Cherokee Principal Chief Chad Smith Responds

SUBMITTED BY CHEROKEE NATION, PRINCIPAL CHIEF CHAD 'CORNTASSEL' SMITH

Cherokee people in Sequoyah County need to understand the truth about what is going on in tribal court and with our tribal citizenship.

First of all, the Cherokee people have the right to decide who is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. With the support of 83 percent of the Cherokees in Sequoyah County, the Cherokee people decided they wanted to be just like more than 500 other Indian tribes in the country: you have to be Indian to be a citizen of our Indian Nation.

Some of the non-Indians who lost citizenship are appealing their case in tribal court. But, contrary to what you might have read, the court has not ruled in their favor. The Cherokee Nation attorney general agreed to let non-Indians remain citizens while the appeal process progresses, but the court has not even begun to consider the arguments, much less rule on what the 1866 Treaty says.

A simple, straightforward reading of the 1866 Treaty with the United States shows that it did not provide citizenship for the Freedmen. Cherokee District Court Judge Cripps did not rule that barring the Freedmen could not be done under existing law. He ruled that Freedmen could be citizens while their case was pending in tribal court. Additionally, the highest Cherokee court and the federal courts have ruled the Cherokee people have the right to define membership even if it means barring people without Indian blood.

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