MO5 Academic Blog Wilma Mankiller

I watched the video of Wilma Mankiller"s lecture and was impressed by her overall tone of optimism. She started out by mentioning how little the American public really knows about Tribal people, and proceeded to inform us in broads strokes about sovereignty, about Tribal governments and the different ways chiefs accede to their positions (through general consensus, through selection by the women of the tribe, etc... She states that context is everything and that historical context informs every aspect of contemporary Tribal life: The importance for all Americans to understand the past of native people cannot be understated, because the "lack of information leaves a void filled with misinformation"
Wilma Mankiller, who was chosen three times to serve as chief of the Cherokee Nation, emphasizes the importance of protecting the sovereignty of Tribal governments as "traditional ways are slipping away." To protect them is to reinforce the sense of community that is essential to Native people. She stresses the importance for people to maintaining a sense of responsibility, of reciprocity and of inter-dependency to each other and to Nature in order to preserve traditional ways. as a case in point, she describes a traditional ceremony whose purpose is to promote oneness and unity: people come to rekindle relations, to bury past offences and to clear their minds of negative thoughts. As they leave their homes to come to the ceremony, the Tribal members all put out their home fires and light them again from the communal fire, once the ceremony is over and they are unburdened from any hostile thought.
She speaks of appearances being deceptive and she uses the example of outsiders driving by a Native community and noticing only how run down and poverty-stricken it may look, while those living inside see things from a different point of view, colored by their Native beliefs and values that take strength from family and community rather than from manifestations of wealth. She tells of tribes using their gaming profits to take ownership of their social services by providing health care, schools, foster homes and adoption agencies run by Native people to better their community.
In the end, while she answers questions from her audience, she gives advice to young Native Americans: stay close to your people emotionally and traditionally; value education, take care of others and keep a positive mind. That attitude has helped Wilma Mankiller through many of life's ordeals, and has helped generations upon generations of Native American people survive in spite of overwhelming hardship. The message I liked the most was from a Mohawk proverb she used: " It is hard to see the future with tears in your eyes."