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Obama Answers Call to Weigh in on CBC, Cherokee Nation Controversy

by First Americans Advocate | May 13, 2008 at 01:07 am | 528 views | 3 comments

Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) was asked to reconcile his membership in the Congressional Black Caucus with his support for the sovereignty of tribal nations.   Fellow Congressional Black Caucus members are asking congress to approve provisions to the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act that would deny funding to the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma until they extend membership to a group known as the Freedmen.   (Read the bill sponsored by Diane Watson (D-CA) here:  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:1:./temp/~c110EvWZaH::)


In a March 13, 2008 Letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, members of the Congressional Black Caucus stated that “members of the CBC will not support, and will actively oppose passage of NAHASDA” unless the bill contains a “provision that would prevent the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma from receiving any benefits or funding” until they "recognize all Cherokee Freedmen and their descendents as tribal citizens." The letter contained the signatures of 35 CBC members, but not the signature of White House hopeful Senator Barack Obama. 


Concerned that congress could "interfere with tribal matters," the Native American community expressed concern that an Obama Presidency could potentially support CBC efforts to "undermine the rights of tribal governments to determine their own membership." 


Asked to reconcile his support for tribal sovereignty with his CBC membership, Obama’s campaign issued the following statement: 


Barack Obama has reiterated his support for tribal sovereignty. Senator Obama said, "Tribal sovereignty must mean that the place to resolve intertribal disputes is the tribe itself.  Our nation has learned with tragic results that federal intervention in internal matters of Indian tribes is rarely productive - failed policies such as Allotment and Termination grew out of efforts to second-guess Native communities.  That is not a legacy we want to continue."
 
With respect to the Cherokee Freedman issue, Senator Obama said that while he is opposed to unwarranted tribal disenrollment, congressional interference was not warranted at this point. "Discrimination anywhere is intolerable, but the Cherokee are dealing with this issue in both tribal and federal courts. As it stands, the rights of the Cherokee Freedmen are not being abrogated because there is an injunction in place that ensures the Freedman's rights to programs during the pendency of the litigation. I do not support efforts to undermine these legal processes and impose a congressional solution. Tribes have a right to be self governing and we need to respect that, even if we disagree, which I do in this case. We must have restraint in asserting federal power in such circumstances."
 
Obama also reiterated his support for fulfilling the treaty obligations to tribes. “The Cherokee Freedmen issue highlights the larger issue of the unfulfilled treaty promises made by the federal government to tribes.  It is these promises that Barack is most concerned with as the future president.  Barack understands that the federal government owes a legal and moral obligation to tribes to provide health care, education and other essential services to tribes.  This is not a handout, but compensation for millions of acres of land relinquished by tribes.”


Regarding outreach to the Native American community, Senator Obama's campaign includes a Native American Community Outreach Coordinator and a 30-member Tribal Steering Committee.  A comparison of the Clinton, McCain and Obama websites indicates a clear difference between Obama's online efforts and those of his two opponents.  Clinton and McCain websites have no specific links or information for Native American peoples or issues, while Senator Obama’s campaign has a main page link directly to his website for “First  Americans” (www.tribes.barackobama.com).  


In his statement on congressional action on tribal matters, Presidential Candidate Obama acknowledged the position of both the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and the Cherokee Freedmen, as well as the chasm that exists between them.  He will likely lose the support of those on either extreme end of the controversy.  By not offering his support to the controversial H.R. 2824 legislation promoted by the CBC, Senator Obama will undoubtedly be met with unrest by those that side with the Cherokee Freedmen.  However, his indication of empathy of the Freedmen's plight will also be unwelcome to those on the other side of the Freedmen/Cherokee Nation debate.  With an issue this polarizing, completely pleasing everyone  without alienating anyone else just doesn't seem to be a viable option.  But Obama doesn't shy away from at least trying.


 --First Americans Advocate is Hannah Flanagan, an independent journalist and a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma who lives in Southern California. 


http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Obama_on_Native_Tribal_Sovereignty

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John Cornsilk

For a Respose to FAA Article CLICK HERE


John "The Elder" Cornsilk


Cherokee CNOT Member


Purveyor of Simple Truth!


 

John Cornsilk

If you read my Cherokee History Part One  and Cherokee History 1863 Part Two to the birth of CNO 1975 to 1995, which brought you up to some recent history...And if you will recall I said there were a number of top CNOT positions filled just recently by non Cherokee, full blood caucasian, with words by Smith in attempt of justification for the bypassing of Cherokee people for good paying jobs, at the last Council Meeting, He said "There are no educated Cherokee for these positions".

But, I guess one could say what do you expect when Smith was groomed for the position of Principal Chief of the Cherokee, and as CEO of the Oklahoma Corporation known as the "Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO)" By Ross Swimmer The Daddy of CNOT... Maybe I should explain CNOT before I go any further for some of you that may have missed it...

"Traitors" is added to the name of Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma for the traitorous acts by the leadership against the Cherokee People, thus the Acronym (CNOT), and the supporters of these Traitors can only be deemed "suckers": Thus the Name CNOT for the Entity CNOT-suckers for the supporters!

