TO: TENNESSEE ATTORNEY GENERAL
TENNESSEE SECRETARY OF STATE
RE: JUNE 19TH ACTIONS OF THE TN COMMISSION OF INDIAN AFFAIRS
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED FOUNDERS AND FORMER COMMISSIONERS OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, denounce, repudiate and reject the actions of the current TENNESSEE COMMISSION OF INDIAN AFFAIRS on June 19, 2010 to recognize six groups (often called culture clubs) as State Recognized Tribes. The action taken by the current TCIA is a gross violation of state administrative policies that safeguard the public interest through prior notice, open meetings and public hearings, all of which were violated by the six current commissioners who voted for this illegal action. It is also an egregious conflict of interest given that 4 of the TCIA’s 6 members (Vice Chair Christine Goddard, Secretary James Everett Meeks, Alice Gwin Henry and Charles Lawson) are members of these very groups. Such illegitimate tribal recognition is an intentional fraud perpetrated on Cherokee, Lenape and Yuchi people to steal their political identities. Groups pretending to be Indian when a majority of them have no cultural or family affiliation with the tribes they claim as kin is a deception played on all the citizens of the State of Tennessee.
We ask the state Attorney General and Secretary of State to review these violations of state administrative rules and to determine the legitimacy of these commissioners’ actions, and to fully and objectively prosecute all violations.
Given the complete lack of public review, we also ask that the state Attorney General, the Secretary of State, and the Department of Environment and Conservation that oversees the Commission of Indian Affairs, and the Senate and House Government Operations Committees obtain for public review the applications and documentation submitted by the groups to the state Commission of Indian Affairs and used by the Commission to determine these groups’ eligibility and approval by the Commission.
FORMER TN INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMISSIONERS
1. Ray Emanuel, Nashville 1989-1992
2. John Hedgecoth, Crossville 2003-2004
3. John Anderson, Chattanooga 2003-2005
4. Evangeline Lynch, Dyer 2003-2008
5. Doris Tate Trevino, Sewanee 2005-2006
6. Niles Aseret, Nashville 2005-2007
7. Jeanie Walkingstick King, Knoxville 2005-2010
8. David Teat, Nashville 2007-2008
9. tom kunesh, Chattanooga 2007-2010
10. Bill Wells, Nashville 2008-2010
Contact: Evangeline Lynch
