Tsalagi Nation Sends First Congressional Delegate

[Shrillland]

From Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/cherokee-nation-house-representatives-delegate-1455248

he Cherokee Nation is appointing its first delegate to Congress.

Two Native American tribes, the Cherokee and the Choctaw, are both granted the right to send delegates to the House of Representatives. The Choctaw still haven't exercised that right, but the Cherokee are in the process of sending their first: Lobbyist Kimberly Teehee, who served as Barack Obama's senior policy advisor for Native American affairs.

Born in Chicago, Teehee, 50, graduated from Northwestern University in 1991 and from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1995. She entered politics soon after, working for the Democratic Party as its first deputy director for Native American outreach. She currently serves as the Cherokee Nation's vice president for government relations.

On Thursday, newly elected Cherokee chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. sent a letter to the tribal council requesting a special meeting to consider her confirmation.

"At Cherokee Nation, we are exercising our treaty rights and strengthening our sovereignty," it read in part. "The announcement next week is simply the first step in a long process, having a Cherokee Nation citizen seated as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. We are eager to work with our congressional delegation from Oklahoma to move this historic appointment forward."

Representation in the federal government is increasingly important for many Native Americans who are worries about the Keystone XL pipeline and other encroachments on tribal lands, as well as enduring poverty, health issues and infrastructure problems.

Democratic presidential contenders descended on Sioux City, Iowa, this week to court the Native vote and discuss hot-button issues like health care, education and violence against indigenous women. (Elizabeth Warren took the opportunity to apologize for claiming direct Indian heritage.)

Still it's not a foregone conclusion that the tribes will go blue in the 2020 election: President Trump has used white nationalist rhetoric and mocked Native casino owners as drug dealers and violent criminals, but nearly a third of Oklahoma's Native American state legislators are Republicans, as U.S. Representatives Markwayne Mullin, who is Cherokee, and Rep. Tom Cole, a member of the Chickasaw .

A case currently before the Supreme Court, Carpenter v. Murphy, raises the question of whether Congress disestablished the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation when it admitted Oklahoma to the Union.

Another SCOTUS case, decided in April, determined that Wyoming's statehood did not negate an 1868 federal treaty allowing the Crow Tribe's right to hunt on the "unoccupied lands of the United States."

The Cherokee Nation is the largest remaining Native American tribe in the U.S., with more than 370,000 members. The 1835 Treaty of New Echota, which provided the legal ground work for the forcible removal of the Cherokee from Georgia and set into motion the Trail of Tears, also established terms for the Cherokee to send a representative to the House of Representatives.

But it's never been attempted in practice, and it's not clear what will happen if and when Teehee goes to Washington.

"Even if it doesn't go anywhere, non-Indians should be forced to face up to what we did and I think this is a tool that could be used to challenge not only our understanding of democracy, but also our understanding of history," American University law professor Ezra Rosser, who specializes in federal Indian law, told the AP

Delegates are non-voting members allowed some powers in the House. They can introduce legislation for voting, speak on the floor and cast votes in committees of which they are members.

Currently, the House has six non-voting members: A resident commissioner from Puerto Rico, and five individual delegates from the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

For the first time, a Native American nation is sending a delegate to Congress in accordance with two treaties: The 1785 Treaty of Hopewell and the 1835 Treaty of New Echota(the one that led to the Tsalagi Nation's removal.) Both of them allow the nation to send a delegate to Congress, but only now is it actually being attempted. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. is sending Democrat and former Obama adviser Kimberly Teehee to Washington as the nation's first delegate. The Tribal Council will be meeting to consider her confirmation this week. No one's sure quite what will happen if she's confirmed.

My question to you, NSG, is two fold: Do you think she'll be allowed to take a seat as a delegate? Should more nations be allowed the right to do this?

Personally, I think that she will be allowed to sit as a non-voting member without too much trouble. As for allowing more nations, we should do this whether it's in their respective treaties or not. Only the Tsalagi and the Choctaw specifically have this right, but if more nations get a voice, then their issues will be brought to a more prominent position in the national conversation.

[Ruffletrump]

From Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/cherokee-nation-house-representatives-delegate-1455248

he Cherokee Nation is appointing its first delegate to Congress.

