Cherokee Nation chief optimistic about seating delegate in Congress

The principal chief of the Cherokee Nation expressed optimism in an interview that aired Sunday that it will be able to see its delegate seated in Congress.

During an appearance on “Axios on HBO,” Cherokee chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said the U.S. should make good on its treaty agreement with the tribe by seating Kim Teehee in the House of Representatives. The tribe tapped Teehee as their representative delegate in 2019, according to Axios.

“The president of the United States agreed to this 180 years ago,” Hoskin Jr. said. “The United States Senate did its job 180 years ago; there’s one part of the government left to take action. That’s the United States House of Representatives.”

The Treaty of New Echota, signed by then-President Andrew Jackson and ratified by the Senate in 1835, promised the Cherokee Nation a nonvoting House delegate. 

Thousands of Cherokee tribe members died making the journey from their homelands in the U.S. states of Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee to Oklahoma in what is known as the “Trail of Tears.”

Hoskin Jr. and Tehee expressed optimism about that their efforts were moving in the right direction and were gaining support.

Hoskin Jr. said that any lawmaker who campaigned for “pro-tribal sovereignty and goes back on such a basic promise, they’re gonna be on the opposite side of me and they’re gonna be on the opposite side of history. And there’ll be a consequence for that.”

“I think as long as we are willing to proactively continue to keep the ball moving, we’ll get there,” Teehee told Axios.