Smells Like Bull Stitt by Jimmy Lee Beason II, Osage

After Kevin Stitt made history as Oklahoma’s first “Native American” governor, he told the press that he understood the enormous economic benefit tribes have bestowed upon the state’s rural communities. By asserting their economic sovereignty, tribes have built health clinics, schools, internet companies, fiber optic networks, and housing that benefits Natives and non-Natives. Much of the funding for these ventures stem from the tribal gaming industry which, altogether, contributes billions of dollars a year to the Oklahoma economy. After years of dealing with poverty steeped in land loss and forced removal, tribal communities are able to assert a sense of economic independence and financially reinforce their communities.

Apparently, none of this really mattered to Stitt despite his so-called understanding of tribal contributions to Oklahoma. A recent appearance on the Tucker Carlson program shows a muddle faced Stitt grumbling about the recent McGirt case ruling that declares most of eastern Oklahoma was never disestablished as the Muscogee Creek reservation. Therefore, Oklahoma had no jurisdiction over Jimcy McGirt, a Creek citizen convicted of sex crimes back in 1996.

Stitt threw Native communities under the bus by implying Native people can now evade criminal prosecution by pulling out their tribal ID cards. The banner on Carlson’s program added to the misinformation with the title “Lawlessness in Oklahoma.” Despite Stitt’s ridiculous assertions, Native people are still subject to prosecution for crimes, accept they will fall under tribal and federal jurisdiction, not state jurisdiction (even though to me, they are all the same colonizer but I digress).

Aside from the McGirt case, Stitt has proven his animosity toward Oklahoma tribes by attempting to extort more money from their gaming revenues. In 2019, he started insinuating tribes needed to renegotiate their gaming compacts with the state. He wrongly claimed the compacts ended after 2019 and any gaming operations still doing business in 2020 would be deemed illegal. Oklahoma tribes disagreed saying the compacts automatically renewed on Jan. 1st and brushed off Stitt’s complaints.

Stitt was adamant and took the tribes to court. In response, tribes such as the Cherokee Nation filed a lawsuit against the state. Stitt’s legal crusade against tribal gaming operations in Oklahoma was ultimately defeated time after time whether through state or federal rulings. In October 2020, Stitt announced he will not seek an appeal after a federal court ruled against him. Tribes celebrated their victories over Stitt’s legal haranguing and waste of time.

All of Stitt’s antagonism toward tribes asserting their sovereignty seems odd considering he is an enrolled Cherokee citizen. You would think he would advocate and defend tribal sovereignty, not attempt to derail it. However, it would appear he has no vested interest in being accountable to Native communities, as it has been proven he isn’t actually Cherokee.

Around 100 years ago, the Cherokee fought to have Stitt’s “Cherokee” ancestor, removed from the tribal rolls. Mounds of evidence and witness testimony indicate Francis Dawson paid to get himself and members of his family on the Cherokee rolls after the Dawes Allotment act. The Dawes Act broke up communal land tenure among tribes and assigned allotments to individual members. Seeing an opportunity to get some cheap land, white people with absolutely no biological connection to Native communities would bribe officials to forge documents verifying they are “Indian.” Stitt’s Cherokee citizenship is rooted in Dawson’s lies. Based on his attitude toward people whom he should look upon as relatives, I believe the research. He rarely mentions his Cherokee “ancestry” and it isn’t proudly mentioned on his website. By all accounts, Stitt is just another racist white man who doesn’t like Natives.  

To usurpers like Stitt, tribal governments asserting their inherent rights over matters that concern the actions of tribal members is too much to bear. Stitt’s dimwitted rhetoric over the past few years’ echoes 19th century frontier hysteria over lawless Injun’s lurking about ready to commit depredations upon “law abiding citizens.” His immediate reaction to the McGirt ruling was to assume Native people would go out and commit crimes because the state wouldn’t be able to prosecute them. This is blatantly false, as McGirt himself was recently resentenced by a federal court to three life sentences without the possibility of parole. He was originally sentenced to two 500-year sentences and life without parole through the state of Oklahoma.  

Stitt is a prime example of what happens when card carrying tribal citizens with dubious backgrounds are placed in positions of authority over Native affairs. Although the sovereignty we have is contentious and problematic at times, it is still a means to assert a shred of independence in the face of colonial overreach. In any case, frauds like Stitt have nothing to do with the tribes they are enrolled in, nor do they care to strengthen those ties. Their claims to tribal communities are nothing more than talking points to weaponize in debates when their attacks on Native people are challenged. And to me that his just a bunch of bull Stitt.