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Descendants of freedmen and their supporters will have a "treaty rights demonstration" outside of the Bureau of Indian Affairs BIA regional Office at 3100 West Peak Boulevard, Muskogee Oklahoma 2pm on Good friday - April 6th Bring your signs!

Cherokee casino "boycott weekend" is announced for the weekend of April 6-8 for supporters of the Cherokee freedmen who were illegally divested of citizenship on march 3rd. Please contact ALL of your friends, relatives, coworkers, and neighbors who may still be patronizing the Cherokee casinos to take their money to other casinos such as the Sac And Fox or better yet, to take their gaming moneys to the "storehouse" at the House of God. A flyer telling of the boycott and the BIA demonstration is attached for your use. We welcome press covereage of this demonstration.

APril 21 - The next meeting of the Descendants of freedmen association will be held at the Divine Love Christian Fellowship 500 N.F Street Muskogee Oklahoma begining at 1:30pm. Updates will be given on the political situations of the Creek and the Cherokee nation freedmen. The press and public is welcome to attend. We ask both the general public and the media to publicize this event.

On March 27th, Descendants of Freedmen Association President Vann and Attorney Jon Velie organized a press conference and a demonstration in Oklahoma City at the State Capitol Building to PRotest a fundraiser hosted by Governor Brad Henry, Lieutenant Governor Askins, State Treasurer Scott Meachem, among others to reelect Principal Chief smith. Members of the State Black Caucus led by State Senator Connie Johnson and State NAACP PResident Roosevelt Milton stated their displeasure with Smith and Henry and spoke of their support of the freedmen treaty rights. Other speaches were made by Vann and Velie. Coverage of the event is discussed at: http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/002094.asp
http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/002012.asp

On March 28, Assistant Secretary of the Interior Artman sent a letter to CHerokee Chief Smith telling him that the Federal Government does not recognize the recent constitutional vote disenrolling the freedmen or an amendment to the 1975 constitution which was set up to withdraw federal oversight of tribal constitutions and or their amendments. The letter (as well as Department of Justice Filings on Februrary 12 2007 also stating that the special election would not be recognized) is located on the lawsuit link of "www.freedmen5tribes.com

ON March 13, 2007 27 members of the Congressional Black Caucus called for an investigation into the Cherokee nation March 3rd vote disenrolling Cherokee freedmen tribal members and calling for enforcement of the freedmens treaty rights. http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/congress.htm Representative Diane Watson of California recently appeared on ABC news (www.abcnews.com) with attorney JOn Velie, calling for an investigation and the witholding of federal funds for the tribe until the freedmen treaty rights are upheld.
http://abcnews.go.com/search?searchtext=cherokee&type=video
Other organizations such as Choctaw Chickasaw Freedmens assocaition http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/petition.htm and the national Congress of Black Women have expressed their concern to Congress regarding the disregaridng of the freedmen citizens treaty rights http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/pressrelease.htm
A sample letter which can be written to members of Congress or to Senators regarding freedmen treaty rights is enclosed. Addresses of Senators, Congress, the Black Caucus, etc. can be gotten from www.house.gov or www.senate.gov. The letter will be placed on the www.freedmen5tribes.com website in the near future.

Since the Cherokee freedmen disenrollment is not recognized by the US government, Vann and Velie recommnd that the CHerokee freedmen who were recognized as tribal members in good standing as of march 3 2007 continue to try to exercise their rights as tribal members and try to get in writing any denial of services. Freedmen tribal members should also request absentee ballots by certified mail to try to vote in the upcoming june 23rd elections for tribal officials if they are unable to go to their precincts to try to vote in person on June 23rd.

