American Indian Reflections: July 2008 Archives

When all was water, the animals lived above in Galunlati but it was very crowded and they wanted more room. Dayunisi, the little Water-beetle, offered to go see what was below the water.

It repeatedly dived to the bottom and came up with soft mud eventually forming the island we call earth. The island was suspended by cords at each of the cardinal points to the sky vault, which is solid rock.

Birds were sent down to find a dry place to live but none could be found. The Great Buzzard, the father of all buzzards we see now, flew down close to the earth while it was still soft. He became tired and his wings began to strike the ground. Where they struck the earth became a valley and where they rose up again became a mountain and thus the Cherokee country was created.

The animals came down after the earth dried but all was dark so they set the sun in a track to go every day across the island from east to west. At first the sun was too close to the island and too hot. They raised the sun again and again, seven times, until it was the right height just under the sky arch. The highest place, Gulkwagine Digalunlatiyun, is "the seventh height".

The animals and plants were told to keep watch for seven nights but as the days passed many begin to fall asleep until on the seventh night only the owl, panther, and a couple of others were still awake. These were given the power to see in the dark and prey on the birds and animals that sleep at night. Of the plants, only the cedar, the pine, the spruce, the holly, and the laurel were awake to the end and were therefore given the power to be always green and to be the greatest medicine, but to the others it was said: "Because you have not endured to the end you shall lose your hair every winter."

Men came after animals and plants. At first there were only a brother and sister until he struck her with a fish and told her to multiply, and so it was. In seven days a child was born to her and thereafter every seven days another until there was danger that the world could not keep up with them. Then it was made that a woman should have only one child in a year, and it has been so ever since.

From James Mooney, Myths of the Cherokee 

I emerged from shafts of the first sacred corn:

From Me,and My Husband

Kanati the Hunter
People are descended.

I return again in each ear of corn.
I dance in the summer fields
I dance the sun and the earth
I dance for all children
I dance for the rainbow
I dance for you

by Christy Salo

At the time of the English invasion the Cherokee (Tsalagi) were organized in villages that mutually supported each other but had no central overlords.  Each village had an elected council and elected chiefs and an empowered women's council.  But was it always this way?  Were pre-Columbian indigenous people "prehistoric" in the sense that nothing happened to fundamentally change society, so people lived more or less as they had since the beginning of time.

The dominant cultures romantic notion of "people without history" is disputed by the evidence of highly centralized commercial empires that existed in North America, empires that become organized and conquered more and more people and then for reasons that historians are still researching collapsed.  Commodities were traded across North America while Europe had collapsed into warring feudal states during its Dark Ages.

The most recent of these commercial empires was the Mississippian culture, or so called mound builders.  This empire has its center at Cahokia, in Illinois. It is clear that while the ties that bound the various peoples together in this empire were commercial, the form of organization was a theocracy.  One of the legacies of the Mississippians is common rituals, and common symbols among many different Native American Indian communities who speak rather different languages and have different cultures.

The Mississippian culture extended from Wisconsin to Florida and included the Cherokee as one of the participating or subject peoples.  Here is a story that helps explain why this empire fell, and perhaps gives us insight into how democratic institutions are formed in response to (sometimes bitter) experience.

From MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE

By James Mooney

Among other perishing traditions is that relating to the Ani'-Kuta'nï or Ani'-Kwäta'nï (the priest people), concerning whom the modern Cherokee know so little that their very identity is now a matter of dispute, a few holding that they were in ancient people who preceded the Cherokee and built the mounds, while others, with more authority, claim that they were a clan or society in the tribe and were destroyed long ago by pestilence or other calamity. Fortunately, we are not left to depend entirety upon surmise in the matter, as the tradition was noted by Haywood some seventy years ago, and by another writer some forty years later, while the connected story could still be obtained from competent authorities. From the various statements it would seem that the Ani'-Kuta'nï were a priestly clan, having hereditary supervision of all religious ceremonies among the Cherokee, until, in consequence of having abused their sacred privileges, they were attacked and completely exterminated by the rest of the tribe, leaving the priestly functions to be assumed thereafter by individual doctors and conjurers.

