Amonsoquath Genocide

Sovereign Amonsoquath Band of Cherokee...A Member Band of the Western Cherokee Nation of Arkansas and Missouri

AMONSOQUATH GENOCIDE

AMONSOQUATH - GENOCIDE OF NATIVE AMERICANS - B.I.A. and THE STATE OF MISSOURI: HIDING THE TRUTH FROM THE AMERICAN PUBLIC

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BIA Secretary Kevin Gover announces change in policy!

Since this article below was released for the first time last Thursday, May 18 2000, BIA Sect'y Kevin Gover has announced a change in policy. As our petitioned demanded, Sect'y Gover now recommends a three-person commission, appointed by the President, to handle recommendations of federal recognition of Indian Tribes.

Associated Press, in an article released yesterday, March 24, said the move was a "surprise", but in light of our email petition campaign demanding this new method, this is doubted. There is an old saying : "Nothing in politics happens by accident".

Secretary Kevin Gover may actually be the first BIA Sect'y in history to try and do some good. If the law is passed, we shall see who gets appointed to the Presidential Commission. It is easier to influence these three persons through public opinion that an entire BIA bureaucracy! Lets keep up the pressure, and push for more federal funds for ANA Grants.

Here's the Article published Thursday, May 18, 2000:

B.I.A. and THE STATE OF MISSOURI: Committing Economic Genocide against Bona Fide Native Governments

Note: The Author would like to make it clear he has no vested interest in Indian Arts and Crafts. He does not presume to speak for his tribe's governing body. The intent is to expose the truth, and to safeguard Arts and Crafts rights for all bona-fide Native Peoples.

To: many print, television and other news media contacts, Sen. Jon Kyl, Honorable Secretary Babbitt, Mr. Assistant Secretary BIA Kevin Gover, Missouri Governor Jean Carnahan and his Honorable Secretaries and Lieutenant Governor, Missouri Senate President Roger Wilson, Missouri Chief Justice Wm. Ray Price, Mr. Speaker of the MO House Steve Gaw, US Senator John Ashcroft, US Representative for MO Joanne Emerson, Mr. President and the First Lady, and Mr. Vice President Al Gore and Mrs. Gore

Brothers and Sisters:

Let me begin by saying that we all hold you all dear in our hearts for your burden of responsibility, and your many good works so far in this administration, but we wonder sometimes just who is doing the thinking inside the beltway. Politicians are people too, and irate citizens sometimes forget that. Now let me proceed to make a few critical remarks. I hope you are better than I at accepting negative criticism, without disregarding it completely.

Indian Arts and Crafts Board Wants Us to Deny Our Rightful Heritage and Legal Rights

The reason for this windy missive is that the Indian Arts and Crafts Board recently sent a letter to Principal Chief Beverly Baker-Northup asking the "Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory" (hereafter in this document NCNOLT) to cease claiming their Arts and Crafts are "Indian Made". Anonymous threat phone calls have also been made to other chiefs.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board has also published incorrect information on its website, misrepresenting the Indian Arts and Crafts Act. At http://www.doi.gov/iacb/act.html, it states, and I quote:

"Under the Act, an Indian is defined as a member of any federally or State recognized Indian tribe, or an individual certified as an Indian artisan by an Indian tribe." This statement is a half-truth, obviously meant to mislead people who visit the website. It may also be in violation of the Internet Commerce laws.

I do not want to seem instructive in my tone, but I think that the Indian Arts and Crafts Board has overstepped its authority on this matter. It is so sad see that they may not understand the laws they are charged with enforcing, The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990. I believe a simple reading of the law reveals Congress' intent. Congress intended eligibility under this act NOT just for tribes and Indians "eligible for services from the Secretary of the Interior" to be eligible under this act, or they would have said so! The Native American Religious Freedom Act (see http://amonsoquathbandofcherokee.com/narfa.html), and the Indian Civil Rights Act also covers non-federally recognized tribes, because Congress knows that we are legally Indians also, regardless of "federal recognition." Or not It is your job to simply enforce the law… not rewrite it.

"Great Nations, Like Great Men, Should Keep Their Word"

Justice Black said that, in discussing the abrogation of Indian Treaties. "For better or worse, Congress is the custodian of the nation's honor when it comes to breaching Indian Treaties." Charles F. Wilkinson and John M. Volkman in "Judicial Review of Indian Treaty Abrogation: "As Long as Water Flows or Grass Grows Upon the Earth" - How long is that? 63 Cal. L. Review (1975)

As the famous Indian Law expert Felix Cohen said in last mid-century, Indians are kind of a barometer, which used properly, give good indications of what is right and wrong in our democratic system. He likened us to the Jews of Nazi Germany. He said we Indians are like the canaries that coal miners used to use to indicate when poison gas was present. That was a nice way of saying that sometimes folks in Washington don't know what clean air smells like!

We remember the shameful legacy of some former administrations, and the shining examplesof some others, and what challenges and opportunities for reform that history has left to you all as our modern leaders.

The Wisdom of our Nation's Fathers

Democratic change is painfully slow. The Amonsoquath have been waiting since 1803 for America to come to its senses, and it has not happened yet. Thomas Jefferson knew the weaknesses of a democratic republic, and did not trust a government that did not have a violent revolution every 7 years, as you may recall.

