by  Sandra Sac Parker (former staff member)

  Recent legal action against the Horsebend Bingo Hall, Sperry, Oklahoma, by the Tulsa County district attorney's office has brought to public attention a Cherokee Tribal Government previously hidden from view-2sgbyg or The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.

  The publicity surrounding the case prompted John Hair, [from the Kenwood Area of the Cherokee Nation] (former) Bi-Lingual Chief of the 2sgby or the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees, to give an interview about his tribe.

  "I still don't want to give it", he said, but due to the litigation going on, reporters are continually asking, 'Who's the United Keetoowah Band? And 'Who's the Chief?' People need to know who we are."

  The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees, a federally recognized tribal government organized approximately 50 years ago, consists of a Chief,(Present-John Ross) Assistant Chief,(Present-Jim Henson) and a Tribal Council of nine members elected by district.[they are the original nine districts within  the Historic boundary lines of the Cherokee Nation] Headquarters are in Tahlequah.  Its current membership is around 7500, all of whom are at least one-quarter (1/4) Cherokee.

  The 2sgby or United Keetoowah Band should not be confused with the Keetoowah Society, also known as Nighthawks, a major traditionalist religious society with which many people are familiar. Nor should the Band be confused with the current Cherokee Nation, another governmental organization established much later than the Band.

  Because the Keetoowah Society is a religious  society which can be compared to any other major religion, and the two tribal governments do not prohibit membership in the other, it is possible for a Cherokee to belong to all three organizations.

  To understand the history of the United    Keetoowah   Band, it  is  necessary  to understand the history  of  the Cherokee People in this century and the latter part of the last century.

  After the Cherokee Nation was forcibly removed from its eastern homeland, it re-established  its government and society in what is now approximately the northeastern 14 counties of Oklahoma.

  The Cherokee Nation Government had executive, judicial and lawmaking branches. A lighthorse patrol kept the peace, and the Cherokee Nation educational system was recognized as the finest west of the Mississippi. Land was held in common by the people, which meant a citizen could settle anywhere on  Cherokee  Nation  land he pleased and farm as much land as he wanted, with the stipulation that he not encroach on any of his neighbors.

  However, various Acts passed by the United States Congress in the latter part of the 19th Century, in particular the Curtis Act of 1898, sought  to abolish [and did] the governments of the so-called Five Civilized Tribes-The Cherokees, Creek [Muskogee], Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole. The  Governments were stripped of their functions, tribal courts were abolished, and the Tribes' schools were merged into the Non-Indians' public school system.

  Most devastating, land was divided into parcels with individual ownership, termed allotments. What the Federal Government called "excess land" after this division was taken from the Indians, Without Just Compensation!

  The  territory of the Five Tribes, along with the remainder of Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory, was officially proclaimed the state of Oklahoma  by President Theodore Roosevelt on Nov. 16, 1907.

  After 1907, the only time the Cherokees had  a semblance of  National Government was when the President of the United States appointed a "Chief  for a day" to act on behalf of the Cherokees that needed attention.

  However, Federal Policy would ultimately favor restoration of some measure of Tribal Government, of which the major instrument was the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934. This Act included provisions for chartering and reorganizing Indian Governments, but specifically excluded Oklahoma Tribes.

  This was corrected by the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act (OIWA) of 1936, which extended the provisions of the IRA to those Tribes within  the  boundaries of the state of Oklahoma.

  The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees organized in the late 1930's under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act, said Ed Munson, former UKB attorney. "The United Keetoowah Band was really the only governmental organization (of the Cherokee people) at that time," he said. "But for some  reason  things just weren't formalized."

  "We were asked to organize a government so we would have a governing body and to  administer the Cherokee assets and monies," Chief Hair said of this early period."Our guardian, Uncle Sam, said 'You need to form a government to take care of  your people.' They gave us lawyers and everything to help us."

  Indeed, after passage of the Indian Reorganization Act and Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act, the Cherokees were only one of many Tribes the Department of Interior assisted in drafting Constitutions, Codes, and Governmental structures, The Department of Interior, through its agency the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), is charged with administering the Federal Government's Trust responsibilities to the country's Tribes.

