Freedmen's Petition to BIA to Become Its Own Tribe
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2/9/12 Tulsa World:
Freedmen descendants petition U.S. for their own Oklahoma tribe
The descendants of former slaves of Muscogee (Creek) Nation members have petitioned the U.S. government to be recognized as their own tribe - a move that could set a legal precedent for thousands of Indian freedmen descendants around the country.
The petition meets the requirements set by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and should be accepted, the freedmen group's leader said.
If accepted, the petition could make the Creek freedmen descendants the first such group to become their own separate tribe.
The group's leaders are now waiting for BIA officials to confirm that they have accepted the petition and have begun reviewing it.
Ron Graham, the 47-year-old president of the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedman Band, was raised as a Creek Indian until he was 15.
But he and other Creek freedmen descendants were kicked out of the Creek Nation in 1979 by a vote of the nation's members.
Graham's father, Theodore "Blue" Graham, practiced the traditions of his Indian heritage, including his participation in stomp dances, in his hometown of Okmulgee, which is also the headquarters of the Creek Nation, Graham said.
"That's why this is so dear to me," he said. "I was born and raised in the Creek Nation right there in Okmulgee. ... We just want to be federally recognized, because that's who we are."
Edwin Marshall, Creek Nation chief of staff, said the tribe has no comment because the freedmen descendants now have no affiliation with the Creek Nation.
Marshall said the tribe properly conducted a referendum to remove the freedmen descendants from the Creek Nation rolls and that the descendants are starting a new entity.
Freedmen were the former slaves of Indians and were guaranteed full rights and privileges to the tribes to which they had belonged in the U.S. Treaty of 1866.
"We're Creek Indians. We are also of African descent. It's hard for people to believe, but ... we're both, though, That's how it is," Graham said.
The descendants have since become a central part of tribal sovereignty issues, as several tribes, including the Cherokee Nation, have also voted to expel freedmen descendants from their ranks.
Tribal leaders often attribute a resentment of the treaty to the U.S. government's repeated violation of it while forcing tribes to adhere to it.
The votes to expel freedmen descendants are the result of tribes' seeking to allow enrollment only of Indians with traceable bloodlines to the tribe.
However, Graham and other Creek freedmen descendants can show bloodlines tracing back to nonfreedmen Indians, unlike other groups of freedmen.
Additionally, the criteria for becoming a federally recognized tribe doesn't require proof of Indian blood, Graham said. The standards just require proof that the tribe's members have ancestors on the original Indian rolls, which the Creek freedmen do.
2/9/12 Tulsa World:
Freedmen descendants petition U.S. for their own Oklahoma tribe
The descendants of former slaves of Muscogee (Creek) Nation members have petitioned the U.S. government to be recognized as their own tribe - a move that could set a legal precedent for thousands of Indian freedmen descendants around the country.
The petition meets the requirements set by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and should be accepted, the freedmen group's leader said.
If accepted, the petition could make the Creek freedmen descendants the first such group to become their own separate tribe.
The group's leaders are now waiting for BIA officials to confirm that they have accepted the petition and have begun reviewing it.
Ron Graham, the 47-year-old president of the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedman Band, was raised as a Creek Indian until he was 15.
But he and other Creek freedmen descendants were kicked out of the Creek Nation in 1979 by a vote of the nation's members.
Graham's father, Theodore "Blue" Graham, practiced the traditions of his Indian heritage, including his participation in stomp dances, in his hometown of Okmulgee, which is also the headquarters of the Creek Nation, Graham said.
"That's why this is so dear to me," he said. "I was born and raised in the Creek Nation right there in Okmulgee. ... We just want to be federally recognized, because that's who we are."
Edwin Marshall, Creek Nation chief of staff, said the tribe has no comment because the freedmen descendants now have no affiliation with the Creek Nation.
Marshall said the tribe properly conducted a referendum to remove the freedmen descendants from the Creek Nation rolls and that the descendants are starting a new entity.
Freedmen were the former slaves of Indians and were guaranteed full rights and privileges to the tribes to which they had belonged in the U.S. Treaty of 1866.
