United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians
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The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians are a federally recognized Band of Indians headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The United Keetoowah are also referred to as the UKB.
Etymology
The word "Keetoowah" is the name of an ancient Cherokee town in the (Eastern) Homeland of the Cherokee. Some believe that all Cherokee dispersed from Kituwa after the migration from the Great Lakes and Ozark Plateau Regions of the United States and southern Canada perhaps 3,000 years ago. They base this belief on cultural and archeaological evidence, but there is no concensus. It is known that the Cherokee anciently had a hereditary priesthood called the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni. Interestly, these were not also the ugus/owls/white chiefs or the colona/ravens/red chiefs -- in other words, though they had much power through fear, they were not the regular rulers. Almost the only thing we know about them is that they were killed off for their bullying and corruption, by the whole people. The whole population was Khotani-dihi (killer of Khotani), though it is unknown whether anyone claimed this term of honor.
The ancient site of the Mother Town Keetoowah is still visible in Eastern North Carolina in the same general area as the Qualla Boundary. Keetoowah was an ancient "mound" site and the mound is still visible at that location. Moundbuilding was not confined to the Cherokee, but was common in various Mississipian Cultures throughout the Mississippi Basin, such as in Middle Tennessee. There are more extensive mound remains in Ohio and Illinois, with possible but unproven connection to the Aniyvwiya.
Some Cherokee traditionalists refer to themselves as Ah-ni-ki-tu-wa-gi (spelled variously in local Oklahoma dialects as Ki-tu-wa or Gi-du-wa), Keetoowah People. Modern Cherokee speakers can no longer translate the word "Ki-tu-wa" as the meaning of the word has been lost -- a thing that happens to names in many languages. Honoring the mother town was analogous to honoring Selu, the Cherokee Corn Mother (of the ancient Green Corn Ceremony and many other connections). Honoring of mothers is a concept that has pervaded Cherokee Culture. Anciently, descent and family organization was based on the female line.
During the Green Corn Ceremony practiced by the Cherokee, one of the two social dances performed is of ancient origin, and may have originated from the mother town of Keetoowah. The dance is called "ye-lu-le" which means "to the center". During this dance, all of the dancers shout "ye-lu-le" and move towards the fire in the center of the sacred dance circle . This dance symbolizes the dispersal of the sacred fire given to the people in their ancient legends. During Green Corn ceremonies in traditional Cherokee Society, the coals of new fire were carried to all the Cherokee, and used to kindle the ceremonial fires in each town, before any of the new corn could be eaten. The home fires in outlying Cherokee communities were then extinguished before the ceremonies and re-lit from the coals of the fire kindled during the Green Corn Dances.
A group of Cherokee traditionalists calling themselves the Keetoowah Society (also called the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society) took advantage of the 1936 Oklahoma Indian General Welfare Act to organize a federally recognized Indian Band called the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. This, for the most part, is composed of "Old Settlers" -- descendants of people who went west a little before the obsolute necessity of the Trail Where They Cried.
The Old Settlers wanted to find a place where they could hunt again. They were too full-blooded and too poor to hold slaves, and favored neutrality in the Civil War. They were an important opposition to the accomodationalist and corrupt "Treaty Party". rdflowers@globalstorming.org
History
The Dawes commission was tasked to force assimilation and breakup of tribal governments within Oklahoma by instilling the concept of land ownership with individual members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The commission divided large sections of land into tribal allotments in an effort to eliminate the traditional governments of the Cherokee, which at that time were based on a socialist form of government with the lands being controlled by the tribal government. As a consequence of the Dawes Commission programs and policies, the Cherokee culture and society was destabilized and strictly controlled, with presidentially appointed "Chiefs" of the tribe, who were reduced to tribal administrators and who imposed the will of the United States on individual Cherokee citizens in support of the Federal Governments attempts to force assimilation of the Cherokee.
By the 1880's most of the ancient culture had been lost. Then, Cherokee children were prohibited from speaking their own language in communal schools set up by the Federal government during the late 1800s and early 1900's. This resulted in even more of the Cherokee culture becoming lost. The remaining Cherokee during this period in history continued to adopt and integrate cultural practices of other tribes who were being forcibly removed into Oklahoma Territory.
Later a few Cherokee traditional people, in response to the cultural erosion that was occurring, formed a secret society, the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society, and practiced ceremonies and gatherings of the people in secret, in order to avoid censure or reprisal by the United States. This group preserved, re-invented, or revived a bit of the pre-removal culture, ceremonies, and beliefs of the Cherokee. These people and movements later influenced the formation of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in 1946. In modern times, the society and the UKB are no longer a single organization, but have split, as over time many UKB members have joined the Cherokee Nation and the society has grown in modern times, with members who are affiliated with both the Cherokee Nation and the UKB.
Historically, after the UKB attained Federal recognition, they instituted blood quantum restrictions which increase the shares of federal payments to tribal members. The UKB have historically attempted through litigation and the legislative process to gain control of Cherokee tribal land allotments since its inception.
The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma was the now non-governmental remnant of the Cherokee Government that ended in 1906. There was still the substantial population base and various legal matters (financial and otherwise). The UKB only claimed a small percentage of the total Cherokee Society as members, since over time, the Cherokee intermarried with non-Indians in Oklahoma and were gradually assimilated.
The UKB was formed (from arguably historical movements with some ancient ideas) in relatively recent times. Many of the UKB members are members of both tribes. The Cherokee Nation has the largest number of full-blooded Cherokee citizens of any Federally Recognized Cherokee Tribe with over 30,000 registered full blooded Cherokee. During the formation of the Cherokee Nation, the Congress of the United States ceded all rights and title to the tribal lands, allotments, and right of succession to the Cherokee Nation. The UKB did not own any tribal lands, except for a limited number of original family held land allotments, and currently operated from the tribal lands of the Cherokee Nation, in the basement of the UKB Casino in Tahlequah.
