Native Americans vote to ethnically cleanse their tribes

Unfortunately, just as their forefathers were scalped of their property rights by the white man, gullible and greedy tribal leaders are being fleeced of the lion’s share of their casino earnings by their (indispensable) white “partners”. And, consequently, chronic poverty and welfare dependency remain facts of life for the vast majority of Native Americans.

It is also troubling, however, that Indians are now emulating the whites who oppressed their ancestors by spewing nonsense about the need for racial or tribal purity (at least relative to blacks). Indeed, it’s a curious thing that they would rather be condemned as racists than as niggards. Because all that seems to matter is that evicting blacks would allow the Cherokees (in this case) to claim a greater share of what little of the gambling revenues the white man passes on to them. After all, it’s patently obvious that their sudden campaign to restrict “who should be citizens” of their respective nations is motivated more by greed than racial or tribal pride.

We will pursue the legal remedies that are available to us to stop people from not only losing their voting rights, but to receiving medical care and other services to which they are entitled under law, Marilyn Vann, president of the Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes]

Indeed, just as Indians resorted to the courts to vindicate their sovereign rights to operate casinos, “black Indians” – like J.D. Baldridge (pictured right) – are also resorting to the courts to vindicate their rights and continue reaping welfare benefits as citizens of Indian nations. And their cases will probably be slam dunks in federal courts because these blacks can support their claims by simply pointing to the names of their ancestors on the authoritative Dawes Rolls, which is a federal registry of members of the five major Indian tribes who were living on reservations around 1900.

Therefore, I am stupefied that Indians would allow ignorant greed to undermine the national goodwill that has served them so well. In fact, given the precedent established when the Seminoles voted in 2000 to ethnically cleanse their tribe, one would have thought no other tribe would follow suit. After all, as soon as the Seminole vote was ratified, the U.S. government condemned it and “cut off most federal programs to the tribe”; which forced the Seminoles to nullify their own vote and allow blacks (with ancestries similar to Baldridge’s) to remain bona fide members of their tribe.

Nevertheless, the Cherokees are scheduled today to ratify the vote 76 percent of its members cast on 3 March:

…to amend the Cherokee Nation’s constitution to remove the estimated 2,800 freedmen descendants from the tribal rolls.

Of course, it may be that the Cherokees, like people in so many other developing nations, have lost so much regard for the political and financial influence of the U.S. that they couldn’t care any less how the Bush Administration reacts. In fact, just as oil wealth has allowed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to thumb his nose at the U.S., casino wealth may imbue Cherokee leaders with similar defiant pride.

But my Indian friends should be mindful that not everyone wanted John Wayne to win. And, moreover, that their campaign against these (Dawes-Roll) blacks is so anathema to the legacy of their forefathers that famous Indian Chiefs like Sitting Bull, Cochise and Dragging Canoe must be rolling over in their graves…

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