Pretty sure you have to do it if you want to preserve the Cherokee.
Even though it affected more than just the Cherokee, the Trail of Tears decision specifically transfers Cherokee POPs to Oklahoma. After doing so, Cherokee becomes an Accepted Culture of the United States. (Very few tribes are separated from the generic Native American Minor Culture.)
If you never enact the Trail of Tears, then they never stop being assimilated. In other words, you're actually doing more to destroy their culture by refusing that decision. (As an Accepted Culture, they wouldn't be subject to Assimilation as it is portrayed in Victoria 2.)
------------------------------------
Another decade behind me, and with it another update.
A few minor things worth noting in Europe as of the Year 1890.
The Ottoman Empire brought Greece to heel. That was pretty hilarious.
Ireland exists as an independent country. Which is interesting, because it's actually possible to properly integrate the Irish in this mod via decision. (The British just need a tech that can't be researched until 1900.)
The Netherlands enacted a decision to become "Greater Netherlands", annexing Belgium and adding Felmish and Wallonian to their Accepted Cultures. (Their name doesn't actually change to Greater Netherlands.)
Oh, and Spain managed to gank Gibraltar. Also, Italy took Malta. They might have had help. *smug face is smug*
Here we can see the majority of German Africa. The last Life Rating invention was discovered, so any unoccupied regions left in the world are open to colonization.
I'll be colonizing that last bit of German East Africa, the one next to British and Portuguese Africa. I'll go ahead and let the British have that bit nest to Italian Africa.
I'll also be colonizing German Southwest Africa.
Beyond that, I had Madagascar in my Sphere of Influence. This let me annex it via decision, so Madagascar is also part of German Africa.
And here we have German New Guinea.
I took West New Guinea away from the Dutch, and I've begun the process of colonizing East New Guinea.
I've also begun snapping up the rest of the islands in the Pacific, now that the last of them are open to colonization.
And now, to close things, another update on the population of the German Empire.
The German Empire has 144 Million people living within its borders.
73% of these people are considered to be German. (105 Million)
27% are considered to be Non-German. (39 Million)
As far as assimilation and the like goes . . . Beyond North and South German, every uniquely listed ethnicity lives in one of the German Empire's colonies. Every other ethnicity has to be merged into the Other category just to have an impact.
Germany proper . . . The European parts of the Empire . . . Non-Germans can still be found their. But they are a hilariously small minority. So yeah . . . I've Germanized the ever living shit out of the parts of Europe I control.