"Tribal Chief Opposes Ruling: The Cherokee Leader Wants Councilors To Help Overturn A Freedmen Citizenship Decision.," S.E. Ruckman, Tulsa World (Oklahoma) Distributed by Knight/Ridder Tribune News Service, March 15, 2006. Copyright 2006 Tulsa World. ["TAHLEQUAH: Cherokee Nation Chief Chad Smith has urged tribal councilors to take action that could reverse a recent landmark decision that expanded tribal citizenship to freedmen descendants. Smith's urging comes scarcely one week after the Judicial Appeals Tribunal ruled that freedmen descendants were to be recognized as citizens with privileges. Smith emphasized the options during a legislative session and his state-of-the-nation address at the regular council meeting Monday. During the meeting, Smith said the Judicial Appeals Tribunal decision could be addressed by calling for a tribal constitutional convention to amend the current document or through referendum petition. He indicated that the Cherokee people should decide questions on tribal citizenship instead of tribal courts. Meanwhile, the tribal council could draft a resolution to ask for a constitutional convention to amend the constitution upon which the judges based their ruling, Smith said. Tribal councilors, he noted, could also draft a resolution asking for a referendum vote by the people on citizenship. Voters in the 250,000-member tribe would provide an answer, he said. 'Do we provide Cherokee citizens the authority to decide who their citizens are?' he said. 'I would think citizenship is the right of the people to decide.' In his state of the nation address Monday night, Smith offered his theory about freedmen citizenship. 'These Cherokees believe the freedmen did not help during the last 100 years to rebuild the Cherokee Nation and should not at this late time reap any benefits that Cherokees have earned,' he said. Sitting in the audience, Marilyn Vann, president of the Descendants of Freedmen Association, said she was disappointed by Smith's reasoning. 'The judges have written a very detailed decision. I would like to think the council and voters realize that," she said. "I see the Cherokee Nation as a nation, not a race.'"]