Congress's Broken Promise of Representation for Cherokee Nation

On Wednesday, members of the Cherokee Nation traveled to DC for a historic Congressional hearing.

Nearly 200 years after the Treaty of New Echota and the Trail of Tears displaced their ancestors, the Cherokee Nation is asking for Congress to fulfill its end of that treaty: a promise to seat a non-voting delegate in the House. The hearing was the first step in that process.

In 2019, the Cherokee Nation nominated Kimberly Teehee to be its delegate. But Native representation is unprecedented in Congress, which left many members of the House Rules Committee with questions about what precisely a Native American delegate to Congress would do.

We spoke with Delegate Kim Teehee, a citizen of Cherokee Nation, Director of Government Relations for Cherokee Nation, and Senior Vice President of Government Relations Cherokee Nation Businesses to find out more about her potential appointment to Congress.

For full transcript, see above.