Appalachian Cherokee Nation, Incorporated; extends state recognition. (SJ87)
Introduced By
Sen. Kenneth Alexander (D-Norfolk) with support from co-patron Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Winchester)
Progress
✓ |
Introduced |
✗ |
Passed Committee |
☐ |
Passed House |
☐ |
Passed Senate |
Description
Appalachian Cherokee Nation, Incorporated. Extends state recognition to the Appalachian Cherokee Nation, Incorporated. Read the Bill »
Outcome
Bill Has Failed
History
Date | Action |
---|---|
01/10/2014 | Presented and ordered printed 14103486D |
01/10/2014 | Referred to Committee on Rules |
01/31/2014 | Reported from Rules |
02/03/2014 | Reading waived (40-Y 0-N) |
02/04/2014 | Read second time and engrossed |
02/05/2014 | Read third time and agreed to by Senate by voice vote |
02/07/2014 | Placed on Calendar |
02/07/2014 | Referred to Committee on Rules |
03/03/2014 | Continued to 2015 in Rules |
Comments
I am a young member of the Appalachian Cherokee Nation Tribe. I have been named with a Traditional ceremony by Chief Raymond Couch and have a strong believe in the Cherokee traditions. I have been among this tribe's members for many year and have known nothing but maintaining the Tradition of my ancestors. I know that our present Chief believe in continuing the Tribal Traditions and bringing back the lost language and customs. I am presently in New York City to attend College and will continue to participate in the customs and traditions with the Cherokees here. Even though I am here in New York, I am still connected to my family Tribe back in Virginia and I am proud of that.
MY Moccasins have traveled this road before. It is time for us to be State Recognized in the State of Virginia as Cherokee people. We have always been here and have documentation to prove this fact. We are a proud people and have for many years made contributions to many local communities in the State of Virginia.
Even though West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee is separate States now, we were living in these areas when it was only the State of Virginia.
I believe the State of Virginia should do the right thing and give my people their just do by granting us State Recognition.
As the principal Chief of this Tribe I have been working for years to get us recognized in the State of Virginia. I have participated in many different organization's Indian heritage functions to include Fort Eustis, Virginia where I received a Certificate of Appreciation for my presentation on the Cherokee Indians. I have participated in many other Tribal Gatherings trying to unite the brotherhood between our Tribes. I traveled many miles up and down the borders of Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky supporting our less fortunate members and local communities with food, clothing, books, transportation and funds from our Tribal accounts. With the former Principal Chief Raymond (lone Wolf) Couch, we combine efforts with NASA to present a positive outlook of our Tribe. Through a joint Pow Wow we exchange the Indian belief on the Earth and Stars compared to NASA. This turned our to be a great partnership.
Recognition is valuable because of the cultural
identity attached to one's heritage. Ancestral History
is the present and future. Saying one is Native American is not enough. The recognition identity
brings a completion to the circle of America's heritage.
I have recently discovered my family's Cherokee roots that date back to both 1764 and 1887. It is as if a missing part of my soul has been restored. The Cherokee are an ancient tribal civilization that migrated from the Great Lakes Region in the 1400s - 1500s to what we now know as Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The Cherokee descendants who continue to live in Virginia are true Cherokees who avoided the forced removal by U.S. Army troops in 1835 - 1839 to participate in the "Trail of Tears". Forced to go into hiding, the Cherokee have survived nearly two centuries of racial persecution. Cherokee heritage, belief in God and the refusal to be broken enabled Virginia's Cherokees to weather the Walter Plecker era of 1912 - 1946, termed a "documentary genocide" of a people and second-class citizenship until the Civil Rights acts were passed in the 1960s. Every day has been a struggle for the Cherokee as many times it has been necessary to hide their heritage for fear of it being used against them in business and society.
It is now time for the Commonwealth of Virginia to formally acknowledge that thousands of Virginia citizens of Cherokee descent exist in today's Virginia and that the Appalachian Cherokee Nation Tribe is a formal representative organization with a long unblemished record. Years of delay by state governmental officials and Virginia Indian Council members were based on self-preservative reasons. Today, it is quite clear that there is no rational excuse for the Commonwealth of Virginia to not formally recognize the Virginian Cherokee people by passing SJ87.
We as a People have endured so much hate and opposition from our own people and others. We can accomplish nothing divided. Stop trying to hurt each other and lets stand united. As the old saying goes united we stand, divided we fall - American Indians wake up - let us stand together. Division is the oppositions greatest weapon. Lets take that away. We are so busy fighting each other in this state that we are not paying attention to what the BIC is doing. The Appalachian Cherokee Nation Is well over do to be recognized by the state of Virginia. The time is now, join in and support us.
Correction - In the above statement I was making reference to the BIA - Bureau Of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC. sorry for the typo.
Cherokees have historically occupied the southeast portion of the United States: AL, GA, KY, NC, SC, VA and WV. From as early as the 1750's, Virginia's Governor Robert Dinwiddie realized the necessity of retaining the friendship and securing active assistance from Virgnia Indians, in particular, the Cherokee and the Catawbas. Governor Dinwiddie, as part of his negotiations in recruiting natives for the French/Indian War, instructed his esquires, Peter Randolf and William Byrd, appointed Commissioners to treat on behalf of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, "you are to exhort them [natives] not to be drawn away by deceitful empty speeches, the peculiar talent of that cunning People, nor to suffer them on any Pretense whatsoever, to erect any fort in their country. But in every attempt that shall be made to shake their duty to our common Father, let them consider what real Acts of Friendship have been done by them by the English, and what by the French; let them weigh these things well in their minds, and then determine who best deserves their esteem and regard, for it is not by vain unmeaning words that true friendship is to be discovered, but by its effects..." The key word here is friendship between the Virginia Indians and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Over the past 250 years, the Cherokee numbers may have dwindled, but we are here in Virginia, we always have been and we always will be. We only ask that the State of Virginia recognize our friendship now, just as we did over 200 years ago. Aho.
Quote Citation:
(A Treaty: Between Virginia and the Catawbas and Cherokees, 1757) Source: The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol 13, No. 3 (Jan., 1906, pp 225-264). Publish by: Virginia Historical Society
I join my brother "Soaring Osprey" as we await our tribe's recognition by our Commonwealth's legislators. I learned recently of our wonderful Cherokee roots extending back the earliest days of Virginia. We, as a people, had obviously contributed greatly to the English and French colonists. We made their success a possibility as we shared our knowledge of land and animal alike. Our Commonwealth's recognition is long, long overdue and well-deserved. We join our hands with our Cherokee family members and look ahead to the future. Such a future will bring continued good to our people and to all members of our Commonwealth.
The Cherokee people have had a continuous presence in the Commonwealth of Virginia for centuries. It is right and just that they receive state recognition.
Osiyo, my name is Paul Young and I am a younger member of the tribe. Cherokee is my heritage and it is important to me that out tribe receive state recognition. I think that our tribe should receive our recognition because of how our ancestors were treated and how they was made to leave off of their own land. State recognition plays a big role in Native America. So I think that all should vote YES to this bill. Wado!
I am proud of my Cherokee heritage.
Cherokee teachings say that we are connected
to our ancestors in spirit memory.
We cannot survive tomorrow without knowing
our past.
Granting us State Recognition wwould be an honor
for our tribe and future generations.
Wahdo
Betty (Eagle Heart) Williams