Cherokees vote to display Ten Commandments

  Cherokees vote to display Ten Commandments 'We are sovereign nation and can pretty much post anything we want'
Posted: September 24, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

If you are nostalgic for the days when the Ten Commandments were posted in public buildings, you might want to consider visiting the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians.

The tribal council is making plans to mount a copy of the Ten Commandments in the council house where government meetings are held, and possibly display them throughout other public buildings in the Cherokee Nation of western North Carolina.

The idea was introduced by Councilwoman Angela Kephart last month. She said the tribe should display the Ten Commandments out of respect and devotion to God. The motion passed unanimously.

"We aren't saying you have to abide by the Ten Commandments," Kephart said, according to the Smoky Mountain News. "We are simply displaying God's Ten Commandments. That's what He expects from each and every individual. If you break that, it is between you and God. It is not between you and the tribal council; it is between you and God."

There is no First Amendment issue involved, and even if the American Civil Liberties Union wanted to make one, it can't. The U.S. Constitution does not apply to Cherokee, nor to any other Native American tribe for that matter, according to Cherokee's Attorney General David Nash.

"We are a sovereign nation and we can pretty much post anything we want in our council chambers," said Kephart. "For once the federal government is not going to tell us what to do. We can feel good about it because we are standing up for God. The more it becomes controversial, the more we need to stand firm."

Kephart was clear about her desire to promote Christianity.

"God has blessed our tribe," she said. "We have a very rich tribe, per se. We are operating on over a $200 million budget thanks to our gaming enterprise."

Posting the Ten Commandments doesn't prevent others from practicing their religion, explained Nash.

"Anybody can practice any religion they want to practice," Nash said.

Native American Women

Wilma Mankiller former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation

Wilma Mankiller, former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, lives on the land which was allotted to her paternal grandfather, John Mankiller, just after Oklahoma became a state in 1907. Surrounded by the Cherokee Hills and the Cookson Hills, she lives in a historically rich area where a person's worth is not determined by the size of their bank account or portfolio. Her family name "Mankiller" as far as they can determine, is an old military title that was given to the person in charge of protecting the village. As the leader of the Cherokee people she represented the second largest tribe in the United States, the largest being the Dine (Navajo) Tribe. Mankiller was the first female in modern history to lead a major Native American tribe. With an enrolled population of over 140,000, and an annual budget of more than $75 million, and more than 1,200 employees spread over 7,000 square miles, her task may have been equalled to that of a chief executive officer of a major corporation.

Initially, Wilma's candidacy was opposed by those not wishing to be led by a woman. Her tires were slashed and there were death threats during her campaign. But now as Wilma shares her home with her husband, Charlie Soap, and Winterhawk, his son from a previous marriage, things are very different. She has won the respect of the Cherokee Nation, and made an impact on the culture as she has focused on her mission - to bring self-sufficiency to her people.

"Prior to my election, " says Mankiller, "young Cherokee girls would never have thought that they might grow up and become chief." Mankiller had been asked by Ross Swimmer, then President of a small bank, who assumed leadership of the Cherokee Nation in 1975. He convinced Mankiller to run as his deputy chief. They won. In 1985, Swimmer resigned as chief to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Cherokee law mandated that the deputy chief assume the duties of the former chief.

In the historic tribal elections of 1987, Mankiller won the post out-right and brought unprecedented attention to the tribe as a result. "We are a revitalized tribe," said Mankiller,"After every major upheaval, we have been able to gather together as a people and rebuild a community and a government. Individually and collectively, Cherokee people possess an extraordinary ability to face down adversity and continue moving forward. We are able to do that because our culture, though certainly diminished, has sustained us since time immemorial. This Cherokee culture is a well-kept secret."

Mankiller attibutes her understanding of her peoples history partially to her own families forced removal, as part of the government's Indian relocation policy, to California when she was a young girl . Her concern for Native American issues was ignited in 1969 when a group of university students occupied Alcatraz Island in order to attract attention to the issues affecting their tribes. Shortly afterwards, she began working in preschool and adult education programs in the Pit River Tribe of California.

In 1974, she divorced her husband after eleven years of marriage when their views of her role continued to widen. She moved back to her ancestral lands outside of Tahlequah, and immediately began helping her people by procuring grants enabling them to launch critical rural programs. In 1979 she enrolled in the nearby University of Arkansas, and upon returning home from class was almost killed in a head-on collision in which one of her best friends who had been driving the other car, was killed. After barely avoiding the amputation of her right leg, she endured another seventeen operations. Mankiller says that it was during the long process that she really began reevaluating her life and it proved to be a time of deep spiritual awakening.

