Fri, Jan 09 2009
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Published July 14, 2008 11:35 am - I would like to respond to R.D. Armstrong’s response to my letter. I was offended by his remarks. Check facts on tribes Editor, Daily Press:
I would like to respond to R.D. Armstrong’s response to my letter. I was offended by his remarks. Using the “sovereign nation may enact whatever it feels” argument seems to present some troubling issues. Let’s say the U.S. government was petitioned through Congress by a majority of U.S. citizens who feel the Cherokee Nation has earned so much money, through its tribal endeavors, that it should pay tariffs to move any goods or services within the boundaries of the United States. It’s ironic that R.D. Armstrong even suggests the U.S. charge tariffs on Native nations, when the U.S. and local governments collect property taxes on land that was shamefully taken from native nations, the true landlords of this continent. Not to mention, the tribes are already sending the federal, state and local governments, money for gaming and tobacco, because it’s the government-to-government relationship we have. “Further, if the Cherokee Nation continues to exercise its rights as a sovereign nation, all members of the tribe will be denied U.S. citizenship and any government benefits…” First of all, the government benefits you speak of aren’t benefits to us, they are a government-to-government trust responsibility to the Native people in general, bought and paid for with our blood and land. My previous letter has facts that any person can look up and see for themselves, unlike R.D. Armstrong’s letter, which has no facts to prove my letter had “holes.” The Freedmen were made “residents,” (Article 9 of July 19, 1866 treaty) not citizens, of the Cherokee Nation, because nobody could live within Indian Territory at the time, without paying “rent,” for lack of a better term. It was done because the slaves were already living within Indian Territory, so why not allow them to stay and make them residents of said tribes? It would have been redundant to allow people to live within restricted boundaries, at the time, without the same rights as said people. Anthony D. Gritts, member United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians Muskogee 
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