Haywood says., without giving name or details, "The Cherokees are addicted to conjuration to ascertain whether a sick person will recover. This custom arose after the destruction of their priests. Tradition states that such person lived among their ancestors and were deemed superior to others, and were extirpated long ago, in consequence of the misconduct of one of the priests, who attempted to take the wife of a man who was the brother of the leading chief of the nation."[1]

A more detailed statement, on the authority of Chief John Ross (first Principal Chief of the Modern Cherokee Nation) and Dr J. B. Evans, is given in 1866 by a writer who speaks of the massacre as having occurred about a century before, although from the dimness of the tradition it is evident that it must have been much earlier:

"The facts, though few, are interesting. The order was hereditary; in this respect peculiar, for among Indians seldom, and among the Cherokees never, does power pertain to any family as a matter of right. Yet the family of the Nicotani--for it seems to have been a family or clan--enjoyed this privilege. The power that they exercised was not, however, political, nor does it appear that chiefs were elected from among them.

"The Nicotani were a mystical, religious body, of whom the people stood in great awe, and seem to have been somewhat like the Brahmins of India. By what means they attained their ascendancy, or how long it was maintained, can never be ascertained. Their extinction by massacre is nearly all that can be discovered concerning them. They became haughty, insolent, overbearing, and licentious to an intolerable degree. Relying on their hereditary privileges and the strange awe which they inspired, they did not hesitate by fraud or violence to rend asunder the tender relations of husband and wife when a beautiful woman excited their passions. The people long brooded in silence over the oppressions and outrages of this high caste, whom they deeply hated but greatly feared. 

At length a daring young man, a member of an influential family, organized a conspiracy among the people for the massacre of the priesthood. The immediate provocation was the abduction of the wife of the young leader of the conspiracy. His wife was remarkable for her beauty, and was forcibly abducted and violated by one of the Nicotani while he was absent on the chase. On his return he found no difficulty in exciting in others the resentment which he himself experienced. So many had suffered in the same way, so many feared that they might be made to suffer, that nothing was wanted but a leader. A leader appearing in the person of the young brave whom we have named, the people rose under his direction and killed every Nicotani, young and old. 

Thus perished a hereditary secret society, since which time no hereditary privileges have been tolerated among the Cherokees."

 Maize or corn was first cultivated in what is now Mexico about 5,000 years ago, and spread rapidly to became the most important food crop in Central and North America.  Throughout the continent, indigenous Americans told stories about how corn originated, why it is planted the way it is, and how honor can be given to this important crop.

While dominant culture academics have interpreted the characters in these stories as gods and goddesses,  most Indians find this understanding of their stories offensive.  The majority of stories told by different American Indian nations have a character whose name is the same as that peoples word for corn and often this character is depicted as woman.    Corn dances are held to raise the corn, but the Corn Mother is not worshipped in the sense that a god or goddess is worshipped. 

The Cherokee story of Selu  or the Corn Motherm and the story of  Ilyatiku of the Keresan people of the American Southwest function differently than Chicomecoatl,  the female symbol of maize who was worshiped by the Aztecs of Mexico and her male consort Centeotl, to whom they offered their blood each year.

 The Seminole tell have a story of Fas-ta-chee, a male dwarf whose hair and body were made of corn.   He carried a bag of corn and taught the people how to grow, grind, and store corn for food. 

The Zunis tell a story about eight corn maidens. The young women are invisible, but their beautiful dancing movements can be seen when they dance with the growing corn as it waves in the wind. One day a young man Paiyatemu fales in love with the maidens, and they fled from him. While they were gone, a terrible famine spread across the land. Paiyatemu begged the maidens to turn back, and they returned to the Zuni and resumed their dance. As a result, the corn started to grow again.

