Post by blackcrowheart on Mar 28, 2007 20:50:11 GMT -5
Raising a new nation Cherokee leaders welcome chapter to revitalization
plan Sunday, January 14, 2007
www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_chief15.378fc\
a6.html
<http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_chief15.378f\
ca6.html> RIVERSIDE - Britt Porter knew of his Cherokee heritage as he
was growing up. But the Riverside resident, an enrolled member of the
Cherokee Nation, never heard his grandparents talk much about tribal
culture or history. Sandra Tudor, a Highland grandmother, has spent
several years trying to learn more about her Cherokee ancestors so she
may register with the tribe. "It never was important to me as a child,"
she said. "I'm starting to learn about the culture and I want to share
it with my grandchildren." Porter and Tudor were among more than 200
Inland residents of Cherokee descent who packed a church social hall
Sunday evening for the first meeting of the Cherokee Community of the
Inland Empire and to meet Cherokee nation dignitaries, including
Principal Chief Chad Smith, Deputy Principal Chief Joe Grayson Jr., and
tribal council members Jack Baker and Taylor Keen. Porter is chairman
of the Inland group. The Riverside group was the fourth that Smith and
other tribal officials visited in Southern California over the weekend
as part of the chief's plan to launch 100 communities for Cherokee who
live outside Cherokee Nation borders in Oklahoma. Story continues below
Kurt Miller / The Press-Enterprise Principal Chief Chad Smith of the
Cherokee Nation of Tahlequah, Okla., speaks at the Church of the
Nazerene in Riverside at a meeting of the Cherokee Community of the
Inland Empire. More than two-thirds of enrolled members live outside
the tribe's geographic jurisdiction in northeastern Oklahoma, Baker
said. The tribal council was expanded in July from 15 to 17 to create
two at-large council members to represent those tribal citizens, he
said. More than 1,000 Inland households have at least one member who
is a registered member of the tribe, said Julia Coates, a UC Davis
professor who teaches Cherokee history classes for the tribe. As many as
20,000 enrolled members may live in California, she said. Smith, who
was elected principal chief in 1999, said he developed a 100-year plan
aimed at restoring the tribe to the prominence it held 100 years ago by
emphasizing jobs, reviving the Cherokee language and building a stronger
sense of community. "Our culture is not lost," he said. "It needs to
be revitalized." The chief said he began encouraging the creation of
groups like the Inland organization six years ago to empower the tribe.
"We believe that if history repeats itself there will be two or three
more times in the next 100 years when the government will enact laws
that are hostile" to American Indians, he said in an interview before
addressing the crowd. Creating communities outside Cherokee Nation
borders will strengthen the tribe and enable it to withstand outside
pressures, the chief said. The Inland group will meet every two months
with programs about Cherokee culture and history, said Gary Sanders,
assistant chairman. Anyone with an interest in the tribe is welcome, he
said. "I think a lot of Cherokee don't know their history, especially
those in California," said Sanders, of Bloomington. "You want to know
where your culture came from. ... Growing up this wasn't something you
talked about. Now I'm proud of it." Reach Bettye Wells Miller at
951-368-9547 or bmiller@PE.com <mailto:bmiller@PE.com> Cherokee
Nation Tribal members: About 260,000, including about 2,000 in the
Inland region Tribal headquarters: W.W. Keeler Complex near Tahlequah,
Okla. Geographic size: About 7,000 square miles that is not a
reservation, but is a jurisdictional service area including all of eight
counties and part of six more in northeastern Oklahoma Government: A
federally recognized tribe with a constitution and three branches of
government - executive, legislative and judicial. History: The tribe
already had a long history in the southeastern United States when
European explorers arrived in the 16th century. When gold was discovered
in Georgia in the 1830s, the process of relocating the tribe began. Much
of the tribe was forced to march 1,000 miles to Oklahoma in 1838.
