Statement from Joe Bunch, Chief of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians

From broadband administration and education funding to sending a Cherokee delegate to Congress, there is opportunity after opportunity to work together for the good of the Cherokee people. And yet, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma refuses to work with the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians to tackle these issues common to both federally recognized Indian tribes living side-by-side in northeastern Oklahoma. The CNO announcement to withdraw from Tri-Council is another ugly marker on the CNO leadership’s misadventure against the United Keetoowah Band people.

To both CNO citizens and UKB members, I beseech you to listen to what our tribes are saying and gauge for yourselves the sincerity and intentions behind the statements being made by both. Listen to our openness and our honesty, with no hidden agenda and no delusions of dominance over the affairs of our sister Cherokee tribe in Oklahoma. And then listen to the preemptive aggressor, whose noisy and incendiary media apparatus works to revise our shared history and mislead its people. As UKB tribal leaders, we have implored the CNO to join with us and only get attacked for it by the very vocal and camera-loving CNO principal chief.

Instead, Chuck Hoskin stokes division, politicizes issues that should never be political, and works to the erasure of the United Keetoowah Band and its people’s rich history. We know that Chuck Hoskin’s actions are no reflection of what is in the hearts of the people of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Our families live, work, and worship together, and this conflict could end with the stroke of a pen by the elected officials within the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

We will never apologize for the historical fact that the CNO is not the only federally recognized Cherokee tribe and not the only successor in interest in Oklahoma to the Cherokee Treaties.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians remain aligned in our promise to our people and will continue to collaborate productively to ensure the long-term well-being and prosperity of all Cherokee. Our tribes will continue to collaborate through the Tri-Council and welcome the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma to join us – when CNO officials decide to do what is right and just for the Cherokee people.