By Staff Writer
On October 15, 2011, the National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People’s National Board of Directors ratified a resolution in support of the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band’s(MCIFB) petition to become a federally recognized Indian tribe. The resolution was adopted on July 26, 2011, by the delegates to the 102nd Annual Convention in Los Angeles, California. According to a NAACP news release, the resolution has now officially become the policy of the NAACP and is “binding on the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, the Officers, and all units.”
The NAACP’s resolution asks it’s branches to educate themselves about the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band Association’s petition for federal recognition and to help raise awareness about the subject. The resolution goes on to state that the NAACP will work for an equitable solution in support of the MCIFB “…by means of education and fact finding to address the history and current impact of the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band and promote understanding of tribal sovereignty.”
The MCIFB initiated their bid for federal recognition back in May 2010, when they submitted a letter to Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk petitioning the United States government for recognition as an Indian tribe.