Two Native American tribes, the Cherokee and the Choctaw, are both granted the right to send delegates to the House of Representatives. The Choctaw still haven't exercised that right, but the Cherokee are in the process of sending their first: Lobbyist Kimberly Teehee, who served as Barack Obama's senior policy advisor for Native American affairs.

Born in Chicago, Teehee, 50, graduated from Northwestern University in 1991 and from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1995. She entered politics soon after, working for the Democratic Party as its first deputy director for Native American outreach. She currently serves as the Cherokee Nation's vice president for government relations.

On Thursday, newly elected Cherokee chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. sent a letter to the tribal council requesting a special meeting to consider her confirmation.

"At Cherokee Nation, we are exercising our treaty rights and strengthening our sovereignty," it read in part. "The announcement next week is simply the first step in a long process, having a Cherokee Nation citizen seated as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. We are eager to work with our congressional delegation from Oklahoma to move this historic appointment forward."

Representation in the federal government is increasingly important for many Native Americans who are worries about the Keystone XL pipeline and other encroachments on tribal lands, as well as enduring poverty, health issues and infrastructure problems.

Democratic presidential contenders descended on Sioux City, Iowa, this week to court the Native vote and discuss hot-button issues like health care, education and violence against indigenous women. (Elizabeth Warren took the opportunity to apologize for claiming direct Indian heritage.)

Still it's not a foregone conclusion that the tribes will go blue in the 2020 election: President Trump has used white nationalist rhetoric and mocked Native casino owners as drug dealers and violent criminals, but nearly a third of Oklahoma's Native American state legislators are Republicans, as U.S. Representatives Markwayne Mullin, who is Cherokee, and Rep. Tom Cole, a member of the Chickasaw .

A case currently before the Supreme Court, Carpenter v. Murphy, raises the question of whether Congress disestablished the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation when it admitted Oklahoma to the Union.

Another SCOTUS case, decided in April, determined that Wyoming's statehood did not negate an 1868 federal treaty allowing the Crow Tribe's right to hunt on the "unoccupied lands of the United States."

The Cherokee Nation is the largest remaining Native American tribe in the U.S., with more than 370,000 members. The 1835 Treaty of New Echota, which provided the legal ground work for the forcible removal of the Cherokee from Georgia and set into motion the Trail of Tears, also established terms for the Cherokee to send a representative to the House of Representatives.

But it's never been attempted in practice, and it's not clear what will happen if and when Teehee goes to Washington.

"Even if it doesn't go anywhere, non-Indians should be forced to face up to what we did and I think this is a tool that could be used to challenge not only our understanding of democracy, but also our understanding of history," American University law professor Ezra Rosser, who specializes in federal Indian law, told the AP

Delegates are non-voting members allowed some powers in the House. They can introduce legislation for voting, speak on the floor and cast votes in committees of which they are members.

Currently, the House has six non-voting members: A resident commissioner from Puerto Rico, and five individual delegates from the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

For the first time, a Native American nation is sending a delegate to Congress in accordance with two treaties: The 1785 Treaty of Hopewell and the 1835 Treaty of New Echota(the one that led to the Tsalagi Nation's removal.) Both of them allow the nation to send a delegate to Congress, but only now is it actually being attempted. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. is sending Democrat and former Obama adviser Kimberly Teehee to Washington as the nation's first delegate. The Tribal Council will be meeting to consider her confirmation this week. No one's sure quite what will happen if she's confirmed.

My question to you, NSG, is two fold: Do you think she'll be allowed to take a seat as a delegate? Should more nations be allowed the right to do this?

Personally, I think that she will be allowed to sit as a non-voting member without too much trouble. As for allowing more nations, we should do this whether it's in their respective treaties or not. Only the Tsalagi and the Choctaw specifically have this right, but if more nations get a voice, then their issues will be brought to a more prominent position in the national conversation.

I personally think that this is wonderful news, even if it's a bit unfortunate that it has taken this long for such a thing to happen. This will hopefully cast more of a national focus on the struggles that the native peoples of the US have faced over the past few centuries, as well maybe even start to bring some of their issues into the political conversation in DC. With regards to whether the Tsalagi representative, I personally think that she will be allowed to sit as a nonvoting member for the time being. Personally I hope that more nations within the US will end up having representatives in congress in some point, but we shall see.

