Cherokee Trip

Interconnectedness being one of the topics we talk most about when discussing Native American values, it seems important to discuss some of the connections that I made while I was at Cherokee. One of the main things i noticed was the name Tsali everywhere. Even the street the museum was on was named Tsali and a significant portion of the Trail of Tears portion of the exhibit. More so, I found out that Casino Drive is also known as Tsali road, which is somewhat disturbing that the name was changed. The name change shows how tradition is replaced with profit, and how the casino is becoming a dominant force on the reservation.
With the idea of interconnectedness in mind, one of the saddest thing I saw at Cherokee was the mound separated from the reservation. With the homeland of the Cherokee separated from their sovereign land, it is odd to think that the one piece of land that is not under the sovereignty of Cherokee is the motherland.
One thing that I cannot relate to the course but have to talk about because of how stunning it is, is the amount of money that newly adult Cherokee people receive from the casino. The revenue that the casino creates is amazing, but outside of the obvious cost to the reservations culture, the ramifications of those who come into all of this money are still unknown. The fact that there are courses that teach how to deal with receiving that amount of money at once says more about it than I could. Only time will tell what the casino will bring for Native American culture, and it will be very interesting to visit Cherokee in a decade or so and see how things have changed.

Cherokee Forgiveness

Forgiveness requires an understanding of what needs to be forgiven, but forgiveness should not be something that is overlooked. The speaker Spent a long time detailing the atrocities that were perpetrated on the Cherokee people, and after a while I began to wonder when the subject of forgiveness would surface. When the subject of forgiveness came up, I was already distanced from the speaker because of her assertions about Europeans and her tendency to address the audience in an accusatory manner. The presentation was said to be "spiritual" and "life changing" and I was excited to be a part of something that was positive, but the lecture was more like so many "Europeans are evil" speeches I have been subjected to in the past. The idea of forgiveness was brought up at the end of the lecture, and held little resonance with the stories and themes that were discussed, leaving me to wonder how much of this was about forgiveness.

Letter to Davey Arch

Davey Arch,
The stories you tell, and I meant tell because they are more alive than words just placed on page, in the book Living Stories of the Cherokee captivated me more so than the other authors. The way that you introduce each of your stories is so honest, in a way that simply beginning a story without introducing cannot be. Stating where you heard the story and giving a references of why you have been reminded of it, such as your intro to "The Rattle Snake in the Corn,"makes me feel more like I am being told a tale than an account. "That corn over there reminds me of a story he told me," Pulling from the landscape and relating the story back to your grandfather instills a feeling of heritage, as you grew up on these lands like the Cherokee people and these stories have been passed down here for thousands of years.
You are also honest in your recollection of the stories, never being afraid to correct yourself. The seldom corrections in your stories are subtle and act to remind me that it is a story being told, far from Western traditions of immersing yourself in a story. The reminder that you are only listening to a tale by a story teller feels more personal, one of my favorite examples of this is in your story "The Origin of Strawberries." "And she said that first man and women were living together, and they got mad at one another, and the man left. No, the women left, thats the way it was." The fearlessness by which you retract statements feels natural in a way that other story tellers could not do, and the seamless transitions make me feel as if I am a child listening to a story being told by my parents, eager the whole time for what is to come next.
The alteration of who left is in concurrence with other forms of the same tale, which would matter little if it didn't, but works to support why the retraction was made. The telling of the story is what is most important but the effort put forth to keep the tales the same adds a style of truthfulness and a personal touch that is moving.
I would like to know if you put these corrections and introductions in intentionally in order to keep the style of Cherokee story telling alive or if this is simply how you tell them. I am also wondering what it is about story telling that you find to be the most powerful, what is it that keeps you coming back? And finally I would like to know what the first story you remember from your childhood is, simply out of curiosity.
Sincerely,
Matthew Randazzo.
 

Honor

So what is honor? Joseph Marshall in his novel The Lokota Way defines honor as having integrity, and being upright, and includes the Lokota word for honor Wayuonihan. In the story two hunters that are sparred by a snake are duty bound to take a man only identified as the man with the scar to a lake. The reasons remain a mystery why they had to take the man, but after they do the man is driven insane, and must choose between banishing himself or bringing insanity into the village. The man sacrifices himself by leaving, and thus spares his entire village. The man later dies, but the moral lives on, the message is that the man displayed honor by sacrificing himself for the good of others. 