In a story, told by the Creeks and other tribes of the southeastern United States, the Corn Woman is an old woman living with a family that does not know who she is. Every day she feeds the family corn dishes, but the members of the family cannot figure out where she gets the food.

One day, wanting to discover where the old woman gets the corn, the sons spy on her. Depending on the version of the story, the corn is either scabs or sores that she rubs off her body, washings from her feet, nail clippings, or even her feces. In all versions, the origin of the corn is disgusting, and once the family members know its origin, they refuse to eat it.

The Corn Mother wins over the disgusted sons in all the stories, but each story has a variation of how she does it. In the Cherokee story, Selu tells the sons to clear a large piece of ground, kill her, and drag her body around the clearing seven times. However, the sons clear only seven small spaces, cut off her head, and drag it around the seven spots. Wherever her blood fell, corn grew. According to the story, this is why corn only grows in some places and not all over the world.

In another account, the Corn Woman tells the boys to build a corn crib and lock her inside it for four days. At the end of that time, they open the crib and find it filled with corn. The Corn Woman then shows them how to use the corn.

Other stories of the origin of corn involve goddesses who choose men to teach the uses of corn and to spread the knowledge to their people. The Seneca Indians of the Northeast tell of a beautiful woman who lived on a cliff and sang to the village below. Her song told an old man to climb to the top and be her husband. At first, he refused because the climb was so steep, but the villagers persuaded him to go.

When the old man reached the top, the woman asked him to make love to her. She also taught him how to care for a young plant that would grow on the spot where they made love. The old man fainted as he embraced the woman, and when he awoke, the woman was gone. Five days later, he returned to the spot to find a corn plant. He husked the corn and gave some grains to each member of the tribe. The Seneca then shared their knowledge with other tribes, spreading corn around the world.

I recently committed People So Bold! to publicizing the work of a group of lawyers.  Several years ago, the Unitarian Universalist Association had an Independent Affiliate called Unitarian Universalist Network for Indigenous Affairs, which helped educate Unitarian Universalists about the problems and promise of Native American Indians and let UUs know about specific things they could do help.  In 2007 a new effort calling itself Unitarian Universalist Network for Indigenous Affairs has been established which presents educational website on world wide indigenous cultures.  It does not appear to be an advocacy organization for Native American Indian rights.  What should Unitarian Universalist who want to provide support for Native peoples do?  There are several organizations which I believe that we can and should support and our support could make a real difference.  First, let me introduce the lawyers.  

The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) is an non profit law firm that is committed the rights of Native people, its team of attorneys take cases and engage in publicizing other ongoing legal cases that are defending Native American tribes and organizations with

Founded in 1970, the Native American Rights Fund  is the oldest and largest nonprofit law firm dedicated to asserting and defending the rights of Indian tribes, organizations and individuals nationwide. The firm focuses its legal work on helping to realize these five mission areas.

Preservation of tribal existence

The future existence of the remaining Indian tribes in this country depends ultimately upon secure and permanent land bases, and the rights of self- determination necessary to preserve traditional customs and ways of life. Learn more.


Protection of tribal natural resources 

The natural resources found on Indian lands vary greatly. NARF concentrates its efforts in asserting tribal resource rights and protecting them from loss and exploitation by non-Indians. Major resource protection includes land rights; water rights; hunting, fishing and gathering rights; environmental protection; timber rights; and prudent development of mineral resources.


Promotion of Native American human rights 

The Native American Rights Fund is concerned with securing basic human rights for Native Americans in such areas as education, health, housing and religious freedom rights.



Accountability of governments to Native Americans

NARF focuses much of its efforts on guaranteeing that the federal and state governments are accountable for the proper recognition and enforcement of the many laws and regulations which govern the lives of Indian people.

Development of Indian law and educating the public about Indian rights, laws, and issues 

This involves not only the establishment of favorable court precedents in major areas of Indian law, but also the compilation and distribution of Indian law resources to everyone working on behalf of Indian rights. 

