"You have noticed that everything that an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round....The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours....Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves." -
Black Elk - Oglala Sioux
Friday, June 22, 2007
The Little People
I see them in the darkness
running as if in a race.
I watch in awe and wonder
as I hide in my secret place.
They dance around the fire,
they even know that I'm there.
I can see they are happy, celebrating.
The excitement is in the air.
I watch in total amazement.
I watch as they're having fun,
then a drum starts and they begin praying
that the Cherokee will unite as one.
Little People I want to thank you,
you have taught me so much today,
For the Cherokee to be united,
everyday this is what I will pray.
Written by Bear Warrior
running as if in a race.
I watch in awe and wonder
as I hide in my secret place.
They dance around the fire,
they even know that I'm there.
I can see they are happy, celebrating.
The excitement is in the air.
I watch in total amazement.
I watch as they're having fun,
then a drum starts and they begin praying
that the Cherokee will unite as one.
Little People I want to thank you,
you have taught me so much today,
For the Cherokee to be united,
everyday this is what I will pray.
Written by Bear Warrior
Cherokee Principal Chief Chad Smith Responds
SUBMITTED BY CHEROKEE NATION, PRINCIPAL CHIEF CHAD 'CORNTASSEL' SMITH
Cherokee people in Sequoyah County need to understand the truth about what is going on in tribal court and with our tribal citizenship.
First of all, the Cherokee people have the right to decide who is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. With the support of 83 percent of the Cherokees in Sequoyah County, the Cherokee people decided they wanted to be just like more than 500 other Indian tribes in the country: you have to be Indian to be a citizen of our Indian Nation.
Some of the non-Indians who lost citizenship are appealing their case in tribal court. But, contrary to what you might have read, the court has not ruled in their favor. The Cherokee Nation attorney general agreed to let non-Indians remain citizens while the appeal process progresses, but the court has not even begun to consider the arguments, much less rule on what the 1866 Treaty says.
A simple, straightforward reading of the 1866 Treaty with the United States shows that it did not provide citizenship for the Freedmen. Cherokee District Court Judge Cripps did not rule that barring the Freedmen could not be done under existing law. He ruled that Freedmen could be citizens while their case was pending in tribal court. Additionally, the highest Cherokee court and the federal courts have ruled the Cherokee people have the right to define membership even if it means barring people without Indian blood.
Click here to read the full article: http://www.sequoyahcountytimes.com/articles/2007/06/20/news/frontx.txt
Cherokee people in Sequoyah County need to understand the truth about what is going on in tribal court and with our tribal citizenship.
First of all, the Cherokee people have the right to decide who is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. With the support of 83 percent of the Cherokees in Sequoyah County, the Cherokee people decided they wanted to be just like more than 500 other Indian tribes in the country: you have to be Indian to be a citizen of our Indian Nation.
Some of the non-Indians who lost citizenship are appealing their case in tribal court. But, contrary to what you might have read, the court has not ruled in their favor. The Cherokee Nation attorney general agreed to let non-Indians remain citizens while the appeal process progresses, but the court has not even begun to consider the arguments, much less rule on what the 1866 Treaty says.
A simple, straightforward reading of the 1866 Treaty with the United States shows that it did not provide citizenship for the Freedmen. Cherokee District Court Judge Cripps did not rule that barring the Freedmen could not be done under existing law. He ruled that Freedmen could be citizens while their case was pending in tribal court. Additionally, the highest Cherokee court and the federal courts have ruled the Cherokee people have the right to define membership even if it means barring people without Indian blood.
Click here to read the full article: http://www.sequoyahcountytimes.com/articles/2007/06/20/news/frontx.txt
Image and Reality
Appearance is not Everything: To the unsuspecting eye, the buckskin dress that Ruth is most famously known for wearing before and during her excursion to Washington D.C., is not what a Cherokee Indian would have been found wearing in their prior Georgian homeland hundreds of years ago, or even presently in Oklahoma Indian Territory. The dress that Ruth wore for her introduction to President Calvin Coolidge was a called, in an article published after her presentation by the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly, a "symbol… of traditional craftsmanship of her race...made of buckskin and covered in ornate beaded designs."(21) The dress, described like the beaded cover of The Red Man in the United States, the book given to President Coolidge in 1923, were not actually crafted by Cherokees at all, but rather Cheyenne and Apache Indians.(22) According to the Cherokee Heritage Center, "elaborately beaded buckskin and feathered costumes were not the style of the Cherokee"(23) Traditional Cherokee women's' dresses were actually fashioned after white settlers' clothing in colonial Georgia. The Cherokee dresses were called Tear Dresses, named after their experience on the Trail of Tears in 1838, and made from cotton and hardly ever beaded. Ruth's choice of attire played into white Americans' conceptions of what an Indian should look like. The response to her image as a traditional Indian was seen in the articles published in conjunction with Ruth's trip to Washington.
