All Choctaws are Choctaw by Blood & All are Lineal Descendants of Choctaw Indians

 If all it takes for someone to be a Choctaw is to be a "lineal descendant" of a Choctaw Indian, then Judge Michael Burrage and the Choctaw Nation have some explaining to do.

In May of 1899, the lineal descendants of Boss McCoy a Choctaw Indian were enrolled as Choctaw Freedmen. Frances Boatwright and all of her children appeared on the 1896 CITIZENSHIP ROLL as a McCoy, except for the youngest, George Washington Boatwright. 

Based on the statement of Judge Michael Burrage during his presentation to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs you would think this family would have been enrolled on the Choctaw by Blood roll based on their lineal descent from a Choctaw Indian and their descendants would be card carrying Choctaw Indians today. 

Contrary to Michael Burrage's statement of "the freedmen issue is not about race" the evidence would contradict his and the nation's belief that the Choctaw Nation embraces its diversity and has always based citizenship on the political construction of "race?"

Throughout her testimony one could sense the shortcomings of a formerly enslaved woman to the process of the Dawes allotment process but what is also evident is her knowledge of the genealogy of her children and their rights to citizenship as lineal descendants of a Choctaw that came to Indian Territory from Mississippi.

Throughout the process this family went through the issue of race was a factor that demonstrates how ridiculous the statement made by Judge Michael Burrage during the "Oversight Hearing on Select Provisions of the Reconstruction Hearing of 1866" July 27, 2022

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs must take a strong position to enforce the terms of the Treaty of 1866 and repair the damage done, not only to the citizenship of the "lineal descendants" of Oliver "Boss" McCoy and Susan Brashears. Repair and resolution to the value of land lost by race-based policies of the Dawes Commission the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations and the Department of the Interior of the United States.

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs must determine the value of the land lost to this and other families that would have been granted if not for the racial prejudices against their African ancestry during the enrollment process. It was clearly race that was the basis for the decision to place them on the Choctaw Freedmen Roll. 

The origins of this story were based on race and no matter how much the lawyers for the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations attempt to obscure this fundamental fact, race is the very reason these questions are being asked over one-hundred and fifty years later.

Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen Recognition for Federal Benefits

Since the July 27, 2022 Oversight Hearing of the Reconstruction Treaty of 1866 held by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, we have been in contact with the Legislative Assistant and Appropriations Manager Kurt Lynch in the office of Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.

If you live in Nevada you can contact Mr. Kurt Lynch at the following email address:

Kurt_Lynch@cortezmasto.senate.gov

The Senator is eager to hear from her constituents about their concerns regarding the status of freedmen descendants of the five tribes known as Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Muskogee/Creek. However, our efforts are focused on the issues pertaining to Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen descendants we continue to encourage other descendants to contact their Senators, especially if they are members of the committee like Senator Cortez Masto of Nevada and Senator Lankford of Oklahoma.

Some have asked for a template or form letter they can circulate among their family and other freedmen descendants so they can take part in the "lobbying" effort to inform the committee members of our history and rights to federal benefits based on our connections to the tribes.

List of SCIA members: https://www.indian.senate.gov/about-us/committee-members

Should you wish to take part in this effort please feel free to copy and paste the following statement:

Attorney Michael Burrage for the Choctaw Nation clearly stated in his opening remarks to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, that all the members in the Choctaw Nation today are “lineal descendants” of Choctaw Indians. 

 

Judge Burrage and attorney Stephen Greetham, who represented the Chickasaw Nation, both stressed that because of tribal sovereignty, the tribes had the authority to determine its members, not the federal government. 

 

If that sentiment is true and shared by the committee it ignores one basic fact, the tribes don’t have the authority to determine our heritage or what we are entitled to as “lineal descendants” of recognized Choctaw and Chickasaw citizens.

 

There are three sources available to determine who is a “lineal descendant” of a Choctaw or Chickasaw citizen:

 

1.     The Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen Dawes Cards

2.     The List of Litigants in Equity Case 7071

3.     The 254 files that compose the Joe and Dillard Perry Petition to Transfer Files

 

We are developing databases and indexes for all three resources should you need our assistance.

 

With that in mind we respectfully suggest that Congress and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs determine our rightful status and have the GAO to construct a database, index and population number of descendants that are eligible for the same benefits, monies and programs offered to members of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nation, regardless of membership in the nation of their ancestor’s birth.

Contact us at: 

equitycase7071@gmail.com