Indianz.Com > News > Shannon Holsey: U.S. must honor treaty promises to tribal nations
Seating Cherokee Delegate Strengthens Sovereign Rights for All Tribes
Tuesday, December 6, 2022
President, Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians
Recently members of the House of Representatives held a hearing on seating the Cherokee Nation’s long-promised delegate to Congress. As they contemplate next steps, I ask them to remember that our voices matter in policymaking. We, after all, were this land’s first people.
Today we are also neighbors, community leaders, co-workers, business owners and economic drivers of this country. Native Americans help shape America’s past and we are engines of its future. We have long had an undeniable role in the history of the United States. Now we are asking for it to be recognized because we know representation matters. Our voices need to be heard in the nation’s capital as policies are made.
The Cherokee Nation holds a unique treaty-mandated right, a non-voting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. It was included in the Treaty of New Echota which was signed off on by the president and ratified by the Senate nearly 200 years ago. The delegate has not been seated yet because the House hasn’t voted to seat her, it is the last relatively simple step in a centuries long process.
Shannon Holsey is President of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, a federally-recognized tribe of American Indians. She also serves as the Treasurer of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI).
Related Stories

Advertisement
Search
Filed Under
Tags
More Headlines
A Listening Session on “The ARTIST Act: Updating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act”
Native America Calling: Is Twitter worth the trade-off?
NAFOA opens annual economic development conference in nation’s capital
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hosts listening session for Indian Arts and Crafts Act
SCOTUSblog: A ‘simple’ Indian law case before the U.S. Supreme Court
Chuck Hoskin: Cherokee Nation continues to rebuild its economy
Native America Calling: Robots help teach STEM and Native languages
New York bans use of Native mascots in public schools
National American Indian Housing Council welcomes new executive director
Native America Calling: Tribal cannabis update from New York to Washington State
Fireworks as Secretary Haaland faces Republican critic on Capitol Hill
ICT won’t post on Twitter due to ‘mistrust’ of social media platform
‘It’s really meaningful to me’: Omaha Nation students visit site of former boarding school
Native America Calling: Tribal gun laws
Native America Calling: Erasing tribes in South Dakota schools
More Headlines
Native America Calling: Is Twitter worth the trade-off?
NAFOA opens annual economic development conference in nation’s capital
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hosts listening session for Indian Arts and Crafts Act
SCOTUSblog: A ‘simple’ Indian law case before the U.S. Supreme Court
Chuck Hoskin: Cherokee Nation continues to rebuild its economy
Native America Calling: Robots help teach STEM and Native languages
New York bans use of Native mascots in public schools
National American Indian Housing Council welcomes new executive director
Native America Calling: Tribal cannabis update from New York to Washington State
Fireworks as Secretary Haaland faces Republican critic on Capitol Hill
ICT won’t post on Twitter due to ‘mistrust’ of social media platform
‘It’s really meaningful to me’: Omaha Nation students visit site of former boarding school
Native America Calling: Tribal gun laws
Native America Calling: Erasing tribes in South Dakota schools
More Headlines