[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 123 (Friday, July 25, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1562-E1563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES ON S. 2062, NATIVE AMERICAN HOUSING 
     ASSISTANCE AND SELF-DETERMINATION REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2007

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                               speech of

                             HON. TOM COLE

                              of oklahoma

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 17, 2008

  Mr. COLE of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, while I appreciate the remarks of 
my colleague from Massachusetts, as the only Native American currently 
serving in this Congress, I would like to clarify a few of his 
assertions.
  As you know, the Federal Government's relationship with Indian tribes 
over the first couple hundred years of our history was tragic. 
Continually, it was the policy of the Federal Government to not only 
exclude Indians from American society through broken treaties, but also 
to completely eradicate their culture. It would be nothing short of a 
tragedy for this Congress to carry on that policy.
  During the early 19th century, the Cherokee did hold slaves, like 
thousands of other individuals throughout America at the time. Of 
course, there is no justification for such a barbaric practice. When 
the U.S. Government forced the tribe to relocate on the Trail of Tears, 
to Oklahoma in the 1830s, many slaves accompanied the Cherokees on this 
journey. After the Civil War, though the Government did not sign any 
official treaties with the Confederacy, the Federal Government did sign 
a Treaty with the Cherokee Nation. The Treaty of 1866 states that all 
the Freedmen and their descendants should retain the rights of Native 
Cherokees. At no point did this treaty use ``citizenship'' as the 
fulfillment of that provision. However, the important point is that the 
Cherokees honored this treaty and even exceeded the terms by amending 
their Constitution of 1866 to grant Freedmen, members of other tribes 
and inter-married whites tribal citizenship. The Cherokee have not 
failed to keep their part of the bargain.
  Even so, Mr. Speaker, this 1866 treaty, which my colleague from 
Massachusetts insists the Cherokee have broken, was actually broken by 
the United States several times. For example, the Curtis Act of 1898, 
The Five Tribes Act, The Dawes Act, and the Enabling Act of the State 
of Oklahoma all violated the Federal Government's side of the Treaty of 
1866. More significantly, however, this Treaty was once again rendered 
moot, in 1902 when Congress passed a law that fully changed the nature 
of tribal citizenship in its entirety and eliminated tribal citizenship 
across the board. Furthermore, the Dawes Commission, which was assigned 
to change tribal land into Indian allotment land removed the Freedmen 
from the Cherokee, but still gave them separate allotment land.
  When the Cherokee Nation decided to reconstitute itself in 1975, it 
did so with a new Constitution and a new vision to return to its 
roots--a family of descendants of Indians. The Cherokee could make this 
decision because they were unconstrained by the Article IX obligation 
of the past. It was now up to the Cherokees to begin an era of Federal 
policy that promoted self-determination under the leadership of 
President Richard Nixon.
  Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, the courts have continually recognized that 
one of an Indian tribe's most basic powers is the authority to 
determine its own citizenship, for they are independent political 
authorities. That being said, the Cherokee have one of the smallest 
blood quantum requirements in Indian Country. To be a citizen of the 
Cherokee Nation, an individual has to simply prove that they have only 
one Indian ancestor on the Dawes Rolls of 1906. To that end, the 
Cherokees are one of the most racially diverse tribes in the Nation, 
with thousands of African-American members. Because of the pending 
court litigation, the Cherokee have allowed the Freedmen to retain the 
benefits of tribal membership and have even hired genealogists to 
assist this group in finding an ancestor on the Dawes Rolls.

[[Page E1563]]

  Mr. Speaker, it disturbs me that some in this Congress would accuse 
this tribe of breaking a treaty that was made long before the Federal 
Government eliminated the Cherokees as a tribe altogether. Their story, 
like most tribes throughout the Nation, is one of astonishing 
perseverance and determination. To limit Federal funding on the grounds 
that the Cherokees have supposedly broken a treaty that was in fact 
abrogated by official Government policy is absolute ridiculous. 
Congress should allow this issue to be settled in tribal and Federal 
court. It should not impose opinions on the Cherokee Nation. To do so 
violates tribal sovereignty, ignores history, and misuses and abuses 
legislative authority. The Cherokees have not broken their treaties 
with the United States. It is the United States that has consistently 
violated its treaties with the Cherokee Nation.

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