Thousands died in internment camps, on the trail or soon after arriving
in Oklahoma, an experience known as the "Trail of Tears." Source:
Cherokee Nation
plan Sunday, January 14, 2007
www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_chief15.378fc\
a6.html
<http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_chief15.378f\
ca6.html> RIVERSIDE - Britt Porter knew of his Cherokee heritage as he
was growing up. But the Riverside resident, an enrolled member of the
Cherokee Nation, never heard his grandparents talk much about tribal
culture or history. Sandra Tudor, a Highland grandmother, has spent
several years trying to learn more about her Cherokee ancestors so she
may register with the tribe. "It never was important to me as a child,"
she said. "I'm starting to learn about the culture and I want to share
it with my grandchildren." Porter and Tudor were among more than 200
Inland residents of Cherokee descent who packed a church social hall
Sunday evening for the first meeting of the Cherokee Community of the
Inland Empire and to meet Cherokee nation dignitaries, including
Principal Chief Chad Smith, Deputy Principal Chief Joe Grayson Jr., and
tribal council members Jack Baker and Taylor Keen. Porter is chairman
of the Inland group. The Riverside group was the fourth that Smith and
other tribal officials visited in Southern California over the weekend
as part of the chief's plan to launch 100 communities for Cherokee who
live outside Cherokee Nation borders in Oklahoma. Story continues below
Kurt Miller / The Press-Enterprise Principal Chief Chad Smith of the
Cherokee Nation of Tahlequah, Okla., speaks at the Church of the
Nazerene in Riverside at a meeting of the Cherokee Community of the
Inland Empire. More than two-thirds of enrolled members live outside
the tribe's geographic jurisdiction in northeastern Oklahoma, Baker
said. The tribal council was expanded in July from 15 to 17 to create
two at-large council members to represent those tribal citizens, he
said. More than 1,000 Inland households have at least one member who
is a registered member of the tribe, said Julia Coates, a UC Davis
professor who teaches Cherokee history classes for the tribe. As many as
20,000 enrolled members may live in California, she said. Smith, who
was elected principal chief in 1999, said he developed a 100-year plan
aimed at restoring the tribe to the prominence it held 100 years ago by
emphasizing jobs, reviving the Cherokee language and building a stronger
sense of community. "Our culture is not lost," he said. "It needs to
be revitalized." The chief said he began encouraging the creation of
groups like the Inland organization six years ago to empower the tribe.
"We believe that if history repeats itself there will be two or three
more times in the next 100 years when the government will enact laws
that are hostile" to American Indians, he said in an interview before
addressing the crowd. Creating communities outside Cherokee Nation
borders will strengthen the tribe and enable it to withstand outside
pressures, the chief said. The Inland group will meet every two months
with programs about Cherokee culture and history, said Gary Sanders,
assistant chairman. Anyone with an interest in the tribe is welcome, he
said. "I think a lot of Cherokee don't know their history, especially
those in California," said Sanders, of Bloomington. "You want to know
where your culture came from. ... Growing up this wasn't something you
talked about. Now I'm proud of it." Reach Bettye Wells Miller at
951-368-9547 or bmiller@PE.com <mailto:bmiller@PE.com> Cherokee
Nation Tribal members: About 260,000, including about 2,000 in the
Inland region Tribal headquarters: W.W. Keeler Complex near Tahlequah,
Okla. Geographic size: About 7,000 square miles that is not a
reservation, but is a jurisdictional service area including all of eight
counties and part of six more in northeastern Oklahoma Government: A
federally recognized tribe with a constitution and three branches of
government - executive, legislative and judicial. History: The tribe
already had a long history in the southeastern United States when
European explorers arrived in the 16th century. When gold was discovered
in Georgia in the 1830s, the process of relocating the tribe began. Much
of the tribe was forced to march 1,000 miles to Oklahoma in 1838.
Thousands died in internment camps, on the trail or soon after arriving
in Oklahoma, an experience known as the "Trail of Tears." Source:
Cherokee Nation