"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - Defending Tribal Sovereignty and Citizenship

Statement from Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, after the introduction of HR 2761 by U.S. Representative Diane Watson

Rep. Diane Watson has broken her word for the second time in two months and is now re-starting her personal crusade to terminate the Cherokee Nation.

Congress must ask itself why Rep. Watson is so afraid of letting the courts actually state what the law is. Rep. Watson prefers to hurt the elderly, young and sick of the Cherokee Nation without even waiting to let the federal courts decide the law. Enough is enough.

Last month, Rep. Watson wrongly told the Department of Justice that the Cherokee Nation had breached treaty provisions. She did this knowing that the interpretation of that treaty is before the federal courts in lawsuits in which the Department of Justice itself is a defendant. Now, for the second congressional session in a row, Rep. Watson has introduced legislation to terminate the Cherokee Nation. Rep. Watson has done all of this notwithstanding the fact that Congress passed a law nine months ago mandating that it would let the courts decide this issue, and notwithstanding President Obama's own stated position that he believes Congress should not interfere with the courts on this issue.

The legislative intent behind the reintroduction of H.R. 2761 is the same scorched-earth bill introduced in 2007 that will punish young, old and infirm Cherokees by eliminating federal funding for crucial social services like health care, housing and education. Her bill is a throwback to when it was U.S. government policy to eradicate tribes, disperse their peoples and seize their property. The reintroduction of termination legislation specifically targets Oklahoma and the region.

If Watson gets her way, 7,000 people who work for the Cherokee Nation would lose their jobs. At the same time, she would cut every penny of federal funding for those newly jobless people, as well as programs that help their elderly parents and grandparents and programs that educate their kids. She would cut off housing assistance for more than 7,500 families, close Head Start programs for almost 1,000 kids, and cut off more than 40,000 meals a year for elderly Indians.

Watson asks for all of this to happen, even though the Cherokee Nation has not broken the treaty but the United States has, repeatedly. Over the past 140 years, Cherokees have had to watch Congress systematically tear this treaty to tiny shreds, and now, contrary to history, Rep. Watson acts like it was the Cherokees who tore it up in the first place. Enough is enough. The issue is before the courts to decide, and that is where it should stay. Congress should be focused on ways to create jobs, rather than trying to find ways to legislatively terminate an Indian tribe and 7,000 jobs with one stroke of a pen.

Anyone who wants to see the truth about citizenship in the Cherokee Nation should visit Cherokee Nation Facts and Meet The Cherokee.

Read: H.R. 2761 PDF (180 KB)