Chief of Cherokee Nation Calls Obama the Best President EVER for American Indians

[ProSense]

Chief of Cherokee Nation Calls Obama the Best President EVER for American Indians

by Shawn Russell

For too long in this country, Native Americans, the indigenous people of this land not only had their land and culture stolen, but had to endure poverty as well as discrimination, racism, neglect and abuse from their new masters. Recently, a UN investigator has recommended that some stolen land needs to be returned to Native Americans to alleviate some of their misery.

However it seems that many Native Americans have found hope in President Obama and believe he is the greatest President they have had:

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker is here to help nominate President Barack Obama for a second term, and he doesn't hold anything back in his praise for the president.

Obama, Baker said here Tuesday, “is the best president for Indian Country in the history of the United States.”

http://newsok.com/cherokee-nation-chief-calls-president-obama-best-president-ever-for-american-indians/article/3707011#ixzz25zvbOM6Z

One of the reasons Baker believes this to be true is because Obama has kept all his promises to Indian Country:

“This president has made promises to Indian Country, and he's kept them,” Baker said. “He is a promise keeper. And that needs to be recognized and rewarded.”

- more -

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/09/1129679/-Chief-of-Cherokee-Nation-Calls-Obama-the-Best-President-EVER-for-American-Indians

Romney: ‘Can You Think Of Any’ Promises Obama Has Met? (image heavy)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021295267

[madokie]

1. Likewise the Cherokee has been good to us

They provide health care, build roads, give lots of money to the schools, based on how many Indigenous kids are enrolled and many more good things. I'm Proud of my Cherokees too.

[efhmc]

23. So good to hear something good is being done by and for NA's.

[catbyte]

2. This Ojibwe agrees

Diane
Anishinaabe in MI

[Warpy]

3. Far scarcer than hen's teeth

are Republicans on reservations sprinkled around this state.

Ultra traditional people are far from dumb. They know which party gives them real help and which party only gives them missionaries. The rez is about the only place I don't feel like a wild eyed radical, although I visit seldom.

[JRLeft]

4. I believe Americans should be reminded that this nation belongs to Native Americans.

[yellerpup]

5. I didn't know he was a Democrat.

I don't remember his claiming a party affiliation during the last tribal election for Chief, but I am thrilled to learn what it is. I hope he inspires others to get out and vote for Democrats.

[tilsammans]

6. K&R!!!

I live in South Dakota, and I see every day the heartbreaking lives the Native Americans lead. And I'm appalled at the amount of out-in-the-open bigotry toward them from so-called Christians.

It's about time someone at the top cared and did something.

[AsahinaKimi]

12. One of my best friends is a full blooded Lakota

He is presently attending university classes on his reservation. The other day I was in a chat room, while watching the Democratic convention. It was a chat room for the 2012 Obama reelection. He had come in and sat with us for a while, and noticed my Obama button and asked for the link so he could get one. I gifted him one, and he was so happy. Normally we never talk about politics, but I was glad to know he supported the President whole heartedly.

[hombre]

7. I'm a Hombre

My grandmother was full blood Cherokee, and being a halfbreed makes me a true Democrat and backs Obama 100%. All Cherokees here in northeast Oklahoma and western Arkansas all back Obama.

[ProSense]

8. Welcome

[AsahinaKimi]

13. Welcome to DU!

Yokoso!

[moriah]

22. Welcome to DU, neighbor!

I'm up here in Benton County, Arkansas, tho soon I'll be moving further down south (Grant County).

[99th_Monkey]

9. This is one of the coolest endorsements EVER.

I remember during the campaign in 08 seeing news reports of Obama
visiting Native American reservations and hanging out, and I think
there were even some ceremonies done that recognized his spirit of
service and compassion and wished him God's speed in the election.

"In a private ceremony, he was adopted into the Crow Nation and
bestowed the name, “One Who Helps People Throughout the Land.”
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/obama-adopted-by-native-americans/

[FirstLight]

15. Isn't he the first Pres EVER to be recognized by the Nations?

I believe the Nations see themselves as sovereign, so to have the chiefs and peoples of the Tribes even recognizing the office of POTUS, and especially the MAN, is something....

A-ho!

[99th_Monkey]

19. Anyone calling themselves "progressive" should be profoundly affected

in a very positive way by this kind of recognition by Native American tribes.

Woot! I'm fired up and ready to go.

[KT2000]

27. they are sovereign

and the US government is supposed to recognize them as such in all deliberations.

