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Watch Chief Chuck Hoskin fight for Cherokee Nation to get the seat they were promised 200 years ago [1]

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Date: 2022-11-18

With this context in mind, we have a long, long way to go. One small step in the right direction comes to us out of Congress. As reported by NPR, Congress held its first hearing about creating a non-voting delegate spot for the Cherokee Nation on Nov. 16. Mind you, the federal government said this would happen close to 200 years ago. But a step is a step.

For some additional context, here’s how we got here. President Andrew Jackson pledged to the Cherokee Nation that they would have a seat in Congress but never delivered on it. This provision was included in the Treaty of New Echota back in 1835. If that sounds vaguely familiar to you, that’s likely because Jackson made this promise after violently displacing folks from their ancestral land, forcing thousands of Indigenous people out west in what we now know as the Trail of Tears.

"It's time for this body to honor this promise and seat our delegate in the House of Representatives," Cherokee Nation principal chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said while addressing the House Committee on Rules. He went on to clarify that no constitutional “barrier” stops this from happening.

“Treaties are binding commitments,” Hoskin said in part. “The Cherokee Nation delivered on its commitment long ago in land and lives. It is time for the United States to deliver on its promise.”

Folks in the committee went back and forth on the specific language of the treaty and whether or not it holds up today (it, of course, absolutely should and does) with Hoskin, who is the elected leader of the more than 400,000 tribal members, stressing that this provision was “critical.” In addition to ethics, the treaty doesn’t have an expiration date, and the U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t repealed it.

Duplicating voter representation isn’t an issue, either, in that while Representatives get to vote on the floor, Delegates don’t. So this seat would put Cherokee Nation into a similar category as a U.S. territory, for example. (Whether this should be the case at all for Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, etc., is another issue in itself, but I digress...)

And it’s not as though they don’t have someone ready to go—back in 2019, Hoskin appointed Kimberly Teehee to serve as the first delegate. (Teehee formerly served as an advisor to Barack Obama.)

The committee didn’t actually vote, but Hoskin expressed hope that a “conclusion” can be found in this calendar year. After all, it’s been more than long enough.

You can check out the full meeting below, courtesy of YouTube.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/18/2137100/-Watch-Chief-Chuck-Hoskin-fight-for-Cherokee-Nation-to-get-the-seat-they-were-promised-200-years-ago

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