I appreciate her acknowledging the range of experiences as Cherokee, with some people as registered Cherokee but not having any connection with the land, to some who speak the language, are intimate with the land, and traditional in culture. Mankiller acknowledges the wide economic differences between Cherokee peoples; I wonder what she would like to do about this. Is she socialist or capitalist in nature, or both?
She speaks of the Cherokee spirit throughout history that allowed them to go through tragedy and keep their vision on future...this resiliency and vision has created what she calls a revitalized nation. From the forced relocation with the Trail of Tears to the Dawes act and allottment hope wasn't relinquished. She speaks of how her grandfather and more would collect money in a mason jar to send delegates to Washington to say they had treaty rights and the right to self-government. Within the Cherokee nation there is this devotion to a sense of community and tribal government. And sovereignty, she says, is something we naturally had as first nations people, before anyone could give it to us.
Growing up poor in an African American community in San Francisco (Hunter's Point) as a result of the Bureau of Indian Affairs relocation program, she learned that disenfranchised people take care of eachother, creating a strong sense of interdependence.
She asserts that community revitalization projects must come from the grassroots level, that low income people are the experts about what their communities need and that solutions need to come from within, with financial help from outside supporters. Brilliant ideas from think tanks mean nothing...the intelligence and practicality for projects that will actually work come from within a community.
When addressing other indigenous nations on the spirit of local revitalization she encourages by saying 'Trust your own thinking. You can rebuild your nation from within.'
She says that due to centuries of oppression native peoples came to rely on the federal government and social workers to tell Indians how we should be and to provide things for us. She says people are now saying 'no'...we can articulate our own needs and solve our problems.
She says that with self efficacy, no matter what sort of education or outside approval someone or a group may have, they can do anything.
This is so encouraging to me. Raised dirt poor, I have always felt I needed to learn white speak and adopt middle class ways to get respect and for my life to flow well. So I got myself an education and assimilated as best I could. Now I just see its just a layer of bull on top of the oppression, and that I was just as smart before school as after. Except for in Native American Studies, African American Studies, and Women's Studies, I don't know that anything else I learned in school was very helpful in living my life. I think it all was just part of drinking the Coolaid. Luckily it didn't really work, because I do not pass as middle class. I realize now, as I integrate political understandings into my personal life, meditate, heal ancestral trauma, and learn of my Cherokee and even indigenous European roots, that I am not anything, ultimately. I get to decide who I am and what I'm about, not defined by anyone else's sense of success. As viewed by the world I get to acknowledge the white privelege folks attempt to give me and I get to try and build community though there is little to work with in this fragmented society. Still, there is hope, and I am inspired by Mankiller's speaking of the hope of the Cherokee, through time.
Also, on the more esoterical/spiritual side of revolution and hope from Indigenous perspective, here's something that came to my inbox today. Has anyone else heard of this prophesy? How about this movement from Alaska and Tierra Del Fuego by Indigenous peoples, meeting up in Panama in November?
The Prophesy of the Eagle and the Condor: Thousands
of years ago, it was foretold that humanity would split into two paths
-- the path of the Condor symbolizing our heart, intuition and feminine
energy and the path of the Eagle symbolizing our mind, our industrious
nature and our masculine energy. The prophesy predicted that in the
1490s a 500 year period would begin where we would become
gravely out of balance. Killing and oppression of Indigenous People
would
occur. Eagles would dominate the earth and Condors would come close to
extinction. The next 500 year period, beginning in the 1990s, would
bring a time where the Eagle
and Condor could fly together again in the same sky to create a new
level of
consciousness. (These periods coincide with our understanding of the
Piscean and Aquarian ages.)
It is important to note, however, that the prophesies speak only of the potential of
the eras. With this in mind, in the 1990s, there was a gathering of
Indigenous people from all of the Americas in which they had a
discussion of the prophesies. They decided that to take advantage of
the potential they would begin a running prayer, sharing their ideas,
their spiritual practices and traditions. Literally. So in 1992, every
four years, they have been running prayers and dialogue -- the path of
the Eagle beginning in Chikaloon, Alaska and the path of the Condor
beginning in Tierra del Fuego. It takes 6 months for them to meet in the
middle. This year the runners began on May 1 and will meet in November
in Panama.
We're adopting a puppy in August...not sure I'll make it to Central America then, but if you, let me know how it goes!
Its been wonderful learning and growing from all of you. Thank you so much, Professor Nesberg...definitely a heart breaking class where I've learned bunches and am inspired with new hope.
https://nnidatabase.org/video/wilma-mankiller-governance-leadership-and-cherokee-nation
http://balanceedutainment.com/2016/04/pacha-eagle-condor/
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