Contrary to her claims, Sen. Elizabeth Warren is not in fact a Cherokee member of Congress. Sad!
Here's more info on the historic agreement that the actual Cherokees are once again putting before the American government:
Under [the 1835 Treaty of New Echota], brokered between the US government and a minority group of Cherokee leaders who claimed to represent the tribe, the Cherokee were ultimately made to give up their ancestral land in the South and relocate to present-day Oklahoma. Though a majority of the Cherokee people – including then-Principal Chief John Ross – opposed the treaty, it was ratified in 1836. About a quarter of the tribe's population died of disease, starvation and exhaustion on the resulting journey now known as the Trail of Tears.
In exchange for their homelands, the Cherokee were promised $5 million, new land and other provisions, among them a delegate in the House of Representatives.
"For two centuries, Congress has failed to honor that promise," Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in the video, referring to the delegate. "However, the Treaty of New Echota has no expiration date. The obligation to seat a Cherokee Nation delegate is as binding today as it was in 1835."
I mean, look, the U.S. should probably just go ahead and be like:
Seems pretty open-and-shut here. Contracts are usually pretty simple; those written in 1835 tended to be simpler still.
They even have somebody locked and loaded and ready to roll:
In 2019, Hoskin tapped Kimberly Teehee as the Cherokee Nation's official representative to Congress. Teehee was a senior policy adviser for Native American Affairs during President Barack Obama's administration and served as a senior adviser to former Rep. Dale Kildee of Michigan. She has also held various positions in the Cherokee Nation government.
Someone make sure Sen. Warren is doing okay at the news!
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