Chadwick "Corntassle" Smith after his grooming by Swimmer and serving in the corruption of the Mankiller Junta, and then taking an active part in the bringing down of the Joe Byrd Administration by the Swimmer/Mankiller political Machine, he began his tenure in 1999 of the Creation of the most devastating era in the history of the Cherokee People, another Trail of Tears, with out the Death March, and what will bring the tears is the fact of "fruits a-plenty" from the Casino's and the grants for the services of entitlement for the Cherokee People, yet we have Elderly Cherokee people falling through their rotting floors, roofs of their dwellings falling in on them, and in some instances no floor only the sod beneath their feet , and living with out the simple basics, the rest of us expect, i.e. electricity, running water, inside toilet etc.! and one may wonder why, and a very simple answer, lack of education, with having no job their only source of income will be State welfare or SSI neither amounts to enough to live on just barely survive on never mind dwelling repairs, some times they even have to choose between food and medicine.
 
Folks please view  This Video to see contrast of life of the poorer class of Cherokee people, to the luxiouris escapades of the CNOT Leadership in the next paragraph!

While the Chief and his slate of Councilors under his control just flew out to California an hosted a picnic for the outland Cherokee, and living in California probably all live in quarter million dollar homes, to the tune of 80,000 dollars, and sadly for no other reason than to BS the people to vote for them next time, or con then into sending a phony letter to stop the Congress from cutting the federal funds for their kicking out the Cherokee Freedmen .

Ok, do you all Remember the No Educated Cherokee people idiotic statement by Smith? Well I can personally name you several educated Cherokee with, BA'S, MA'S and PHD'S some with Associate Degrees, some with Certification from technical schools. me as an example I have an associate in Electronis from OSU, with some hours at Rogers state, and NSU in computers, with a certicicate in computer repair from a tech School in KC, But I am retired not looking for a job, but did ask Swimmer once, twice actually, once at CNI, but I was over qualified, and turned down, then I ask when they went on line, That time I know I was just too brown, he hired a white instructor at NSU and a couple of white students to get them on line...

Maybe at this point I should say, I do NOT believe one must be dark skinned to be a Cherokee, I Know better. There are educated Cherokee with varing shades of skin color, and Chad does have a few browns in lower positions at CNOT, but NOT one single Freedmen Cherokee in all of the work force, but I can guarantee you the few browns that are there, their Skin is way to brown to ever rise on the corporate ladder of CNOT...
A good example for an educated Cherokee would be my son David Cornsilk He has a Degree From Northeastern in Tahlequah, he is not quite brown, and not quite white, but too brown for Chad Smith.

I am 7/8 Cherokee and because his mother is white, he is 7/16 just under a half, but believe you me if there were such a thing he would be 110% Cherokee. If you would like to see some dark skinned Cherokee, David has a my-space with quite a few Pictures CLICK HERE then click view: my pics, under Davids picture to see!

Then to further show the shades of and Educated Cherokee, this is Steve Russell 1/8 Cherokee Texas Judge retired, law Professor at Indiana University.

This is Marilyn Vann 1/8 Cherokee, a Civil engineer, employed by the IRS, and she is the lead plaintiff in this federal law-suit.

My younger sister has a MA, with a teaching Certificate, I have cousins with asorted Degrees. So, as you can see Smith lies when he says there are no educated Cherokee.

Smiths plan in addition to the phony name change of CNOT to Cherokee Nation, that I told you about... Well Smith is in the process of caucasoidalizing the CNOT regime en-toto!! First look at him and Swimmer, then you can see the plan really begins by his appointment of the Chief Justice of the CNOT Supreme Court, one Darrell Matlock, Another appointment is James Wilcoxen of the law firm in Muskogee Oklahoma with the same name, that have been a part of the suckling of the assets of the Cherokee People ever since swimmer gave birth to CNOT In 1975, and Something here is about as illegal as you can get, me thinks! Or at a minimum unethical as all get-out, James brother Andrew, who serve CNOT as a district judge under the byrd regime, is appointed to the the Election Commission of CNOT; Therefore if a Cherokee has an objection about an election, You complain to Andrew, he tells you no, you challenge his determination in the supreme court of CNOT, which is the next step, his brother tells you NOT no but, HELL NO!! This is Smiths dictatorship in action!

Then Managing the purse Strings of CNOT is one Callie Catcher Isn't that just a perfect example of a Cherokee? Reminds me of an incident, I was at a pow wow up in Illinois, the MC who was a Creek Indian, came over to my booth and Said "So you're a Cherokee Huh?" I said yep, he said well that's got to be a dang lie, you aren't blonde headed an blue eyed!

And As I showed you before, the head of the Cherokee Nation Enterprises (CNE)that oversees the Casino's and retail operations, is one David Stewart , and the other Business operation that Smith just put through the ringer, and should land him in jail is the Cherokee Nation Industries (CNI)in Stilwell Oklahoma. the CEO there is one Bryan Collins, that stepped up from assistant Vice prez or CEO anyway he move up when the CEO skipped out, I would suspect at the behest of Smith, it was Smith that allegedly authorized him to cause the CNI to be ripped off for 6 million bucks in a crooked stock scam!!