[Kowani]

Now that’s good news.

[Ruffletrump]

Now that’s good news.

Indeed. Hopefully we'll end up seeing the Cherokee and Creek send delegates at some point as well.

[Kowani]

Now that’s good news.

Indeed. Hopefully we'll end up seeing the Cherokee and Creek send delegates at some point as well.

It would be a great thing if they got their voices on the National Stage, yep.

[Shrillland]

Now that’s good news.

Indeed. Hopefully we'll end up seeing the Cherokee and Creek send delegates at some point as well.

The Cherokee did send them, that's what Tsalagi means in the Cherokee language. I'm actually Tsalagi myself and have ancestors on the Dawes and Baker Rolls. I'm not sure who they are though, all the relatives who could've told me are dead.

[Ruffletrump]

Indeed. Hopefully we'll end up seeing the Cherokee and Creek send delegates at some point as well.

The Cherokee did send them, that's what Tsalagi means in the Cherokee language.

Sorry meant to say Choctaw. It's been a long day

[Neko-koku]

From Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/cherokee-nation-house-representatives-delegate-1455248

he Cherokee Nation is appointing its first delegate to Congress.

Two Native American tribes, the Cherokee and the Choctaw, are both granted the right to send delegates to the House of Representatives. The Choctaw still haven't exercised that right, but the Cherokee are in the process of sending their first: Lobbyist Kimberly Teehee, who served as Barack Obama's senior policy advisor for Native American affairs.

Born in Chicago, Teehee, 50, graduated from Northwestern University in 1991 and from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1995. She entered politics soon after, working for the Democratic Party as its first deputy director for Native American outreach. She currently serves as the Cherokee Nation's vice president for government relations.

On Thursday, newly elected Cherokee chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. sent a letter to the tribal council requesting a special meeting to consider her confirmation.

"At Cherokee Nation, we are exercising our treaty rights and strengthening our sovereignty," it read in part. "The announcement next week is simply the first step in a long process, having a Cherokee Nation citizen seated as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. We are eager to work with our congressional delegation from Oklahoma to move this historic appointment forward."

Representation in the federal government is increasingly important for many Native Americans who are worries about the Keystone XL pipeline and other encroachments on tribal lands, as well as enduring poverty, health issues and infrastructure problems.

Democratic presidential contenders descended on Sioux City, Iowa, this week to court the Native vote and discuss hot-button issues like health care, education and violence against indigenous women. (Elizabeth Warren took the opportunity to apologize for claiming direct Indian heritage.)

Still it's not a foregone conclusion that the tribes will go blue in the 2020 election: President Trump has used white nationalist rhetoric and mocked Native casino owners as drug dealers and violent criminals, but nearly a third of Oklahoma's Native American state legislators are Republicans, as U.S. Representatives Markwayne Mullin, who is Cherokee, and Rep. Tom Cole, a member of the Chickasaw .

A case currently before the Supreme Court, Carpenter v. Murphy, raises the question of whether Congress disestablished the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation when it admitted Oklahoma to the Union.

Another SCOTUS case, decided in April, determined that Wyoming's statehood did not negate an 1868 federal treaty allowing the Crow Tribe's right to hunt on the "unoccupied lands of the United States."

The Cherokee Nation is the largest remaining Native American tribe in the U.S., with more than 370,000 members. The 1835 Treaty of New Echota, which provided the legal ground work for the forcible removal of the Cherokee from Georgia and set into motion the Trail of Tears, also established terms for the Cherokee to send a representative to the House of Representatives.

But it's never been attempted in practice, and it's not clear what will happen if and when Teehee goes to Washington.

"Even if it doesn't go anywhere, non-Indians should be forced to face up to what we did and I think this is a tool that could be used to challenge not only our understanding of democracy, but also our understanding of history," American University law professor Ezra Rosser, who specializes in federal Indian law, told the AP

Delegates are non-voting members allowed some powers in the House. They can introduce legislation for voting, speak on the floor and cast votes in committees of which they are members.

