Are Cherokees racist?
Column: Cherokee voters say ‘yes’ to self-righteous racismIn a dangerous and grotesque turn of events, it seems the Freedmen’s blood isn’t pure enough for the Cherokee.
These are people whose ancestors were forced from their land, denied civil rights and treated as worthless dregs, unfit for life within the new society. With their stunning vote last weekend, the Cherokee have put their black and “mixed-race” brethren on a path toward the same fate. While the Freedmen are appealing the election’s results, they will soon be a people without a cultural identity, shunned by their fellow Cherokee—members of a group once proudly known as one of the Five Civilized Tribes.
These are people whose ancestors were forced from their land, denied civil rights and treated as worthless dregs, unfit for life within the new society. With their stunning vote last weekend, the Cherokee have put their black and “mixed-race” brethren on a path toward the same fate. While the Freedmen are appealing the election’s results, they will soon be a people without a cultural identity, shunned by their fellow Cherokee—members of a group once proudly known as one of the Five Civilized Tribes.
posted by Rob at 1:28 AM
1 Comments:
Writerfella here --
According to Chief Dan George, 'Lone Watie' the Native Cherokee figure in the film, THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES: being 'civilized' means that you easily can be sneaked up on... That means their sources of pride did not include mistakes of their culture. As members of The Five Civilized Tribes, the Cherokee believed that by imitating their EuroMen neighbors, they would be granted immunity and tolerance among the White men's settlements. This did not occur and so they suffered the wrath of White men not once, not twice, but thrice, the last two occurrences taking place on their new lands in Oklahoma Territory. Very famous sequences in films and television concern the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889, wherein formerly-held Cherokee lands (read: The Cherokee Strip) were opened to settlers from the American public, and there was nothing at all that the Cherokees could do about it and certainly nothing to prevent it.
Instead, they found themselves divorced from their recent lands and so they held on fearfully, lest the final solution become, 'Bye, Bye, Earthie..."
We all are conquered, but that has little meaning against the very fact that we humans have not survived on pieces of land we also held at one time. Sadly, for the other 34 tribes being held in Oklahoma, those lands were parceled out and thence the balance of unowned land was opened for settlement by White Americans. The Cherokee finally have learned from history, and so they now possibly are not destined to repeat it. That the Freedmen and other non-whites can be on tribal rolls means that the tribe's eventual demise is forthcoming, set long ago by mistaken policies, now complete with electonic means. Unlike the Chickasaw who still seek their "red sons in the sail set" and do not recognize that the value of such is at an end, the Cherokee semingly have learned that, past this point in time, there is no other chance for them to learn. They missed it once, or twice, or even three times. Will they miss it now? Don't fail to be here for "This Is MY Land", Chapter 11 of THE CLUTCHING CLAW, at this theater NEXT WEEK!!
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
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