A Cherokee freedmen fact sheet has been updated and is attached (scroll down) for those who have questions regarding the circumstances of the Cherokee nation recent vote and the freedmen position on the vote. It will be placed on www.freedmen5tribes.com later this month.
On March 30, 2007, Cherokee nation "secretary of State" Knight requested from tribal council officials additional funds of $520,000 to fight the federal lawsuit filed by Cherokee freedmen in 2003 to protect their treaty rights. We encourage all persons who support the Cherokee freedmen treaty rights to donate to the freedmen association legal defense funds or directly to the law firm of Velie and Velie in Norman, Oklahoma. Unlike tribes, persons fighting for their legal treaty rights do not receive federal taxpayer/funds for tribal legal staff and contract lawyers. Addresses for the Descendants of Freedmen association and the Velie law firm are located on the website: www.freedmen5tribes.com

ON February 28th 2007, Creek nation district court judge moore provided clarification of his earlier ruling to tribal Supreme Court JUstices . The judges earlier ruling held that persons descended from Dawes enrolled freedmen who could prove that they are "creeks by blood" from other rolls/sources than being listed on the "creek by blood" section of the Dawes rolls should have had such documentation taken into account when they applied for tribal membership prior to 2002.
Marilyn Vann www.freedmen5tribes.com

BOYCOTT FLYER

CHEROKEE FREEDMEN FACTS

FEDERAL CONTACT LETTER

MARCH 4, 2007

On March 3, 2007 Cherokee voters voted to remove tribal citizenship from persons whose ancestors were listed as Cherokee freedmen tribal members by the Dawes Commission on the Final Ross of the Dawes Commission approximately 100 years ago. The vote amends the 1999 constitution of the Cherokee nation which is not recognized by the US government..
The issue has been recently covered by newspapers such as the NY TIMes,Washington POst, as well as local media.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/03/AR2007030301705.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/02/AR2007030201647.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/us/03cherokee.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7513849

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus as well as members of other civic groups are calling for an investigation of the matter:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17606989/

http://abcnews.go.com/search?searchtext=cherokee&type=video
http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/congress.htm

http://www.indianz.com/mtt/mt-search.cgi

http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/001914.asp

Tribal leaders gained support for the freedmen removal bill by misleading tribal voters telling them that: "freedmen dont have Indian blood", "the freedmen were forced on the tribe", "the freedmen do not have a treaty right to citizenship", "the people have never voted on citizenship provisisions in the history of the tribe", and "the amendment will create an all Indian tribe". Tribal leaders went from city to city telling tribal voters that the freedmen if not ejected, would use up all of the tribal service monies.

We ask that all persons who are concerned with this crime against humanity that has been perpetrated against the freedmen people thru this movement led by tribal leaders contact members of Congress, all media outlets, the Department of Interior, civil rights organizations, etc. to express their concerns and to demand that the treaty rights of the freedmen people be upheld by the US government. The US government in a similar case upheld the rights of Seminole Freedmen illegally ejected from the tribe in 2001.

Result of the Election: Persons whose ancestors were listed as "adopted whites" and listed without blood quantums on the Cherokee by blood roll, Cherokee by blood Minor Roll, and the Cherokee Delaware roll will retain membership in the tribe, based on the design of the constitutional amendment. The amendment has been designed to eject descendants of Dawes enrolled freedmen tribal members with documentation of Indian ancestry made by the Dawes Commission as well as those without documentation of Indian ancestry.

Many persons were not able to participate in the March 3 election because they were not able to vote in person. This is because the tribe implemented "at large" voting provisions based on the 1999 constitution which is not recognized by the Federal Government. We ask that persons who were denied the right to vote and who observed election irregularities to contact the BIA in Muskogee and in Washington DC, the tribal election commission and also the Descendants of Freedmen association board members.
Stay tuned for further developments as to how and when the
election will be challenged.

The next Descendants of Freedmen meeting will be on Saturday March 24 at the Rusidill Library 1520 N. Hartford in Tulsa Oklahoma 1 -3PM. persons of all races, creeds and colors as well as the media is welcome to attend.

Marilyn Vann was featured on www.1230thebuzz.com from Cincinatti on Sunday March 4 2007 at 10 am central time. She was featured on http://www.nativeamericacalling.com/ on February February 28th along with petition proponent Jodie Fishinghawk. (the discussion can be played back).

Marilyn Vann - President - Descendants of Freedmen Assocociation
www.fredmen5tribes.com

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