DOJ Asked to Investigate Tribes' Treatment of Freedmen

Several prominent Democrats, some of them members of the Congressional Black Caucus, have asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate five Indian tribes for allegedly violating the civil rights of Freedmen, African Americans descended from freed slaves who were once owned by or who lived with Indian tribes. 

According to the Associated Press, in a letter dated April 30, lawmakers asked Holder to investigate the “illegal expulsion” of Freedmen for the Cherokee, Seminole, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creek nations. 

The issue has placed the Obama Administration in the middle of a battle between traditional Democrats -- African Americans and Native Americans. 

Two years ago, the Cherokee Nation voted to amend its constitution to restrict tribal membership to blood descendents and the Congressional Black Caucus tried to restrict federal funding to the tribe -- a move that was not supported by then-candidate Barrack Obama. 

Last May, in a statement issued to the Tulsa World, Obama said:

“Tribal sovereignty must mean that the place to resolve intertribal disputes is the tribe itself. Our nation has learned with tragic results that federal intervention in internal matters of Indian tribes is rarely productive . . . This is not a legacy we want to continue.

However, speaking directly to the Cherokee Nation issue, Obama also expressed opposition to unwarranted tribal disenrollment and described discrimination anywhere as intolerable.