Then in 1980, just a year after the accident, she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a chronic neuromuscular disease that causes varying degrees of weakness in the voluntary muscles of the body. She maintains that it was the realization of how precious life is that spurred her to begin projects for her people, such as the Bell project where members of the community revitalized a whole community themselves.

It was the success of the Bell project that thrust Mankiller into national recognition as an expert in community development. The election to deputy chief did not come until two years later. In 1986, Wilma married long time friend and former director of tribal development, Charlie Soap. Mankiller's love of family and community became a source of strength when again a life threatening illness struck. Recurring kidney problems forced Mankiller to have a kidney transplant, her brother Don Mankiller served as the donor. During her convalescence, she had many long talks with her family, and it was decided that she would run again for Chief in order to complete the many community projects she had begun.

She has shown in her typically exuberant way that not only can Native Americans learn a lot from the whites, but that whites can learn from native people. Understanding the interconnectedness of all things, many whites are beginning to understand the value of native wisdom, culture and spirituality. Spirituality is then key to the public and private life of Wilma Mankiller who has indeed become known not only for her community leadership but also for her spiritual presence. A woman rabbi who is the head of a large synagogue in New York commented that Mankiller was a significant spiritual force in the nation.

Back to Powersource Gallery

 

http://members.tripod.com/~flo34/women.html

Stones

"All the stones that are around here, each one has a language of its own. Even the earth has a song." ---- Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA

To believe that every tree, plant and insect can talk takes an open mind. Go by yourself into nature and sit quietly. Then pick up a rock and listen to your thoughts. After a while, put that rock down and pick up another rock. Your thoughts will change. These are the voices and wisdom of the Stone People. Each one has different wisdom and they are willing to share their wisdom with you. Many of the Stone People are very old and very wise.

Fussing about how NA are getting treated with Katrina

I know that there are hundreds of families and individuals misplaced from Katrina and my heart goes out to ALL of them, not just New Orleans,

What I am fussing about this time is that the only place that seems to be focused on is New Orleans, as if no place else on the coast got hit or killed or devastated.

And this news about there was no help help sent because the people were poor and "African American, throwing in the race card.

I blame the media for that.

They did the same thing when there was that huge power outage up north that affected several states but the ONLY one they talked about was New York, as if that was the only state affected.

It is biased and unfair and the media likes to "say" that they do not show partiality or play favorites...but that is like BS bigtime.

They are as politically motivated as any campaigner ever dared to be on the presidential trail.

Not only that, this 2 thousand dollar debit card is a crock of POOP.

I have two friends that were devastated in the New Orleans area and they have now had to move near here and are coming over today for a cook out.

They went to the Red Cross.

They got 250 dollars apiece.

That's right folks.

Two HUNDRED and FIFTY dollars a piece NOT a debit card and not 2 thousand.

They lost everything. They lost their home. Their pets. Their life. Their jobs. Their friends.

They are NO different from anyone else I see on the news except for two things.

1. They got out ahead of the storm and

2. They are part native american and part white.

Other than that there is no difference. They are poor. They are elderly. They have nothing.

They were not on public assistance because they did try to work and lived pay check to pay check and went without seeing doctors when they needed to because the doctor or the medicines would cost more than they could afford.

They got their butts in the one old car they had and got out of the New Orleans area before the storm hit..... like Friday before when they said Katrina "might" head their way. ((common sense there)))

Doesn't take a lot of smarts to get out of the way and it only cost a tank of gas for them. I know that many a person didn't even have a car, old or otherwise so I won't say everyone could have left, but many who stayed did do so by choice and those I am tiffed with. They even said so in the interviews at the Astro Dome the day they were lining up to go in. I heard the interviews. ((I think after the mess started I would have broken into the school bus barns and loaded up folks WITH their pets and headed out...thise buses are still sitting there in several shots I saw on the news))

They are alive but they have nothing now except that old rattle trap car that overheats and breaks down more than it runs.

They are not getting any of the benefits that you hear on the news from the Red Cross or from FEMA.

So before anyone gets too excited that the Red Cross is "all that." In reality they are not treating all the victims the same any more than the media is.

In reality those with Native blood get screwed again.