To whom it may concern
A couple of days ago, I had hope that this letter to you would be full of good news.
Monday January 14, 2008 I was in a meeting with the Chief of Operations, John Thompson, Asst. Chief of Operations, Steve Saunders, Historic Region Manager, Frankie Mewborn, and New Echota Park Manager, David Gomez. I had asked for Director Becky Kelley to meet with me. I was led to believe that I had to wait almost 2 months so that she could be in attendance. She was not.
This meeting was about getting the State Parks to allow a Welcoming Home to the 3 Cherokee Nations in the
We came to an agreement that if the Cherokee Nations were represented by members of their tribes to accept the welcoming, the Park would allow it, and even help in preparations for it. That was good news to me after trying 11 months to get to this answer.
I came home and wrote a letter to the Chief of each Cherokee tribe trying to explain what was happening. (see Link; Cherokee Nations Homecoming Festival) I also called them but had to leave messages.
What happened as a result still leaves me in surprise.
I received the attached letter from Dr. Allen, (see Link; Allens 1st Reply)which is a copy of his letter to Becky Kelley refusing to come
I responded with this;
Dr. Allen
I was very sorry to receive your response to my proposed event via a
copy of a letter to Becky Kelley.
I believe that, without even talking to me about our plans, you have
arrived at negative and erroneous conclusions.
I have NEVER proposed a POW WOW on the New Echota grounds. Nor is it
the event at the
a Festival, a Celebration of LIFE.
I have never intended any kind of dancing at the ceremony on the New
Echota Grounds. The event planned for that site was not even to be a
Festival or a Celebration. It was simply to be an official welcome
home. An acknowledgement that your people were driven away, but that
this place remained your homeplace. If elders from the nations request
dancing, and if the state officials approved of it, we would, of course
welcome any dance deemed appropriate and proper in the historical or
spiritual sense, would not be publicized, and would almost certainly
take place privately, after the public had left the area.
I am very much aware of this being 170 years since the trail of tears
removal began. That was, in fact, what I intended the event to
recognize. Note, that I did not say "celebrate," but "recognize."
Perhaps you do not realize how many
almost no knowledge of this event, and very few have any idea where New
Echota is, let alone its significance. This event was intended to
change that.
And I am at a loss to understand what you mean by "would lend a
celebratory atmosphere to an event we consider sacred"? You consider it
"sacred" that your ancestors were forcibly removed, but not "sacred"
that you now have the right to come back and be officially and publicly
welcomed to this site?
I am not sure what you are saying except that you seem to think I am
trying to hurt or take advantage of the Cherokee nation in some way.
I am trying to be of help to you and to all the Cherokee people by
making the history of Cherokee Nation in Georgia, the Trail of Tears,
and the still-living people more widely accessible to the state's
population! We are not under the impression that your contributions and
participation in this state are nonexistent, but we do note that they
are largely invisible to the public at large.
Perhaps I should have consulted with people in all three federally
recognized Tribes first, but please understand that until very recently,
the relationship between the Indian people (in any Tribe) in Georgia and
the State Parks department was not the best. We have had trouble getting
approval to even display or acknowledge our culture in state parks
except in a blatantly commercial sense. I would not have wanted to
bring any of the tribes into a situation where it was possibly an event
you had an interest in but was dismissed out of hand or worse, trivialized
into a carnival -- and up until one day ago, that was very much a
possibility.
My approach to the CNO was intended to be a request for participation
and dialogue. The event plans have not been formalized or publicized.
Certainly we hoped you or others within the CNO, the Eastern Band and
the UKB who have expertise and experience in these matters might suggest
any desirable activities (or advise about undesirable ones).
However, by directly sending a letter of opposition to the event to
Becky Kelley before any attempt to discover whether your impressions of
what we might be considering were correct, whether our plans were made
and firm, or simply first steps toward a final plan, you have
effectively put a stop to any possibility that the Cherokee Removal's
170 anniversary will be honored in any meaningful way in this state. The
people of
blissfully unaware of the gravity of what happened there or that such a
site even exists. Please do look at the attendance figures at this park
you are so proud of having "improved" and compare it to other parks in
the state.
Is that the effect you truly wished to have?
As for my name - that was given to me by an elder of another tribe. Do
you think it appropriate to ridicule (to non-tribal people, no less)
what might be a tradition of a tribe not your own? I realize you are a
policy expert, but just because you don't recognize a tradition, that
doesn't make it less genuine, or less respectable.
Larry Mindler
Wisdom Bear
I have now slept on the disappointment of the letter that Dr. Allen sent out.
I realize now that I / We were likely set up for this one.
He mentions things in his letter that were not in my letter to Chief Smith.
So where did he hear these things?
Why did he not try to talk to me about what was intended before his rash statements?
If the Cherokee Nation in
Either way, they haven't stopped our event.
The Cherokee Nations Homecoming Festival at Gordon County Fairgrounds can and will still happen. And it will proceed pretty much the same as intended.
The Arts and Craft vendors will still come, the people will still come.
The event that has most likely been lost is only a stage and a welcoming of the 3 Cherokee Nations by the Government of Georgia, the full-blood and mixed-bloods from the Cherokee and other nations, and the non-Indian spectators that wished to attend.
That is the Cherokee Nations loss. But then it is them that has caused that loss.
I still have hopes that the Eastern Band of Cherokee and the UKB will still want to come to the welcoming.
But since the Cherokee Nation Band seems to have appointed itself the leaders of the Cherokee, they may also choose not to support it.
It is a crying shame that there are so many people in the background working so hard to keep good things from happen.
We have an event that will help so many through the teaching that we can bring.
I believe that to be a good thing. And will continue to work for the good of the group.
I don't know if your voice in this will matter but if you would like to respond to the powers that seem to be, I will add their contact here also.
If this seems important to you, feel free to pass it on to your friends.
Thank you for your time.
Larry Mindler
Wisdom Bear
Cherokee Nation
Chad Smith, Chief Email csmith@Cherokee.org
918-453-5000 ext. 5204
Jack Baker Email jack-baker@Cherokee.org
Julia Coates Email julia-coates@Cherokee.org
Richard Allen Email Richard-Allen@Cherokee.org
Georgia
Director, Becky Kelley, Email Becky_Kelley@dnr.state.ga.us
404-656-9448