moment ago. It says it is stipulated that the cherokee shall be entitled to a delegate in the house of representatives of the United States whenever Congress Shall made provision for the same. Now, i didnt know anything about that until i was a delegate to our Constitutional Convention in 1999. And it was brought up during then and we enshrined it in our constitution. But it has been over 180 years since that language was put in a treaty and the Cherokee Nation is not acted upon it and the government of the United States has never come knocking on our door saying hey send your delegate up here. So in 2019 i appointed someone to be the first delegate to the house of representatives. And our Council Unanimously approved it. Now here is what else i did. Back home, if you want to get something done, if you need real wisdom, if you need real hard work, then you ask a cherokee woman to do it if shell do it and then you get out of her way unless she asked you for help. So i appointed not only the first cherokee, but a cherokee woman to be the delegate. And theyre not going to know what hit them when she gets there. [ applause ] but her name is kim tee hee and shes suited for this position. She worked for the president of the United States and worked in the congress. But this is what i think about that. I think weve got to fulfill that. Weve got to get the congress to seek kim tee hee and if we dont do that well not have been successful but i feel a little successful so far. And here is why. Think back to john ross going to washington, d. C. After this treaty is imposed on the cherokee people and i picture him setting across from the federal officials pleading his case, this treaty is unjust, you cant do this to the great Cherokee Nation. And i imagine them looking across, notwithstanding john marshals decision, and looking across at him and saying, chief ross, the treaty of new ochota is the treaty of the land and you will abide by it. I went to washington, d. C. Last fall and said the treaty is the law of the land and you will abide by it. Now i said it nicer than that. [ applause ] so there is some measure of justice in asserting these treaty rights. And asserting this particular treaty right out of a treaty that was unjustice is a measure of justice for us. Now i cant impress upon you enough that me being up here, me being able to speak for the Cherokee Nation, me being able to represent a nation that has a government to government relationship with the United States is owed in such large measure to the choice that John Marshall made. He could have gone down a different path. He could have gone down the path of the dissenters and those that said that manifest destiny and european discovery, that ought to override everything and the indian people werent worthy of recognition. But he didnt do that. And there is a lot of reasons he didnt do it but im glad he didnt. Because im glad im here and im glad i was invited. It has been such a pleasure, thank you all very much. [ applause ] any questions . Thank you. This is an earthshattering issue. But what is the current thinking among the cherokees and other tribes concerning the use of Indian Heritage and history in our sports teams . I think it is inappropriate and shouldnt happen. And i think depictions of native americans as mascots are abhorrent. They shouldnt happen. I think we ought to be on a path to this country where we arent doing it. The country wont be falling apart if the Washington Redskins are not called the Washington Redskins. But we will be a better country for it. [ applause ] thank you so much, i appreciate all that youre doing in leading your Cherokee Nation. I wanted to know if you have any thoughts on reparations for africanamericans whose ancestors were enslaved here in america . Yeah, i think it is a great question. It is the question of the day. And i dont have any an answer to the question as chief of the Cherokee Nation. I will tell you this. As chief i do feel a particular obligation that the descendants of slaves who are equal cherokee citizens today not only are equal on paper but that we embrace their story and that we embrace them to make sure opportunities to share in all that prosperity that we have today. And that includes opportunities for education and health care and housing, jobs, all of though sort of thing. So that is where we are at Cherokee Nation, is equality of opportunity and also legal equality which weve achieved. We want to have legal equality. So it is a good question. I dont know the answer to the question in terms of how Cherokee Nation should focus on it but i think the right way is to make sure that today, keep in mind we are only 40 some odd years in the prosperity we are in today but we ought to make sure were sharing it all equally with citizens. Hi. I just wanted to know how you see Law Enforcement changing with the epidemic of missing and Indigenous Women and how complicated about what womens can do on and off reservations and do you see that changing for the better. It may change in a major way in oklahoma. There is a case that some know about and maybe you have heard of called the murfy case and it deals with a citizen that committed a crime and was tried in state court and put in the state prison. And his lawyer said, wait a minute, the reservation never went anywhere in 1907 when the state of oklahoma was created. And if hes right, then that probably means the Cherokee Nation reservation never went anywhere. There is another case working its way up too. That will be decided soon. So the lay of the land is possibly going to shift in a huge way. In other words, that Cherokee Nation, if i could get back to the map here, but so that is just part of the Cherokee Nation. But it goes up further. But if you look at it today, you see tulsa over in the left and then creek territory there. If you look at that today and looked at what is actually trust land or restricted land, where these current the current law would say who has jurisdiction, it is a patch work. I told you 90 of the land has been gone since then. If the murphy case and the mcgurt case said that the reservations never went away suddenly that whole thing is back conceivably as a reservation. But in so far as today is concerned and this modern era, we handle it back home is through cross deputyization and great relationship with Law Enforcement. That is not the case. Some areas of the country where tribes and the local Law Enforcement is not a good relationship, sometimes it is outright hostile. But the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous Women is still an issue back in oklahoma. Were in the top ten states with cold cases of women missing and other people so we pushed legislation in the state legislature to have some better coordination with the state, bureau of investigation. Because oftentimes what happens is there are questions over jurisdiction. A lot of folks who are victims of the crimes are living in the shadows and when they go missing, there is not necessarily there is some barriers perhaps to quick action. Or they may live in a remote area where local Law Enforcement said, look, this is trust land over here. It is the matter for the Cherokee Nation Law Enforcement or the fbi. So were making some efforts. It is a complicated issue. Would you say compared to other parts of the country, in oklahoma, we have a pretty good working relationship in a way to handle that. And then when the Supreme Court cases come, all that may be completely changed. Okay. Thank you all. [ applause ] well, i just want to end by thanking all of our speakers. Ive lost the microphone. There is comes back. I want to thank all of our speakers today. This is been a tremendously inspiring day, i think. I also want to thank our sponsors once again and all of you for taking your time out on a saturday to come and be part of this experience. I think we all have a lot more to learn, a lot and many more perspectives to look at. And im reminded that John Marshall and his richmond home was famous for hosting lawyer dinners at his house. He would gather not people that always agreed with him, or that he necessarily knew the subject matter they might bring up but he would surround himself with people that made him think and i think that is exactly what weve done today. And John Marshall would be proud. Thank you. [ applause ] [ proceedings concluded ] youre watching a special edition of American History tv. During the week while members of congress are in their districts due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tonight programs on the 25th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. Beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern with an hour long program looking back at the morning of the attack. The investigation and the arrest of the perpetrators and how the attack has been remembered. American history tv, now and over the weekend on cspan 3. Every saturday night American History tv takes you to College Classrooms around the country for lectures in