Cherokee Tribal Termination Bill

Native American indian tribes are once again under attack. H.S. Bill 2824 is an attempt by Congressional members to terminate the Cherokee tribe. The reason? Tribal purging of non-documented Indian hopefulls. Under Federal Law the tribes have the authority to regulate it tribal members. This is done by requiring 25% tribal blood quantum. It was the federal goverment who required this.

In 2007, several people who had applied for tribal membership were denied. Further more those who did not have documented proof were dropped from tribal records. This made U.S. Rep Diane Watson introduce a bill to terminate the tribe. Apparently they are using the Indian Bill of Rights against the tribe. This bill protect tribal member from arbitrary actions by the tribe.

I have seen this in action once before in California. The California Human Waste Disposal industry realized that their companies did not have the capacity to process human waste. So they went shopping. The found a tribal member in a small tribe outside Indio. They offered him $50,00 to use his personal land to store this stuff til it could be processed. The tribe resisted and formed a road block. Using the Tribal Bill the Californis officials cited their authority to assist the member. California officials threatened to use federal officers to break down the barricade. Several environmental orgs were present as well as an internation film company. I was invited to be an observer and to document any action. There were health issues involved as well as environmental.

This shows the length that the federal government is willing to go to continue to threaten tribes. If you would like to add your voice in telling our Cogressional repesentative to stop this action, Contact: stoptribal termination.org