How the Freedmen Deal went Down, Part I

In a September whirlwind, Acting Principal Chief S. Joe Crittenden (APCSJC) was in the middle of a political firestorm that was more than he bargained for.  The CN Supreme Court kicked freedmen out of the tribe on his eighth day as APC.

A couple of weeks later the BIA told him they weren’t going to recognize PC2011 Election 2.0 if the freedmen couldn’t vote.  And they couldn’t, because they weren’t citizens.

APCSJC immediately sprung into action, working with the BIA, freedmen and everyone else to make a deal so the election could happen and he could become DCSJC, which is what he always wanted.  

In the process, he sold out the Cherokee Nation Constitution by single-handedly agreeing that the freedmen could be citizens even though a vote of the Cherokee people and the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court said they couldn’t be citizens.

A lot of us wanted to know what the hell happened.  How did we get here, as a Nation?  Who talked to whom, how was this deal made and was it really necessary? 

Someone was smart enough to request the documents as part of our open government here at Cherokee Nation.  What they actually asked for was this:  “Please provide all written emails, letters and phone call notes, travel, meeting dates and topics Acting Chief Joe Crittenden and ANY of his staff, liaisons, contractors or other types of representatives have had with Larry Echo Hawk, Echo Hawk’s staff, BIA officials, DOI officials, Marilyn Vann, Velie (attorney for Freedmen), any other Freedmen plaintiffs or representatives and DOJ concerning the Freedmen, citizenship for the Freedmen, pending Court cases, Judge Kennedy and anyone else associated with this important case for the past six months.”

This request came less than a week after the federal court agreement by APCSJC, and less than two weeks after APCSJC himself said this about how he was going to fix the freedmen situation:  “I hereby re-pledge to the Cherokee People that I will be transparent and truthful.”

So what did we end up with?  A 94 page document responding to this public records request that is ASPSJC’s version of being “transparent and truthful.”  Surely this will finally tell us how we got non-citizens changed back into citizens just hours before our do-over Principal Chief election.  And for those of you who think this isn’t relevant, just remember: this citizenship compromise that APCSJC came up with in his 67 days as Acting Principal Chief is still with us now and may be for the rest of our lives.  So how did it happen?  Find out what the public record documents show in tomorrow’s Cherokee Truth.

Larry E. Hawk is From The Federal Government and He's Here to Help

Larry E. Hawk's motto.

The Cherokee Phoenix is writing a story that quite a few people have been slow to pick up on:  Larry E. Hawk from the BIA (Bossing Indians Around) is not a friend of the Cherokee Nation. 

Will Chavez writes a good story and it seems pretty clear:  The BIA wants to have its cake and eat it too.  Larry E. Hawk sent the Nation a letter a few weeks ago, saying the BIA doesn’t recognize our 1999 Constitution or our 2010 election laws.  Only he sent it to then acting principal chief S. Joe Crittenden (APCSJC), who was elected under the 2010 election laws.  If they didn’t recognize those laws, then why would they recognize APCSJC and send him a letter?  Turns out, they only want to not recognize the Cherokee Nation’s Constitution on days when they feel like it.  In this case, Mr. E. Hawk wanted to make sure non-Indians (freedmen) got to vote, so on that day, he decided the Cherokee Nation’s 1999 Constitution wasn’t in effect.

However, as Chavez pointed out, since the Constitution was implemented, the BIA has recognized us (almost) every single day of every single year.  They recognize our council members and our courts.  They give us buckets of money, which is pretty bad policy if, according to Mr. Larry E. Hawk, we are not operating under a valid Constitution.  So the Cherokee Nation is faced with two options:  Either the BIA is incompetent and has been giving the Cherokee a bunch of money when it shouldn’t, or the BIA is just trying to boss us around, even though they don’t have the right to tell us what our Constitution is or says, because, what the heck, it worked with APCSJC.

So what does Baker think? He tells the Cherokee Phoenix he’ll stand up for our sovereignty, as long as it doesn’t cost us federal funding.  “What I won’t do is risk $500 million dollars in federal funding for our 300-plus thousand Cherokee citizens.”  Which is right in line with what S. John Crittenbaker have done already, for only $30 million in HUD funds.

Baker says he’s ‘weighing the pros and cons of the BIA’s stance,’ though we’re not sure what the pros are, unless having someone telling the Cherokee Nation what to do is a pro because then we wouldn’t have to make any pesky decisions ourselves, we can just rely on the smart and trustworthy folks at the BIA to do it for us.  After all, having the federal government make decisions for us seems to have worked out really well so far. Weren't they the ones who arranged for us to relocate here in the first place?

In the meantime, Larry E. Hawk was at Baker’s inauguration and told us all this:  “I pledge to hold the Cherokee Nation’s sovereignty in high regard.”  We at the Cherokee Truth would hate to see what would happen to us if he started holding Cherokee Nation’s sovereignty in low regard. 

Baker’s First Council Meeting (kinda): A Matter of Trust

Tonight will be Bill John Baker’s first tribal council meeting as Principal Chief.  At the last council meeting, he voted on legislation as a member of the Tribal Council, then he ended up signing the legislation as Principal Chief.  Surely the first and hopefully the last time we have so few days between the election of a chief and the time he/she takes office.

Aside from his first state of the nation speech, addressing the council and the public, there are a couple of interesting agenda items.  One is a dividend increased proposed to specifically go towards health care, a measure Baker has been in favor of.  The other is a measure makes it illegal for the chief to allow any other tribe to use our trust land or put land into trust unless two-thirds of the council agree. 

George Wickliffe

Considering how often Baker is hugging George Wickliffe, bossman of the UKB, and how cozy Baker is with Larry E. Hawk, the assistant secretary of Bossing Indians Around (BIA), who is doing his level best to give the Cherokee Nation’s treaty rights to Wickliffe and company, who are already handing out bonuses to themselves for getting land into trust, even though they don’t actually have any, it’s probably a good thing the council is getting involved to make sure things don’t go too far.

Tonight’s tribal council meeting starts at 6 and is available online.

Watch it and tell us what you think. 

Baker Swears and Hugs, Part II

Chief Baker had his formal inauguration ceremony today at Sequoyah High School today. 

The Tulsa World said Baker’s speech “promised unity and prosperity among the Cherokees.” He also welcomed Freedmen, one of whom said of Baker: “I believe we’re going to work together and have one united front.”

Baker also teamed up with UKB Chief George Wickliffe and Eastern Band Chief Michell Hicks in a not-creepy-at-all three way man-hug.

BIA Boss Larry E. Hawk gave a speech, but we don’t know what he said.  It might’ve been something along the lines of: “As long as you do exactly what I say, you can be as sovereign as you want.”

According to the Muskogee Phoenix, some Cherokees planned a protest of Larry E. Hawk , citing his general disregard for the Cherokee Nation’s Constitution, but the protest wasn’t covered in today’s media stories. 

By all accounts, Chief Baker’s first big party was well attended, peaceful and harmonious:  a good way to begin his term. Were any of you there? If so, what were your impressions?

New Chief and First Lady, definitely not in a conga line.  Photo Courtesy Tulsa World