Tennessee to Vote on Recognizing Six New Groups/Tribes

[educatedindian]

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100321/NEWS0201/3210358/1009/NEWS02
Tribe identity splits Native Americans
6 new groups may claim recognition
By Janell Ross • THE TENNESSEAN • March 21, 2010

Ask Cherokee Wolf Chief Joseph Manycoats Walters his name, and his answer will change depending on who's asking.

If the person seems kind, he'll say all three. If they might be prejudiced against Native Americans, he'll say he's Joe Walters.

It may seem strange for the 70-year-old man to go back and forth on what he should be called, but Walters' dilemma mirrors Tennessee's debate over who should be identified as Native American and what that means.

Tennessee is set to join 20 states that recognize groups of people who say they are descendants of Native Americans who hid, disguised their identities or assimilated with white culture as a way to avoid being sent to reservations.

At stake is federal funding for everything from housing to health care, education to economic development. It could open the door to opportunities only federally recognized tribes enjoy.

It's more than a fight about money and labels. It's a question of who is and who is not a Native American — and who gets to decide.

"What we have here in this state is sort of like a competition of Indian-ness," said Walters, the hereditary head of a group of about 700 people who claim to be the Cherokee Wolf tribe in Carroll County, about two hours northeast of Memphis.

"Some of the federally recognized Indians have turned on us. Maybe out of fear. Maybe out of pain. But we Indians in Tennessee know who we are. … It would just be nice if the state recognized who we are, too."

But the possibility of six new state-recognized tribes — plus a pair of bills in the Tennessee Senate that would set up a permanent path to recognition — has some Native Americans concerned.

"The idea of state-level recognition for what are essentially social clubs — people who may have Indian ancestry but are not Indians — is offensive to me," said Melba Checote Eads, a citizen of the Oklahoma-based Muscogee Creek Nation who has lived in Tennessee since the early 1990s.

"We are people who were run down on horseback, burned out, put in chains and drug off to Oklahoma. To stand in my face and say they are Indians is fraud, cultural fraud and cultural theft."

....Six groups may apply
Tennessee won't have a state recognition process until May 17, when a set of tribal recognition rules created by the Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs will go into effect.

Six distinct groups of people who say they are remnants of tribes — collections of people who hid out during the so-called Indian Removal, assimilated or intermarried with people of other races — are expected to apply.

James Everett Meeks, the commission's secretary, said Native American groups who rode out persecution the best way they knew how shouldn't be penalized now that their heritage is "cool."

But plenty of people disagree. Since its rebirth in 2003, the commission and its meetings have been the center of public disagreements, lawsuits and efforts to steer members either toward or away from creating a state recognition process.

Last year, all seven commission seats were won by individuals who are not members of federally recognized tribes, and that group opened the path to state recognition.

The commission is set to expire in August, unless the legislature acts to extend its term. It is not clear what any recognition given this year will mean if the commission is dissolved.

State recognition could make the tribes eligible for some federal Bureau of Indian Affairs programs and open the door for the artwork, crafts and goods created by these groups to be labeled and sold as "genuine Native American."

It could allow tribe members to apply for special business loans and participate in government supplier diversity programs that can help build a business, Meeks said.

Some worry tribal recognition could open the door to casinos, but Walters said his Cherokee Wolf tribe and others have submitted documents to the state that say they aren't interested in creating casinos.

Disputes predicted
Ross Swimmer, a former principal chief of the Oklahoma-based Cherokee Nation, a U.S. assistant secretary for Indian Affairs and George W. Bush's special trustee for American Indians, was in Tennessee last Monday to encourage the Senate not to clear a path for state-level tribal recognition.

Creating state-recognized tribes will set off disputes between tribes, the state and the federal government, he said. The groups claiming to be remnant tribes could take any legitimate claim of tribal membership to federally recognized tribes or to the U.S. Congress if they really had relatives who were forced to move to the Midwest.

He said evaluating tribes won't have the zero-dollar price tag Tennessee thinks it will, and state recognition lubricates the path toward federal recognition and casinos.

"There is a slippery slope that can happen when you recognize a tribe," Swimmer told a state Senate committee.

Sen. Mike Faulk, R-Kingsport, said he sponsored one of the bills to set up a process for potential tribes to follow.

"It's not my objective to recognize or fail to recognize any particular group or another," he said.

A Senate committee will consider the bills Tuesday and decide whether to move for a full Senate vote.

[educatedindian]

Not a popular decision.

http://www.columbiadailyherald.com/articles/2010/06/27/top_stories/01tribe.txt
Tribe recognition sparks controversy


 
 
Former members question decision

By CHRIS GRAHAM/ chrisgraham@c-dh.net

Former Indian Affairs commissioners have condemned the recent recognition of six tribes, including one in Lawrence County, calling the groups’ new state status “illegitimate” and a “gross violation” of state policy.


 
In a June 25 e-mail denouncing the tribes acknowledged by the Commission of Indian Affairs, 10 former Indian Affairs commissioners requested the Tennessee Attorney General and Secretary of State conduct a complete review of decision.

