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Charles Mudede on the first ever rap group with misogynistic and homophobic lyrics, Odd Future!

Dave Segal's Decibel Festival guide for people who understand music jargon!

Dave Segal's Decibel Festival for idiots!

A Blue Man Group coloring contest!

Plus, a whole bunch of other stuff!

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The Cherokee Supreme Court recently approved the dumping of 2,800 descendants of the nation's black slaves—called "freedmen"—off its tribal rolls in the middle of a contested election for principal chief.

Being de-enrolled also cuts some of those freedmen's medical and education benefits, as well as food stipends.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has called the move "unconstitutional." Joe Crittenden, the acting principal chief of the Cherokee, responded that his nation remains sovereign and will govern itself as it sees fit. The freedmen countered that the Cherokee have violated a 145 year-old treaty and are scheduled to have a hearing before a U.S. District Court judge on Sept 20. The election for principal chief is scheduled for Sept 24.

Says freedmen attorney Joe Velie:

“There is a group of Cherokee citizens that have citizenship conferred on them by the Treaty of 1866 that have now had their rights terminated by the Cherokee Nation while the United States is refusing to live up to its duties to live up to its treaty obligations."

This is going to be a very instructive mess. The dispute, and how the courts deal with it, might set the tone as federal, state, and tribal governments reevaluate what treaties and sovereignty mean—a reevaluation that is being spurred by a generational shift in tribal leadership and the economic roiling both on and off the reservations.

From the Native American Times:

OKLAHOMA CITY – Descendants of former black slaves once owned by members of the Cherokee Nation are asking a federal judge to block a tribal election for principal chief until the tribe restores their full citizenship rights, including the right to vote.

In legal papers filed Friday in Washington, D.C., descendants of Cherokee freedmen, as they are known, asked a federal judge to halt a Sept. 24 election for principal chief of the Oklahoma-based tribe. A hearing on the request is set for Sept. 20 before U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr.

Documents filed by attorneys for the freedmen accuse the tribe of violating a 145-year-old treaty when the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court last month restored a voter-approved amendment denying citizenship to non-Native American descendants of tribal members' former black slaves. The court reversed a lower court ruling that had voided the amendment approved by trial voters in 2007. The court's decision affected an estimated 2,800 freedmen.

What's at stake for the estimated 2,800 freedmen: a vote over who gets to lead the tribe's $600 million annual budget, wield veto power over the tribe's agenda ("which is crucial," the news story says, "since many tribal members live outside Oklahoma"), and oversee its casinos and healthcare facilities. What's at stake for the genetic Cherokee: a bunch of folks with an oblique relationship to Cherokee-ness having political influence over the tribe's future.

I'm going to take a risk and venture a hypothesis.

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This is a bizarre and sad story from the Native American Times about dogs and death.

“You look at the Sundance area where that gentleman was killed, we went in and removed 79 dogs after that and it looked like we never touched it,” Gleason said.

Dogs roam the sides of highways, restaurant, gas station and store parking lots and just about anywhere else they might find food. Their carcasses in various stages of decomposition litter spots along the sides of the main roads and interstates.

After Gleason added the animal control operations to his duties in October, he said he ordered his officers to conduct a series of roundups. Between October and April, he said officers picked up 2,332 dogs. Of those, only 79 were adopted and 313 were released back to their owners. The rest were euthanized. The roundups were cancelled shortly after that, he said, “because we ran out of money.”

Uh... good morning?