[porphyrian]

10. . n/t

[William769]

11. As a descendant of the Cherokee Nation.

[nanabugg]

14. Just makes the GOP more angry...but hey, TS!!!! nt

[Cha]

16. "..Kept all his promises"..

"Since his election, Obama has directed his agencies to incorporate tribal input on a broad range of issues.
The Obama administration made Indian Country a significant part of the stimulus and health reform legislation.
And it resolved long-running lawsuits involving Indians and the federal government, including the one involving the mismanagement of individual Indian trust accounts.
The administration also helped push major legislation on tribal justice through Congress, has worked to streamline the leasing process for Indian trust land and launched an initiative to improve Indian schools."

Thank you for this article, ProSense!

[cr8tvlde]

17. Just returned from Tahlequah, OK ... Cherokee Nation HQ

It may be a Red political State, but many support our Native brethern and appreciate the support for and acknowledgement of the promises kept by President Obama.

[WinkyDink]

18. Really? Because I'd put Jimmy Carter as best.

Most Indians don’t know the story behind Jimmy Carter’s passage of AIFRA in 1979 (American Indian Freedom of Religion Act). In the old days, there didn’t use to be as many powwows as there are today. Things were different. When I started my medicine training I told people I was studying to be a conjuror, learning how to do magic tricks. Even my wife and children didn’t know what I was doing at first. One teacher would sit me on the end of a dock in Florida. We weren’t supposed to look at each other. He spoke in a real low voice and I had to memorize everything in a code. It’s all still in there but sometimes it takes me a while to dredge it out.
"Another of my teachers would meet me at truck stops across America—in the Mojave desert, Oregon, Utah, out in the middle of nowhere. He used to come to me in dreams. One day, this stopped and I never saw him again. I knew him only as Grandfather.
"Things changed overnight. Few people know how the freedom of religion law came about. It was because of the Russians. We was over there breathing down their necks about Afghanistan. They turned around and said, ‘How can you talk to us about human rights—look what you’re doing to your Native Americans.’ They were really indignant.
"They had their facts together. Every time we’d bring something up they’d return to the subject of Indians. Finally, it was decided if the Americans would give the Indians their freedom back, the Russians would withdraw from Afghanistan. Jimmy Carter came back and put through AIFRA."
http://www.pantherslodge.com/lies.html

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=31173

[ProSense]

20. You'd have to take that up with the Chief.

Still, you can seriously look at the long list of achievements and appointments and say this President hasn't earned the praise.

That doesn't mean there weren't other achievements, but this administration has done a lot and closed the chapter on a lot of issues that have dragged out for decades, and there is still more to be done.

[moriah]

24. Few ever give Carter the credit he really deserved.

He did a hell of a lot while President, and continues to be one of our best ambassadors.

[Whovian]

28. Plus one.

[hfojvt]

25. I would think that FDR would be up there

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Collier_(reformer)

(Collier) received little more than half the $10 million he requested for the revolving credit fund, for instance, and was only able to help the tribes increase their landholdings by less than 20 percent of the additional 25,000 million acres he estimated they required. 353

Under (Collier's) policies, the total area of Indian lands in the Continental United States rose from some 47 million to 51 million acres - roughly the level at which it remains today. 354

During (Collier's) Commissionership, the government lent the tribes a total of $12 million, fuelling an explosion of economic activity: Native American beef cattle herds, for instance, increased by 105%, their yield of animal products by 2,300%, and their total agricultural income from $1.85 million to $49 million. 354-55

The Earth Shall Weep by James Wilson 1998 Grove Press

[Tigress DEM]

21. Another thread addresses this as well.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014223480

[patrice]

26. Many of us here have read Howard Zinn's description of the founding of this country and, hence, know

in a small way what a significant statement this is.

[bigmonkey]

29. "Primary law"

Somewhere I have a copy of a message that candidate Obama made, specifically to address Native Americans, where he called the treaties concluded with the tribes "primary law". (I hope that's the exact term, I have no legal training.) When I saw it, my jaw dropped open. I had seen Kucinich speak in my neighborhood, and the status of those treaties was the one thing he hemmed and hawed about - I was disappointed, but then thought that no presidential candidate could pragmatically afford to take those treaties seriously, however ethical his or her stance.

I passed the video to practically no-one, and told virtually no-one about it, because I was afraid he would lose the election and this could be drummed up into a useful hit on Obama by the right wing. I can't find it on YouTube right now, but it was a direct, headshot address by Obama to the Nations (is that the right term?).

[ProSense]

30. Here's a good document:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/2011whtnc_report.pdf