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Black members of Oklahoma Native American tribe file federal lawsuit to gain citizenship rights
The lawsuit says tribal leaders have ignored a 2025 court order and withheld cards from applicants who could open citizenship to thousands more descendants.
- On Thursday, July 23, Rhonda Grayson and Jeffrey Kennedy filed a federal lawsuit in the Western District of Oklahoma demanding the Muscogee Nation issue citizenship cards as ordered by the tribe's supreme court last year.
- The lawsuit alleges Principal Chief David Hill and the Muscogee Nation Citizenship Board violated an 1866 treaty by ignoring a July 2025 Muscogee Nation Supreme Court ruling that recognized citizenship rights for Black Creek Freedmen descendants.
- Attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons noted approximately 100,000 people could be eligible for citizenship, while Grayson, president of the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band, called the 47-year wait "horrific."
- Muscogee Nation officials stated they are committed to ensuring constitutional laws are followed fairly, with a spokesperson asserting "getting policies right is always more important than getting them done quickly."
- Similar legal challenges compelled the Cherokee Nation and the Seminole Nation to grant citizenship to Freedmen descendants; with more than 4,000 applications filed since the 2025 decision, this case seeks to enforce the court's order.
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Associated Press News+34 Reposted by 34 other sources
Black members of Oklahoma Native American tribe file federal lawsuit to gain citizenship rights
Two descendants of Black people once enslaved by a Native American tribe are asking a federal court in Oklahoma to force tribal leaders to issue them citizenship cards as ordered a year ago by a tribal court.
·New York, United States
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Total News Sources37
Leaning Left13Leaning Right4Center20Last UpdatedBias Distribution54% Center
Bias Distribution
- 54% of the sources are Center
54% Center
L 35%
C 54%
11%
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