Currently, the House has six non-voting members: A resident commissioner from Puerto Rico, and five individual delegates from the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

For the first time, a Native American nation is sending a delegate to Congress in accordance with two treaties: The 1785 Treaty of Hopewell and the 1835 Treaty of New Echota(the one that led to the Tsalagi Nation's removal.) Both of them allow the nation to send a delegate to Congress, but only now is it actually being attempted. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. is sending Democrat and former Obama adviser Kimberly Teehee to Washington as the nation's first delegate. The Tribal Council will be meeting to consider her confirmation this week. No one's sure quite what will happen if she's confirmed.

My question to you, NSG, is two fold: Do you think she'll be allowed to take a seat as a delegate? Should more nations be allowed the right to do this?

Personally, I think that she will be allowed to sit as a non-voting member without too much trouble. As for allowing more nations, we should do this whether it's in their respective treaties or not. Only the Tsalagi and the Choctaw specifically have this right, but if more nations get a voice, then their issues will be brought to a more prominent position in the national conversation.

Comment:

The United States actually gives some shit about legality.

[Saiwania]

No, this does not need to be happening unless the reservations in question are districts that can be represented in the US congress. This is not what Andrew Jackson would've stood for.

[The Sherpa Empire]

If they have a treaty saying they get to send a delegate, they should be allowed to send a delegate. I don't know if she will be allowed a seat, but she should be. Seating her would not be some unmanageable burden, so if the treaty says to do it, then we should go ahead and do it.

Tribes that don't have such a treaty, no.

[Kowani]

No, this does not need to be happening unless the reservations in question are districts that can be represented in the US congress. This is not what Andrew Jackson would've stood for.

Andrew Jackson wouldn’t have stood for the past 150 years, nobody gives a crap.

[North German Realm]

No, this does not need to be happening unless the reservations in question are districts that can be represented in the US congress. This is not what Andrew Jackson would've stood for.

Good. Let's damn his memory and the memory of whoever stood with him. The natives should not only have delegates but actual votes too at some point.

[Thermodolia]

Scrap the treaties and turn them into states. The people on these reservations shouldn’t be living in limbo land

[Greed and Death]

The treaty says they must seat her so they must. Obviously this is non voting role but when the DNC is in office they will get to vote on committee.

[Internationalist Bastard]

Sounds fair to me. I for one hope more nations follow suit

[Internationalist Bastard]

No, this does not need to be happening unless the reservations in question are districts that can be represented in the US congress. This is not what Andrew Jackson would've stood for.

Andrew Jackson would’ve been angry about being on the twenty dollar bill, who cares?

[Loben The 2nd]

And they are doing this now....why?

[Munkcestrian Republic]

Scrap the treaties and turn them into states. The people on these reservations shouldn’t be living in limbo land

This is actually unironically a great idea. Turn every reservation into a state. 652 new senators.

No, this does not need to be happening unless the reservations in question are districts that can be represented in the US congress. This is not what Andrew Jackson would've stood for.

"In the monuments and fortresses of an unknown people, spread over the extensive regions of the West, we behold the memorials of a once powerful race, which was exterminated or has disappeared to make room for the existing savage tribes."

lol ok

[Munkcestrian Republic]

And they are doing this now....why?

Because they can. Problem?

[Loben The 2nd]

And they are doing this now....why?

Because they can. Problem?

Yes. Why wait since the treaty was signed this fucking long to act on it?

[Munkcestrian Republic]

Because they can. Problem?

Yes. Why wait since the treaty was signed this fucking long to act on it?

Why not?

[Loben The 2nd]

Yes. Why wait since the treaty was signed this fucking long to act on it?

Why not?

Seems suspect.

Then again these people sold lands for beads, so probably nothing to be worried about.

[Internationalist Bastard]

Why not?

Seems suspect.

Then again these people sold lands for beads, so probably nothing to be worried about.

You do know what nation this is right?

[Loben The 2nd]

Seems suspect.

Then again these people sold lands for beads, so probably nothing to be worried about.

You do know what nation this is right?

Cherokee.

[Munkcestrian Republic]

Why not?

Seems suspect.

Then again these people sold lands for beads, so probably nothing to be worried about.

That one again?

Tell us more about American history.