Cherokee Nation

This is Cherokee Country, a land of rolling green hills in eastern Oklahoma near the Arkansas border, where the street signs and that of the local bank are written in English and Cherokee, the university's football team is called the Redmen, and the Restaurant of the Cherokees offers homemade chili, barbecued beef and Indian fry bread.

A longtime Cherokee tribal councilman has won the race for chief of the Oklahoma-based tribe, according to unofficial results released Tuesday - an encouraging development for so-called Cherokee Freedmen battling for tribal citizenship. The Freedmen, about 2,800 descendants of slaves who also claim Cherokee roots, have been embroiled in a legal battle with the tribe for decades concerning their tribal citizenship, which carries the right to vote and receive services, such as medical care at tribal clinics.

Most Americans have at least some vague image of the Trail of Tears, but not very many know of the events that led to that tragic expulsion of several thousand Indians from their homeland. In "The Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation," John Ehle presents the full history of a native American democratic state, the Cherokee Nation.

More than 170 years ago the proud Cherokee people in the South were brutally driven into exile in Oklahoma along what became known as the Trail of Tears. Now, an unlikely group of descendants is battling the tribe for its rights. They are the so-called black Cherokees, some of whose ancestors were held as slaves by members of the tribe. Their quest came to a head in recent days as Cherokees went to the polls in northeastern Oklahoma's Indian country to select a new chief. Of the more than 300,000 Cherokees in America, about 2,800 are black, and many say their fate could ride on the outcome.

Joining the Cherokee Nation has been worth millions of dollars in construction work to Jon McGrath. The blue-eyed, fair-skinned contractor from Tulsa, Okla., who is 1/64 American Indian, has obtained $19 million in minority subcontracts on the rapid transit system in Los Angeles--more than any other "disadvantaged" firm. McGrath's Cherokee ancestry is the equivalent of having a great-great-great-great-grandparent who was a full-blooded Indian.

Re "Who's a Cherokee?" Opinion, July 10 Heather Williams writes that the Cherokee tribal constitution has been amended to require proof of a by-blood connection to be granted citizenship in the Cherokee Nation. Rep. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) believes that this is discrimination and that federal funds to the tribe should be cut off by reason of racism.

The Cherokee Nation will hold a runoff election next month after no candidate for chief won a majority. Incumbent chief Joe Byrd led nine candidates in balloting Saturday with 32%, or 4,140 votes. Challenger Chad Smith received 19%, or 2,535 votes, and Pat Ragsdale placed third with 16%, or 2,162 votes. Byrd and Smith will face each other in a June 24 runoff, when a deputy chief will also be selected.

Cherokees should not forget the Trail of Tears and should be watchful of U.S. government policies that erode their nation's sovereignty, the Cherokees' tribal chief said. In his State of the Nation address in Tahlequah on Saturday, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith said members needed to become involved in the political process. "History does have a way of repeating itself, and we are once again at a point in history where impending doom lurks on the horizon," he said.

The Cherokee nation has its first elected woman leader, and Chief Wilma Mankiller said Sunday that it should come as no surprise. "True tribal tradition recognizes the importance of women," she said after her election Saturday to head the 75,000-member Western Cherokee Nation, which she has led as appointed chief since 1985.

Cherokee Nation members voted Saturday to revoke the tribal citizenship of an estimated 2,800 descendants of the people the Cherokees once owned as slaves. With a majority of districts reporting, 76% had voted in favor of an amendment to the tribal constitution that would limit citizenship to descendants of "by blood" tribal members as listed on the federal Dawes Commission rolls from more than 100 years ago.

The genocidal removal of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands is one of the most shameful episodes in American history. Over and over, A.J. Langguth reports in his unfocused but nonetheless scarifying account, U.S. presidents proclaimed that it would be terribly wrong to force entire tribes to move simply because white settlers wanted their territory ? but added that it would be nice if the Indians would voluntarily relocate west of the Mississippi. Once Andrew Jackson became president in 1829, pretense about resettlement being voluntary quickly faded.

Re "Who's a Cherokee?" Opinion, July 10 Heather Williams writes that the Cherokee tribal constitution has been amended to require proof of a by-blood connection to be granted citizenship in the Cherokee Nation. Rep. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) believes that this is discrimination and that federal funds to the tribe should be cut off by reason of racism.

I'M PROUD TO BE a Cherokee citizen who is also descended from black slaves, and the Cherokee Nation I know is one of the most diverse, welcoming societies on Earth. Yet today, my tribe stands accused of racism and is the target of legislation introduced by Rep. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) aimed at cutting off our federal funding because we amended our tribal constitution to affirm that, in order to be a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, you must prove by-blood descent from Cherokee Indians.

Cherokee Nation members voted Saturday to revoke the tribal citizenship of an estimated 2,800 descendants of the people the Cherokees once owned as slaves. With a majority of districts reporting, 76% had voted in favor of an amendment to the tribal constitution that would limit citizenship to descendants of "by blood" tribal members as listed on the federal Dawes Commission rolls from more than 100 years ago.

Cherokees should not forget the Trail of Tears and should be watchful of U.S. government policies that erode their nation's sovereignty, the Cherokees' tribal chief said. In his State of the Nation address in Tahlequah on Saturday, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith said members needed to become involved in the political process. "History does have a way of repeating itself, and we are once again at a point in history where impending doom lurks on the horizon," he said.

The kindergarten teacher speaks to her class in Cherokee, telling the children to pull out their mats for nap time. Using their Cherokee names, she instructs "Yo-na," or Bear, to place his mat away from "A-wi," or Deer. Soft Cherokee music lulls them to sleep. These youngsters' parents were mocked for speaking Cherokee. Their grandparents were punished. But Cherokee is the only language these children will speak in their classroom.

Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller has signed an unprecedented agreement in which the Bureau of Indian Affairs will give the tribe direct control over millions of dollars in federal funding. "Through self-governance, we can better determine the services needed by tribal members and fulfill those needs without the bureaucratic delays of the past," Mankiller said in a statement from Boston, where she is recuperating from a kidney transplant.

The deadline to register for the 20th annual "Creative Options: A Day for Women" at Cal Lutheran University has been extended until the day of the event, organizers announced. Wilma Mankiller, former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, will be keynote speaker for the March 6 event, which will also feature more than 70 workshops. Mankiller was elected as the first woman principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma in a historic tribal election in July 1987.

From their Westminster home, two sisters are waging a campaign to save the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Along the way, they are forming a new community. They mail postcards, make phone calls and host fund-raisers in their backyard--anything to persuade California Cherokees to vote for the leader they think can rescue the country's second-largest tribe from its beleaguered state.

The Cherokee Nation will hold a runoff election next month after no candidate for chief won a majority. Incumbent chief Joe Byrd led nine candidates in balloting Saturday with 32%, or 4,140 votes. Challenger Chad Smith received 19%, or 2,535 votes, and Pat Ragsdale placed third with 16%, or 2,162 votes. Byrd and Smith will face each other in a June 24 runoff, when a deputy chief will also be selected.