I am so glad that the Legislative Branch of our government makes the rules, because the Executive Branch evidently has some trouble understanding the laws it makes. Such was the wisdom of your founding fathers, who were wise enough to model your government after the Iroquois League, which was basically the same government we Cherokees have always had. It is, however, unfortunate that the founding fathers did not enfranchise blacks and women sooner! Just imagine what a fine world we might live in! When your people first met with our Cherokee headmen, the two delegations faced each other, and the white leaders asked, "Why did you bring your women?" We Cherokees were said, "Why didn't you bring yours?" Whether you realize it or not, our Creator sent European folks here to learn from us. It is sad to think how you have treated us.

The Crux of the Matter

The "Indian Arts and Crafts Act" also states, along with the half-truth mentioned above, that for the purpose of the Act: (and please see http://amonsoquathbandofcherokee.com/iaca.htm for the entire text of this Act.)

"(e) Indian tribe means--

(1) Any Indian tribe, band, nation, Alaska Native village, or any organized group or community which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians; or

(2) Any Indian group that that has been formally recognized as an Indian tribe by a State legislature or by a State commission or similar organization legislatively vested with State tribal recognition authority. "

The issue turns on this verbiage: "Any Indian tribe, band, nation, Alaska Native village, or any organized group or community which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians..." and not just by The Secretary of the Interior. The United States includes the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (US HHS) which is a cabinet level organization equal in stature to the Department of the Interior, which also recognizes Indian Tribes as sovereign nations, and is the ONLY U.S. agency that serves all Native Americans, Hawaiians, and Alaskan Natives.

Button, Button, who's got the "Recognition" Button

Nowhere in this Act of Congress does it say that a tribe must be "federally recognized" or "recognized as eligible for services from the Secretary of the Interior to be eligible!

In "United States vs. Washington," the court ruled that "[n]on recognition of the tribe by the federal government may result in the loss of statutory benefits, but can have no impact on treaty rights" United States vs. Washington, 520 F2d 676, 693 (9th Cir. 1975), cert. denied 423 U.S. 1086 (196)

All Indian tribes are under the "plenary" control of Congress, under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, by virtue of claiming status as a tribe, band, or nation… but not all are, or even want to be "eligible for services from the secretary of the interior." "Plenary" means "without limitation of subject matter" but it must be balanced with the aboriginal title that Indians have over this continent.

Help us fight this move by the BIA to curtail needed funds, through Arts and Crafts sales or Tribal business cooperatives, for the recognition of bona-fide but "non-federally recognized" governments of Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives, and Native Americans to gain "federal recognition."

Many Native government's only technical and financial resource for gaining "services from the Secretery of the Interior" which is only RUMORED to constitute "federal recognition," is through "Administration for Native Americans" (ANA) Grants"

Here's a Federal Agency that is Actually Trying to Help Natives!

These federal grants typically provide, out of a $65,000 dollar grant, about $30,000 a year to fund a part time staff of three persons, provide local telephone services, meager office rent, about $500 a year for office supplies, and provide no office machines, or real estate, which must be provided by volunteers under a 20% "matching" provison in the grant. In reality, it takes much more to fight the "recognition" battle!

Over 1/2 of these grants go to provide professional consulting services for "ethnologists" and "federal recognition consultants" to help Native Governments finalize their rolls, and to clarify and prepare their petitions for federal recognition.

Since it takes $200,000 to $400,000 in costs these day to gain federal recognition , and the BIA knows it, this is economic genocide, fought with disinformation campaigns like this one.

Since ANA recognition is "federal recognition," under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, and since the BIA has always worked against the interests of Native Governments, this is an attempt to derail the financial efforts of more Native Governments to gain recognition from The Sect'y of the Interior.

Interagency Turf Battle and "Shell Game"

In other words, this is all a "shell game" game to the BIA, who must certainly resent ANA's attempts to actually assist Native Governments, which is something that any Native legal expert (and many have written on this subject) will tell you that the BIA has rarely done, and usually actively works against, many times in conspiracy with "recognized" cousins of "unrecognized" Natives. In other words, a government must fight their way to "recognition, and then the BIA plays that government against it's "unrecognized" cousins if they can. This is how this game is played.

So, the BIA is attempting, once again, to mislead the American public, this time in the matter of misrepresentation, on its website, of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990. This is a move by the BIA to cripple poorer Native Governments from obtaining the ability to gather the information needed to clarify their petitions for federal recognition through the needed funds for their legal costs to petition the federal government to become "recognized as eligible for services from the Secretary of the Interior" ($250,000 to 400,000 in most recent history), and is an an inter-agency turf battle being waged by the BIA to attempt to cripple the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) grant program under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the only U.S. agency that serves ALL Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.

The BIA, part of the Executive Branch of the federal government, has had a habit of arbitrary refusal to "recognize" Indian tribes, and Congress has had to discipline the BIA on occasion for attempting to usurp the plenary power of Congress. This is another occasion where, the BIA should have its hand slapped.

Again, notice please this act does NOT say that, "Tribes must be recognized as eligible for services from the Sect'y of the Interior", or what is commonly referred to as "Federally Recognition" for Indian tribes. It is a cornerstone of Indian Law that not all legally constituted Indian Tribes are "federally recognized," but many Tribes use their "federal recognition" to lord over their cousins in smaller non-federally recognized tribes. This is especially true of the federally recognized Cherokees, some of whom still seem to be still fighting the Civil War. They seem to forget that many of us "unrecognized" Cherokee are descendants of Chickamauga Cherokees who tried to get them to stop walking the path which eventually led them to the Trail of Tears, and to many of their other societal and cultural problems today. The recent Joe Byrd administration is something most Cherokees would like to forget, and notwithstanding her popularity with the press, Wilma Mankiller's administration was known to many as an eight-year "reign of terror."

