The Disappearing Indian

Ever since the first white man set foot on this Sacred Land, our own People have predicted the end of our race. Indeed, from the very beginning we began to die of diseases, murder and cultural genocide. These forces continue even today.

For us Cherokee, it wasn't until the whites began pushing our people into the West that our forefathers began to feel that the end was near. To the Cherokee People the West is "The Darkening Land" where all spirits travel when they are done with this life. But it wasn't the disappearance of our bodies that tolled the death knell to these old timers. It was the disappearance of our own culture, our own religion, our medicine plants and hunting lands that made them fear our extermination was at hand. And I have found this to be sadly true.

While there are tens of thousands of "Indians" alive today (and more people joining the ranks hourly) there are very few true Native Peoples. Most of us have become "white" in every way. Our prophets warned us about taking the white man's cooking pots, his religion and his customs. Nevertheless, we have embraced our genocide by embracing all of these things, including and especially a foreign religion, one born of greed, embedded in the concept of Manifest Destiny and carried out at all cost of life.

In the beginning many of our People resisted this conversion to Christianity. But as time went on and generation after generation marched into the West, many People came to believe that if they really did become Christian, they would be left alone.

Sadly, this wasn't true. Being Christians didn't save the Moravian Delaware, who, despite of a mass conversion to Christianity, were rounded up by their converters, bound, forced to kneel and massacred - despite Christian prayers and pleas spoken in perfect English. Nor did conversion save the Cherokee from being driven out of their homeland - even if they did sing "Amazing Grace" on the trip. One fourth of our People perished along the way. Today we are scattered - no longer one strong Nation. Converting to the white man's ways didn't save the Navajo, the Apache, the Quapaw, the Arapaho, the Kickapoos, the Potawatomi, the Shawnee, The Sioux, The Cree, the Yahi, the Blackfeet or any of the more than 500 Nations who lived here before the coming of the invaders.

We are living in interesting times.

While all eyes seem to be focused on Biblical Prophecy, Creator has given our People prophecies that have been handed down orally since time began. Much of that has been lost, but much also remains.

While many false "chiefs" and "medicine people" are making the rounds today, Creator has given his People strong leaders who will guide them back to the old ways. But he won't make them follow.

The Spirits of your Ancestors will guide you home, but you have to listen. Time is of the essence.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
" We do not wish to destroy your religion or take it from you; we only want to enjoy our own."
Chief Red Jacket (Sagoyewatha), Seneca