Then as if these two over paid flunkies are not qualified to oversee the operations of their respective organizations, smith created another layer of brueaurocracy to supposedly over see all cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNOT) enterprises, and named it The "Cherokee Nation Business" *(CNB) arm of CNOT, and put this one pathetic failed politician in as CEO one Brad Carson ex U.S. Congressman...

And then for some of the NON Cherokee positions a cadre of do nothing board members, I guess some may be card toten Cherokee, inspite of their looks, even Carson and Stewart are. I guess this is what Senator Tom Coburn meant when he said "Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma as an INDIAN Nation is a joke", or some words to that effect!!

Here are the board of directors of the CNB :

Lloyd Armstrong

David Ballew

William Grass

Dennis Jay Hannah BTW, Jay Hannah is a blue card toter, we share a distant Cherokee Ancestor!

Eddie Humphrey

M.A. Lechtenberger

The Rest of the Board I do not know if the are Cherokee or not!

But David Cornsilk, who in addition to his other skills is a Genealogist and he supplied the following information on the board members:

"William Grass and David Bellew are both members of CNO. Grass is the son of a respected, now dead, Cherokee Baptist preacher who spread the white man's religion among the full bloods living around Mayes County. William Grass is elderly, but of sharp mind. He works out every day, body building and exercising at the YMCA in Tulsa.

David Bellew is originally from Tahlequah, he is married to the former Kimberly Culver, daughter of retired state representative and funeral home director Bob Ed Culver. The Bellew family originated in the Cookson area of Cherokee County. Bellew was originally implicated by Majewski in the GEG scandal and the questions concerning his involvement have yet to be addressed in a court of competent jurisdiction.

Dennis "Jay" Hannah hails from the south end of Delaware County, just west of Siloam Springs. He is a descendant of the Starr family and thus shares a common ancestry to Nancy Ward with about 25 percent of the Cherokee tribe including the Cornsilks. He has been involved in banking most of his adult life and currently lives in Oklahoma City. He served as chairman of the 1999 Constitution Convention. He was also one of two plaintiffs (Ralph Keen Jr, the appointed attorney for the Freedmen, was the other) in a case before the Judicial Appeals Tribunal styled "In Re: The matter of the 1999 Constitution" wherein the majority (Darrell and his other brother Daryl) ruled the constitution to be valid despite the fact that it had never been properly approved by the BIA. The other men listed are, as far as I know, not members of the CNO."

The Court ruling mentioned by David in the case of the 1999 revision of the 1975 farce called a Constitution being validated, by the CNOT supposed Supreme Court, is a good and bad read, GOOD, in that it demonstrates to the world the lengths crooks will go to prevail, and BAD, as a very disgusting read in that they ruled in favor of what Smith wanted in spite of apparent law, as explained by the dissent by the Third Justice not controlled by Smith, Justice Stacy Leeds READ IT HERE and it makes me ashamed to have mentioned I am related to Jay Hannah who was one of the plaintiffs along with Ralph Jr. the son of a pretty decent CNOT justice one Ralph Keen Sr. against the Cherokee People in the scam of the Constitution!

But the thing to note about this arm of CNOT is, It is totally inconsequential to the operations of the business enterprises of CNOT, they have all been functioning and not going broke as every other instance of endeavor Smiths has dipped his hands into, ie, The GEG Stock Scheme, though this just almost wiped out the most lucrative operation the people have, costing the Cherokee People six or more millions of dollars, The Conex Hi speed internet project in Tulsa Oklahoma, that flopped costing the Cherokee people more millions of dollars… The CNB was put together to make a job for Brad Carson with a ridiculously inflated salary, it is simply a money laundering enterprise, I don´t actually think in the scheme of the big time hoodlums, but simply a means of washing the money from the coffers of the Cherokee people in to the hands of Smith and his henchmen, in the scheme of ripping off the Cherokee people assets.

This brings us right up to this month in the land of CNOT and all of the what I believe to be flagrant corruption by Chad Smith and cohorts of CNOT… And possibly the United States Congress getting seriously involved, it Started months back with the Congresswoman Watson of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) getting involved in the Cherokee Freedmen´s cause of being stripped of their citizenship rights by CNOT, the rest of the Congress is becoming involved, the following link appeared on a Freedmen discussion forum with an article proclaiming Barney Frank of the very powerful House Financial Services Committee chairman committee, is getting involved SEE THE ARTICLE HERE So we will wait to see what will be the next smoke screen by Smith will be to detract from the news of the effect of his RACIST acts as Chief of the Cherokee People and CEO of CNOT!!

John "The Elder" Cornsilk

Cherokee CNOT Member

Purveyor of Simple Truth!

John Cornsilk

Hey FAA and all Check out my latest on the American Chronicle!

John "The Elder" Cornsilk

Cherokee CNOT Member

Purveyor of Simple Truth!

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May 13, 2008 at 01:07 am by First Americans Advocate, 528 views, 3 comments

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