  In 1948, Congress authorized the President to appoint Chiefs of the Five Tribes, said Ed Munson, Cherokee Attorney (he is a descendant from the Bushyhead family). Despite the existence of the United Keetoowah Band Government, already at least 10 years old, Harry Truman appointed William W. (W.W.) Keeler, a Phillips Petroleum executive and only 1/16 Cherokee, as Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

  In May 1950, formal  recognition of the United Keetoowah Band came when its Constitution was signed by William E. Warne, Assistant Secretary of the Interior, and it was ratified by the United Keetoowah Band members in October of that year (1950). Its Charter and by-laws were also Federally recognized.

  In discussing the formation of the two different governments for one Tribe of people, (former)Chief John Hair of  Kenwood said,"We were just led to believe this was the government. Cherokee Nation came along time afterward. I really don't know why they set up  Cherokee Nation (of  Oklahoma). I have opinions, but  I  better  not say."

  In the beginning, W.W.Keeler and his attorney Earl Boyd Pierce attended United Keetoowah Band Council meetings, Hair said, and told members they (W.W.Keeler and Earl Boyd Pierce) were in a caretaker  position only and the  actual Cherokee government was the United Keetoowah Band. Once the United Keetoowah Band members were educated sufficiently to run Cherokee affairs, Keeler promised to relinquish his position, Hair said

  However, W.W.Keeler's resignation never came about, and when President Richard Nixon in 1970 authorized the appointed Chiefs of the Five Civilized Tribes to call for Tribal elections, Keeler was elected in 1971 to the position he had held as an appointee for over 20 years.

  In the second Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma election in 1974, [Lame-duck] Chief, W.W. Keeler endorsed Tribal Attorney Ross O. Swimmer, who was elected with only 23% of the total votes cast.

  The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma adopted a Constitution in 1975, which was approved by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson in September of 1975. Unlike the United Keetoowah Band's Constitution, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Constitution  had  no  minimum blood requirement, either for membership or to hold office.

  That same year Congress Passed the Indian Self-Determination And Educational Assistance Act (Public Law 93-638), which made available funds to strengthen Tribal Governments and  to  provide services to Tribal members.

  The amount of funds awarded are based, to a large degree, on the population size to be served. Most Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma proposals base population numbers on  United States Census statistics, which includes all Indians in its jurisdiction area, rather than Tribal enrollment. As both groups claim the Old Cherokee Nation West boundaries, this includes United Keetoowah Band members.

  Also, since neither Government prohibits membership in the other, many Cherokees belong to both groups.

  Because of this overlapping population claimed by both Governments, Bureau of Indian Affairs officials  in Muskogee, Oklahoma asked for direction from that agency's top official, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in determining funding.

  This directive came in the form of a May 1979 policy memo from Martin Seneca, then acting Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and now the United Keetoowah Band's Attorney who is arguing the Horsebend Case in Court.

  Separate funding of both groups would result in a portion of the population being counted twice for the same purpose, he agreed. However, both groups are recognized as having a Government-to-Government relationship with the United States. That relationship was confirmed when both organizations appeared on a list of federally recognized  Tribes in the Feb. 6, 1979, issue of the federal register, he said.

  Seneca offered three alternatives to the population overlap. The first was that both groups pass concurring resolutions to have one administer the program in question for both; the second, that the Bureau of Indian  Affairs  Superintend would administer the program in the absence of such concurring resolutions; and third, that if  both Governments (UKB and CNO) amended their Constitutions to prohibit dual citizenship, then each  would be funded independently.[Divide and conquer?]

  After Seneca's memo was issued, Swimmer filed suit against the United Keetoowah Band in Federal  District Court, Hair said.

  Prior to this, Chief Ross O.Swimmer had written a lengthy letter dated April 27, 1979, to Henry Bellmon, then Oklahoma's U.S. and  now  State  Governor,  in  which  he  argued  "the  only  way  of   avoiding  serious  conflicts and complications for all Cherokees is for Congress to act in accordance with Article 8 of their (United Keetoowah Band's) Corporate Charter which says their Charter may be revoked  by  Act  of  Congress."

  Then-Senator Bellmon relayed Swimmer's letter to Forest Gerard, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs (to which the position of Commissioner of Indian Affairs had been elevated), asking for his legal opinion on the status of the United Keetoowah Band and other bands in this category.

  He received a reply dated July 31, 1979, from Theodore Krenzke, Director, Office of Indian Services, whom Gerard had requested to respond.

  As the  United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees had organized under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936, It "clearly has the status of a seperate Tribal entity," Krenzke said. Acknowledging the problem of dual enrolled, he pointed out Seneca's memo had attempted to deal with that issue.