Chreokee and Slavery

Just how has the recent vote among Cherokee citizens generated a resurgence of historical debate over the issue of slavery?

While researching the Cherokee Nation's participation in America's "peculiar institution," I have found that a debate over racial issues still rages. It is difficult to outline a nation's controversial practices, especially a practice that resurrects a sense of injustice among a percentage of that nation's population. However, the objective historian must not apply modern ethics to the nineteenth century. What occurred in the past effects the future of a people if that people are willing to face the facts. The debate within the Cherokee Nation is the end result of a grave injustice that festered into a social stigma that still lacks resolution. While the decision to deny the descendants of slaves held by the Cherokee membership status as a part of the tribe has reopened old wounds and generated a renewed controversy, it has also forced many to look into the unfortunate aspects of their nation's history. This in and of itself can do much to heal those wounds. The debate is not over. The people of the Cherokee Nation are looking inward and examining their past, which can only help sustain a better future.