Let's Call On Congress to Fix Equity Case 7071

 Let's Call On Congress to Fix Equity Case 7071

Addendum: September 2022

The Chickasaw Nation on its official television network has vignettes of their "men of distinction," among them is the former Congressmen from Oklahoma Charles D. Carter. The nation would like the world to believe this man is worthy of recognition because of his "service to Native Americans." 

What they don't tell you are his "racism" towards the formerly enslaved people of the Chickasaw Nation and their descendants during his time in Congress. This becomes relevant when you review the testimony provided by attorneys Michael Burrage and Stephen Greetham during the Senate Indian Affairs Committee Oversight Hearing on Selected Provisions of the Reconstruction Treaty of 1866, in July of 2022.

This is just another example of the "freedmen issue" having "everything to do with race" that must be addressed by the Committee, the Senate and House of Representatives today.

Charles Carter

Looking back on history, the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (1830), the Treaty of 1866 and the Dawes Commission and the U.S. Courts when the 2,000 claimants involved in Equity Case 7071 sought to be transferred from the Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen Rolls to the Choctaw and Chickasaw by Blood Rolls, there was considerable lobbying for Congress to pass legislation to have those 2,000 people with an ancestor that was a recognized citizen transferred to the blood rolls.

 However, practically the entire Oklahoma Congressional delegation led by Congressman Charles Carter and Senator Gore blocked a bill that was passed in the Senate that would have rightfully had those 2,000 individuals transferred to the blood rolls. 

Fast forward to today and the irony is should not be lost on anyone that the Choctaw Nation is asking Congress to “fix the problem with legislation." 

Perhaps Congress can now "fix the problem" of the descendants of those 2,000 claimants involved with Equity Case 7071 and earmark some funds for the loss value of 640,000 acres of land? 

The problems that have emerged from the McGirt decision could be remedied promptly by Congress. Rather than scolding Justice Neil Gorsuch for his majority opinion, let’s call on Congress to fix the problem with legislation.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/congress-choctaw-reservation-mcgirt-11650659358

This line of argument that the children of a recognized male in the Choctaw or Chickasaw nation was the result of perjury and illegitimacy of an enslaved woman is the immorality in this situation. To blame that child and punish it because the two nations feel it necessary to lie about their "racial purity" is almost laughable but that same mindset appears to be guiding the two tribes today as they distance themselves from their history and their people.

Frankly, Congress should not give another dime to these two nations for their continued racial practices and that money should be set aside for the use of the descendants of Equity Case #7071.

and by the way, the descendants of Charles and Eliza Perry should be citizens in the Chickasaw Nation because their ancestors were TRANSFERRED from the FREEDMAN roll to the BLOOD roll FIRST in 1906, FIVE MONTHS before Equity Case 7071 was filed...

and because the tribes just couldn't do the right thing, they continued to fight for their "racial purity" in the courts and in Congress so the Department of the Interior had to do it all over again in January of 1909. The Perry's got their land, it's time the rest of us seek Congressional action since McGirt is having such an impact on Indian Country?

1950 Census Happy Dance

I went to bed last night not really thinking about the 1950 census but when I woke up around mid-night thirty I turned the coffee pot on and sat down with my roomie to watch the last few minutes of the Nets/Bucks game.

 Afterwards I grabbed another cup of Joe and slipped upstairs and hearing the statement, "you leaving me now?" To which I replied, "Nope, I'll be upstairs, if you need me." Silence...

 Taking that as my cue to giddy upstairs while I could, I settled back to do a little census search for my parents and two siblings that were born before 1950. Talk about taking me back to the "good old days of microfilm research" I finally found a link that took me to the actual census records roughly indexed by enumeration districts. Fair warning, if you are doing census research for Los Angeles, you need to do a little preparation because as we all know, L.A. is a big ass county.

 I downloaded some enumeration district maps months ago anticipating they might come in handy, eh! not so much...

 But, because I'm smarter than the average bear I thought of another strategy that might help me. Since 1950 was before the time and place we lived after I was born, I wasn't sure were my father and mother settled when they migrated to Los Angeles in the 40's but I had a vague idea.

 What I did to try and pin a location down on them in the wide world of Los Angeles was look for a voter registration record that might yield an address that I could then use the enumeration district maps more efficiently. 

This was a stroke of genius if I say so myself (smart bears are like that.) After I found a couple of addresses in 1948 and 1952 which covered the 1950 time period I was then able to slog through all of the various enumeration districts and descriptions to zone in on the area that the addresses were in the voter registration records for my father and mother. 

One of the addresses was news to me because I hadn’t heard about before; the other was one that brought up an old memory from when I was about four years old. I remember playing outside my mother’s bedroom window doing something “naughty” that got me in a whole lot of trouble (that’s another story that goes to the grave with me.) But what I remember (other than the “whupping” I got was we lived in the projects and right across the street from an elementary school. Didn’t know the name and couldn’t tell you where we lived; but because smart bears do what smart bears do, I googled the address I found in the voters registration index and (as Marvin Gaye said) I’ll be doggone…

There is a photo of my brother and sister when we lived in the projects with my brother on his tricycle that looked just like the place I googled:

But wait, there’s more!

When I went on Google street view the most amazing thing came up right across the street from this photo.

The school and projects are still there seventy years later!!!

Now all of these discoveries happened before I was able to located my parents, sister and brother for the first time in a census record so for those of you who know the joys of researching microfilm back in the day, I did my happy dance not once, not twice but three times this morning before my third cup of coffee!!!

HAPPY CENSUS HUNTING!