To read more click here: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hatlas/mhc_widerworld/cherokee/ruth_dress.html
To read more click here: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hatlas/mhc_widerworld/cherokee/ruth_dress.html
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Quotes
"When the last red man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the white men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe...when your children's children think themselves alone in the field, the store, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone."
Chief Seattle - Dwamish
Chief Seattle - Dwamish
Cherokee Nation to Host Job Fair
The upcoming Cherokee Nation job fair will offer employment opportunities and information related to Cherokee Nation and its entities.
Cherokee Nation News
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — If you are new to the job market or are looking for other means of employment, the Cherokee Nation Job Fair is the place for you.
“The Cherokee Nation is proud to offer job fairs that allow our Cherokee citizens and our Oklahoma neighbors to apply for positions within the Cherokee Nation and its entities,” said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. “Self-reliance is important to the success of our Cherokee citizens and we feel that by offering job fairs, our citizens and other people within our Cherokee communities can become economically self-sufficient and in turn will make for a more successful Cherokee Nation.”
The job fair is hosted by Cherokee Nation’s Career Services Department and will take place on Thursday, June 28 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., at the “Place Where They Play,” located on the campus of Sequoyah Schools south of Tahlequah.
“People are completing school right now and getting out into the job market,” said Melanie Dodge of Cherokee Nation’s Career Services group. “We have the resources and materials to help them.”
The job fair will offer employment opportunities and information related to Cherokee Nation and its entities. Local businesses are invited and encouraged to take part.
Cherokee Nation News
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — If you are new to the job market or are looking for other means of employment, the Cherokee Nation Job Fair is the place for you.
“The Cherokee Nation is proud to offer job fairs that allow our Cherokee citizens and our Oklahoma neighbors to apply for positions within the Cherokee Nation and its entities,” said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. “Self-reliance is important to the success of our Cherokee citizens and we feel that by offering job fairs, our citizens and other people within our Cherokee communities can become economically self-sufficient and in turn will make for a more successful Cherokee Nation.”
The job fair is hosted by Cherokee Nation’s Career Services Department and will take place on Thursday, June 28 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., at the “Place Where They Play,” located on the campus of Sequoyah Schools south of Tahlequah.
“People are completing school right now and getting out into the job market,” said Melanie Dodge of Cherokee Nation’s Career Services group. “We have the resources and materials to help them.”
The job fair will offer employment opportunities and information related to Cherokee Nation and its entities. Local businesses are invited and encouraged to take part.
Feds: Reservation flood damage at $421K
A federal preliminary assessment of flood damage to public infrastructure on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Indian reservations came to $421,545.
Federal Emergency Manage-ment Agency and Montana Disaster and Emergency Services personnel completed the preliminary assessment, which includes Custer and Big Horn counties and the reservations, according to Montana Disaster and Emergency Services.
"While this does not meet the threshold for providing federal assistance through FEMA, we are committed to helping these communities recover," Dan Mc-Gowan, administrator for DES, wrote in a release. "We will continue to work with volunteer agencies and other federal agencies in pursuing assistance. An unmet needs committee will assist in determining other sources of help for individuals.
"Tribal officials have estimated damages in the millions, including $1.5 million in agricultural losses and about $1 million in expenses for the tribal response.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/06/21/news/state/40-flood.txt
Federal Emergency Manage-ment Agency and Montana Disaster and Emergency Services personnel completed the preliminary assessment, which includes Custer and Big Horn counties and the reservations, according to Montana Disaster and Emergency Services.
"While this does not meet the threshold for providing federal assistance through FEMA, we are committed to helping these communities recover," Dan Mc-Gowan, administrator for DES, wrote in a release. "We will continue to work with volunteer agencies and other federal agencies in pursuing assistance. An unmet needs committee will assist in determining other sources of help for individuals.
"Tribal officials have estimated damages in the millions, including $1.5 million in agricultural losses and about $1 million in expenses for the tribal response.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/06/21/news/state/40-flood.txt
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