Tuscarora Alliance

[SmokeEater]

Just a question to see if anyone has any answers...

I know that 4 of the major Tuscarora factions in NC have allied themselves into one large tribe/organization. These include the Southern Band Tuscarora, Tuscarora Nation of NC, Tuscarora Band of KTN, and the Skaroreh Band of Tuscarora.

From the SBT websight, it said that the allied themselves sometime last summer, and became the Tuscarora Tribe of NC. Does anyone else know what is going to happen or what they plan to do??? It seems that they were really going somewhere, then nothing else was heard...

If anyone knows anything let me know...

[pennyjim]

It's sometimes hard to get news from these groups. Perhaps Coharie Roy knows something more?

jp

[Linda]

An NC Tuscarora friend has informed me that to his knowledge the SBT and the KTN have pulled away.

[pennyjim]

Sigh.....

jp

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Jim Penny

[vance]

It's too bad they pulled out of the alliance. I am "well enough" documented as unenrolled Cherokee -- surnames Hawkins, Brown, Guess(t), Richey, Wood, Looney & others . . . these are the surnames of the Chickamauga, hte group that split off from the main branch of Cherokee and went to live with others in Ky & In & Oh & WVa & elsewhere & Ar & Ok & Tx eventually. But we are not and can not be enrolled as we are not on Dawes.

But there are a couple of dozen groups out there all claiming to be the Cherokee tribe of this place or that and they keep sub-dividing into smaller and smaller groups. Why? Because one "Chief" lost an election and doesn't wanna give up office, or one fella has a following and gets "offended" so he/she splits off -- now these groups are just a joke to federally recognized tribes. At any Pow-Wow here in Oklahoma you hear more jokes about all the "White Cherokees" it isn't funny.

ALL groups of unenrolled should learn a lesson and seek to reconcile their differences and make up with their kin, not separate even further, and become a laughing-stock of the Indian world, too, like some of us unenrolled Cherokees have become.

Democrats and Republicans, even tho they hate each other, can remain citizens of the same country. Indian peoples should be able to do this too.

vance

[vance]

It's too bad they pulled out of the alliance. I am "well enough" documented as unenrolled Cherokee -- surnames Hawkins, Brown, Guess(t), Richey, Wood, Looney & others . . . these are the surnames of the Chickamauga, hte group that split off from the main branch of Cherokee and went to live with others in Ky & In & Oh & WVa & elsewhere & Ar & Ok & Tx eventually. But we are not and can not be enrolled as we are not on Dawes.

But there are a couple of dozen groups out there all claiming to be the Cherokee tribe of this place or that and they keep sub-dividing into smaller and smaller groups. Why? Because one "Chief" lost an election and doesn't wanna give up office, or one fella has a following and gets "offended" so he/she splits off -- now these groups are just a joke to federally recognized tribes. At any Pow-Wow here in Oklahoma you hear more jokes about all the "White Cherokees" it isn't funny.

ALL groups of unenrolled should learn a lesson and seek to reconcile their differences and make up with their kin, not separate even further, and become a laughing-stock of the Indian world, too, like some of us unenrolled Cherokees have become.

Democrats and Republicans, even tho they hate each other, can remain citizens of the same country. Indian peoples should be able to do this too.

vance

[Linda]

A lot of these splinter groups seem to revolve around a specific individual overly fond of being "chief."

Then there's another dynamic. People show up, not exactly tied to a specific tribe, but obviously related. Since they can't prove any documented connection to the geographical community, they're turned away.

They can't help be get involved in all this, but they have nowhere to go, they find others similar to themselves and form their own organization. Then of course, the organization they originally went to who turned them away gets weird that these newcomers are horning in on their action. . .

[vance hawkins]

Linda you said "a lot of these splinter groups revolve around a particular person overly fond of being "Chief" -- I love how you said that! http://winwinworld.net/SaponiForum/UBB/smile.gif

I agree, where are people to turn, if they can not enroll yet are clearly of Tuscarora or Cherokee or Saponi, or of some other tribal ancestry?

I posed these questions directly to officials of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and they do allow "unenrolled fellow Cherokee", a term they used, to participate in cultural events, be members of Cherokee Societies, even the "Cherokee Elder's Society", who are not enrolled and can not enroll. And it seemed okey with them if groups portray themselves as a "Cherokee Cultural Society" of such and such a place -- but they do not care for organizations that call themselves "Cherokee Tribe" or "Nation" of one place or another, and will put them down. From their point of view, there is but one Cherokee Nation, theirs. Notice how the Eastern Band is called a BAND, and not Nation or Tribe, same for the United Keetoowah BAND -- it is not called a tribe or nation. This distinction is important to them, and I intend to respect it for this reason.

But as you said, there are so many unenrolled who were left off the rolls who wish to participate in the culture of their ancestors, and these folks do not live near a federally recognized tribe or band or nation, and they/we can quickly fall under the spell of some charlitan who wants to be a "chief for life" -- a leader to follow. It is sad, but it is also an inevitable effect of government policy the federally recognized tribes have to follow to retain what "sovergnity" they can. There is not much they or we can do about that, unfortunately.

vance

[Tom]

A rare hello , I often do not get involved in these issues, up here we have been out of this loop for a very long time, but my late Mom, put it this way when one of the Cherokee groups attempted to go for recognition and wanted our gen papers.
When I told her what was happening and of the request she quietly thought for a moment and said, "NO"! We already have one government telling us who we are we don't need two!, and that ended that story,recognition will not change anything, it just tends to fracture the families even more. Best to all Tom.

[vance hawkins]

Tom, your mother was a wise woman

vance