A state senate committee voted Tuesday to put off a bill to recognize six Indian tribes in Tennessee. That’s after members of some already-recognized tribes protested the measure, saying it would grant rights to groups that don’t legitimately qualify.
The senate State and Local committee voted to study the issue of tribal recognition over summer, rather than move the bill forward for a floor vote.
Opponents, including members of federally recognized Cherokee and Yuchi groups, argued those seeking recognition were more akin to clubs than tribes.
Alice Gwin disputes that. Gwin heads the Tanasi Council of Faraway Cherokee, one of the groups seeking state recognition. She says next session she’ll bring proof of the tribe’s continuity dating back centuries.
“We intend to show them proof now. They’ve showed us what they have; we also know now exactly what to present. So the people of Tennessee – we’re going to fight for them.”
Gwin says state recognition makes tribes eligible for federal grants for things like health care, as well as community projects that would create badly needed jobs.
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Professor Richard Grounds was satisfied with Tuesday’s results.
“Of course, we would have liked to have seen it directly addressed on the standing merits, and therefore it would have been turned down. However, in the political climate of the situation, that’s as good as we can expect for now.”
Grounds says he wants a process implemented for testing a group’s functionality as a veritable tribe, as well as documentation of historical lineage.
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