Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Mankiller
http://faculty.weber.edu/kmackay/academic_journal.htm

The Sonoma State University talk featuring the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller, highlighted some of the problems, misperceptions, and stereotypes of Native American society.  She also discusses historical events but it’s clearly evident that her message was about the active movement of guiding American Indians into the future. 

Ms. Mankiller’s talk provided her audience with a brief historical background of Native American society and an understanding of the differences in tribal nations and tribal governments that existed across the land.  She emphasizes in her discussion that each tribe has it own unique government and has lived in organized societies for “thousands of years before Europeans arrived” claiming to have discovered a “New World.”     

Mankiller goes on to discuss some of the common issues Native Americans are facing today.  Many of these issues focus on the protection of tribal governments, land and water rights and the preservation of language and traditional ways such as medicine, ceremony and relationship to the land.  She explains that regardless of where Natives may live today, they can maintain their connections with their Native communities and still live their life with traditional Indian values to create vital and vibrant communities regardless of the distance between them.  At the same time that these vibrant communities are being created, it was her belief that accurate information about Native American culture had to be made available to the general public.  Mankiller believed it was the lack of information that fueled the negative stereotypes.  She explains that even congress knows very little about the issues Natives are still facing and that some “don’t believe tribal law is real law…”  With this level of ignorance within our congressional leadership, it’s easy to understand Mankiller’s position that the average American doesn’t have a clue. She goes on to give the following example of American ignorance to modern Native American culture by sharing a story about a tourist visiting an Indian town, who stops her to ask “Where are all the Indians?” as if expecting Native Americans to “live in teepees and dress in buckskin” in the 21^st century. I could only hope that this is an extreme example of our ignorance and not a typical expression of an American tourist today.

Wilma Mankiller

 
                There are many things that I learned from the Wilma Mankiller Video. There are over 550 tribal governments in the United States who each have their own culture and languages. Every tribe selects their leaders a different way, the Cherokee and Navaho select them by popular vote. In Onondaga the women select their leaders, and only the women can remove their leaders. So even though all these leaders have a similar position they are all selected in different ways. These governments can range from control millions of acers of land to less than 25 acers of land. Some of these tribal governments have large groups and some have small groups such as less than 100. The Onondaga tribal government even issues their own valid passports for international travel. However Hawaiian Natives are having a battle to retain rights to some of the most coveted land in the western hemisphere.  In her Cherokee tribe they had a ceremony where they would rekindle relationships, request forgiveness for inappropriate actions that they committed the previous year, and to cleanse the mind of negative thoughts. Everyone who participates are forgiven for past offenses however once they left they could never speak of that offence again. Each family would put out their home fire and relit that home fire from a central ceremonial fire for a sign of unity. They are very big on getting rid of negative thoughts and forgiving people if you have had a feud with them. She made it very clear in her video that there is no sense in holding onto grudges that it is not good for the mind and takes away from what you are focusing on.

Wilma Mankiller

Some leaders have the natural ability to talk eloquently with the charm and charisma to lead and unite their people in a common cause. Ronald Regan, Patrick Henry, Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill to name a few. These great leaders through the power of their voices had significant impact on social and political change.

Today I was introduced for the first time to another great leader Wilma Mankiller. Maybe not as much of an eloquent speaker like those mentioned but she did have the charisma to lead a nation in a common cause. Her cause was simple, from the video I can sum up her cause in one word education. Mankiller the first woman leader of the Cherokee Nation sought to educate her people as well as non-Indians. She spoke of the good cause and united her people in a common cause. One of the key points of the speech that I took away was the Americanized stereotypes of Indian woman. Within the first few minutes of her speech I gained a new appreciation of woman Indians and their roll in Indian society.  According to her biography she was an advocate for Native American woman's rights. She has stressed that if all the Native Americans who were eligible to vote actually did so, officials elected with those votes would be forced to address the problems of Native American Woman. She also has called for an end to the increasing problem of violence against women. Mankiller was inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame in NYC.

Wilma Mankiller

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVLgwpHSYv0

       What a great video. This video is a talk that Wilma Mankiller game at Sonoma University in California. She was a 3 time chief of her tribe and has been very involved in tribal politics and the politics of Native Americans in her home state of California. She is an author of many books and has recieved numerous awards. She explains that women are important to many tribes and gives quite a bit of information about the Onondaga Tribe which is women run. She also explains what sovereignty is, (George Bush should watch her video). She also gives a good easy explanation on how different tribes acquire their leaders, such as through democratic votes. She explains how many tribes face similar problems such as poverty, loss of land base and other issues but that many tribes have individual qualities too. She talks about a positive attitude and how her attitude has helped her immensely over the years to get through difficult times. Something I'm glad she talked about is misconceptions and how a lack of education is responsible for many misconceptions. She states that some visitors to her reservation actually expected to see "Indians dressed in buckskins" on Main St. Very silly. She comes across as a well educated and easy going woman who really feels passionately about her people. A good video, well worth watching. 

Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Mankiller, was the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation. She served as principle chief for ten years from 1985 – 1995. In the video, (a lecture at Sonoma State University) Mankiller addresses inaccuracies of American views on Native American history, culture, and contemporary life and issues. She gives brief but detailed information on all aspects of Native American culture, from tribal government, sovereignty, land, traditional teachings, cultural assimilation and common stereotypes.

