FEDERAL RECOGNITION

APRIL 9 -

A day of National Mourning for a Day of Infamy!
Betrayal! 
Betrayal of the Cherokee descendants by other Cherokee Descendants!  Betrayed by our OWN people!

A NOTE about The Day of INFAMY-- April 9:


We Commemorate April 9 each year with MOURNING and FASTING and will do so until the RED CLAY RESOLUTION is repealed AND until the day we are recognized as TRUE Cherokee people.
This is not a "holiday" -- it is a National Day of Prayer
We must now pursue the course of recognition in order to prevent resolutions like that one from ever threatening us again.

We are uniting because our ability to call our selves Cherokee- despite having PROVEN documentation of at least 1 Cherokee ancestor- our ability to declare ourselves as Cherokee is threatened.
Prior to this, we were content as long as we could celebrate our culture and language.
However, that peace has been taken from us.

We therefore are embarking on this course in response to that very real danger as stated in the Red Clay Document from the Joint Council of the CNO and EBCI.

There are Seven Criteria for federal recognition.

Here are each of the 7 criterion groups must meet as set forth in federal law (our comments are in the parentheses) :

• Be identified from historic times until the present on a substantially continuous basis as 'American Indian' or 'aboriginal'.  (Our members document their connection to historical cherokee using approved and standard historical documentation practices)
• Prove that a substantial portion of members lives in a specific area or lives as a community viewed as American Indian and distinct from other populations of the area; and prove that members of this community are descendants of an Indian tribe. (we require at least 80% of our membership to live in our historic homeland excepting those who live on lands that were established as IT in prior treaties)
• Prove that it has maintained tribal political influence or other authority over its members as an autonomous entity throughout history until the present. (The existence of the sub tribes and sub chiefs throughout our history since the turbulence of the removal era, pre and post, the creation of state tribes in an attempt to reforge sub tribes proves that we have endeavored to continue to govern ourselves)
• Provide a copy of a governing document or statement describing in full the membership criteria and procedures through which this group currently governs its affairs and its members. (that is our HANDBOOK and is freely available here)
• Provide evidence of membership consisting of individuals who have established decadency from a tribe which existed historically, or from historical tribes which combined and functioned as a single autonomous entity. (This is met because all enrolled members must document their connection to a Cherokee ancestor)
• Demonstrate that its membership consists principally of persons who are not members of any other tribe. (Our members are not members of any other tribe than that of a Cherokee Tribe)
• Show that it is not expressly terminated or forbidden to participate in the federal-Indian relationship by statute. (The Cherokee people have never been forbidden via any statute to be federally recognized)
  

It was also ruled that prior federal recognition of a tribe -- whether by treaties or by later forms of acknowledgement such as supervision by the BIA -- should have no relevance, since the point was for a tribe to prove it now existed under those present standards.  

Neither should LACK of continuous prior recognition as long as the group is historically documented.
This is because Tribes in the east were effectively subdued before the United States existed.

One of the proofs many think of for proving "being a tribe" is that nation-to-nation treaties were made with your own government.


Since there was no USA until 1776, and it had not expanded to where many Cherokee people lived, Treaties are not a requirement for recognition. 

The prior tribal status of groups may be challenged by state or local governments.

 FEDERAL Congress has in some instances determined the recognition process -- which is difficult, time-consuming and very expensive -- is flawed, and has acknowledged a few tribes by its own laws.

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Our primary goal is to regain the right to call ourselves Cherokee descendants.

However, we would be remiss if we did not mention the other benefits of being federally recognized.

Federally-recognized tribes are eligible for a variety of federally-funded Indian services.
These range from health care to housing assistance to education to economic development assistance. They may exercise certain rights over band members, and band members have certain rights regarding their own tribal governments. Federally-recognized tribes -- if large enough-- maintain their own law enforcement and courts systems. They may place a communally-owned land base in federal trust, so that it cannot be sold by individuals, lost to tax forfeiture, or even alienated by corrupt tribal governments -- although all those losses have happened to Native Nations' lands that have been in federal trust.

Theoretically, however, the recognized tribe has a quasi-national status that gives it and its citizen-members greater control over their lands, lives, and long-term survival.
There are also scholarships, loans, grants, development assistance programs that enrolled tribal members may receive, but not others.

Finally, they may start the only enterprise which has shown consistent success across about 40 tribes who've done it: a casino.

(Many states bitterly oppose this. Tribal casinos have been successful because they provide what is evidently a desired form of entertainment to white communities that is otherwise forbidden by state laws. By the way, we are not seeking a casino.  Our goal is to be able to declare ourselves to be who we are and not get any opposition to our saying so)

Non-recognized tribes have NONE of these advantages or powers.


In addition, the NEW THREAT made by the Cherokees at Red Clay, would forbid us from even announcing or claiming our heritage.
All of these advantages and powers are in effect compensatory for the existence of the United States by swindling the indigenous inhabitants out of their land, or taking it by force when fraud wasn't enough. They are compensatory for centuries of poverty, suffering and despair.

And most of them are essential for cultural survival, too, survival as Indians means tribal survival, which requires a land base, cultural and linguistic education, and ability to survive economically.

We are NOT attempting to EVER "go" for STATE recognition.
Need a reason why?

There is no point in it. 
We exist in more than one state.
Once we are federally recognized, we won't need state recognition- they must acknowledge us
also

The legitimacy of state recognized tribes is contested.
The United States Constitution explicitly states that ONLY the United States Congress has power over Indian affairs.

So- why try do something that is already illegal?

Especially when doing so would automatically knock us out of the right to seek Federal recognition?

Folks, we are not here to break the laws.  We are legitimate and we want to be recognized as legitimate, so we are not going to break federal law in order for one or two states to "throw us a bone".

State recognized tribes may or may not require proof of Native American ancestry for enrollment, a fact which contributes to the controversy over state recognition of tribes.

We however, DO require PROOF because our other Cherokee Tribes have met that standard and require it and also BECAUSE WE CAN prove it!