Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #Choctaw
Most recents (6)
Leaders of the #FiveTribes have gathered to announce their endorsement of @joy4ok for governor. Former Stitt secretary of Native American affairs is emceeing. Cherokee Chief @ChuckHoskin_Jr is up first.
It's no secret that Gov. Kevin Stitt has clashed with and angered tribes ...
It's no secret that Gov. Kevin Stitt has clashed with and angered tribes ...
Hoskin speaks of the importance of #oklaed and the #Cherokee Nation's history of educational priorities. He calls Hofmeister "a dedicated education professional" who understands "the very Cherokee idea of working together." (2/?)
Flashing back in time, briefly, I mentioned when former #okleg Republican representative Lisa Billy resigned from the Stitt cabinet in December 2019, less than a year after taking the post and watching him clash with tribal leaders over gaming compacts. nondoc.com/2019/12/23/lis…
Happy #IndigenousPeoplesDay! A reminder that there are many different groups of Black Native people within the United States and that often our ties to Indigenous Nations are through violence and slavery at the hands of Indigenous people. Our ancestors were resilient!
Not all relationships between Black and Native people were ones of mutual respect. Not all Native nations assisted runaway slaves. In fact, some Native nations—like the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations—recaptured and re-enslaved runaway slaves of African descent.
This doesn’t negate our Indigenous ancestry, but certainly complicates it. Our introduction to our tribes of origin was not through peace or mutual understanding, but through violence, forced labor, and forced migration on the Trail of Tears while enslaved.
This official Choctaw Nation supplemental guide for teaching about the McGirt v. Oklahoma decision is full of misinterpretations of the history, omits histories of Black people and Freedmen, and erases the Choctaw Nation’s clear history of anti-Blackness. (Thread)
First of all, in the official guide, the authors state that “If people who were not Choctaw tribal members respected Choctaw laws, they could visit the Choctaw Nation, work there, or even become Choctaw citizens,” in post-Removal Indian Territory.
This statement holds true if the individual in question was white or non-Black from another Indigenous tribe. However, Black people (both of Choctaw heritage and devoid of Choctaw heritage) were specifically barred from living in the Choctaw Nation boundaries if they were free.
Just in case anyone was unaware: the Choctaw Nation chose to legalize chattel slavery within the tribe. Tribal members owned slaves of African descent and many enslaved people walked the Trail of Tears with their masters during Indian Removal.
Once in Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma, Choctaws continued owning slaves and slaves built much of the infrastructure in Indian Territory. Slaves rebelled. For example, many Choctaw slaves participated in the 1840 Slave Rebellion in the Cherokee Nation to escape bondage.
Slaves performed difficult labor under the threat of and with actual violence. The Choctaw Nation had slave patrols as well.
Correction: the Cherokee Slave Rebellion took place in 1842.
Correction: the Cherokee Slave Rebellion took place in 1842.
BREAKING: Chief Gary Batton of the @choctawnationOK wrote a letter to Speaker of the House @SpeakerPelosi in which he condemned @RepMaxineWaters for a recent move by Waters to advocate for Choctaw Freedmen rights per the Treaty of 1866.
In the letter, Chief Batton argues that the @choctawnationOK has the right to deny Freedmen of citizenship rights because their constitution—which was passed in 1983–outright excluded Freedmen from citizenship.
Freedmen descendants were the only descendants of tribal citizens (documented in the tribal census of 1885) who were barred from voting on the citizenship criteria of the nation in 1983.
As we celebrate #Juneteenth, it is important to remember that not all slaves were freed on June 19th, 1865. In Indian Territory, Blck slaves continued to be owned by Chickasaw and Choctaw masters. They weren’t freed until 1866. #BlackLivesMatter (thread)
#Juneteenth is supposed to represent the day that all slaves in the United States were freed from bondage.
However, slaves in #IndianTerritory in present day #Oklahoma were exempt from the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments because they were owned by masters of separate sovereign nations. So they remained enslaved event after the 13th Amendment was passed.
