David Cornsilk
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David Cornsilk is a Cherokee Nationalist, a supporter of the 1998 appeal filed by Bernice Riggs that is part of the Cherokee Freedmen Controversy, and a dual member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. He is the managing editor of the Cherokee Observer, an independent newspaper, and one of the founders of the Cherokee National Party, a grassroots organization that uses "The Cherokee Observer to address Cherokee voters.[1][2]
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[edit] Biography
Cornsilk is 6 feet 2 inches tall with green eyes, and of mixed parentage, Cherokee on his father's side and European-American on his mother's side. Cornsilk was hired by Cherokee Nation as a research analyst to perform genealogical research on Cherokee families seeking registration in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and was assistant director of admissions at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma from 1989 to 1994, but as of 2007 was recently a store manager and currently a political activist, acting as a lay advocate for Freedmen.[3][4][5][6]
[edit] Controversy
Cherokee writer Circe Sturm[2] characterizes Cornsilk's involvement in the Freedmen issue as one that is driven by primarily political motives. The recognition of the freedmen as tribal citizens would extend the Cherokee Nation's power base, and placate, possibly silence, some of its most persistent critics. Cornsilk's views, according to Sturm, are that the Cherokee Nation cannot use strictly racial means for identifying its citizenry; and are based upon a fear that Cherokee citizens of mixed heritage are in danger of being reclassified as not Cherokee. Cornsilk believes that the Cherokee Nation must resolve the issue before the U.S. Federal Government imposes a conservative definition of "Indianness," which might cause the Nation to lose over half of its citizens.
Cornsilk does not believe in the right of people to self-identify as Cherokee. He believes that the authority of the tribe stems from the group, and that self-identification "is an assault on the right of the group."[4]
Cornsilk has encountered a large degree of opposition amongst Cherokees. Sturm attributes this to the fact that Cherokee nationalism is closely tied, in many people's thinking, to ideas of race and culture, ideas that Sturm herself considers to be "misperceptions." She describes Cornsilk as an exception to the norm for Cherokees, for his desire to put self-preservation of the Nation ahead of race or culture.[2]
[edit] Personal life
Cornsilk lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Both Cornsilk and his father, John Cornsilk, are active in Cherokee Nation and United Keetoowah Band politics and were instrumental in winning citizenship rights for the Cherokee Freedmen as well as equal rights for gay Cherokee citizens.[7]
Cornsilk produces cartoons and political satire related to Cherokee Nation politics. He and his father run the Cornsilks.com website and political blog.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ Patrick Neal Minges (2003). Slavery in the Cherokee Nation: The Keetoowah Society and the Defining of a People, 1855-1867. Routledge, 1. ISBN 0415945860.
- ^ a b c Circe Sturm (2002). "Blood Politics, Racial Classification, and Cherokee National Identity: The Trials and Tribulations of the Cherokee Freedmen", in James Brooks: Confounding the Color Line: The Indian-Black Experience in North America. University of Nebraska Press, 247–248. ISBN 0803261942., also published as Circe Sturm (Winter – Spring, 1998). "Blood Politics, Racial Classification, and Cherokee National Identity: The Trials and Tribulations of the Cherokee Freedmen". American Indian Quarterly 22 (1/2): 230–258.
- ^ Adam Geller, Associated Press. "Past and future collide in fight over Cherokee identity", USA Today, Gannett Co. Inc., 2007-02-10.
- ^ a b Peter Kivisto, Georganne Rundblad (2000). Multiculturalism in the United States: Current Issues, Contemporary Voices. Pine Forge Press, 117. ISBN 0761986480.
- ^ David Cornsilk (2001). "David Cornsilk" (PDF). Sixth Annual National Conference, People of Color in Predominantly White Institutions, University of Nebraska, 2001. — Cornsilk's autobiography in the conference proceedings
- ^ Faith Attaguile (2005-11-27). Why do you think we call it struggle?. American Indian Movement of Colorado.
- ^ Cherokee Nation Gay Marriage Court Filings. cornsilks.com. John Cornsilk.
- ^ Cherokee Political Forum. cornsilks.com. John Cornsilk.
[edit] Further reading
- Evans, Desiree Y. (2006-07-22). "A case study of two Cherokee newspapers and their fight against censorship.". . Baylor University. Dept. of Journalism. — a study of The Cherokee Phoenix and Indian Advocate and The Cherokee Observer before and after the Independent Press Act of 2000, and the reasons for the latter's establishment and continued publication after the enactment of the Act
- Scott L. Malcomson (2000). "An Indian Country", One Drop of Blood: The American Misadventure of Race. Diane Pub Co.. ISBN 0756763428.
[edit] External links
- Bacone College. — a picture of Cornsilk, circa 1993, in Bacone College
- Cornsilks
- Cherokee Observer
