This is my personal response and reflections on the “Open
Letter” posted by Chief Gary Batton of the Choctaw Nation regarding citizenship
for Choctaw Freedmen Descendants. Chief Batton’s remarks are italicized.
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| Indian Citizen January 12, 1905 |
“Today our tribal
membership is based on the Dawes Rolls — a poisonous legacy from 125 years ago
that took root and caused a myriad of membership issues for tribal nations,
including Freedmen.”
“Perhaps the The CDIB
Card & Blood Quantum Law. The US government's Bureau of Indian Affairs
issues a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood, commonly known as a CDIB card.
According to the US government, "it provides a blood degree by
tribe." These degrees are based on the Dawes Rolls.”
“I respectfully ask
you to take a moment and reflect on that. This is a federal construct that has
fueled division and racism. To receive a CDIB card, a person must trace their
"blood" ancestry to the Dawes Rolls. At this time, the US government
also does not recognize Freedmen in its CDIB enrollment process. This
systemized measuring a person's "degree of Indian-ness" is
fundamentally flawed, has heavily influenced modern-day tribal membership and
should change.”
To paraphrase the movie Cool Hand Luke; “what we’ve got here
is failure to communicate!” Chief Batton is using the process of acquiring a
CDIB card to determine blood quantum but he fails to state that it is up to the
individual tribal nation to determine “citizenship” eligibility.
The Five Slave Holding Tribes have consistently used this excuse
as their explanation for not adhering to the Treaty of 1866 granting
citizenship for the descendants of their enslaved populations, the truth is
they don’t have to rely on a CDIB card for citizenship.
However it if they use that card to determine who shall
receive services or share in the monies of the nation that’s a different matter
and should be addressed as opposed to continually use CDIB as an obstacle for
granting citizenship to Freedmen descendants
It is amazing the Choctaw Nation has gone to great lengths to
use the CDIB process that Chief Batton declares is based on a flawed history.
Freedmen descendants, especially those who had ancestors that petitioned to be
transferred to the blood rolls wholeheartedly agree![i]
Perhaps it’s time the nation abolishes this criteria altogether and stop using
the excuse of the “devil made me do it?”
The Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations need to address this very
issue of how detrimental the use of the Dawes process to determine a “Certificate
of Indian Blood” and how the flawed process he mentions was used to eliminate
thousands of individuals who had a “recognized citizen” as an ancestor.
If the Choctaw Nation and its chief are serious about
addressing the history he only needs to look at the Joe and Dillard Perry files
that consist of more than two-hundred and fifty cases where applicants
attempted to be correctly placed on the by blood rolls but were denied because
of the “custom” of antebellum slavery when children followed the status of
their mother.
That process was so flawed that it violated its own mandate when
Choctaw or Chickasaw fathers like Jesse McGee, Chickasaw by blood card #551, enrollment
#1646 fought to have his children and their descendants enrolled on the blood
roll despite their mother Dora McGee Chickasaw Freedwoman card #572, enrollment
#2381.
Chief Batton can look to his own nation for examples like
the family of Morris Impson, Choctaw by Blood card #1829, enrollment #5198.
Morris had several children with Chickasaw Freedwoman Lucy Impson, card #1071,
enrollment #4517 who may have also been the product of an enslaved woman and “recognized”
Chickasaw Indian.
The evidence is overwhelming and convincing that the Dawes
process was flawed, racist and detrimental to the descendants of Choctaw and
Chickasaw citizens and caused a loss of land wealth, heritage and as Chief
Batton correctly surmised, left “scars and wounds” not only to those in the
tribe but equally on those who have been removed from the “Chahta spirit of faith, family and culture.”
Freedmen Descendants!
https://www.choctawnation.com/sites/default/files/CDIB-Membership-Packet-Apr2021.pdf
https://www.choctawnation.com/sites/default/files/cdibpolicy%2010-3-17.pdf
The Chickasaw Nation has a similar position on citizenship
from the same flawed Dawes enrollment process.
CERTIFICATE
OF DEGREE OF INDIAN BLOOD (CDIB)
The Certificate of
Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) is an official U.S. document, issued by the
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which certifies an individual has a specific
degree of Native American blood of a federally recognized Indian tribe, band,
nation, pueblo, village or community. Individuals who want to prove their
Chickasaw Indian blood should complete the CDIB application. The application is
a family tree chart that must be submitted along with the required documents
and supporting documents if needed.
The CDIB does not
establish citizenship with the Chickasaw Nation. Once Chickasaw applicants
receive the CDIB, they are eligible to apply for citizenship in the Chickasaw
Nation.
For every case where a father was successful in getting his
children and descendants enrolled on the blood roll there were literally
hundreds who were denied, specifically those Choctaw and Chickasaw descendants
than make up the list of litigants on Equity Case 7071 and the Joe and Dillard
Petition to Transfer Files.
Let me know when you are ready to “talk” because “we see you
and we hear you.”
[i]
Equity Case 7071 Bettie Ligon v Chickasaw Nation, Choctaw Nation &
Department of Interior Filed April 13, 1907
