OKMULGEE, Oklahoma – “NCR 22-006 is adopted,” said National Council Speaker William Lowe at the Regular Session Meeting on March 26.
It was 13 yes votes and zero no votes that allowed the resolution of said bill.
The resolution was first introduced in the Business, Finance and Justice Committee Meeting in early March.
“Muscogee (Creek) National Council encourages all citizens to recognize the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of the free country of Ukraine from the oppression of authoritarian Vladimir Putin’s Soviet Union…”
Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 after more than 300,000 Ukrainians formed a human chain between the two major cities.
It was after a conversation with Speaker that Representative Anna Marshall decided to proceed with developing the resolution with the help of Kyle Haskins, the National Council’s attorney.
Upon adoption, the resolution will be sent with urgency to the Embassy of Ukraine in D.C., the U.N. Envoy in NY, and the Special Repator on racism and human rights in Geneva, Switzerland, according to Rep. Marshall.
Rep. Marshall was watching her nightly news one evening when she watched Ukrainian women and children walk in deep snow as they were seeking refuge out of their own country.
“They were showing the backs of the women and the kids walking along this road, and it reminded me so much of the Trail of Tears where it shows our people walking showing their backs with children and babies on their backs, the women and men as well,” Marshall said.
History is repeating itself once again as the world witnesses present day forced removal and mass genocide of an ethnicity and culture.
Like that of the Muscogee Nation, Ukraine is also a sovereign nation.
“If we say were a sovereign nation, then as a nation-to-nation relationship, why are we not exercising that right to be able to stand with other nations,” Marshall said.
She said it’s important to remember that Ukraine has its own indigenous people though they may be identified as different.
“We have some commonalities.”
As of March 26, no other Native nation has a resolution standing in support and solidarity of Ukraine, according to Marshall.
“The United Nations has already said that these are crimes against humanity and war crimes,” Marshall said.
The detriment of the crimes will be far reaching into the future for the Ukrainian people, with outcomes similar to what the Native Americans faced as the Trail of Tears and Indian Removal almost destroyed the race.
As the people of the peaceful country Ukraine are taking the fate of their country into their own hands, Marshall would tell them to keep fighting and “don’t ever, ever give up.”
To view NCR 22-006 visit, http://www.mcnnc.com/images/pdf2022/bills/NCR22-006.pdf.