UKB membership controversies
Several controversies have arisen over the UKB's issuance of memberships to individuals who do not qualify for a CDIB (Certificate Degree of Indian Blood) issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These memberships were given in honorary appreciation to several people, but were ended in 1994. While some such recipients were given an enrollment card with a number, tribal legislation did not allow the honorary recipients to receive tribal benefits, and they do not appear on official tribal rolls today.
Ward Churchill, a Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, was one grantee of honorary "associate" membership in the UKB; Churchill's public statements that he was a member of the UKB, created some controversy, in part because Churchill often failed to distinguish qualified enrollment from honorary membership. Ward Churchill did not possess an issued CDIB during his membership in the UKB, and hence was not eligible for any federal benefits reserved for Native Americans. The UKB issued a press release in 2005 clarifying the former honorary membership of Churchill, but indicating that those memberships are no longer in force.
Legal controversies
Recently, the UKB has come under scrutiny and been subjected to prosecution by the State of Oklahoma for allegedly operating illegal gaming facilities off tribal land. [link] The UKB leaders have also been allegedly accused of diversion of funds by its own members. The State of Oklahoma sued the UKB in federal court for operating illegal gaming facilties off of BIA approved tribal lands, since they do not own tribal lands. The lawsuit and prosecution are currently pending in the federal courts in Oklahoma and have been recently remanded to the Indian Gaming Commission for review.[link]
Lawsuits and litigation with the Cherokee Nation
The UKB has repeatedly sued the Cherokee Nation demanding the cession of tribal land allotments and monetary damages over a variety of issues. All of these lawsuits have failed or been dismissed until recently. The UKB has sued the Cherokee Nation for a share of the proceeds under HR-3534, a bill that required the Government of Oklahoma and the United States to compensate the Cherokee Nation and was concerned with the illegal seizure of the Arkansas Riverbed by the State of Oklahoma for public use lands and hydroelectric power generation.[link] The lawsuit filed by the UKB demanding disbursements from the Cherokee Nation from HR-3534 was ruled to be frivilous and without merit. On April 14 2006, on appeal, the United States sided with the UKB, against the Cherokee Nations of Oklahoma's request for dismissal. [link] During the State of Oklahoma lawsuit pertaining to the UKB's alledged illegal casino operations, a Indian casino that has been in operation for approximately 19 years,[link] the UKB again sued the Cherokee Nation demanding cession of tribal land allotments to the UKB to build casinos. These lawsuits were also dismissed, and it was ruled the UKB is not the successor of right to the assets of the Cherokee People.
The UKB more recently held banishment proceedings against Chief Chad Smith, Chief of the Cherokee Nation who also had dual membership in both the UKB and the Cherokee Nation. Since the UKB scheduled the banishment proceedings at the exact time scheduled for the Cherokee Nation State of the Nation Address by the Principal Chief at the Cherokee National Holiday, the entire proceeding was perceived as a public spectacle by the majority of the Cherokee People and garnered disdain and disbelief. The UKB stated in a news release that they were performing the banishment ceremony to punish Chief Chad Smith for failing to support the alledged illegal UKB casino during the pendency of the State of Oklahoma prosecutions of the UKB Band.[link]
The Cherokee People as a whole reacted unfavorably to the actions of the UKB regarding Chad Smith's banishment, and the event was widely viewed as a political embarrassment and publicity stunt by the UKB. Many Cherokee believe the UKB is no longer an actual "band" but a social club, and have vocally stated as such in news announcements. Chad Smith criticized the UKB for disgracing the Cherokee People and behaving like a "social club" in response to their actions.[link]
Modern Cherokee Societies, with the exception of the UKB, are true democratic societies which no longer allow banishment of tribal members.
Spiritual leadership
Although the UKB administration is widely criticized by the Cherokee People based on the reported legal controversies, many of the UKB members are spiritual leaders of the Cherokee People and are highly respected. Many highly respected and revered Cherokee traditionalists within Oklahoma are members of both the UKB and the Cherokee Nation (See Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni).
Trivia
Many Cherokee groups still refer to themselves as "Keetoowah (ki-tu'-wa) people." The main (now known) ancient name used to describe all of the Cherokee People was ah-ni-yv-wi-ya, which means the main or principal people .
''"Ease of the Mississippi from whence the Cherokees originally were forced to the Indian Territory (culminating in 1838 and 1839), the town (near Qualla boundary, N. C.) of Kituwha was revered as an important Mother Town of the Cherokees, but its real history and importance was lost already by then. Possibly it was the first stop of the people after coming from what is now southern Canada, but this is unproved.
At the end of the 1800's, anthropologists noted that on ceremonial occasions, Cherokees frequently speak of themselves as Ki-tu-wa-gi," (James Mooney, Myths of the Cherokees, 19th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington Government Printing Office, 1900, pg. 15)
Former Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Chief Dugan confirms this, "One name for the tribe is 'people of ''ki-tu'-wa'." ("Where Myth Meets Reality," Washington Post, Sept. 13, 2004)
See also
Links
References
- Cherokee Nation Cultural Resource Center, Tahlequah, Okalhoma.
- Cherokee, ISBN 1-55868-603-7, Graphic Arts Center Publishing
- 13 Moons On the Turtles Back. A Native American Year of Moons, ISBN 0-698-11584-8, Putnam and Grossnet Group, 1997
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