In the future I will be talking about the activities of Native American Rights Fund.

Do you recall the notion that was sometimes taught in our anti-racism trainings? It was argued that since People of Color didn't have power they couldn't be racists.  The problem is power is relative with the system of racism in the United States.  The present administration of the Cherokee Nation (Oklahoma) presided over by Principal Chief Chad Smith illustrates that oppressed people can be oppressors as well.  As a righteous young Cherokee named Shannon Prince writes in Indian Country Today ;

Cherokee people have historically been both oppressed and oppressors; but so often, that history of oppressing others is ignored or equivocated. It astounds me, as a Cherokee, that our people continued to own slaves after the Trail of Tears. After the Trail of Tears, after suffering and crying under horrendous brutality, the Cherokee knew exactly what dehumanization was: yet we continued to dehumanize others. We didn't have a problem with the unjust hierarchal system that gave some peoples rights at the expense of others; we only had a problem when it was used against us. While we cried on the Trail of Tears, we ignored the cries of blacks and, as a nation, were fine benefiting from the racial hierarchy when it allowed us to enslave others. . . .

As Cherokee, we should ask how our ancestors could turn from our teachings of duyukduh, which emphasizes balance, interrelatedness and respect for all peoples. We should ask how our leaders and Beloved Women could condone such injustice - and why Smith continues to do so. 

What my brother laments is the disgraceful attempt of Smith and his supporters to rob the descendants  of Cherokee slaves of their right to Cherokee citizenship.  This is a right guaranteed by the Cherokee constitution and by treaty, and upheld in a recent ruling by the Cherokee courts.  All of Indian Country condemns this  betrayal of principal, yet Smith continues to advance the absurd claim that this racist campaign is act of sovereignty.  Shannon Prince correctly points out by this logic the United States was justified by its sovereignty in removing the Native people from their homelands,  sovereign people must act morally.  

Who then is a Cherokee?  People who are descended from the ancient Cherokee people. People who cherish Cherokee culture and care about the Cherokee people's honor.  The Freedman are descended from the Cherokee people, and the claim that the Dawes List is a list of Cherokee while the Freedman List  is a list of African slaves ignores that Cherokee adopted many African runaway, that Cherokee have intermarried with former slaves, that the Dawes and Freedman designation was a product of the racist U.S. government during the era of Jim Crow.  The Freedman Cherokee have given themselves to the Cherokee culture for well over a century and in this struggle they are showing their devotion to the Cherokee people's honor.   

Shannon Prince continues his powerful lament:

As Cherokee people, we have to decide the right way to handle history, the honorable way to exercise sovereignty, and the correct way to bring forth justice and healing. We have to celebrate the beauty in our culture, soothe our wounds of oppression as well as the oppression we dealt out to others, and practice gadugi with all members of the community. We have a long road ahead of us, and recognizing the citizenship of the freedmen is the first step. 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia• 

The Three Sisters are the three main agricultural crops of some Native American groups in North America: squash, maize, and climbing beans (typically tepary beans or common beans).

In a technique known as companion planting, the three crops are planted close together. Flat-topped mounds of soil are built for each cluster of crops. Each mound is about 30 cm (1 ft) high and 50 cm (20 in) wide, and several maize seeds are planted close together in the center of each mound. In parts of the Atlantic Northeast, rotten fish or eel are buried in the mound with the maize seeds, to act as additional fertilizer where the soil is poor.[1][2] When the maize is 15 cm (6 inches) tall, beans and squash are planted around the maize, alternating between beans and squash.

The three crops benefit from each other. The maize provides a structure for the beans to climb, eliminating the need for poles. The beans provide the nitrogen to the soil that the other plants utilize and the squash spreads along the ground, monopolizing the sunlight to prevent weeds. The squash leaves act as a "living mulch," creating a microclimate to retain moisture in the soil, and the prickly hairs of the vine deter pests.