The Story of the Snake

The stories later on the chapter do not emulate this value. Where the first story shows a man who does the right thing because he should, the later stories depict characters who are dishonorable and thus punished. The reason I cannot extrapolate honor from this is because the message is that if you do not comply with the standards you will be punished. When the alternative to being honorable is negative then of course people will choose honor. True honor comes when someone takes on a burden because it is morally sound, like the man with he scar. The idea of teaching honor in a fear based manner subverts the entire purpose of having honor, which is doing what is harder no matter what the outcome is.

Things Learned

One of the things that I have learned is about the disparities that tribes face today. Growing up near Cherokee I had a sewed vision of the fiscal success of reservations, as Cherokee is a incredibly successful model. The poverty rates are astounding when considering how Indigenous peoples are compared to the rest of the U.S., and Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven gave me a brief glimpse into the hopelessness faced by Indigenous peoples on these impoverished reservations. The readings on Prezi about historical culture and context gave me the initial numbers to consider the disparity of Indigenous peoples which was later exacerbated when reading about the experiences in Alexie's book. Compounding the problem, Leslie Silko's book Yellow Woman and the Beauty of the Spirit depicts many of the short comings of the U.S. Government in regards to their promises to Indigenous peoples, and how that translates into the increasing levels of poverty.

Cherokee Casino

                   Pine Ridge Reservation South Dakota

Having interacted with the people of Cherokee many times, and having made some close acquaintances, I have had some voice their concerns to me about problems on the reservation. Never was poverty mentioned as an issue. Having first hand experience with Indigenous peoples, and never experience with impoverished reservations, I was missing the picture entirely and focusing on one microcosm. I first watched the film Smoke Signals when I was about thirteen years old and I remember wondering about the financial situation on the reservation in the film. At the time I assumed that it was a unique situation, when quite to the contrary my first hand accounts were skewed. 

American Treatise

The chapters on America's debt to Indigenous peoples and Auntie Kie talking about American policy regarding indian relations was especially interesting to me. The fact that the U.S. Government has done little to address the issue of repayment of Indigenous peoples for their land may have a light at the end of the tunnel. In 2009 the Oboma administration alloted nearly $4 Billion to tribes to make up for mismanagement of Indigenous money. "The commission will begin reviewing the Interior Department’s management and administration of nearly $4 billion the federal government holds in trust for Native Americans and native peoples."(Associated Press). The admission of abuse of the system is a large step for a Government that has so far given very little consideration to the plight of the people who were forcibly removed from their lands after signing treatise that would allow them to keep their land. Aunt Kie was quoted saying that all President's just appear to be putting on a show, but the promise of $3.4 Billion by the administration is a good start in gaining trust in a community full of skeptics that have been let down too many times. 
Auntie Kie also touches upon partisanship and how the problem of Indigenous treatment spreads beyond either party. Reznetnews.org reports on the battle in the senate over the repayment. "The House gave its approval in May. But the settlement authorization is tucked into the Democrats' jobs-agenda legislation that fell three votes short of breaking a Republican filibuster in the Senate on Thursday, and now the future of the hard-fought agreement is in doubt." (Matt Volz). The money has been tied a budget proposal that is labeled as "Aid" and so a battle in senate is ensuing over the entirety of the budget not specifically the repayment. So the battle is seen as a partisan issue when really the solution seems obvious, the repayment of Indigenous peoples should not be tied to a general aid budget. The proposal is much larger than the $3.4 Billion and unless we can separate the issue of Aid in general and repayment for abused funds there seems to little hope to gain the trust of these scorned tribes. 

http://www.reznetnews.org/article/34b-indian-settlement-stuck-senate-filibuster
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/new-reform-commission-on-indian-trust-lands-managed-by-federal-government-to-begin-work/2012/02/29/gIQAtdleiR_story.html

Values

Not surprisingly at all my values are inherently "Western." But with interconnectedness in mind many of the values that I hold can be reconciled with the values of the sacred tree. Most of my values have to do with self reliance and determination, which coincide with the importance of volition, and the idea that all must be active participants in the unfolding of their own potentialities is at the core of my values. Another Value I hold dear is honesty, I have never been one to avoid being honest in the spirit of avoiding conflict, and I keep myself honest even when it would be easier to lie. Humility is a value that can reflect honesty because in order to have humility one must first be honest with themselves about their abilities. Humility is just an outward express of internal honesty about ones own capabilities and limits. Integrity is my last value that I discussed in class and it can be found all throughout the sacred tree. Whether in regards to how you treat those around you or yourself, the idea of integrity is integral to the central message of the Sacred Tree in that everything is connected and should be respected.