"We're Creek Indians. We are also of African descent. It's hard for people to believe, but ... we're both, though, That's how it is," Graham said.
The descendants have since become a central part of tribal sovereignty issues, as several tribes, including the Cherokee Nation, have also voted to expel freedmen descendants from their ranks.
Tribal leaders often attribute a resentment of the treaty to the U.S. government's repeated violation of it while forcing tribes to adhere to it.
The votes to expel freedmen descendants are the result of tribes' seeking to allow enrollment only of Indians with traceable bloodlines to the tribe.
However, Graham and other Creek freedmen descendants can show bloodlines tracing back to nonfreedmen Indians, unlike other groups of freedmen.
Additionally, the criteria for becoming a federally recognized tribe doesn't require proof of Indian blood, Graham said. The standards just require proof that the tribe's members have ancestors on the original Indian rolls, which the Creek freedmen do.
Amazing BS....did you notice the line.. "However, Graham and other Creek freedmen descendants can show bloodlines tracing back to nonfreedmen Indians, unlike other groups of freedmen."....what a freaking joke...its very disturbing that a small group of them have taken this course...
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I don't understand your comments. I thought you were a proponent of the freedman getting recognized. Now they will get their own tribe and the creeks can compete with them for the scraps from the whitemans table.
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This bs has nothing to do with the freedmen...this group claims Indian blood status which has nothing to do with the treaty or the majority of freedmen...it appears to be just a fraud to raise money from a group of people who are already to poor to fight back...if you notice in the article it said tracing back to non freedmen Indians...
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your quote is correct they can trace their roots back to non-freedman indians, that means to me they can trace their bloodlines back to indians that weren't black
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What difference does it make...their citizenship was never based on Indian blood or tribal town affiliation...
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Where were all tjese so called indians when everyone hated the real natives ,all they want is to get them a casino and reap the benefits the benifits that they are not intitled to,its inevitable they will suceed with all the blacks n congress . They all stick together ,sometjing we could do
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This is about having their own Casino period. If the Kialegee can have one lets strat our own Afro-Native tribe and get one too.
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True dat!
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Its all just about BENEFITS! Red car tags, health coverage, whatever they can get. They don't care nothin about our culture or language! They just want what we got....Sad
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no more chants and drums at the stompdances it will be rap music
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Yeah... all about benefits just like 85% of Creeks by blood... there are what... around 72,600 enrolled citizens and how many voted??? How many take an active roll in their tribe? You are all pathetic. Rap music??? Really??? Now how many Natives grew up and where influenced by black culture??? Bunch of wanna be thugs.... How many of you pathetic people complain about the house payment being to high when it maxes out at $350? You are no different. Want want want... want even more... The two cultures are actually really close... you eat fekce.. they eat chitlins... you eat catvhakv they eat ash bread... you have safke they have ugali... both cultures beat drums and dance around fires... both cultures have issues with alcoholism, diabetes, heart disease, domestic violence, teen pregnancy..... so get over yourself... by logic and the current theory we would all be africans anyway right? And what makes you think that your suffering is any more deserving than any one elses suffering? When you the oppressed was also the oppressor??? You are lucky to have the "benefits" and "sovereignty" that you have.
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benefits? they are paying for the sins of their forefathers. they stole and now are trying to repay. we have our own battle with the euro's let the blacks feign for themselves. they have progressed faster than we have because of their numbers and unity. let's do the same.
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....that statement should be made for folks who are already enrolled, not the freedmen...
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To clarify. My statement was pointed at those already enrolled.
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My ancestors were white.
My ancestors were slaves of Creek people.
Does that make me Creek?
Or do we get our own tribe?
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If i'm not mistaken the freeman were enrolled on the freedman dawes rolls which shows no blood quataum. If they were enrolled on the freedman rolls they received an allotment of land just as the tribal members received with the exception that their land was not governed by the federal gov't. If Creek citizens enrolled as 1/2 or more their land was overseen by the federal gov't. What about all the tribal members that didn't enroll because they didn't want the government to control their land? What about their desendants? What about the ones who did enroll but at a lesser degree of Indian blood? What about the members that didn't come to Oklahoma on the trail of tears and their desendants?
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