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For the Bush administration and its functionary Micheal Chertoff Homeland Security Trumps the sacred lands and rights of America's indigenous people.  Here is an interview between Indian Country Times and Chertoff who seems to think that maintaining the integrity of Indian rights to their sites is an "ideological" objection.

Indian Country Times : Did you realize that you would anger some Indians when you waived the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and other laws earlier this year in an effort to speed the building of a border fence between the U.S. and Mexico? 

Chertoff: I understood that waiving the laws would generate some controversy. The difficulty is this: Congress has mandated that we put into place tools to protect the border - and to really get a lot of it done this year. Each of these laws, we knew, could be fertile grounds for litigation [as we moved forward with the border protection process]. 

It's not that we want to disregard the interests of Native Americans or environmentalists. We're perfectly open to engaging with them. And we do engage with them if there's a practical concern, like disturbing a sacred location. ... But we need to be able to do it in a sufficient, informal way, as opposed to getting involved in years of courtroom litigation. ... 

ICT: A lot of individual Indians, especially those living on the Texas border with Mexico, have raised complaints and lawsuits as a result of the border fence issue. How concerned are you about these actions from Indian individuals? 

Chertoff: I don't think it's something that's unique to Indian landowners. There have been some landowners who have expressed concern ... and sometimes it's not practical - it's based on an ideological view. They just believe that the border ought to be open. ... 

But it's not only my view, it's also Congress' view that we have got to get control of the border. We can't make issues of national security optional for individual landowners. ... We've got to have a national policy and protect the whole country. ... 

 Native American Indians have a lot of experience with American Presidents. After all, it has been and continues to be a matter of life and death to keep an eye on those who have invaded this land and run it without regard to the people whose were here, who know the land and love it as a sacred gift.

Therefore it is significant that Indian Country has for the first time become excited about a candidate.

Read Wind Dancer (Charo)

My friends,

Many Indian tribes are throwing their support behind Obama for president.

He has a great website, "The First Americans".

I think he will actually stand up and help the Indians on the reservations. He has voiced concerns with the Indian Health care problems, unemployment problems, and the housing problems on the rez. The toxic trailers are now being occupied on several reservations and people are becoming ill. They have no choice, but to live in those trailers.

I usually try to stay neutral, but, I feel we need a honest person who will honor existing treaties with the tribes, and bring humanity back.

What ever is your political choice, please check out Obama's, "First Americans" web site. We see hope in him as a way of bringing humanity back to the First Americans ( Indians).

Walk In Peace and Protect Mother Earth.

Wind Dancer

 One of the acts of Congress in that summer in 1776 was to declare the 13 English speaking colonies independent of Great Britain.  The other was to order the removal of Native Peoples who lived in New York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia and South Carolina "as a precaution."  

This was the beginning of a preemptive war that lasted over ten years.  This war has been forgotten, and become the hidden side of America's great liberating revolution. It meant that about half the men in arms serving the new United States were deployed against the indigenous people of this land.  This decision of Congress meant that the former colonists became a new colonizer.  This was a declaration of war which meant that 15,000 young Native Americans would die fighting to keep their peoples independence in their ancient homeland.  The United States that emerged from that war for independence was a race based republic which would continue to war against Native peoples, a war that has never ended.

So this is why many American Indians do not celebrate this day.  Not because they have a chip on their shoulders, or they are living in the past.  Rather the consequences of July 4, 1776 has been a disaster for their people's independence.   

And then again,  many Native people do have a celebration on this day.  As an occupied people many Indians in the West were forbidden to have dances and practice their rituals.  But the occupying power (that is the United States) decided that in order to "Americanize" these "unamericans" they would let them have a celebration of July 4th!,  So these people continue to this day to have a big celebration on July 4th in which they celebrate rituals and dances that were ancient when Columbus set off on his voyage looking to get rich.