Legal Entitlements to Traffic in Indian Arts and Crafts Explained

The ATC as well as the NCNOLT mentioned above, have both filed "intent to petition" letters to the Department of the Interior declaring intent to petition for "federal recognition." Here's how both tribes, and many others like us, are IN FACT LEGALLY recognized and entitled under the Indians Arts and Crafts Act to traffic in Arts and Crafts:

The US HHS recognizes the sovereignty of Indian Tribes also, and gives assistance in the form of grants to help tribes to clarify their status historically and ethnologically, which can be a long process.

Both tribes mentioned in this document, and many others like them, are in fact legally entitled to traffic in Arts and Crafts, simply by virtue of being "recognized as eligible" to receive an Administration for Native Americans (ANA) grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which agency of the Federal Government does recognized our status as sovereign Indian Nations! The fact that both tribes receive such a grant is immaterial to the discussion.

From the ANA website a http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/ana/: "The Administration for Native Americans (ANA) promotes the goal of social and economic self-sufficiency of American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other Native American Pacific Islanders, including Native Samoans. Self-sufficiency is that level of development at which a Native American community can control and internally generate resources to provide for the needs of its members and meet its own economic and social goals. Social and economic underdevelopment is the paramount obstacle to the self-sufficiency of Native American communities and families.

"These programs affirm that Indian Tribes are fully sovereign nations, entitled by treaty and law to be dealt with on a direct, government-to-government basis. SEDS implements this policy of committing the Federal Government to foster self-determination and self-governance for Native American people, and promotes consultation and increased Tribal authority in the administration of Federal funds."

ANA is the only federal agency serving all Native Americans, including over 500 federally recognized tribes, 60 tribes that are state recognized or seeking federal recognition, Indian organizations, over 200 Alaska villages, Native Hawaiian communities, and populations throughout the Pacific basin. "

Again, please excuse my instructional tone, but the Department of the Interior is not the only part of the Federal Government. We, the "Amonsoquath Band of Cherokee (Hereafter "ATC") and the NCNOLT, because our tribes are eligible for and do in fact receive "Administration for Native Americans" Grants from the US Dept. of Health and Human Services, and we receive that program's services based on our status as Indians. This agency openly recognizes our status as sovereign nations on their website! This clearly makes us eligible to legally traffic in Indian Arts and Crafts under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act. So, why spend millions of dollars in a case that may go all the way to the Supreme Court, that we would win eventually if we sued, and not spend a dime enforcing the law against the thousands of people illegally selling crafts represented as "Indian" or "Native American" on eBay, and on the open market! We could sue US in federal court, and assert our rights under the Indian Civil Rights Act.

What is "Federal Recognition" anyway?

That depends on whom you are talking to. It also depends on what Act of Congress, program, agency, or federal bureaucracy you are dealing with, and BIA knows this. That is why this Arts and Crafts smokescreen can be nothing but a politically motivated issue, and they are counting on the US Public the ignorant of these facts. Verify this with any "Indian Law" expert.

Until the 1960s, when the current BIA "scheme" for tribal recognition was set up, any Indian tribe could file, and supposedly still can - because it is still viable US statutory law - to have their Tribal Council federally recognized under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, or The Wheeler-Howard Act. Any Tribe that was then in existence and did not vote "NO" within a certain period of time, which turned out to be two years was automatically "federally recognized" under the Wheeler-Howard Act, and needed only apply to DOI for their share of the revolving loan fund. Many successful tax-free Indian businesses were and still are started using the IRA Loan Fund.

"Indians Are Their Own Worst Enemies" D.L "Pappy" Hicks, Chief, Texas Cherokee Nation

Nowadays, some but not all of the "Super Tribes" and "Super Chiefs" that were created by the IRA like to look down on smaller non-federally recognized tribes that are trying assert themselves, calling those that do as "opportunists." Why not? The "Super Tribes" have economic opportunity, why not give your own blood cousins the same opportunity? The Pequots of Connecticut are certainly a recent example of what some of these recent "opportunists" can accomplish. The sad truth is, many Indians are like lobsters in a pot, who will keep a brother from trying to crawl out of a pot that's heating up to boil.

Prior to the 60s, if other Indians recognized you as Indians, and you lived in the same area and had an organized tribal council, your council was considered to be "federally recognized" under the IRA. See the text of this Act of Congress at http://amonsoquathbandofcherokee.com/ira1934_wheeler_howard_act.html, and see Sec. 19. The term "Indian" as used in this Act shall include all persons of Indian descent who are members of any recognized Indian tribe now under Federal jurisdiction [NOTE: This means anyone who claims to be an Indian who was not under "state jurisdiction," and many Indians were], and all person who are descendants of such members who were, on June 1, 1934, residing within the present boundaries of any reservation, and shall further include all other persons of one-half or more Indian blood. For the purposes of this Act, Eskimos and other aboriginal peoples of Alaska shall be considered Indians. The term "tribe" wherever used in this Act shall be construed to refer to any Indian tribe, organized band, pueblo, or the Indians residing on one reservation. The words "adult Indians" wherever used in this Act shall be construed to refer to Indians who have attained the age of twenty-one years.

Does Your Left Hand Not Know What Your Right Hand is Doing?

