EchoHawk says Cherokee Nation and UKB equal

Tahlequah, OK

EchoHawk says Cherokee Nation and UKB equal

By Christina Good Voice
Staff Writer

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Attorney General Diane Hammons said the Cherokee Nation is considering legal options after a June 24 letter from the Bureau of Indian Affairs states the historical CN no longer exists and that the tribe and the United Keetoowah Band are equals regarding jurisdiction in the 14-county area.

“Although it has no legal effect right now, obviously, it has some very damaging hyperbole in it,” Hammons said. “We intend to exercise every legal right we have to correct that. We will appeal as soon as we legally can. We’ll take every legal, political remedy available to us. This is very important to us even though it has no legal effect at this time.”

The letter, written by the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry EchoHawk, stems from the 2006 decision of the BIA regional director denying the UKB’s 2004 application to have 76 acres put into trust.

The regional director cited perceived jurisdictional conflicts with the CN before the UKB appealed the decision to the Interior Board of Indian Appeals in 2006. However, EchoHawk reverses that logic with his letter.

“There is no reason, on the face of the (1946 Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act), that the Keetoowah Band would have less authority than any other band or tribe,” he wrote.

Hammons said the letter doesn’t give the UKB trust status or jurisdictional control, but does remand the UKB trust appeal to the BIA’s Muskogee office. She said there it would go through a trust checklist and sit until a decision is made on what EchoHawk’s powers are to put land into trust.

“There are absolutely no legal consequences today of that letter,” she said. “That letter is only a remand to the regional director for further consideration.”

EchoHawk’s letter also states that CN consent is not needed for the UKB to place land in trust, which is needed for tribal gaming along with sovereign tribal functions. Because the Keetoowahs have no trust land, they have “a need for this land to be taken in trust,” he wrote.

The CN and UKB have battled over jurisdictional control in the past, with the CN maintaining jurisdiction.

In an open letter to citizens, UKB Chief George Wickliffe called EchoHawk’s letter a favorable decision for the UKB, which is also Tahlequah-based.

“… the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs of the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, Larry Echo Hawk, issued a favorable decision in our appeal,” Wickliffe wrote. “It’s a very historical moment for the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. This decision shows great support for the tribe.”

But Hammons said EchoHawk’s statements only support what the UKB has said before.

“The assistant secretary just espouses some of the things they’ve (UKB) been asserting for years,” she said. “Unfortunately for them, his espousal has no legal effect. So he made a lot of damaging statements about us in it in a document that has no legal effect.”

EchoHawk also wrote that the historical CN, as it existed in 1934, no longer exists as a distinct political entity because Congress closed the tribe’s rolls in 1907.

“After 103 years, few, if any, or its members are still alive,” the letter states. “Even though the historical CN no longer exists, its sovereignty continues in the descendents of its members who have reorganized as the UKB and the CNO (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma).”

However, Hammons said EchoHawk is wrong.

“He’s just wrong,” she said. “He couldn’t be more wrong. We’re sorry, but he’s gotten some bad advice from some of the people in his office.”

In a footnote in the letter, EchoHawk wrote the CN is a new political organization because there are significant political differences in governmental organization between the historical CN and the current “CNO.”

But CN Communications officer Mike Miller said EchoHawk’s letter and footnotes do not have the force of law as federal court opinions do.

“It is preposterous for anyone to think that the footnote of an administrative letter overturns federal case law and centuries of recorded history,” Miller said. “While the Department of Interior may have the luxury of ignoring federal law and opinions from federal courts, the Cherokee Nation does not follow that practice.”

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4 Total Comments (0 Pending Approval)

6/26/2009	An interesting line of thought, however, if taken to a logical extreme Mr. Echo Hawk would have to conclude that all historical tribes no longer exist and all governmental forms now exercised by tribes throughout the United States would consist of significant differences with historical Native American forms of government. It would be interesting to see if his logic would hold up under the scrutiny of a Constitutional review by the US Supreme Court since there are also significant differences between the Constitution today and it's original form. His line of logic would say that an agreement between individuals would be valid only as long as the individuals who made the agreement were alive and therefore, any treaties made would be held invalid after the individuals who signed them have died. It is fortunate that his opinions do not carry legal weight, but it is unfortunate that a person in his position exhibits such faulty reeasoning.
dscraper

6/27/2009	Just because the former generation of our Mothers & Fathers have walked on ahead of us, does not {by any means} confer that the Nation no longer exists. If that was true there would have been no Tsalagi for the White Race to remove from the woods and hills and forests and mountains of Ky.,Tn.,N.C.,S.C. & Ga and to send all those they could find to the so-called Indian Lands of Oklahoma. Mr. EchoHawk, I beseech you. Please try to think like a Tsalagi.Do not let the schooling you've had take away from your heart what you know is true. As long as there is one Human Being whose blood has even a drop of Cherokee blood then our people are still alive.Don't be in such a hurry to help them get rid of us all. I am an un-documented Eastern Cherokee by blood and geneology. I am very proud of who and what I am and I raise my son to be the same.He is doing well. Thank you all for allowing me to speak my peace. May the Creator's face shine upon you and may you all know peace through all your days. waya1towodi
wbrt55

6/28/2009	The CNO was re-organized in 1976 by an Executive Decision through the Asst. Sec. of the interior, which is exactly what this decision is via Larry Echohawk new asst sec. For Diane Hammonds, and Mike Miller to spin the issue to the effect that this has no legal ramifications is ignorant and quite dangerous. Chad Smith's personal vendetta against the UKB needs to end, and has lead us to this very dangerous position. Smith fights against the Blacks, the Cherokee fullbloods, and even the delawares. I wonder exactly what type of 'tribe' that Chad SMith wants? Does he only want White Cherokee people? For those of us who are duel enrolled in the CNO and UKB, this decision was a long time coming. We must now quit fighting and come together for the common cause for all Cherokee People. If we drag this out, it will spend too much time and $$ tearing the Cherokee family apart.
skeelekurux

7/19/2009	Now the CNO knows how the Delaware feel! I rest my case...
12thmatrix

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