Letter to
AMERICAN PUBLIC
JULY 29, 1962
&
THE NEWSPAPERS
AUGUST 14, 1962
Scanned Image Archive

Copies sent certified mail, return receipt to:
Miami Herald, Miami News, Associated Press

ALICE OSCEOLA
_________
SECRETARY

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
__________
HOWARD OSCEOLA
CO-CHAIRMAN
HOMER OSCEOLA
CO-CHAIRMAN
XXXXXXXXX
BILL OSCEOLA
SONNIE BILLIE
JOHN OSCEOLA
DOUGLAS OSCEOLA
RAINEY JIM
HENRY BERT

Everglades
MICCOSUKEE TRIBE
of
Seminole Indians
_______
(UNITED STATES RECOGNITION – JANUARY 27, 1958)

P.O BOX 44-132
TAMIAMI STATION
MIAMI, FLORIDA
TEL. CA 1-7925
July 29, 1962

Tribal Statement

 

To The American Public and the Newspapers:
Many protests have been made to our Miccouskee Executive Council about our Miccosukee Tribe wanting exclusive use or business concessions in certain parts of the Everglades, which they said they say in recent newspaper stories.

Almost a year ago our Council predicted this might happen and made a public statement at that time to warn the American public about it. Since it seems many people did not remember what we said, or didn’t see it, our Council would like to repeat it again , so maybe this time everyone will have the story straight, once and for all time.

Almost a year ago our Council warned about a particular Miccosukee money hungry family, now former members of our Miccosukee Tribe, that we heard had plans to trick the American people into believing they were the spokesmen or official Council of our Tribe to make themselves rich. Several months after our warning they did exactly what we said they would. They held a fake election in December 1961 across the highway from their village and with only a dozen or so Indians, all members of their own family, and five or six Indians borrowed from the Reservation Tribe, tried to make it look like they had 20% of our Tribe in the election. They didn’t even have as much as 10%. After that they started giving fake statements to the newspapers, and with the help of some white people, tried to make people believe they were the Miccosukee Council, as we predicted they would. They didn’t even hold the election according to their own rules.

But they are not representatives, or even members, of our Miccosukee Tribe. We don’t know exactly what they are, but it looks like they are either a part of the Reservation Tribe in Dania, since they use all their records and Indians whenever they need it, and the agents from up there, or else the United States has formed a 3rd tribe. That means there are now 2 reservations Tribes in addition to

1.
_______________________________________________

our Miccosukee Tribe. The fact that they are using our Tribal name proves that they are trying to fool the American Public, and we think it is very wrong for the United States to let its Indian agent be a part of it.

We do not blame the American Public for being confused. Our own Council does not understand how they think they can get away with it. There is only one Miccosukee Tribe, not two, and that is our Tribe, which was given official recognition by the United States two times – first by the Commissioner of the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington on January 27, 1958, over two years before this family started this monkey business – and then again to prove this recognition was good the United States Secretary of Interior himself gave us written recognition with his own signature. Our Tribal Council has both documents to prove what we have said is true, and that any other so-called Miccosukee Councilman are a fake.

Our True Miccosukee Council wants to make it clear to all our friends and everyone else that our Miccosukee Tribe is opposed to this plan of this so-called Council, to keep white people from doing business on this land. Our Miccosukee Council not only says this now, but has said this for many many years – and have always wanted the white man to do business there while our people lived together in friendship.

And do not believe for one minute that this plan will benefit our Miccosukee Tribe or our people. The money they make, if they do, will only be used for this small family whose only interest it is to make themselves rich at the expense of our people and the people of Dade County. We have heard that they are thinking of even using it for some Indians who have already received their benefits on the reservation, which is set up for that.

For any further information please write our Tribe in care of 5760 S.W. 8th Street, Miami, Florida – since we are not sure whether we still have a post office box.

THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

By their SGNs

CC Herald
Miami News
Associated Press
Mailed Aug. 14, 1962