“The Seminole denied vaccination for COVID-19 despite the fact that we had given the money to all of the tribes, is that right?” @RepMaxineWaters

“Yes ma’am, yes ma’am, they had told IHS—gave them a list of people to not serve—to not serve them with vaccinations…” @VannMarilyn “People died, including leaders of the Freedmen people, that’s correct.” @VannMarilyn

“I don’t know what else to say—the case is very clear.” @RepMaxineWaters @FSCDems

Something that isn’t talked about enough in the context of the Five Slaveholding Tribes is how—because slave-owning Native women stopped performing hard labor—many Native people had to be retaught their Native practices and cultural traditions from the Black slaves they owned. A potent example is traditional herding and shearling practices, as well as spinning and weaving practices. As Native slave-owners saw hard labor as slaves’ work and stopped engaging in these practices, they actually had to be taught many tribal traditions from their slaves.

“But when she showed up at the Indian Health Service clinic in Wewoka, the capital of the Seminole Nation, staffers refused to give her a shot. They told her that she wasn’t eligible because her tribal ID card identifies her as a Freedman,” @josephvlee
google.com/amp/s/www.buzz… “a Seminole citizen who is a descendant of enslaved Black people. When she demanded answers, staffers called over a tribal police officer. ‘It’s a terrible day to find out that your own people will let you die,’ said Osborne-Sampson, who sits on the Seminole Nation’s tribal”

#BlackHistoryMonth Spotlight of #BlackSeminole John Horse (Juan Cavallo/Caballo). John Horse is best known for bravely escaping an “impenetrable” and “inescapable” St. Augustine fort, and for uniting Seminoles in the Second Seminole War. He and other Seminoles beat the US army. Black and non-Black Seminoles were decimating the US Army, so the US Army presented a false flag of truce to Seminole Chief Osceola, and under this false truce, the US Army kidnapped Osceola and some of his closest confidants, including Juan Cavallo (John Horse), his translator.

Just because someone’s family lived as a legally white person for generations, it does not mean that they are not Indigenous. Non-Black members of the Five Slaveholding Tribes we’re legally reclassified as white in 1908 and we’re legally treated that way for generations. Does this mean all of our non-Black members are not actually Native? Of course not! Their reclassification as white Americans was part of settler colonialism and was a central part of redistributing land and creating anti-Black legal codes.

In this video @EliGrayson8, @MvskokeRez citizen, breaks down why he supports Deb Haaland’s nomination & believes that she must acknowledge Freedmen on record. He emphasizes the importance of acknowledging Freedmen & McGirt to uphold sovereignty & treaties. “I am not in opposition to Deb Haaland’s nomination... because she is going to be the first Indigenous person to head the Department of Interior, she should be the first one to step in and do what’s right by the Freedmen because the treaties are important”

Congresswoman @DebHaalandNM, we humbly ask you to please address the ongoing discrimination and disenfranchisement that Freedmen of the Five Slaveholding Tribes are currently facing within our tribes. You must stand up against anti-Black racism and uphold our treaty rights.

https://twitter.com/debhaalandnm/status/1348414764129558529

Our petition asking you to please formulate and implement a plan for full integration and equality in the Five Slaveholding Tribes currently has over 17,000 signatures. This is a completely grassroots and unpaid campaign on our part. We have raised awareness about our issues.

Did you know that Freedmen of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek Nations could be fined up to $250,000 and could face up to 5 years in federal prison for creating traditional arts and crafts and selling them with our tribal labels or with Native labels? We are not able to equally practice our traditional crafts or traditional ways, from arts and crafts (such as basket weaving, beading, quilt making, mat weaving, and bow making) to fishing and hunting, due to our ancestors’ African ancestry. This is one of the consequences of tribal Jim Crow laws.

I’m not sure why we should have any hope for white supremacists who commit violence today being held accountable when we still haven’t even held white supremacist terrorists who committed violence in the past accountable. No one has been charged for the Tulsa Race Massacre. Almost none of the individuals who participated in lynchings have been charged (even those who are still living). Most of the time we are expected to just accept an apology for such violence, as if the people who participated in this racist violence didn’t know any better.

For generations, white and Native historians claimed that Native slave-owners from the Five Tribes were less violent than white slave owners. The story of Lucy, a Black enslaved woman owned by a Choctaw master who was BURNED ALIVE by her female Choctaw owner disproves this myth. In 1858 an enslaved man named Prince confessed to the murder of his master Richard Harkins. He claimed he had killed him with an axe to his head—transforming a tool of his forced labor to a weapon to end the life of his abusive enslaver. After Prince murdered Harkins,

Wow! I found an amazing photo on the @okhistory website of Choctaw Freedmen bow fishing in 1902 and decided to try colorizing it on MyHeritage and the results are amazing! The Choctaw term for a fishing bow is "Tanamp Shibata." Despite this being a central part of our ancestors' way of life pre-statehood, Choctaw Freedmen now cannot apply for Choctaw fishing and hunting licenses because we are not tribal citizens. Being blocked from citizenship also affects our human rights as Indigenous people to our