She talks about the context in which Americans view Natives; there has been little education to inform them of the truth. American education teaches the youth that the “new world” was discovered by Europeans when in actuality it was inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years prior to their arrival. She talks about the media romanticizing and villainizing the image of Native people (especially women) in print and film. It is here that the stereotypes of Natives are born. Then she says something that is so profound that it resonates within my thoughts, “To me its really pretty amazing, how little many Americans learned about the original inhabitants of this land called America. Yet, over time Native people have had to learn everything about the larger society around us…”

I was especially glad to hear Mankiller speak of the strength and resilience of the Native American people, especially when it comes to keeping their culture alive. It’s a grim reality that many tribes are in danger of losing their cultural identity, through the loss of language or the passing of tribal elders. She explains that tribal elders hold thousands of years of oral history, and once they pass that history is gone forever. She advocates the need to work together and preserve, while educating others and work towards creating a better future.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVLgwpHSYv0

Marijuana Now Legal in Some Native American Tribes

Pot Legal on Soveregin Lands

DOJ States that "Pot Laws" will not be prosecuted

     In a win for the Pan-Indian movement, some Native American tribes are now allowed to grow, sell, and enjoy marijuana on tribal lands.  On December 11th, the Departmet of Justice stated that it is no longer going to prosecute federal laws regulating the sale and use of pot on Indian Reservations  -- even if state law forbids it.

    As of today, no Native American tribes have stated that they will begin the distrubtion and sale of marijuana.  But, this could cause problems with local tribes and local governments.  Currently, marijuana is only legal in a few states.  What happens if the Seminole Tribe of Florida decides to open a recreational marijuana shop?

Recreational-usage shop in Colorado

     While I am not a partaker of marijuana, I feel that this is a great step in the right direction for Native Americans.  If they are truly considered sovereign, the federal government should take steps in proctecting their right to legally sell and consume marijuana. 

But, we'll see if it happens.

Wilma Mankiller speaks on the Future

What I have learned from the Wilma Mankiller video where she spoke at Sonoma State University is that she speaks of Indians not being looked in the appropriate light in the society of today. Native Americans continue to be resilient despite the challenges in the society of today. Mankiller speaks of how so many people in America look at the history of Indians, yet fail to lok how they have improved so much through the years that it is clearly noticeable. People fail to take notice of the improvements that Native Americans have made. Wilma goes on to say how Indian tribes are all different in their own way and they all bring something special to the table.

The future for so many tribes is positive and has to remain that way due to society not waiting for them to change, but itself changing all the time and not waiting for Native Americans. There are so many new obstacles that are coming to the forefront for Native Americans, and they approach them with confidence to the point where they strive for excellence in the future. Mankiller also says that change is good, but to always remember where you all came from and do not forget the challenges and traditions from the past to remind them just where they are going. There have been many tears shed from the tragedies of the past, but they are all worth it to support the generations to come and show them the way of their ancestors and to continue to embrace the customs that have been around for so many years. 

References

Wilma Mankiller Video

Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Mankiller is the first female deputy chief of any Native American tribe in history. She is a very well-known and well liked leader in the Native culture and spreads a lot of knowledge to many people in the United States. This video she spoke in is from her speech at Sonoma State University.  She spoke about much of the culture, government aspects, and education of the Native Americans throughout history to today. What really stuck out to me was the explanation of important of women in the Native culture. Women were very important and served many leading roles in the Native American culture, unlike the European culture. For example, in the Navajo tribes women controlled every aspect of their economy and in the Cherokee tribes they were the ones that controlled what actions got punished or pardoned, made sure the importance of the clan was kept up and also went to war with the men. Another aspect that stuck out to me was the importance between governments. When the US was first formed they made treaties and agreements to work with tribal governments and allow certain laws to be made for them. Government to government relations are important because they control the relationship between not just laws but economy also with the “two worlds”.  

Mankiller talked about education today for kids. She stated that much of the Native culture is not taught in schools. Most of the information about them is stereotypical and just about the Westerners taking them over. She said that we are taught about the “New World” that was discovered by Columbus when really the natives were on the land for hundreds of years already. I agree and can relate to her because I really learned the minimum about the native cultures and their history when I was in school. This class is the reason I now know what really has gone on.

This video was very important to this class because it spoke about all aspects we have already learned, but from an actual Native’s point of view.  It helps us connect all the pieces together that we have learned in each module. We are able to share what we have learned and learn from others with this video and blog which is probably the best way to learn.

Wilma Mankiller, a Cherokee Indian, was very accurate with her speech that the American people are very unfamiliar with the Indian history, culture, and beliefs. The interesting point was that the women in most tribes are the leaders in the tribal government, like her. The land base of a tribal nation can range from having a million acres of land, to those tribes that control only twenty-five acres with less than one hundred members. Some tribal governments continue original tribal traditions, where some tribes have changed by recently added constitutions. The treaties granted under the law were recognized in the early time in history. These treaties are rarely recognized today by the U. S. Government. She went on to say anti-sovereignty groups believe that the Native Americans should not receive special rights or be considered sovereign. Wilma Mankiller explained that tribal people gave up billions of acres of land for and sacrificed their lives to be a sovereign nation.  Americans have learn very few things about the native culture, however the native people must learn the culture of the Americans.  She believes that the most important practice is for the native people to learn their entire culture and identity, the entire system of knowledge, not just the native language.  As the tribe elders die, they lose their culture history. One of Wilma Mankiller’s favorite proverbs is, “It’s hard to see the future with tears in your eyes”. She also went on to explain that we should honor the past, but we cannot go around with anger in our hearts over the present and future. We must work together to make a better future.