I had this sent to me , it appears to be from CNO website....
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A Member of the Cherokee Nation's Task Force
Dealing with Bogus Indian Group calls the Bill "A Mess."
ByTravis Snell
Assistant Editor
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Senate is considering legislation that
could grant state recognition to groups claiming Native American heritage, a
move that concerns Cherokee Nation officials.
Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, is a sponsor of Senate Bill 3123, an
amendment to Title 4, Chapter 34 of the Tennessee Code, which would
recognize state groups claiming Indian ancestry as Native American tribes,
bands, groups and associations.
Many Tennessee groups seeking recognition claim Cherokee ties, something
that disturbs CN officials.
Dr. Richard Alien, a CN policy analyst and member of a task force
confronting bogus Indian groups, said many groups seeking recognition scam
people using the Cherokee name by charging for genealogy, DNA tests and
membership.
He said state recognition helps these groups legitimize themselves as
Indians to the public and public institutions. Some scams have included
charging public schools a fee to enroll their "Indian" children and allowing
schools to receive federal monies for each "Indian" student.
Alien said the task force also tries to keep bogus groups from distorting
true Cherokee history and culture, but its main goal is protecting CN
sovereignty and rights.
If passed into law, the bill would extend "state recognition with full legal
rights and protections to certain Indian-descended entities."
Alien said he expects the CN to oppose legislation from any state suggesting
new Cherokee nations, tribes, bands or clans that have hidden or survived in
the southeastern states since Cherokees were forcibly removed 170 years ago.
"The legislation is poorly drafted and is not specific in areas that should
have more stringent criteria," he said.
One such criteria, he said, deals with groups functioning as Indians in
specific ways over time. Alien said the bill doesn't address what those
specific ways are and what amount of time it has to act that way to gain
state recognition.
According to the bill, to be recognized as a Tennessee Indian tribe, band or
group, the group seeking recognition must be a people related by blood
through common Native American ancestry and who can trace their heritage to
a Native American Indian tribe, band or group indigenous to Tennessee.
Groups asking for recognition would need to submit a petition with a
membership roll, proof of lineage from a historical Tennessee tribe or other
documents that show heritage.
The petition would then go to the Confederation of Tennessee Native Tribes,
which would review and present for the groups.
That confederation is comprised of groups from across the state claiming
Indian ancestry that have joined together to represent "Native Americans" in
Tennessee.
It includes the Remnant Yuchi Nation, the Upper Cumberland Cherokee, the
Chikamaka-Cherokee Band of the South Cumberland Plateau, the Central Band of
Cherokee, the Cherokee Wolf Clan, the Tanasi Council of the Faraway
Cherokee, the Native Cultural Council and the American Indian Association of
Millington.
"The first criteria a petitioner must meet for federal recognition is that
they have been recognized as a tribe since at least 1900," he said. "None of
the groups in Tennessee seeking to be recognized by that state have existed
as tribes since 1900."
The bill can not grant any state group federal recognition, which is needed
for a tribe to be entitled to sovereignty, gaming rights, a trust land base
and other rights guaranteed to federally recognized tribes.
According to the bill, the state has a legal right to recognize state groups
as tribes.
"Congress has acknowledged that state governments have the authority to
recognize Indian tribes," the state's attorney general wrote in February
2007. "States have the authority to recognize Indian tribes as long as there
is no conflict with federal laws. There.is no conflict between Tennessee's
recognition law and federal laws."
Reasoning behind the bill includes economic benefit to communities where the
groups reside because of the ability of Indians to impact tourism, jobs,
economic development incentives, health care opportunities, education
opportunities and to remove barriers for "Indian" artists to expand their
trade in compliance with federal law.
The federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 prohibits misrepresentation
in marketing of Indian arts and crafts products within the U.S., making it
illegal to sell any art or craft product in a manner that falsely suggests
it is Indian produced. Under the IACA, an Indian is defined as a member of
any federally or state recognized Indian tribe or an individual certified as
an Indian artisan by an Indian tribe.
Allen said the legislation "is a mess" and suspects that others in the
Tennessee legislature would find it poorly written. He added that in the
past four years, Tennessee has introduced nine bills dealing with Indians
issues without having one federally recognized tribe in its boundary.
"Too bad they did not feel the need to recognize our rights and protections
170 years ago," he said.
Burchett and Doug Jackson, D-Dickson, are the bill's sponsors in the Senate.
The House is also considering the amendment sponsored by Nathan Vaughn,
D-Cleveland; George Fraley, D-Winchester; and Dale Ford, R-Jonesborough.
To read the bill online, visit
www.legislature.state.tn.us and search for
SB3123.
To contact the sponsoring legislators, call Burchett at (615) 741-1766,
Jackson at (615) 741-4499,
Vaughn at (615) 741-6867, Fraley at (615) 741-8695 and Ford at (615)
741-1717.
travis-snell@cherokee.org . (918) 453-5358
"Too bad they did not feel the need
to recognize our rights and protections
170 years ago."
Dr. Richard Alien,
Cherokee Nation Policy Analyst
