By Yolanda Saunook

Meeting in Aquohee District, Cherokee Nation, The Cherokee Phoenix of September 11^th, 1830.

“And trusting to the guidance of an all wise Providence, we are encouraged to look forward, through generations yet to come, in the hope that the Cherokees will be still known on their native soil, that the light of truth which already illuminates our horizon, will advance to meridian splendor, and that the magnanimous deeds of the vindicators of our rights will live in the memory and the veneration of our posterity, long after our bodies shall have mingled with the dust.”

“Signed by and on behalf of the meeting.”

CHOSTOSA, Chairman.

JOHN WICKLIFF, Clerk.

JOHN TIMSON.

SWEETWATER.

SITUAGI.

KANEEDA

Cherokee NC – Our lives and traditions are still misunderstood by a vast majority of people, but through the EBCI Tribal Historic Preservation Office I can educate the public and fight to preserve our lands.

As I learn more of the history of my people and their contributions to our Nation, I learn about Cherokee citizens that fought a valiant battle to keep our culture alive. I also learned that I can be part of what Chairman Chostosa called “magnanimous deeds,” or acts that continue to protect the sovereignty of Cherokee lands for my ancestors and future generations.

My responsibilities with the Tribal Historic Preservation Office include protecting and preserving historical, archeological, cultural, and religious sites within our original territory.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is one of 566 federally recognized American Indian nations within the United States. We once occupied parts of eight states, but today we are reduced to a few acres in North Carolina.

Many people do not know that the EBCI purchased their lands in North Carolina. We do not technically live on a reservation because the government did not assign us our land.

With the help of William Holland Thomas and other Euro-Americans, we were able to buy land in Western NC. The 56,000 purchased acres became known as the Qualla Boundary.

In 1996, through the efforts of our first woman Chief, Joyce Dugan, the Eastern Band reclaimed the original home of all Cherokee people, the Kituwah Mound. This one purchase nearly bankrupt the Nation, but it was extremely important to our people culturally and historically as this is considered our Mother Town.

A-ni-s-A-qua-ni-go-di-s-gi Nu-na-dv-ne-lv-i, means “keepers of what they did”. It is my duty to protect, preserve, and grow our history, our culture, and our land. These are the things that make us who we are as Cherokee. It is my duty to enable our children to understand the enormity of our past. I can only hope to have as large an impact on my community as those before me. Sgi.

 

By Ryan N. Comfort

Cherokee, NC – It’s like visiting a town in Spain where the architecture is Greek, the shops sell paintings of the Eiffel Tower, and the tourists don’t seem to realize that the culture they see isn’t really Spanish. In fact, some even demand to see a real Ikea craftsman at work.

The same scenario plays out in Cherokee North Carolina, but replace the countries with Native American Nations. Enterprising non-Cherokee business owners began to capitalize on selling stereotypes back to tourists, who came expecting to see plains Indian art.

“Cherokee has always been a tourist town, and a long time ago people would come to visit Cherokee and they would see the Native Americans with the long feathered headdresses and that appealed to them, and it made a great picture,” said Vicki Cruz a citizen of the Eastern Band and manager at Qualla Arts and Crafts, a cooperative of local Cherokee artists.

Navajo inspired pottery made in China, Zuni and Hopi inspired Cachina dolls made in Mexico, model Lakota teepees, and a host of other stereotypical merchandise line the windows of shops in downtown Cherokee.

“If [tourists] want to see the real, actual Cherokee, they come to the cultural district, where we are at now,” said Cruz. “[Qualla Arts and Crafts], the museum, the historical association, and what we offer is the true and accurate story of the Cherokee.”

Cruz manages Qualla with the cooperation of Eastern Band Cherokee artists who are attempting to replace stereotypes with accuracy and authenticity.

“Qualla is kind of going through the resurgence of art,” said. “The people from Cherokee, they are very proud of our artwork now. And it’s more in your face… the contemporary aspect of it.”

Cherokee artists are exercising their sovereignty by blending traditional art, such as woven basket patterns, with contemporary life. One artist paints the designs on bean-bag toss boards for tailgating. Throughout the town, the “real” Cherokee is slowly emerging from behind the stereotype.

A 20-foot-tall Indian statute with sculpted denim jeans painted muddy-brown to look like deer-skin chaps and stands shirtless across the road from the towering new Harrah’s Cherokee Casino.

The statue, a former cowboy painted to look like a plains Native American, is planted prominently outside of the Indian Ink tattoo parlor, where Eastern Band citizens come to get traditional basket designs tattooed around their arms.

