Osage Constitutional Reform Testimony
During the early 2000s, the Cherokee Nation created an uproar when it disenfranchised Cherokee Freedmen who did not descend from individuals listed as “Cherokee by Blood” on their allotment rolls. While advocates of the Freedmen couched the debate in terms of racism, civil rights, and treaty violations, supporters of exclusion viewed it as acting upon the inherent sovereign power to determine citizenship. Other tribes across Indian Country engaged the same question of what it means to be and belong to an indigenous nation—and who decides. In some communities, revenue from gaming and natural resources intensified the controversy and led to disenrollment. This document provides a window into how the Osages set about drafting a new constitution to replace one built around a select group of shareholders of the Osage Mineral Estate (some of whom were not Osage). Consider how the following series of comments by Osages regarding citizenship criteria in the new constitution reveals ongoing conversations in Native America about indigeneity, being, belonging, and the relationship between race, blood, and nation.23
“I think that there should be no blood quantum. If we stop now and try to clean up our roll, it is going to bog us down and we’ll be bogged down for the next 50 years and never accomplish a thing and not get a membership. . . . If you take another tribe, say across the river, the Poncas. . . . Right now they are dealing with lowering their membership quantum. I think that all the tribes are going to have to do that eventually if they have one set at one quarter because we are living in a time period where people marry other races and other tribes and so the bloodlines are really thinning out.”
“It (citizenship) is who you are culturally and socially, I think. To me blood has very little to do with it. We have people that live right here that, or maybe I should say, people that live away from here who are more Osage than some people that live right here in the community because those people are recognized as Osages, culturally.”
“It is important to remember that Indian Nationhood is not a racial or ethnic matter, it is a political status. So blood quantum should be irrelevant. Being Osage is more of a state of mind; it is being part of a community. . . .”
“The blood issue that seems to come up in every Indian Nation is a slippery slope for our people. This is a white man’s game. We as original human beings never thought of blood; we thought of family and deeds. We adopted others into our tribe and treated them with love and respect as equals. There are no full bloods, so by thinking of degrees of blood then there are no more Osage people either. I feel that blood degree is a form of discrimination. We need to be Indians not white Indians.”
“By 1906 clearly it was obvious that if you could get on the roll it might pay off, which of course it did. So I would say as a personal thing I would think that the 1901 roll would be more reliable as to who was more likely to be culturally identified as Osage. By 1906 it is pretty demonstrable that a number of people who are on the 1906 role are not of Osage blood.”
“Let’s face it, you ought to be Osage to be a member of the Osage tribe. But if they can prove that you’re not, then why do you want to be part of our tribe. . . . If you want to be a member of the tribe you should be of Osage blood.”
“There are some families that go around here and say that they know they are not Osage. But they said they sure will use what we give them. I believe not all are like that, but I just feel that when you have a tribe and membership that it should be by blood. Yes, they did adopt a lot in the Osage Tribe. I just don’t think that it is right that they get a vote or anything when our own Osage children don’t get much not because of how many of the adopted ones and people that were on by fraud get the same as in Osage by blood. I am not saying people can’t feel like they are Osage. It is different to feel than to actually be an Osage by blood. I have several friends that are really not Osage, and I feel that they are taking away from my children. I am not trying to make anyone mad but just telling my feelings on it. . . .”
“Is this an organization, a club or is it a nation and tribe? Is this an organization just out there to make money or out there, or is it a tribe. Blood quantum is encouraging, blood quantum is what it does is encourage, it doesn’t. . . . You have a choice, everybody has a choice, but it encourages marrying back into the tribe, if you don’t that’s what’s going to happen. . . .”
“I would strongly support a decision to allow ‘blood quantum/degree of Osage blood’ to determine the amount of vote a tribal member possesses. For example, if a member is 1/4 Osage, this would mean that he/she possesses one 1/4 of a vote, 1/8 Osage blood would equal 1/8 vote and so forth. This would not limit membership to any person and would give voting privilege to all. In addition, as many of you are aware, the original allottee roll contained the names of individuals who were not of Osage descent and who were otherwise frequently listed as tribal members. Therefore, the descendants of the non-Osages should not be allowed to acquire membership. . . .”
“I believe we should only let those who live on Osage Reservation vote on Reform decisions.”
“I think we should utilize all the scientific methods that are available to us today. And if we really have a question about blood quantum, why don’t we utilize DNA. That might have some very interesting outcomes.”
“I think in terms of benefits and such that full bloods, 3/4 bloods, half bloods, and so on should get FIRST PRIORITY. If a full blood and a 1/32 blood both apply for housing the full blood should get it first. I know many people think this is wrong, but facts are facts, people. The full bloods are our last remaining link to our past. These people’s blood is not mixed, it is pure Osage. I think that is important.”
“My idea of what’s an Osage is somebody that goes to the church, helps out at the Inlonshka and wants to learn the language. And we’ve got a tribe of around 18–20,000 Osages, and we don’t have but 180 that want to learn the language. Then you look at all these people that say they’re Osage, but they never help out drum keepers, and then you never see them in a church, you hardly ever see them at a hand-game, but yet they’re wanting blood quantum, and if they want a blood quantum, they ought to practice what we do. But instead just a few of us are trudging on trying to keep it going. To be an Osage, you have to have 3 things. You have to have land base, then you have to have language, then you also have to have culture.”
“I would propose that mixed-bloods (of whatever degree is decided on) would be required to register in person at Inlonshka every 4 years between the ages of 21 and 50 or 55, unless serving in the armed services abroad (or perhaps Osages living out of the country?). . . .”
“I will one day be a shareholder, when it is my turn, because my family held on to their headrights. Those who gave their headrights away have no right to change the existing government or any part of the mineral estate. Only the shareholders should be allowed to vote. Our government should not be changed to suit those who have not maintained their connection to the tribe.”