Even though we are, even as we are presently constituted as non-federally recognized tribes, eligible for an "Indian Arts and Crafts Development Grant", the Arts and Crafts Board now says we supposedly are not legally allowed to make Arts and Crafts! Sound like, once again, that the left hand does not know what the right is doing inside the beltway. See CFDA 15.850, Indian Arts and Crafts Development, at http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/cfda/P15850.htm. Non-profit organizations are eligible.

Why not create a Grant, which would be available from the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, which we also are eligible to receive, to allow us to help you enforce the existing law! We could do this much more cheaply than the F.B.I. can! Thousand of individuals in the US with NO tribal affiliations at all make illegal Arts and Crafts which are openly represented as being "Indian" or "Native American" made! Just check out eBay any day of the week!

What About the B.I.A.?

Don't get me wrong... if the BIA "went away", as badly as it is and has been managed since its inception, we Indians would have no one to lobby for funds for both Indians and the BIA, so I am not saying we should abolish the BIA... just clean it up! After all, the recent loss of 400 Billion dollars of Indian moneys does not get lost accidentally, and should have gotten your attention.

Again, you show the world by example that you just don't seem to really care about Indians! We have been in the BIA office and seen how shoddily the record were maintained!

On the bright side, Assistant Sect'y Kevin Gover is an excellent spokesman for mixed-blood Native American Indians. He recently commented in an interview with The New London, CT "The Day" newspaper, on May 14, 2000, that "It is dehumanizing to suggest that there is some magic amount of Indian blood that is sufficient or insufficient to make one an Indian."

Why the Shift in US Indian Policy?

Just ask any "Indian lawyer", and he will tell you that US "Indian policy" has always been subject to policies that shift like the sands of the Sahara desert, which is what some Indian reservations happen to look like. Observe the change in federal policy in the last 65 years! Do you people in the media get the picture yet? Nowadays, tribes who are "eligible for services from the Secretary" do not want to "share" with their bona fide cousins, because that would somehow make their "share of the federal pie" smaller. Power, prestige, and a pitiful legacy that passes for "sovereignty" in Indian Politics are also at stake, along with high paying powerful jobs running the tribal councils, tribal industries, and tribal bureaucracies, which are little clones of the federal government. In other words, Indians, like the federal government, have become what they hated most, and their cultures of love, sharing, and social responsibility has been effectively destroyed.

"Indian New Deal"?

In other words, in the 1930s, the US government wanted all tribes "in" on this deal. Perhaps FDR wanted to harness the power of Indians in the US economy during the "New Deal" era. Whatever the ostensible reason, it was to help the US economy, and you can bank on that. It was, in fact, called the "Indian New Deal." Also, it was a good "Public Relations move" for the US government, because the US Public was also tired of seeing starving naked Indians. But it was; somehow, politically expedient then and maybe guilt played a big part. World War Two was coming, and the government knew what good combat troops Indians were, e.g. Cpl. James D. Slaton. James was a Missouri Cherokee, who won the Medal of Honor for taking out three machine gun nests in Italy, and was later jailed for 5 Years after the US Government promised no one would be prosecuted after the occupation of Wounded Knee by members of the American Indian Movement, or AIM in 1973. How soon we forget.

Follow the Money

Under the present recognition scheme, the BIA apparently do not want more tribes recognized, unless the politicians in the respective State Governments that are concerned want a Casino in their state, double quick. Why were the Amonsoquath of Missouri told by the BIA they would wait 15 years, and that their application would be put at the bottom of the pile, but the Connecticut tribes put on a fast track? Why? MONEY and POLITICS! The US Congress does not want to have to live up to its trust obligations anymore, and if the tribes make their own money with a Casino, then the BIA may do not have to shell out to feed and clothe more poor Indians.

Why the change in US policy? As "Deep Throat" used to say back in the Watergate days, "Follow the Money." Money is the answer. The BIA now wants total control over determining who is an "Indian" instead of Indians determining who are "Indians." Tribal government like those in Missouri, where it was illegal to even be an Indian up until recently, did not come forward until the mid 1980s when the anti Indian laws were dropped from the state's statutes.

Many IRA Indian Councils do not have "BIA services", and are "Federally Recognized." Some Federal Grants, available to only "Indian Tribes," make a distinction between tribes whose councils are "eligible for services from the Secretary of the Interior" or "recognized under the Indian Reorganization Act. The Pequots are using the IRA to annex a lot of land in Connecticut as you read this.

The Bear Clan, Most Ancient of all the Clans

To quote our Chief's book The Amonsoquath Band of Cherokee, published in 1994, "When Chief Powhatan took Amopotoiske (meaning "spring" or "well"), the mother of Pocahontas, as his wife, this put an end to Powhatan fighting with the Cherokee, as this brought unity with the two tribes. Amopotoiske was of the village of Amonute on Bear Creek, where it flows into the Appomattox River. She was of the Wild Potato Clan. The Amonsoquath Band of Cherokee was from this village, which means "Village on Bear Creek" or "the Bear Clan." Even today (then 1994), the Western Cherokee has a Pocahontas Society. Actually, there are towns or cities called Pocahontas and Powhatan in every location where the Cherokee people have lived. There are also counties/towns/cities called Tazewell, Bland, Scott, Randolph, Murray, Danville, Martin, and Wilson. People have called us, the Cherokee, by so many names, from the Appomattox and Richahocran or Rechahecrian to Cherokee (as the white race calls us). We are still the Amonsoquath Band of Cherokee, as we have been since 1593. Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1802 of us being Cherokee. James Mooney wrote of us as Cherokee, as well as John Heckewelder, D. G. Brinton, Walam Olum, H.R. Schookraft, John Haywood."