“Everybody’s proud again. It’s something to identify with. It’s our legacy. Our art is telling who we are as a people,” said Cruz.

By Tosh Welch

Stickball is our game. It’s part of our cultural identity for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. It’s a social exercise, it’s a teaching tool, and it’s a method of preparing our young men for life.

The game is called “The little brother of war,” and was originally a way of preparing young men for the challenges they would face in battle.

Today, it prepares our young men for a different kind of fight. Our young men learn how to stand up for themselves. They learn how to stand up in our community. They learn how to stand up for what they believe in. They learn how to settle their differences peacefully, and they learn how to be men of character.

If I can walk out there and keep a larger stronger more aggressive man from killing me on the ball field, then when I step onto a college campus and I’m intimidated, I can step back and look at those lessons I learned on the field.

I’m going to face that day, and I’m going to deal with that fear, and I’m going to live. At the end of the day you realize that wasn’t so bad. It was only half the demon I created in my own mind.

Learning to face your fears is part of passing into adulthood for young men, and it is a way of earning the respect of the community. One of the lessons stickball has taught me is how to treat all people, even those who I dislike, with respect.

One of the most valuable things the Wolftown headman, or coach, has always said, is learn your language. When you learn your language, and you play stickball in our language, it has more meaning.

As the landscape for American Indian tribes continues to change, we have to look at the parts that we have to hold on to and carry with us into the next century. You have to grab that language and carry that with you. You have to grab that culture and carry that with you.

Stickball is one way we can continue to carry our identity as a sovereign Indian nation forward into the next century.

By Sonya Wachacha

Cherokee NC – The first time I provided for patients was when I volunteered for a summer program when I was 13 years old. This is where my introduction to healthcare as a work profession began.

I have been employed as a Registered Nurse at Cherokee Indian Hospital in Cherokee, NC since 2002.

One of the benefits of sovereignty and self-governance is the ability to improve the healthcare provided to enrolled members and their descendants.

Our Governing Board, which provides oversight for the Cherokee Indian Hospital, is at a point where most of the members are citizens of our nation.

We have made many improvements in the Primary Care Clinic and the Emergency Services we provide. Being able to make changes and invest resources quickly has served us well.

Personally, it’s re-assuring to know that our executive leadership and Governing Board leadership are truly invested in the success of the Cherokee Indian Hospital. Our family, friends, and community members use the hospital. To be able to make changes locally to improve the health of this community is extremely important.

We have seen patient satisfaction scores exceed the national standards.

We are now building a new hospital with the help of the EBCI Tribal Leadership. It is wonderful to be a part of such a great health system and a Native Tribe who wants to see healthy people for the next 7 generations to come.

By T.J. Holland

Cherokee NC – A few years ago I had a conversation with a friend about the concept and practice of tribal sovereignty. To be honest, I had never really given the concept much thought.

What makes a tribe or nation sovereign? Is it based on treaties? What caused these treaties to be written in the first place? I submit that the reason for tribal sovereignty is that each respective tribal nation has been viewed throughout history as a distinct social, cultural, and political group.

This “otherness” has lead to removal, assimilation, and various other attacks on the culture, beliefs, and legal standing of tribal nations for hundreds of years. But in spite of assimilation efforts, Cherokee people have worked hard to maintain cultural identity, which I believe is the cornerstone of asserting sovereignty.

One way in which the Eastern Band exerts tribal sovereignty is through self-governance. After years of outside influence, we are taking control of our land, language, culture, and even our knowledge. I have had the privilege and responsibility to act as Chairman of the cultural research review board for the past seven years.

The board reviews an average of 20 proposals a year from anthropologists, historians, documentary crews, and students who want to study us. The board gives the Eastern Band the ability to control what research is conducted and to safeguard tribal members from those who only seek to use traditional people for their own personal gain, often at the expense of the tribe.

I view sovereignty as not a legal term, but as a responsibility. If we as a tribe do not possess the language and traditions of our grandparents, then how can we claim a nationality? That is where the responsibility plays an important role. An elder told me that it was once seen as a crime not to pass down knowledge to our young people. In other words, to keep the knowledge of who we are away from the next generation is to steal from them.

Through my work at the Junaluska Museum, I am able to provide information, conduct research, and provide educational material to the area schools, civic groups, and interested individuals. In this way I am fortunate enough to be able to pass down what I know, and hopefully give the next generation a more complete understanding of what it means to be Cherokee. If I can do this, then I have done my part to keep us sovereign.