Waiting for the Riots

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - The nation's second-largest Indian tribe formally booted from membership thousands of descendants of black slaves who were brought to Oklahoma more than 170 years ago by Native American owners.

The Cherokee nation voted after the Civil War to admit the slave descendants to the tribe.

But on Monday, the Cherokee nation Supreme Court ruled that a 2007 tribal decision to kick the so-called "Freedmen" out of the tribe was proper.

Then comes the inevitable cries of racism:

"This is racism and apartheid in the 21st Century," said Vann, an engineer who lives in Oklahoma City.

It's hard to claim racism as the Cherokee nation is just that: the Cherokee nation. Membership in the tribe is based wholly and exclusively on race. No honky, kike, wop, raghead, chink, kraut or spic can gain membership because they lack the genetic heritege.

Yet, nobody calls that racism even though by definition that is exactly what it is. Yet, people are OK with that because they will tell you it is to preserve Cherokee culture just before they suspend your child from school because he wore an American flag t-shirt to his US taxpayer funded school on Cinco de Mayo. I'm OK with Cherokee racism becasue it is a distinct culture based on race but then again I also extend the same privilige to Jews in Israel, the Chinese in China etc because I'm not a hypocrite when wanting to rpeserve the distinct American culture.

But, as to the main story, perhaps there's another angle beyond race?

Actually, there is and it is the last paragraph of the story:

Removal from the membership rolls means the Freedmen will no longer be eligible for free health care and other benefits such as education concessions.

I'm told if you cut government services becasue of budget constraints there wil be riots.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/second-largest-u-indian-tribe-expels-slave-descendants-011650136.html

[Erasmus]

I guess tax breaks for their land and casinos wasn't enough.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

I guess tax breaks for their land and casinos wasn't enough.

Well, technically since we are trying to treat them as sovereign nations we don't have the authority to tax them.

That also leads me to question this passage from the article:

A lawsuit challenging the Freedman's removal from the tribe has been pending in federal court in Washington, for about six years.

As a sovereign nation, Cherokee Nation officials maintain that the tribe has the right to amend its constitutional membership requirements.

I agree with the natives. I'm curious as to how a US federal court would even hear the case. It might as well pretend it could settle civil cases from Mexico.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

DU found the article:

izquierdista (1000+ posts)        Wed Aug-24-11 01:10 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. As long as the lower classes are bickering
 You should have a smile -- if you are one of the haves and the have-mores, that is. 

Judi Lynn  (1000+ posts)      Wed Aug-24-11 09:51 PM
Response to Reply #2
18. Some are having a good laugh at the thought of seeing descendants of peoples wildly abused
 and tormented, persecuted beyond forgiveness, pitted against each other. What a high spot in their day getting information like this will be for them.

Good time for them to take an opportunity to get a few kicks in whenever possible, to show their grasp of the situation.

Actually, I took no small measure of schadenfreude from the fact that it just proves unlimited public benefits are unsustainable and it is amongst groups normally sacrosanct in liberal mythology.

naaman fletcher (1000+ posts)        Wed Aug-24-11 01:20 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. What legitimate claim to the cherokee cherokees have? 
 They admitted these guys at members, and now over 100 years later are kicking them out? The only reason is greed... so they don't have to split the spoils of casinos and such with as many people.

So treat them like "the rich" and take away their land.

placton (1000+ posts)        Wed Aug-24-11 01:25 PM
Response to Original message
5. disenrollment seems to be all the rage in Indian Country 
 same thing happening here in Michigan, so fewer people get a bigger part of the pie

CountAllVotes  (1000+ posts)      Wed Aug-24-11 03:40 PM
Response to Reply #7
13. actually ...
 Edited on Wed Aug-24-11 03:44 PM by CountAllVotes
The Cherokee used to take in members that were adopted by members of the tribe regardless of blood quantum. I don't know when they stopped doing this but it was sometime after 1992 or so.

It seems they started to purge their rolls once they had casinos. Before this time, the Cherokee wanted as many member on the rolls as possible because they receive Federal funds and in prior years, the more members the more money they brought in as they believe(d) there is power in numbers.

Sadly this is no longer the case. They too have become corrupted by the casino madness and I would want to be betting of the casino keeping the lot of them going and received per capita payments, especially the way the economy is right now.

As for purging the "Freedmen" as they are called, this is a disgrace as many of these Freedmen are indeed part Cherokee by blood. The Cherokee have a highly racist constitution of their own and in that constitution negroes are not considered worthy of tribal recognition nor status of any sort. In fact, in was very common for the wealthier Cherokee to hold slaves prior to the removals in the 1830s.

Conservatives are supposed to be the greedy ones, yet every liberal complaint descends to money...and usually unearned money taken from somebody else's pocket.

AlbertCat  (1000+ posts)     Wed Aug-24-11 02:00 PM
Response to Original message
8. Tribes
 What a bad ideas tribes are these days....

Any kind....

rayofreason (1000+ posts)      Wed Aug-24-11 02:46 PM
Response to Original message
10. When you label people by race...
 ...and apportion benefits accordingly, you can expect this kind of thing to happen. Human nature is to game the system.

Taverner  (1000+ posts)        Wed Aug-24-11 10:19 PM
Response to Reply #11
19. Every woman I slept with in the State of Texas...

Taverner's fist is half-Cherokee

Who knew?

Dreamer Tatum  (1000+ posts)        Wed Aug-24-11 10:24 PM
Response to Original message
20. Racists nt

No sarcasm tag. Status: indeterminate.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4971619

[vesta111]

Then comes the inevitable cries of racism:

It's hard to claim racism as the Cherokee nation is just that: the Cherokee nation. Membership in the tribe is based wholly and exclusively on race. No honky, kike, wop, raghead, chink, kraut or spic can gain membership because they lack the genetic heritege.

Yet, nobody calls that racism even though by definition that is exactly what it is. Yet, people are OK with that because they will tell you it is to preserve Cherokee culture just before they suspend your child from school because he wore an American flag t-shirt to his US taxpayer funded school on Cinco de Mayo. I'm OK with Cherokee racism becasue it is a distinct culture based on race but then again I also extend the same privilige to Jews in Israel, the Chinese in China etc because I'm not a hypocrite when wanting to rpeserve the distinct American culture.

But, as to the main story, perhaps there's another angle beyond race?

Actually, there is and it is the last paragraph of the story:

I'm told if you cut government services becasue of budget constraints there wil be riots.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/second-largest-u-indian-tribe-expels-slave-descendants-011650136.html

I was waiting for someone to bring this up as an idea would be for the government of the Cherokee nation to do DNA on all members to insure race purity. 

Guess what one will find, the Cherokee may have gone the way of the true Hawaiians and find there are very few left of pure heritage.

I have been to Pow Wows and seen people that claimed to be of American  Indian decent that were blue eyed and blond haired.  Old dudes that tended tent sales that had to be 3/4 French------ descended from some french trapper trader and ---sorry for the slurs but they themselves use the word --a Squaw's  for a wife.

Lots of history here, in Canada the ST. Laurent area is full of the French Indian intermarriage, they have evolved their own language and traditions.

So now the Cherokee want to throw out the not just the negro decent but if one checks will find all other members of captive American Indian tribes they took as slaves over 100 years ago.

Oh Crap, Human nature is the same anywhere on earth.