So, ethnologically speaking, our tribal core is of mixed Powhatan and Cherokee ancestry, and our Cherokee relatives in Oklahoma and North Carolina claim to know nothing of us!

Hidden Agenda in the "Show Me" State?

But in Missouri, the politicians are apparently scared stiff of the huge fundamentalist Christian vote, who does not want Casino gambling, and may be scared of losing taxable landbase if Tribal properties become federal trust lands, or "Indian Country" under Title 18 USC, which would then go off the state, county and local tax rolls. The Pequots are in the process of annexing the entire eastern one-third of the State of Connecticut! Or is Missouri and the Federal Government concerned about possible Indian Land Claims in National Forests within the state, where 90% of the world's highly strategic supply of Lead is located, under the Ozark Plateau? Missouri's Indians can kiss these lands goodbye forever, but the tribes would have to be compensated for them, to the tune of billions of dollars, under the Due Compensation clause of the Constitution. Plus, Missouri is an "incorporated" state, under different venues of jurisdiction than then original 13 colonies. Perhaps Missouri is also scared of losing huge chunks of land because the US helped them steal millions of acres of Indian Lands, guaranteed under the Louisiana Purchase Treaty of 1803. Who knows, but something fishy is definitely going on the Show-Me State!

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board claimed NCNOLT was ineligible because they were not "state recognized." NCNOLT was, and to quote Governor Carnahan in his proclamation, "officially recognized." This opens up another political can of worms and underscores what indignity we Indians must go through for "recognition."

By proclamations of the present and past Missouri Governors Carnahan and Bond, and by resolution of the Missouri House of Representative in 1984, the NCNOLT was told it was "Officially Recognized." Now the "officials" (read: bureaucrats) in the State House in Jefferson City claims NCNOLT is not "State Recognized."

In those proclamations, the State of Missouri recognized how we Cherokees fought and died for our country and state, how we contributed to the state's culture, etc.

The political leadership in Missouri then, acknowledged "the existence" of NCNOLT, which Beverly Baker-Northup has served so long and hard as its Principal Chief, and proclaimed"Northern Cherokee Day", made a big media show, twice! The Governor's recognized in both proclamations, that we Cherokees "chose to remain in Missouri instead of going to Oklahoma" when in reality we actually were hiding from the authorities here in Missouri, and did not want to join the main body of the Cherokee Nation for various reasons.

Darned right we didn't! There was a Cherokee Civil War going on, with danger ranging from political unrest to open warfare between rival Cherokee factions between 1750s and 1860s, which still smolders today! Also, because of Andrew Jackson's ILLEGAL Cherokee Trail of Tears, many hid here in Missouri, risking up to possible summary execution by the State Militia, in some cases, and during some periods of time. All this notwithstanding, many Indians were being taken from Missouri, in chains, and dropped off in Oklahoma by US Marshals as late as the 1950s!

Missouri's ILLEGAL anti-Indian laws were recently dropped from Missouri's statutes, unceremoniously and in a cowardly manner, BUT NEVER REPEALED, and which in fact ARE STILL IN FORCE, AND STILL IN VIOLATION of The Louisiana Purchase Treaty, which is an American Law that supersedes the Constitution of 1789.

The Louisiana Purchase

Felix Cohen, the famous Indian Law expert once said, " Notwithstanding this prevailing mythology, the historic fact is that all of the real estate acquired by the United States since 1776 was purchased not from Napoleon or any other emperor or czar but from its original Indian owners. What we acquired from Napoleon in the Louisiana Purchase was not real estate, for practically all of the ceded territory that was not privately owned by Spanish and French settlers was still owned by the Indians, and the property rights of all the inhabitants were safeguarded by the terms of the treaty of cession. What we did acquire from Napoleon was not the land, which was not his to sell, but simply the power to govern and to tax, the same sort of power that we gained with the acquisition of Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands a century later."

Article VI of the Louisiana Purchase Treaty: Established Indian Sovereignties under International Law

The United States promise to execute Such treaties and articles as may have been agreed between Spain and the tribes and nations of Indians until by mutual consent of the United States and the said tribes or nations other Suitable articles Shall have been agreed upon. NCNOLT's government was recognized by Spain. The Amonsoquath Band still holds a Spanish Landgrant.

Act of Congress, March 26, 1804, protects Amonsoquath Lands

SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That all grants for lands within the territories ceded by the French Republic to the United States, by the treaty of the thirtieth of April, in the year one thousand eight hundred and three, the title whereof was, at the date of the treaty of St. Ildefonso, in the crown, government or nation of Spain, and every act and proceeding subsequent thereto, of whatsoever nature, towards the obtaining any grant, title, or claim to such lands, and under whatsoever authority transacted, or pretended, be, and the same are hereby declared to be, and to have been from the beginning, null, void, and of no effect in law or equity. Provided nevertheless, that anything in this section contained shall not be construed to make null and void any bona fide grant, made agreeably to the laws, usages and customs of the Spanish government to an actual settler on the lands so granted, for himself, and for his wife and family; or to make null and void any bona fide act or proceeding done by an actual settler agreeably to the laws, usages and customs of the Spanish government, to obtain a grant for lands actually settled on by the person or persons claiming title thereto, if such settlement in either case was actually made prior to the twentieth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and three: And provided further, that such grant shall not secure to the grantee or his assigns more than one mile square of land, together with such other and further quantity as heretofore hath been allowed for the wife and family of such actual settler, agreeably to the laws, usages and customs of the Spanish government. And that if any citizen of the United States, or other person, shall make a settlement on any lands belonging to the United States, within the limits of Louisiana, or shall survey, or attempt to survey, such lands, or to designate boundaries by marking trees, or otherwise, such offender shall, on conviction thereof, in any court of record of the United States, or the territories of the United States, forfeit a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, and suffer imprisonment not exceeding twelve months; and it shall, moreover, be lawful for the President of the United States to employ such military force as he may judge necessary to remove from lands belonging to the United States any such citizen or other person, who shall attempt a settlement thereon.

