A seat for Cherokee Nation

Nearly 200 years ago, the Treaty of New Echota was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson. The treaty led the U.S. government to force 16,000 members of the Cherokee Nation on a deadly trek known as the Trail of Tears–4,000 of whom died before even arriving at their destination of Oklahoma.

On Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, the House Rules Committee held a hearing discussing a proposal to seat a non-voting delegate from the Cherokee Nation in Congress. The seat would be occupied by Kim Teehee, a veteran policy aide and Cherokee Nation official. Teehee’s ancestors survived the Trail of Tears.

Teehee is the Director of Government Relations for the Cherokee Nation and Senior Vice President of Government Relations Cherokee Nation Business. She was the first senior policy adviser for Native American affairs under President Barack Obama, where she was instrumental in crafting a series of tribal initiatives.

According to the Treaty of Echota, the Cherokee Nation is also “entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives of the United States whenever Congress shall make provision for the same.” And yet, Congress has not enacted this provision, even two centuries later.

If seated, Teehee would join other non-voting delegates such as those from the District of Columbia and Guam who can introduce legislation and sit on committees, but not vote. Teehee said she would not pursue the right to a floor vote, mostly due to concerns about citizens of the Cherokee Nation already being represented by their respective pre-existing delegates.

According to Teehee, a seat for the Cherokee Nation is vital in order to accurately serve Indigenous communities and provide justice to those who died on the Trail of Tears.

“It gives Cherokee Nation a seat at the table when formulating laws that impact us and impact other tribes, too. It gives us a unique opportunity to educate members about tribes in this country and ways in which we need to adequately address the needs of Indian country,” Teehee said in an NBC News interview. “I also think it would send a strong message that the United States keeps its word by honoring the treaties and would give some measure of justice to those who lost their lives on that forced march.”

Teehee said she is optimistic about being seated and appreciates the bipartisan support shown during the hearing.

“What impressed me was how well-informed the members were, how thoughtful they were, and more importantly, the comments that they made were on a bipartisan basis and they were supportive,” Teehee said to NBC News. “We’re ready to move forward with the next step, which we believe is a vote. We’ve asked for a vote to happen, and we hope it will happen.”

Congress has yet to vote on the matter.