E. Fred Sanders
Located primarily in South Carolina, the Catawbas grappled with forms of racism and discrimination similar to those of other southern Indians. Like the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, they successfully gained federal recognition through the Indian Reorganization Act during the 1940s. Less than two decades later, however, Congress terminated them. This set the stage for a movement to secure the restoration of the federal trust relationship—something virtually all of the tribes, bands, and rancherias that experienced termination engaged in during the 1960s through the 1990s. In this document, Catawba Assistant Chief Fred Sanders testified in favor of restoration legislation (H.R. 5562) and set Catawba claims to nationhood against the backdrop of the imminent Columbian Quincentennary. Consider, however, how another conflict involving the taking of reservation lands established by treaty during the early 1760s complicated his efforts, as well as the language the assistant chief used to discredit his opponents and win allies. Although the Catawbas reached a settlement the following year, Sanders did not successfully disentangle the issues. In return for federal acknowledgment and a monetary award, the Catawbas agreed to relinquish the land claim.36
The bill 5562 has to do with restoring Catawba to a government-to-government Federal relationship, which we had at one time and was caught in the termination trap by the policies of the Federal Government in the mid-1950s. Catawba has put off seeking restoration because there was a lawsuit involved with the State of South Carolina concerning a treaty land violation, and we were hoping to get that bill, along with doing the same process. Nevertheless, it was not a part of the lawsuit, and we want to make that very clear today.
We have two different issues. The lawsuit pertains to a treaty violation of 1840 with the tribe and the State of South Carolina, which was protected under the 1790 Non-Intercourse and Trade Act. This policy of the Federal Government in 1950 had to do with terminating a number of tribes throughout the United States, which would not continue to provide Federal service to those tribes, which they were receiving as Federally-recognized tribes. So we are dealing with two different issues here.
I would like to say I speak on behalf of my tribe, which consists of approximately 1,400 people, and I represent the executive committee, since I am the assistant chief. I have served on the council in that position since 1975. We have a census, which was taken by the colonists in South Carolina in 1715, and through that census data, they said there were 1,470 Catawbas. Prior to that, there were thousands of Catawbas, but through disease brought to this country by the foreign population, it was depleted. Two hundred and seventy-seven years later, today, there are approximately the same number of Catawbas. Doesn’t seem right, does it?
Nevertheless, we have a record indicating historically we were aboriginal people in the same Piedmont area when the colonists arrived that we are presently occupying. Rock Hill, South Carolina, is the town nearest the Catawba Indian Reservation, which is southeast, and we have occupied that territory and the other territories for centuries prior to the coming of the discovery of America. So we have survived 500 years in that territory. Certainly, we need to be looked after and treated as an American Indian population with some dignity.
With the treaty of 1760, what the British call “Pine Tree Hill,” which is now known as Camden, South Carolina, the Catawbas at that time agreed to relinquish over 8.5 million acres of property to the colonies in order to be guaranteed a reservation, which would be platted and designated, which gave them a recognized title, and that was the 15 square miles, or 144,000 acres, and that is the thing we are in court about under the Federal—under the lawsuit with the State of South Carolina.
It is not in the court about the restoration for the tribe. Federal restoration will bring the tribe back into the position of where we will be able to receive the services that all Federally-recognized tribes receive. We don’t have to elaborate on that. We know it has to do with education opportunities, housing opportunities, and it has to do with an economic growth in the community for the Indian and non-Indians alike.
I would like to say that at this point we do not have the support of the South Carolina delegation from the House or the Senate side. And the reason for that is they would like to be able to say to the public and to the Congress that restoration for Catawba at this time would infringe upon settling the lawsuit.
I would like to tell you that is not the truth. The people who are saying this are people who are actually defendants in the lawsuit or represent defendants in the lawsuit. Our very own Congressman is a defendant in the lawsuit. He owns over 800 acres or is occupying over 400 acres in the lawsuit territory. He has a conflict.
We have people who are negotiating the lawsuit, who were appointed by the governor of South Carolina, who are defendants that occupy the land. They have a conflict of interest. Any time you have someone negotiating a settlement for you that has a direct conflict of interest, normally it is not equitable to the person they are negotiating for.
We need someone to negotiate an equitable settlement for the lawsuit, and we certainly need to be restored and not continue to wait for someone to come out and say we are going to give you something. Congress was the ones that terminated the Catawba Indians: they are the ones that have to restore us, not the State of South Carolina. Restoration can only be a plus for Catawba and let Catawba continue to be who they are.
The American Indian population in the State of South Carolina—they have some theory in the State of South Carolina, if you reach some status in life, you can quit being who you are. I want to tell you that isn’t true. I happen to know that in 1840 my grandmother, great grandmother was born, when this treaty with the State of South Carolina went to court about. My grandmother, who was born in the 1860s, my mother, who was born in 1896, are people who have seen the devastation of not being treated as citizens of the State of South Carolina.
We have been attempting to settle the lawsuit since the year of 1886. It is still under the courts—under jurisdictional questions. Talk about the due process of justice. I don’t think there is any other tribe in the United States that has ever approached the courts, and it has been in the courts or been at process or negotiated with the tribe for over 100 years.
We don’t know when that question will ever be answered and settled, the lawsuit. Restoration cannot depend on that. It depends on the Congress going to the fellow Members of the Congress and the Senate and getting the tribe restored. Catawbas will support settlement of the lawsuit in addition to the restoration because we have always worked with South Carolina, but they must talk to us.
I wrote to the governor of South Carolina, as chairman of the restoration project, and offered to sit down with him and converse with him about the necessity of restoration for the tribe and the tribe’s decision to seek restoration through the Congress, and got no reply. The thing that we did get, we got one letter from the Congressman saying, Fred, if you seek restoration for the tribe, the governor is surely going to oppose it. And not only will he oppose it, but he will write letters to all the South Carolina Federal delegation and ask them not to support it.
And when I wrote to the governor, I said, is that really true? He didn’t answer. That didn’t curb what the Attorney General did. He wrote a letter to every member of the South Carolina Federal delegation and said do not support the Catawba restoration bill. We are talking about the politically powerful against the politically powerless, and I hope this country has enough guts to stand up and say this isn’t the way it is supposed to be. We have citizens out there you are elected to represent, and let us get on with the show.