SEC. 15. The President of the United States is hereby authorized to stipulate with any Indian tribes owning lands on the east side of the Mississippi, and residing thereon, for an exchange of lands, the property of the United States, on the west side of the Mississippi, in case the said tribes shall remove and settle thereon; but in such stipulation, the said tribes shall acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of the United States, and shall agree that they will not hold any treaty with any foreign power, individual state, or with the individuals of any state or power; and that they will not sell or dispose of the said lands, or any part thereof, to any sovereign power, except the United States, nor to the subjects or citizens of any other sovereign power, nor to the citizens of the United States. And in order to maintain peace and tranquillity with the Indian tribes who reside within the limits of Louisiana, as ceded by France to the United States, the act of Congress, passed on the thirtieth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and two, intituled "An act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and to preserve peace on the frontiers," is hereby extended to the territories erected and established by this act; and the sum of fifteen thousand dollars of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated by law, is hereby appropriated to enable the President of the United States to effect the object expressed in this section.

Agents? Informants? Provocateurs?

Missouri's law enforcement officials, The F.B.I, and the US Postal Inspection Service, have steadfastly refused to investigate complaints filed by our Tribal Council, which is a Missouri 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation and a 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) charity. These agencies have, so far, refused to prosecute a few members of the ATC Board of Directors, who have recently repeatedly and maliciously violated Missouri's non-profit corporate laws, committed perjury on public documents, and embezzled funds. Local banks have refused to even honor our Corporate Resolutions! An illegal bank account was opened by one these ex-members, and I wonder if even the IRS will prosecute them!

Also, the FBI has refused to serve a federal warrant on a Dakota Sioux Indian man, who has been conspiring with a key ex-member of the ATC. After an investigation conducted by our Chief, a former Missouri law enforcement officer, at the direction of our Council, it was discovered that some of these people have been disrupting for some time, and continue to disrupt, other non-federally recognized tribal governments in Missouri, and in other states. All of these people have since been legally expelled from their various classes of membership in the ATC. All of these people, with the exception of the Dakota Sioux man mentioned, are still illegally posing as Indians, and some of these people are running "Indian" con games and scams locally. But, when we asked the Springfield, MO office of the Secretary of State for help, we are just told, "You have a problem."

The FBI has made headlines recently by announcing that they are investigating "Indian Scams" but nothing is done about this group of people. Why? Are they government informants or provocateurs? It would certainly NOT be the first time the government has played such games.

So, it would seem, laws and treaties have never meant anything to the U.S. when it comes to us "Indians" because the country historically has had NO HONOR! You would not dream of taking trust funds away from the Rockefellers, just because they are "old: and "antiquated", and only benefit a few people, but that is exactly what was and is being done to Indians. Neither would you dream of taking away land grants from the Railroads when the quid pro quo, which was the opening up of the nation's transportation system, was accomplished… but you will do that to Indians. Witness the 90% of a Sioux reservation taken away by the federal government this month!

The sad truth is, that U.S. history shows us that it has never upheld, or abrogated a treaty that did not benefit the government financially, or strategically.

Pardon Me, But Your Slip is Showing

By such actions as I have enumerated above, the political leadership in Missouri, and the Department of Interior Indian Arts and Crafts Board law enforcement officials in Washington, DC, might consider that they just may possibly be showing what hypocrites they might be - to the entire world. This is because apparently, Congress writes the laws and you ignore them, or at least selectively enforce them.

Ancient Prophecies

I respectfully remind you, Ladies and Gentlemen, that the ancient Hopi Prophecy, with a long list predictions that have never been wrong, states that if the European peoples mistreat the original inhabitants of the continent, or "Indians" as you call us, that the Europeans will, at some point, no longer be allowed by the Creator to continue as its government, and that they will be invaded an overrun. Some of our Indian Medicine Teacher's lives have been threatened many times by shadowy men for even mentioning such things. George Washington also saw this invasion from four directions in his "Vision at Valley Forge".

Our Amonsoquath Chief

Our Paramount Principal and Hereditary Chief, a descendant of Powhatan and Pocahontas, Chickamauga Chief Dragging Canoe, and the Great Great Grandson of the Dakota War Chief Red Cloud, served in the US Navy. His family has served in every single conflict the United States has ever been involved with. They have served most recently in the 5th and 8th Armies, The Marines Corps, and Air Force. All have served with honor, from Omaha Beach to Berlin in the World Wars from Pearl Harbor to Bataan.

What Goes Around Comes Around

On May 4, 1999, our Amonsoquath Chief testified, before the hundreds gathered during a Congressional Investigation into the proposed National Heritage Rivers Act here on how ironic it was, and how what goes around comes around, and how he did not understand why those assembled were so concerned that the federal government was attempting to take their homes away and give the region to the UN, when the US Government had previously taken our Cherokee lands away in the southeast, and how the State of Missouri took our Spanish-granted Amonsoquath lands away. The next day the local area newspapers reporting on that meeting only commented that two Indian Chiefs became "belligerent" at that meeting.

