Oklahoma Governor’s tribal fight raises ancestry questions

OKLAHOMA (AP) –When Oklahoma’s new Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Cherokee Nation citizen, was elected in 2018, many tribal citizens embraced him. However, now Stitt is facing fierce blowback for engaging in a battle with the tribes over casino gambling revenue, particularly from fellow tribal citizens.

One Cherokee Nation citizen launched an online petition seeking to have his tribal citizenship revoked. Additionally, several Cherokee genealogists have separately questioned Stitt’s ancestry, providing documents which indicate that an ancestor more than 100 years ago got the family on the tribe’s citizenship rolls fraudulently. The fight is raising questions about tribal citizenship and identity.