A Dark Day For All Tsalagi

Author: * SkyEyes Sequoyah - 4 Posts on this thread out of 560 Posts sitewide.
Date: Mar 4, 2007 - 11:29

A Cherokee government commission has been set up to distribute tribal lands to tribe members. This would seem to be a good thing as many poor Tsalagi would become individual land owners rather than residents on collectively owned land. The action took an unfortunate turn last week when the tribal council voted to exclude from tribal rolls all members who were the descendants of black slaves previously owned by the Tsalagi. These members, even if they were part Tsalagi blood, would be stricken from the lists of members of the tribe in order to prevent them from becoming land owners on reservation territory.

I am sorry to report that the council voted 76% in favor of rejecting 2,800 black and mixed race members in an obvious attempt to keep them from owning tribal land. It is ironic that the Tsalagi who have suffered so from racism, should themselves take such an action.

A ruling by The Tsalagi Supreme Court in March of 2006 assured descendants of black slaves previously owned by Tsalagi that they could become members of the tribe and 2,800 were enrolled. The action taken last week strikes them from the tribal rolls. Although their appeal to the court has been denied, the judge left open the possibility of an appeal.

The history of the Tsalagi is a long and terrible tale of racism and the greed for land in which they held the moral high ground until now.

SkyEyes covers his head with his blanket and turns his back to the court.