“I don’t think he can spell sovereignty,” said John Berrey, chairman of the Quapaw Nation.īrandon Thibodeaux for The New York Times Other tribal leaders have been just as pointed. Stitt, the first tribal citizen to become governor of Oklahoma since the 1950s. “He has a total ignorance of Indian Country,” Rocky Barrett, chairman of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and a tribal councilor for the past 40 years, said of Mr. Stitt proposed a sharp hike in the fees that the tribes pay to operate their 130 lucrative casinos, unleashing fierce discussions across the state about identity, economic power and tribal sovereignty.
In a rare act of coalescence, nearly all of Oklahoma’s 39 tribal nations are united against the governor. Stitt lessons in the politics of Indian Country. But since his victory in November 2018, tribes have been teaching Mr. When Kevin Stitt campaigned for governor of Oklahoma, he said his identity as a citizen of Cherokee Nation gave him “firsthand” knowledge of the clout tribal nations wield in the state.
This article was reported in collaboration with The New York Times.
