We Have Come Home
By Chief Michael Oldbear
The time was the 1400's. My people were of the
land that the whites now call America. We understood mother earth and we
respected mother earth as well. We took care of it and it took care of us. We
had food, lodging and clothing.
We did not know what was coming. For we did not
expect what would happen. We the Cherokee understood each other. We had our
ways, who would have known this would change. Even the Chickamauga Cherokee, the
warriors, were not ready for what was to come. The buffalo were plentiful and
the elders were taken care of. Then what we were not ready for came upon our
people.
The Europeans came. They said it was for "freedom of religion."
Their religion remains, but what of our freedom of religion. We tried to
make peace with them but this was our mistake. For you see what they had
planned was to take over mother earth. Who can own the land? Can one own the
air?
We tried to fight for what was ours but the
Europeans were like locusts.
They were ready to "take" and make false
promises. They wanted our land so they decided to force us west. In
doing so, it is in my mind, they knew it would kill most of my people. I believe
that it is what they really wanted. Dragging Canoe and the Chickamauga
Cherokee tried to put up a good war. But the whites say this was now their
land. They did not ask for all they wanted, they just took it. Oh, they
made their false treaties which were not worth the paper they were written upon.
You see they wanted control. This is what they have done all over the world as
it still continues today.
They killed our great warriors. They also killed
our women and children.
All in the name of religion and freedom. The
white man kept coming and coming and had to find land to live on. So they
tricked my people. They brought liquor, blankets, beads and very little money
hoping the natives of Mother Earth would trade and that they did. But with
all the things they brought came also white man's diseases such as Small Pox.
Many of our people got sick and died.
Dragging Canoe wanted to fight but many
decided it was not worth it.
"Sign the treaty" they said. These treaties
gave a small piece of land to them.
WE FORGOT ALL OF MOTHER EARTH WAS GIVEN TO US
TO
TAKE CARE OF.
There were only a few left to fight so Dragging Canoe, the
great warrior would lead them in the fight. All this time my people were
being forced west. This is what we call the trail of tears. Oh, there were some
battles won but the whites were winning the war. It seemed to be the end of
a great nation. If disease did not kill them the whites would.
The true
warriors fought but it was of no use. Either they gave up or died.
Dragging
Canoe gave one last battle and died trying to save a land that most were
ready to leave. So now it was westward. So many people died on this trip.
Their many tears flowed. They whites won and even their treaties changed.
Good for them but bad for my people. They made many promises only to be
broken soon after. How could they break our people? Start with the children
they thought.
After we were put on their reservations they would take our
young and make them white. The clothes, they would have to change. Then they
took our language away. Our dignity gone, we resigned ourselves to stay where
the slave master put us. Our language died, as did many of our
ways.
When the children came back we hardly knew them.
Indian agents were there so that we learned to live "white." Even today
you would hardly know us. We were "Indians." This we were called because
Columbus,
who was lost, thought he had landed in India. We now have our
reservations, the government keeps track of most through the B. I. A.
But let me say this, the Chickamauga Cherokee
(The Warriors) are still out there. They did not kill all of us or our
spirits. Oh, they took the land, gave us government money. Even made us
a spectacle in the sight of many. But one day the people will go back to
their traditional ways, they will be taught the old ways once again. Not
only our language but all the old ways as well.
LET US LEARN AGAIN.
TEACH OUR CHILDREN WHO WE WERE. LET US BE A PROUD PEOPLE ONCE AGAIN.
THE TIME HAS COME. DO NOT FORGET THIS IS OUR LAND, AND DO NOT FORGET
THE PAST.
Who am I you may ask? I am Oldbear. I am Deputy Chief of the
Chickamauga Cherokee of the Brushy Creek Band. We are descendants of Moytoya
of Chota. And direct descendants of Dragging Canoe. We are still warriors as
Dragging Canoe was. We have been on a long hunting trip, trying to find our way
home. We are a proud people, with bands in Texas, Tennessee, California and
North Carolina.
We have the 400 year old history of our people but no one
will listen. I now reside just off the Qualla Boundary in Cherokee North
Carolina. We are their warriors. Listen to us as we will listen to them. You see we were once members of this great nation. We are Chickamauga's
and very proud of this.
THE BAD FEELINGS FROM LONG AGO NEED TO BE PUT AWAY
SO WE CAN LEARN AND TEACH THE "OLD WAYS."
Books are good, but the guidance
of the wise elders are better. Let us learn all we can from them before it
is to late. We are home.
Just a note about myself. My mother is full blood
and my father is white.
So you see being only ½ native growing up from the
60's I was told to never claim Native American. What a mistake they made.
It took me a long time and a lot of searching to find my heritage but I have
done so. Do not give up finding out who you are and be proud to be Indian.
I will never let the heritage die. We must pass this on to our children. Remember who you were and learn from this. We were once a proud people
and we still can be. It is about time we stood up for who we really are and
not for show only.
Are we just Indians for profit or are we Indians
because that is what we were created to be? Do not put on a show for the
white people by dressing up in things we never wore or having Teepees when we
the Cherokees never used them. Be who you really are and teach our children
the truth. This is the way our ancestors would want it to be. I am
Indian and proud of it. Follow the traditional ways and live it. Follow
the path that is set before us.
Wado,
Oldbear
(yo-na
a-ga-u-na-li)
Chief of the Longhair Clan
and
Warrior ...
a-ya-wis-gi or di-tli-hi
