City Council Tribal Relations Committee holds first meeting, vows to cooperate with local Indian nations

“That is one way I think the (city’s) amicus brief (in the McGirt case) shifted things, that all of my colleagues have expressed more interest in these issues, and we had seven councilors here today,” she said.

Ironically, the impetus for creating the committee had nothing to do with McGirt v. Oklahoma and came well before the city filed its brief last month in support of the state’s attempt to overturn or modify the Supreme Court ruling.

McKee said the idea first came to her in May when she and local tribal chiefs were waiting at the airport to greet President Joe Biden prior to the centennial commemoration of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

“We were literally hanging out at the airport, and I said, ‘You know, it would be really useful for us to have a committee of the council that would focus on developing our knowledge, our cultural competency and our relation with the tribes,’” McKee said.

Tuesday’s organizational meeting was the first step toward accomplishing that goal. Councilors discussed the meeting schedule, the committee’s makeup and broad objectives for the new body.

They stressed that they plan to include representatives of the three tribes whose reservations overlap the city’s boundaries — the Cherokee, Muscogee and Osage nations — and the Greater Tulsa Area Indian Affairs Commission on the committee.

“It is essential for us to share ideas with the tribes and ask them to help us shape what makes sense for this collaboration,” McKee said. “It’s not us dictating to, or deciding for, or going off to do our own thing. It is a co-creation with the tribes and with the commission.”

The Indian Affairs Commission was created by city ordinance. It provides the Mayor’s Office and the City Council with advice on Native American issues and promotes cultural understanding.

McKee said the council’s Tribal Relations Committee is not meant to compete with the Indian Affairs Commission; just the opposite.

“The Indian Affairs Commission does a great job of discussing and making advisements to the mayor of various cultural best practices as well as some policy recommendations, but those don’t usually come to the council, and if they did come to the council, we have a sharp learning curve to get to where they are at,” McKee said.

“This will allow us to already understand the landscape of the three nations whose reservations overlap Tulsa so that we can act on recommendations from that commission. It will also allow us to respectfully develop those relationships directly with the tribal leaders.”

Councilors agreed to consider amending City Council rules to require that prior to every weekly council meeting — excluding committee or task force meetings — a statement be read acknowledging the tribal lands upon which the city was built.

McKee read aloud two draft versions of the land acknowledgement during Tuesday’s meeting, including this passage from the longer version:

“Of the 39 recognized tribes that settled or were removed to Oklahoma, the city of Tulsa now overlaps the reservation boundaries of three, those being Cherokee Nation, Muscogee Nation and Osage Nation. We recognize these tribes for their history, resilience and contributions to the Tulsa community, and we respect their sovereignty as nations that existed since before the United States was founded and continue to this day.”

The Tribal Relations Committee is expected to meet in December for another organizational meeting before convening again in January. By then, councilors hope to have representatives of the tribes, the Indian Affairs Commission and the Mayor’s Office present.

As for McGirt and the city’s decision to join the state in challenging it, McKee said she doesn’t expect the ruling to occupy much of the committee’s time.

“We are absolutely allowed to discuss and interact about that,” she said. “The comfort level in dealing with that with my colleagues varies about nine different ways, and there are nine of us. It will be interesting to see how much we wade into that.

“It’s definitely not a top thing that we want to get into.”

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in McGirt that Congress had never disestablished the Muscogee Nation reservation. The decision left the state of Oklahoma with no jurisdiction to try criminal cases committed by or against American Indians within the tribe’s reservation boundaries.

The ruling has since been applied to the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole and Quapaw reservations, as well.