By ROBERT JUMPER
Tutiyi (Snowbird) and Clyde, N.C.
From the Museum of the Cherokee People, “For Native people here in the United States, voting is a right secured by the relentless advocacy of those who came before us.
Access to that right is even more complex for members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina.
Let’s look at recent history:
1899: North Carolina legislature passes an amendment requiring that “every person presenting himself for [voter] registration shall be able to read and write any section of the Constitution in the English language.” This Jim Crow-era law strategically grandfathers in illiterate white voters while disenfranchising Black voters, Native voters, and non-English speakers.
1900: The “Literacy Test” is added to the North Carolina Constitution.
1924: The Indian Citizenship Act grants Native people full U.S. citizenship. Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) members are still not guaranteed their right to vote.
1965: The Voting Rights Act passes. The Literacy Test is prohibited in federal elections after a series of lawsuits.
2024: N.C. House of Representatives unanimously passes House Bill 44 to amend the literacy test provision. The bill stalls and dies in the N.C. Senate. Though federally unenforceable, the language remains in the NC Constitution.”
Here are some additional bullets of history regarding voter rights, or lack thereof (courtesy of NCPedia.org):
In 1930, Henry Owl, a member of the EBCI and the first American Indian to attend the University of North Carolina with a master’s degree in history, was legally denied the right to vote in North Carolina. Local officials claimed that Cherokee people were “wards of the state” rather than full citizens.
From 1939 to 1946: Following World War I and World War II, returning Cherokee military veterans-backed by the American Legion and the U.S. Department of Justice-launched a sustained campaign that finally forced the local election board in North Carolina to allow Cherokee registrations by 1946.
Why would our ancestors, our tribal elders, fight for the right to vote in the elections of another government or nation? Some might say that participating in other governments’ voting processes undermines the sovereignty of a tribal nation. There are some realities of our sovereignty that we should always consider, especially during elections. As an alternative to war and subjugation, our ancestors chose negotiation and treaties to secure the future of tribal nations. That is very much how we ended up with dual citizenship in tribes and the United States. Remember, citizenship and race are separate issues; citizenship has to do with governance, and race has to do with blood.
I can tell you that, in my opinion, after reading the history of how the U.S. government tried to deny and delay indigenous people’s ability to vote in their elections for so long, there are likely still some people out there who think we shouldn’t be allowed to vote. And you can bet that they are just as pleased as they can be when we decide that, for whatever reason, we are not going to participate in something like the U.S. midterm elections. Maybe you feel like you are giving them what they want when you vote, or that indigenous peoples do not have the numbers to make a difference in the vote, or maybe you simply don’t think that you are impacted by the voting outcomes.
Until adult gaming became a force in our economic engine, much of the operational economy was funded through grants and loans proffered outside of the tribe and tribal lands. And still today, although more supplemental in nature, the tribe still uses federal, state, and local funding to meet the needs of our tribal membership. So, life on the Boundary is affected every day by the decisions of those in the executive and legislative branches of the federal government, and the governors and state legislatures of states like North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Georgia. The tribe enjoys the reciprocal benefit of mutual aid agreements for emergency services with surrounding counties, which are governed by town aldermen and county commissioners. Our judicial system and that of the federal government coexist to address legal issues that involve incidents between indigenous Cherokee people and citizens of the U.S. who are not indigenous. And if you have a family member who is tribal and lives outside the five-county service area of the EBCI, those members are directly impacted by the municipal laws of the towns and counties they live in. There is very little in indigenous life that has not been or will not be impacted by our neighboring nation.
In an article written by Holly Kays for the Smoky Mountain News in 2020, EBCI member Gerri Grady shared her thoughts on voting. She said, “It is hugely important to me. I think that we as Cherokee people cannot forget that we are not only citizens of our own community here on the Qualla Boundary. We’re also citizens of the state of North Carolina and the United States. I think it’s important to every one of the tribal members who are of voting age to participate in all levels of voting opportunities.”
Personally, I just don’t want to leave my future up to someone else. I have seen too many times an election hinge on a single vote. So, last Saturday, I, along with my wife, drove to the polls in Haywood County, and we cast our votes. And, bonus, I got a sticker. Don’t get me wrong, to feel like I had voted ethically and, to the best of my ability, represented my values, I did weeks and months of research on the candidates and issues that were on the ballot. But you do you. I am just saying that doing nothing puts governmental power completely in the hands of others, possibly in the hands of those who might have values totally opposed to your own. Ask yourself this: What would all those who fought so hard to ensure that we would be able to have a voice in these elections say to those of us who chose to ignore their efforts? And what are you saying to them by not voting?