So Where Do Missouri's Indians Go From Here?

So, in light of all our sacrifices, and all our sufferings and drivings, now you wish to take away from us, under the color of law, the ability for us to help us make a living here in the Ozark Hills where we live well below 50% below the poverty level, in the poorest half of the poorest county in the state of Missouri. Help us to make a living by enforcing the existing laws, so we may fashion our Arts and Crafts unmolested, which thing we have done from time immemorial, and by providing us dignity and economic development by federally recognizing all the "Northern Cherokee" groups of Missouri, and by the federal recognition of the Amonsoquath Band of Cherokee, and all the other Missouri-based tribes now petitioning for federal recognition, and by the "State Recognition by the legislature" or by a "State Commission for the purpose of recognizing Indian Tribes". Missouri Politicians, in past discussions on this subject, have even refused to consider putting any persons on such an Indian Commission except "Federally Recognized" Indians!

How Do Other States Treat Non-federally recognized tribes?

The vast majority of states that have non-federally recognized tribes at least have a good relationship with their tribes, like VA, KY, NJ, WV, UT, PA, NY, TX, CT, et al. The States of Georgia and Alabama have had the HONOR and the INTEGRITY to recognize its Cherokee and other tribes, against the objections of many of their other more wealthy and influential federally-recognized cousins, obviously still fighting the Civil War, or engaging in other old family and tribal feuds! After the War Between the States, all of all the tribes in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, signed a treaty pledging they would never again make war with the federal government, or with each other. Only the Cherokees refused to stop fighting amongst themselves!

However, sadly, despite its good relations with its state recognized tribes, Virginia, by denying we ever lived there when everyone in their right mind knows we did, still practices genocide against our Amonsoquath and other Cherokee peoples, like the Cherokees of Buffalo Ridge in Virginia.

A Slap in the Face

Comes now the State of Missouri, which slaps NCNOLT in the face and says, "you are not really recognized" but will lobby for their votes in the fall. Guess what, they are out of luck, and Governor Carnahan is going to find out just how many Cherokees and other Indians there really are in Missouri, because none of them or their friends may be voting for him in his upcoming bid for the senate! 20,000 people can have a big impact on an election when they vote as a block. The Mormons did it in the 1830s, and got run out of the state, with Gov. Bond only fairly recently rescinding Gov. Bogg's extermination order against them. Our Indian people were purposely left out of the Missouri Pioneer history, and the State Historical Society carries propaganda on its website that is worthy of Nazi Germany's. But then again, the victors always write history!

As for we Amonsoquath Cherokees, we have moving in and out of what is now Missouri and Arkansas, along the "Virginia Warrior's Trail" which Missouri has dubbed US Highway 60 through southern Missouri, since 1652. We fled before English bullets and long knives as Powhatan's children from Pocahontas' Cherokee mother, and after we have been treated, we are not interested in being Missouri "State recognized." We are, however, concerned that someday Missouri may have to be worried about being "Amonsoquath Recognized," for our sovereignty over much of Missouri predates "The State of Missouri, Incorporated." by some 169 years!

You see, we Amonsoquath pledged fealty to Spain at one point, received a land grant, and in reaction to Spanish treachery, we helped kick the Spanish Garrison out of what is now Missouri, but not before she recognized us our political sovereignty! We were signatories on, and successors-in-interest to the Jay Treaty.

Foxes Guarding the Chicken Coop

The BIA knows the Amonsoquath Cherokee of Missouri are indeed Indians, and have promised in private to put our Amonsoquath Band of Cherokee application on the bottom of the pile and not review it for fifteen years. They have made comments that they know they owe, for the 75 members enrolled at that time in 1994, some 12,000 acres (nearly 19 square miles), but that they "were going to wait 15 years and see how many of us were left alive."

This is what happens when you put Oklahoma Cherokees in charge at Bureau of Acknowledgment and Research. Since the foxes guard the chicken coop, they are allowed to discriminate against other non-federally recognized Cherokees.

To Sum Up

To restate, the Amonsoquath starting arriving in Missouri in 1652, settling here permanently in 1794, along with our other cousins, along the St. Francis River. Some of these Cherokees under Chief Bowles went on to be slaughtered in Texas, where they had a 2,500,000 acre 1835 land grant from The Republic of Texas. The second Governor of Texas, Mirabeau Lamar, a Cherokee hater from Georgia, had most of them slaughtered in 1839. Today, Texas is yet another state that practices genocide against its Cherokees.

We Cherokees and other Missouri Indians had to endure hiding in Missouri; against its illegal anti-Indian laws between 1821 and just recently. The NCNOLT and its cousins in Missouri settled here permanently during the same time frame. Many more organized tribes exist today in Missouri. Let us establish a Missouri Indian Council under the State Legislature, and let the older tribes help the more recent tribes that are coming out of hiding, to help each other, set standards for State recognition by Missouri's Legislature, all through money- saving volunteer efforts. It only makes sense as far as Missouri is concerned. The ATC, with a Grant from The Indian Arts and Crafts Board, can begin planning to build The long hoped for Pocahontas Memorial Indian Cultural Center, near Van Buren to draw more tourists here to this area and the Current River between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Other Missouri and Arkansas Tribes can get similar planning grants to help get assistance in building their cultural centers.

