Leading The News

A civil rights controversy surrounding several Indian tribes could pit President Obama against some of Capitol Hill’s most prominent liberals and black lawmakers.

Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), John Lewis (D-Ga.) and others asked Attorney General Eric Holder in a letter dated last Thursday to initiate a “full-scale investigation” of five Indian tribes for allegedly abusing the rights of the Freedmen: African-Americans descended from freed slaves once owned by Indians.

Also signing onto the letter were other senior lawmakers from the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), including Reps. Diane Watson (D-Calif.), Shelia Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), the caucus’s chairwoman.

“Over forty years after enactment of the landmark Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, there is a place in the United States that African Americans cannot vote or receive federal benefits as a matter of law,” the letter states. “The victims of this racial oppression are known as freedmen, who are descendants of African slaves owned by Indians. They are called freedmen, but they are anything but free.”

The call for an aggressive investigation of the tribes by Congress could force Obama to contradict a position he took on the campaign trail last year.

In the spring of 2008, the then-Illinois senator helped solidify his Native American support by arguing against Washington intervening in a dispute involving a group of Freedmen and the leaders of the Cherokee Nation. The Freedmen had been expelled from the tribe after it amended its constitution in March 2007.

The CBC had begun targeting the Cherokee for that decision, pushing legislation to cut off public housing funding for the tribe.

Instead, Obama advocated for the matter to be adjudicated through the courts, not Congress, though he said he felt the Cherokee were wrong to banish the Freedmen from their ranks. That won praise from several Native American leaders, many of whom said they would have reconsidered their endorsements of the candidate if he sided with the CBC.

Lawmakers in Washington were not pleased, though. Watson criticized Obama for his position in an op-ed in The Hill in May 2008, saying the senator did not have “a clear understanding of the issue.”

Now, as president, Obama most likely will have to weigh in again via his administration. A court filing by the Interior Department just days after his inauguration has already sought to dismiss several of the Freedmen’s claims against the Cherokee in particular.

But the Freedmen have their own advocates among the lawmakers on Capitol Hill, whose letter the Justice Department has received.

“We will review the letter to determine what action, if any, is appropriate,” said Alejandro Miyar, a Justice Department spokesman.

Reacting to the letter, representatives for the tribes said they have followed the law and have not abused the rights of anyone.

“You have to have Creek blood to be a citizen of our nation. We do have a lot of black people who are members,” said Chief A.B. Ellis of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

“This letter shows that, when it comes to the Cherokee Nation, its signatories do not care about the facts or what’s happening in the federal courts. As the Cherokee Nation has explained to more than 100 members of Congress through meetings, this issue has never been about race but only about who is a citizen of an Indian nation,” said Mike Miller, a spokesman for the Cherokee.

Bill Anoatubby, governor of the Chickasaw Nation, also said his tribe had not discriminated against anyone. “We have a firm commitment to diversity and an intense aversion to discrimination in any form. We will not waver in upholding our responsibility to preserve and defend the rights of all our citizens,” Anoatubby said.

The lawmakers asked for an investigation into a group of tribes — known as the Five Civilized Tribes — that had good relations with settlers during colonial times but were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma.

Originally, the CBC had concentrated only on the Cherokee, since they recently amended their constitution to exclude the Freedmen. A court order has given the Freedmen temporary Cherokee citizenship as the dispute weaves its way through the federal courts.

At issue is how the rights of the Freedmen — estimated to number 100,000 to 150,000 among the five tribes — should be treated by Indian leaders.

The lawmakers have argued several tribes signed treaties with the federal government after the Civil War that would afford citizenship rights to the freed slaves. They would be treated as full members, earning the applicable benefits and being allowed to vote in tribal elections.

But Indian leaders have disagreed. Several have held elections to change their tribal constitutions to exclude the Freedmen. They believe any action from Washington would interfere with their tribal sovereignty and thus would be unjust.

Black lawmakers found a powerful ally outside their caucus in Frank, the House Financial Services Committee chairman, who in the past has supported measures to remove federal funding for the Cherokee. The Massachusetts Democrat wrote his own letter to Holder , dated April 15, asking him to investigate the controversy surrounding the Freedmen.

“An investigation into the ongoing actions by these tribes to systemically disenfranchise Freedman citizens is particularly warranted given the existence of these treaties and the significant amount of taxpayer money that is distributed annually to these tribes for healthcare, housing, education and infrastructure,” Frank wrote.

According to his letter, Frank has been in discussions with Charles Ogletree, a professor at Harvard Law School, who has similar views on the Freedmen dispute. Ogletree met with Holder on Monday, at which time he was expected to push the attorney general to investigate the allegations against the Indian tribes.

Ogletree is not just a respected law professor, though. He was rumored to be picked for a Justice Department post once Obama was elected. The professor is also considered a mentor to the president and taught both Obama and the first lady at Harvard Law.