American Sovereign Mother

     "I am an Indian, what else could I be?"- Jacqueline Keeler 

special thanks for allowing me to use your quote and expound on it

     I read most of what Jacqueline Keeler writes. I wish I had time to read everything. Anyway, I caught what she wrote and it set off a train of thought. Let's face it I'm a philosophical writer, why else could I be?

     Sovereignty is talked about on a daily basis in Indian Country, but mainstream media hardly ever address it in the broader American public. If it does get addressed, it's with a colonial mindset. You may well wonder what I'm talking about. If your like most Americans, you were born here. Maybe you are thinking, "colonials are from 1776, that's not me-I'm American."

     You don't have to be from 1776 to have a colonial mindset. I meet most people with that point if view. They believe that "The New World" is a pair of previously pristine continents, just waiting for immigrants to bring advancement to the roaming wild people living here. Nothing could be further from the truth. Indigenous people were here and they had National governments, teachings, language, art, history, music, social structure and most survive intact until this very moment. They are the First American Nations, what else could they be?

     Most American music is full of lyrics about how much people love this land. I can sing along easily, I do love this land. My ancestors blood, was American blood, and spilled in the same mud as every soldier in every war, even before there was a United States of America. I'm American, what else could I be?

     I am from the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. Like our sister Nation, the Eastern Band of Cherokees, our borders were firmly defined before Oklahoma statehood. Before that, there was only one place Cherokees called home. It was not split up by the borders drawn by colonials. We only became scattered in the 1830's. I was born in an Indian Hospital in the boundary of the Cherokee Nation jurisdiction. My parents are Cherokee citizens. I'm not Oklahoman-I'm Cherokee, what else could I be?

   

     My grandparents, both sets, put food on their family's table by farming, hunting, and fishing. Most of my childhood I roamed around double digit acreage, fed farm animals, road in the back of a pick-up, and planted fruit and vegetables. My mom played and sang lots of music. Cherokee music she had recorded at a stomp dance or pow-wow played while she wove ᏣᏔᎩ reed baskets. And sometimes, it was a country music or an oldies radio station that she sang softly along with as her fingers danced in the basket water. I'm a country girl, farmer's daughter, and Cherokee-American lady what else could I be?

     Sovereign American Tribal Nations aren't threats to the people inhabiting this country. They are this land's oldest and best allied Nations. Are there power struggles? Everyday, and similarly they involve greedy corporations and basic human rights. Like the basic right to raise our children for their own benefit. 

     It's sad that our children have been plundered by the US government, church missionaries, and recently, the adoption industry. Yet, when I invoke our sovereign rights to point out how it is our right to step in and protect them, I was met with ignorance about my identity as a person and a Cherokee Nation citizen. This same ignorance is nationwide and prolific. I didn't need long to figure out how Hollywood, Dr Phil, and Major League Sports had bashed my distinct identity so badly that I was unrecognizable to my fellow American citizens as a human being, let alone, a neighboring Nation citizen.

     I was angry. Many Natives like, Jacqueline Keeler, dealt with their ignorance with a grace I only manage to muster a small percentage of the time. I am quick to point out the obvious discrimination and racism so plain to me in open social media. Something I know I should work on. I get especially caustic with other "self-identified" on-line Natives that have either embraced their own stereotype, perhaps as a survival tactic, or they blatantly ignore our sovereign rights in favor of appeasing colonial-minded Americans. 

     I don't need broader American society humbled by my righteous anger or their "colonial-guilt". What I need are fellow American parents and neighbors to rise above the ideals we all got taught in elementary school. To rise above those mythological American icons, like Washington, Lincoln, and Jackson, and take hold of a more complete history that we all own and finally cut loose the willful denial that allowed the United States to come into existence. Instead, they can grab a cooperative future that benefits all our nationalities.