As this clip from “12 Years a Slave” shows, singing was an emotional outlet for slaves and a core part of uniting slave communities. In this clip, enslaved people sing “Roll, Jordan, Roll,” which was composed by two enslaved people of African descent owned by Choctaw masters.

https://twitter.com/choctawfreedmen/status/1345086137002557440

Singing would have been even more important on Choctaw plantations, as there was a good chance most slaves didn’t even speak the same languages. Many slaves didn’t speak English, and only spoke Choctaw—or in some cases, if they had been sold to Choctaw enslavers from an enslaver

The Choctaw Nation was so afraid that their slaves would undermine them that they not only made it illegal to teach a slave to read and write, but also made it illegal to teach a slave how to SING! Singing was a vital outlet for slaves, and an important aspect of plannind excape. If you understand the history of enslaved people in the Choctaw Nation and music, its is evident that the music created by enslaved people in the Choctaw Nation not only contributed to our Black national culture, but to resistance as well. The creator of “Swing Low, Sweet

It’s important to understand that Freedmen of the Five Tribes have very unique records available to us. We know the names of our ancestors and their owners. We also know the names of their parents and their parents’ enslavers. We also have interviews conducted with our family members by the Dawes Commission. We have access to very unique records that other descendants of slaves may not have. We can map out where our families lived, where their allotments were located, and who their owners were/what other slaves were on their plantations with them.

Oklahoma is the perfect example of race being a myth crafted to shift control of land and wealth into white communities. Because each individual Native person in the Five Tribes received a land allotment (including women), white lawmakers made all non-Black people legally white. This allowed for white men to marry non-Black Native women and shift control of Native lands into white communities and hands. Even though most white men couldn’t get a Native land allotment themself, by re-classifying non-Black Natives as white and setting up Jim Crow marriage

Many people have asked why it matters that she removed a clause requiring the Cherokee Nation to treat the Freedmen equally in receiving housing funding? I’ll tell you why. Cherokee Freedmen are not eligible for CBIDs, although I think they should be (Freedmen “Blood” should be counted as Indian Blood). Anyone who has a CBID knows that for most services (especially outside of your tribal boundaries), you need a CBID. You need to present a CBID for healthcare, now Haskell is trying to deny Freedmen based on the fact that they do not have CBIDs.

Y’all, trust me I don’t want to be tweeting about Deb Haaland. I find my ancestors’ histories and cultures to be far more interesting than advocating for policies with someone who doesn’t even think I’m valid. But I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing it for my ancestors and for my family who find tribal citizenship to be very important to them. I’m gonna be honest, I wouldn’t even qualify for any tribal benefits. The main programs I want are language programs that are free to citizens. This isn’t about benefits but honoring what my ancestors fought for.

Deb Haaland is not a member of one of the Five Slaveholding Tribes. However, she has now chosen to accept a position as an agent of the federal government to oversee tribal affairs. In her position, supporting Black Freedmen of the Five Slaveholding Tribes is a good first step.

https://twitter.com/choctawfreedmen/status/1330941790262861828

If she didn’t want to become an agent of the federal government and now become a party to the Treaties of 1866, she shouldn’t have accepted Biden’s offer to become the Sec. of the Interior. She is now the agent who is supposed to make sure the US govt upholds their end of tribal

Representative Deb Haaland has been chosen as Biden’s Sec. of the Interior. Haaland has refused to make support the Freedmen of the Five Slaveholding Tribes and had co-sponsored legislation that would allow our tribes to continue receiving funding despite their Jim Crow policies.

https://twitter.com/choctawfreedmen/status/1330941790262861828

To the “progressive” organizations who continued to support Deb Haaland despite knowing this information, I hope you will stand with us now. Black Natives deserve to be treated equally. @ndncollective @sunrisemvmt @justicedems @MarkRuffalo

During the Civil War, the Five Slaveholding Tribes aligned themselves with the Confederate States of America. In their treaties with the Confederacy, slavery was upheld and in the case of the Seminole Nation, the Confederacy promised reparations payments to slaveholders whose slaves had been freed during the Second Seminole Wars. Many slaves owned by Seminoles were freed by Jesups Proclamation (the precursor to and the blueprint for the Emancipation Proclamation), so the Confederacy promised reparations payments for those freed slaves.

Black and Native solidarity will be so difficult and so complex because although both groups have committed harm against one another, Native tribes committed harms (like slavery, discrimination, and violence) as sovereign nations, whereas Black Americans committed harms without political independence or sovereignty. The Buffalo Soldiers, for example, were soldiers associated with the US army. They were acting as agents of the US govt and not their own political wills. There’s a stark difference in what accountability should and could look like.