Indian Arts and Crafts: Our Cultural Heritage

The ATC's members live way below 50% below the poverty level, and members of the NCNOLT are probably nearly as poor. Moneys from Arts and Crafts are part of our heritage, a heritage we refuse to deny. This heritage is a trust responsibility of the Federal Government and of the Department Of the Interior, and a Constitutional responsibility under the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution, which document does not seem to mean much anymore anyway, so why even mention it, right?

Power Corrupts - Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

IN 1890, it was "conservatives" in power in the federal government. Today in 2000, liberals now control the federal government. When liberals get into power, they seem to very quickly become what they once hated, which were the "fascists" which is what they declared conservatives to be in order to get elected.

Remember Thomas Jefferson, who knew the weaknesses of a democratic republic, and did not trust a government that did not have a violent revolution every 7 years. Well according to Janet Reno, this founding father, former US President, and author of the Declaration of Independence would be classified as a "cultist."

Ms. Reno has obviously never lived in a rural area where they beat your Indian children from the public schools, and where unemployment, fires, floods and tornadoes may make a little food storage come in handy!

Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States, said during an Interview on CBS "60 Minutes" on June 26, 1999:

"A cultist is one who has a strong belief in the Bible and the Second Coming of Christ; who frequently attends Bible studies; who has a high level of financial giving to a Christian cause; who home schools for their children; who has accumulated survival foods and has strong belief in the Second Amendment; and who distrusts big government. Any of these may qualify a person as a cultist but certainly more than one of these would cause us to look at this person as a threat and his family as being in a risk situation that qualifies for government interference."

Government interference in 1890: Chief Bigfoot Lying dead at Wounded Knee Massacre

"There is nothing to conceal or apologize for in the Wounded Knee Battle - beyond the killing of a wounded buck by a hysterical recruit. The firing was begun by the Indians and continued until they stopped - with the one exception noted above."

"That women and children were casualties was unfortunate but unavoidable, and most must have been [killed] from Indian bullets...The Indians at Wounded Knee brought their own destruction as surely as any people ever did. Their attack on the troops was as treacherous as any in the history of Indian warfare, and that they were under a strange religious hallucination is only an explanation not an excuse."

...excerpts from an official investigation of Wounded Knee

initiated at the behest of Congress, written by General E. D. Scott.

"Power Grows out of the Barrel of a Gun"

This article by J.S. Dill is from http://www.dickshovel.com/WKmasscre.html

"Big Foot and his people lived on the Cheyenne River Reservation in present-day South Dakota and were among the most enthusiastic believers in the Ghost Dance ceremony when it arrived among the Lakota in the spring of 1890. The hunger and misery that had followed the final break-up of their great reservation in 1889 made the Lakota keenly receptive to the Ghost Dance message of messianic renewal, and the movement swept rapidly through their encampments, causing local Indian Agents to react with alarm. Some effectively suppressed the dancers, others called for troops to restore order.

At the Standing Rock reservation, where Sitting Bull was suspected of encouraging the Ghost Dance in order to provoke an uprising, the crisis led to bloodshed when Indian police sent to arrest the aging holy man killed him in a confrontation with his followers. Fearful of reprisals, many from Sitting Bull's band fled south, where they found a haven with Big Foot.

Big Foot decided to lead his people away from the possibility of further violence at neighboring Standing Rock and headed farther south toward the reservation at Pine Ridge, hoping to find safety there. Increasingly ill with pneumonia, he had no intention of fighting and was flying a white flag when soldiers patrolling for roving bands caught up with him on December 28, 1890. That night Big Foot and his people camped near Wounded Knee Creek, surrounded on all sides by soldiers.

The next morning, the soldiers set up several large Hotchkiss guns on a hill overlooking the camp and began confiscating the Indians' weapons. When a gun accidentally went off, they opened fire, and within a few minutes, some 370 Lakota lay dead, many of them cut down by the deadly Hotchkiss guns as they sought shelter against a creek bank. The soldiers even pursued fleeing women and children, shooting some as far as two miles from the site of the original confrontation. One Indian witness remembered:

A mother was shot down with her infant; the child not knowing that its mother was dead was still nursing... The women as they were fleeing with their babies were killed together... and after most of them had been killed a cry was made that all those who were not killed or wounded should come forth and they would be safe. Little boys... came out of their places of refuge, and as soon as they came in sight a number of soldiers surrounded them and butchered them there.

Big Foot himself was among the first killed. His frozen corpse, half raised as though trying to warn his people of their imminent disaster, lay untouched for three days until it was unceremoniously dumped into a mass grave.

Government Interference ala 1890: Spotted Elk, or "Bigfoot" in death at the Wounded Knee Massacre

"If In Your Twenties if you are not a Liberal You Have No Soul. If In Your Thirties If You Are Not A Conservative You Have No Brains" Winston Churchill

Government Interference in the Year 2000?

After what happened to Elian Gonzalez last week, perhaps "government interference" would mean that we will soon see some jackbooted thug bust into our homes shouting "Give me the Fxxxxxx Illegal Medicine Bag you have for sale on eBay, or I will kill you!"

"Let Justice Prevail Though the Heavens May Fall"

Please do what is right in this matter, Mr. Secretary Babbitt. For as you consider the Hopi Prophecy, the future of our entire Republic may hang in the balance!

Thank you, and all the other addressees for looking into this matter. I would be surprised if any of the media contacts will have the audacity to run with this, but I have been wrong before.

For more information on the Amonsoquath Band of Cherokee, including an opportunity to donate without spending a dime.

For more information on the Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory click here

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