Six tribes — Remnant Yuchi Nation, United Eastern Lenape Nation, Chikamaka Band, Central Band of Cherokee, the Cherokee Wolf Clan and Tanasi Council — were all granted state recognition by the Commission of Indian Affairs June 19. State recognition gives each tribe legal minority status and allows the groups to apply for grants, insurance and healthcare coverage.

 
The former commissioners alleged the board has an “egregious conflict of interest” with four of the current commissioners being members of the tribes, two of whom — Alice Henry and James Meeks — are chief of their respective tribes.

“Such illegitimate tribal recognition is an intentional fraud perpetrated on Cherokee, Lenape and Yuchi people to steal their political identities,” the e-mail reads.

Henry Saturday defended the board’s vote, saying that for years the commission was run by many tribal leaders from outside the state.

“They’re definitely against the recognition of who is here,” she said. “We finally did what we’ve been mandated to do.”

 
 
Henry, who is chief of the Tanasi Council, said recognizing tribes is not necessarily about obtaining services but about what is fair.

“We’re handicapped when we don’t have any voices,” she said.

Joe Sitting Owl White, chief of the Central Band of Cherokee in Lawrence County, said his clan has been working since 1999 to get tribal status since its elders voted to come out of hiding.

He said his group, which is composed of about 1,000 members spread over several counties, had been hiding from the U.S. government ever since the Trail of Tears in 1831, when thousands of Native Americans were forced on to reservations in Oklahoma. The chief said members claimed to be black Dutch and black Irish until recently to avoid resettlement.

“They gave us permission to go public because they thought discrimination was over with,” White said. “It’s shameful that we have to suffer what we’ve gone through.”

White said he wasn’t surprised by the challenge from the former commissioners, saying they continually refused to recognize the Lawrence County-based tribe for several years even though he claims the tribe met all the criteria required by the state.


 
According to the state’s website, a tribe wishing to be recognized must be indigineous to Tennessee, inhabit a particular geographic area in Tennessee, have maintained tribal political influence and have a documented history of the tribe, among other things.

“They broke the law,” White said of the previous commissions. “It was a waste of everybody’s time and money, and it’s shameful the state let them break their mandate.”

White said having tribes recognized in Tennessee will generate millions of dollars in tourism revenue. He said about 100,000 people have visited the tribe’s museum in Lawrenceburg and more are sure to come in the future.

“Because we’re Indians, we’re used to this,” he said of the condemnation. “This is just common.”

Messages left with a spokesperson for

nopcpolitics wrote on Jun 28, 2010 2:27 PM:

" Back in 1960, do any of these counties have official documents that show some kind of tribal government operating within the county(s)?! NO, of course not! These groups are recent, not historical remnants - which even their alleged relatives withIN the federally recognized Nations/Tribes/Bands do not acknowledge the people OR the groups.

For the first 4-5 yrs, the Commission worked on crafting recogniition criteria. NONE of these groups would/could ever meet the criteria - and they know it.

These are simply groups of people who've banded together and CALLED THEMSELVES 'tribes' ... but truthfully, they are only culture clubs. There is and has been NO PROOF of ANY tribe's alleged continued existence in Tennessee. "Hiding out"?! Please, this is not the deep, dark Amazon areas where small pockets of people have "hidden out" - for at least a century?!!! Yeah, and I've got some desert property in the Appalachian mountains i wanna sell!
Get real, people ... and THINK!!!! "



nopcpolitics wrote on Jun 28, 2010 4:35 PM:

" "[Alice] Henry [on] Saturday defended the board’s vote, saying that for years the commission was run by many tribal leaders from outside the state."


sadly, that comment is a lie; meant to distract, deflect, and detract from the truth - which is there NEVER were ANY "tribal leaders" on Tennessee's Commission of Indian Affairs. What [Alice] Henry is referring to is the CONfed group (accronym for their group's name that begins with the word "Confederation") belief that the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma somehow 'controlled' members of the Commission. If that were the case, Mr. Greene wouldn't have a job defending the Cherokee Nation; he wouldn't be needed.

There have been many distortions coming from the current members of the Commission to defend their actions. Sadly, too many know the truth, know the laws, and distortions will not help their cause (of trying to defend their illegal action of "recognizing" the 6 groups). "

[E.P. Grondine]

The only comment I will make here is that the CNO's policies towards heritage groups appears not to work so well.

The legislators will respond to their constituents desires. If their constituents believe they have Cherokee heritage, whether they do or not, their constituents will act on those beliefs, and the legislators will try to please their voters.

I am glad I do not have to come up with the answers to these questions, but I will suggest that those doing so think of what they want available to their own great grandchildren.

Once again, if only his manager had not prevented Elvis from speaking out in 1960...

[clearwater]

One of the primary distortions happening here is the falsehood that the Commission was mandated to provide recognition. That is untrue. I remember being there in TN when the Commission was first set up, and reading the documents, and law, which formed the commission. If I have time I'll go and pull that up, but it's all a matter of public record.

The TN Commission of Indian Affairs was never mandated with, or provided powers for, providing state recognition. That's simply false.

--clearwater