DERRICK JAMES | Staff photo
Choctaw Nationâs Division of Legal and Compliance Senior Executive Officer Brad Mallet said the tribe reserves the right to determine its membership and would not recognize any attempts to define it.
DERRICK JAMES | Staff photo
Choctaw Nationâs Division of Legal and Compliance Senior Executive Officer Brad Mallet said the tribe reserves the right to determine its membership and would not recognize any attempts to define it.
DERRICK JAMES | Staff photo
Choctaw Nation Prosecutor Kara Bacon.Â
At least two state prosecutors argued for Oklahoma courts to set a minimum blood quantum in cases with McGirt challenges â including a case in Pittsburg County â despite established court rulings and opposition from the state s tribes.
Cherokee attorney offers take on âby bloodâ removal
STILWELL â An attorney familiar with the Cherokee Nationâs long and at times bitter relationship with freed slaves and their descendants says the CN Supreme Courtâs removal of a âby bloodâ requirement is a milestone for civil rights within the tribe.
âThis is not only a great day for civil rights activists in Cherokee Nation, itâs a great day for our judicial process,â CN citizen and Stilwell-based attorney Ralph Keen II said. âNow the judicial process recognizes that even though yes, we live within the framework of our own Cherokee law, we still have a higher responsibility and weâre still subjugated to federal law and we canât violate that.â
Race, sovereignty clash as Congress meddles in tribal enrollment
Members of Congress are threatening to hold up housing funds for tribes. To the chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, itâs infringing on tribal sovereignty. For those seeking citizenship, itâs a chance to change a âsystem of hidden anti-Black racism.â
Author:
Mar 7, 2021
Sam and Sallie Walton were the great-grandparents of Angela Walton-Raji. Walton-Raji says she has memories of her great-grandmother, who was born into slavery but whose father was a Choctaw citizen. (Photo courtesy of Angela Walton-Raji, Underscore)
Members of Congress are threatening to hold up housing funds for tribes. To the chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, itâs infringing on tribal sovereignty. For those seeking citizenship, itâs a chance to change a âsystem of hidden anti-Black racism.â
The change came on Monday after years of racial friction and legal battles
Under a 1866 treaty after the Civil War, descendants of black slaves of the Cherokee tribe - known as Freedman - should have been given equal rights
But a blood clause in tribe s Constitution has contradicted this treaty
The clause based citizenship of the Cherokee Nation on being descended by blood from tribal members listed on a 19th-century census
On Monday, this language was ordered to be removed by tribe s Supreme Court
This should clear the way for Freedmen to have equal rights in the nation
Such rights include the right to run for tribal office and receive full benefits