LeFlore County, Oklahoma
March 6, 2007
To:
In
solidarity and support of the Cherokee Freedmen, we the undersigned wish to
bring a serious issue to your attention.
You
will soon be receiving a request from the various nations known as the Five
Civilized Tribes or the Five Nations of Oklahoma, to restore funding for the
Johnson O’Malley Health program. The nations specifically are, the Cherokee
Nation, Choctaw Nation, Chickasaw Nation, Creek Nation, and Seminole Nation.
These
nations in recent days have received much attention because of their
disenfranchisement of their tribal members who also have African ancestry.
On Saturday March 3, 2007, a mere 3% of the population of the Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma voted to expel the tribal members known as Cherokee Freedmen.
These are the descendants of the African slaves and free blacks who lived in
their nation, and in an effort to rid their nation of persons of any black
ancestry a special expulsion election took place.
Now many Cherokee Freedmen who were dependent on Indian Health Services
to treat serious conditions such as glaucoma, diabetes, hypertension and more,
are now without health care. In addition, the citizenship of the Freedmen of all
five tribes has been one of a breach of treaty and negligence.
We
urge you to vote to DENY full funding to the Johnson O’Malley Education
Program until ALL of the citizens of the tribes are treated as full citizens - including
the Freedmen. You may also be aware that Seminole Freedmen had their
citizenship restored, but receive no benefits to this day. In the Choctaw and
Chickasaw Nations, Freedmen descendants have no access to tribal citizenship, by
being mere descendants of their former slaves. The Creek Nation also denies
citizenship to Freedmen descendants.
We
urge you to join others in Congress in a close scrutiny of these federally
recognized tribes that enjoy Federal funding, yet who are given full privileges
to ignore African Native American individuals (Black Indians)
with historical ties, and with TREATY RIGHTS. This travesty has taken
place from the Wilma Mankiller administration (it was her regime that first
ousted Black Cherokees) to the present time. Black Oklahomans are now required
to pay federal tax dollars so that the tribes can use federal tax monies to
discriminate against them. No other citizens in this country are required to subsidize their
own mistreatment.
Serious
falsehoods are being spread by the tribes about the Freedmen, who they were, and
their being a part of the tribe. The vote of March 3, 2007 was a first---a
minority faction of the population was actually voted out of
existence----expelled from a nation to which they belong. The reason----they are
also black as well as Indian. Ironically,
the principal chief of the tribe, who speaks no Cherokee, reads and writes no
Cherokee, and has a tribal council where members are basically white----1/256
Cherokee or even less.
Historically,
the Congressional Black Caucus has been a major supporter of the IHS, but we
urge you to take note that many persons of African American ancestry, who also
have Native American ancestry now have been purged for no other reason than
race. This travesty we bring to
your attention and we ask that you withhold support of the restoration of funds
to IHS, until this issue of the Freedmen of the Five Tribes of Oklahoma can be
addressed. The tribes specifically are: Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and
Seminole Nations.
Therefore,
we urge you to deny full funding to the Johnson O’Malley Indian Education
Program. If all of the people cannot enjoy these privileges, we urge prompt
investigation into the status of the Freedmen of the Five Tribes of
Oklahoma.
The
federal government has a trust responsibility through treaty obligations and
federal statutes to provide heath care to American Indians whether they are
living on a reservation or elsewhere and whether they are mixed with white, or
African ancestry as well.
This was established in legislation that was passed in 1976 that created the IHP.
Please help all of the persons eligible for health care, and tribal citizenship, be treated equally and be able to share in these vital services for our Indian communities and others in need of health care!
Sincerely,
Levester
McKesson, President
James
D. Frazier, Vice President
Evora
McKesson, Secretary
Alice
Swait, Treasurer
Verdie Triplett, Founder
........and
341 Additional signatures from the community.