Shiyo! The Gadugi Partnership is excited to announce this semester's programming to recognize and honor the bicentennial of Sequoyah's syllabary and all it has meant and means to the Cherokee people. We have three amazing speakers coming as well as several films (which will be announced later)! Please make plans to attend if you can...you will not regret hearing these wonderful folks share their time and their gifts. S'gi!
Since last week's announcement that the Cleveland Major League Baseball team would be changing their team name to the Guardians, there has been a lot of (usually ill informed) discussion about the link between the Penobscot citizen Louis Sockalexis and the team's "Indians" moniker. Sockalexis broke baseball's color barrier long before Jackie Robinson, when he played for the Cleveland Spiders. Still, the story that he is the inspiration behind the name "Indians" is, as history usually is, much more convoluted and contradictory than it might appear. This article does the best job I've seen of taking a deep dive into the truth.
Happy Father's Day from the Gadugi Partnership! God bless all the dads out there in Indian Country and beyond!
Congratulations to Gadugi scholars Caedance Smith and Dali Crowe, who this afternoon presented the resolution they researched and wrote in the Cherokee Culture and Leadership class to Tribal Council. The resolution began as their service learning project, and today it became Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians policy! Caedance (left) and Dali are pictured here with (from left) EBCI Vice Chief Alan Ensley, and Tribal Council representatives Bo Crowe and Albert Rose. This journey began for the students in February, and they worked tirelessly on this effort. Very proud of and for them! #Gadugi
Please come grab a dinner if you can! Good food and a GREAT cause!!
This morning students in the Gadugi Partnership's Cherokee Culture and Leadership class presented their service learning project to Tribal Council member Bo Crowe. The project, called The Blue Light Initiative, is looking to place a specialized blue light bulb in public spaces throughout Cherokee. These lights make it more difficult for drug users to shoot up in public spaces. The students wanted to do something to address the meth crisis within the community. The students will now work on model legislation for tribal council on the issue. They have worked so incredibly hard on this and did a phenomenal job today!! S'gi to Mr. Crowe for making time for these incredible young leaders!
Today is an important anniversary for Indian Country. On this date, May 12, 1879, the United States Supreme Court--for the very first time--recognized a Native American, Ponca Chief Standing Bear, as a person. A human. That's 387 years AFTER contact. 90 years AFTER the US Constitution. 16 years AFTER emancipation. Nine years AFTER ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment.
A great article from our friends at the Watauga Democrat about tomorrow's lecture! Hope to see you tomorrow evening!
A new editorial from Gadugi director James Bryant on the need for colleges and universities to move beyond the "mere maudlin" of land acknowledgment ceremonies.
Hope you can join us next Wednesday, March 24th at 7 pm for the 8th annual Selu Lecture featuring CHS student and Gadugi scholar Ms. Caedance Smith.
When Malcolm X was asked "What do you think is responsible for prejudice in the U.S.?" he answered, "A skillfully designed program of miseducation that goes right along with the American system of exploitation and oppression." Powerful words. #Gadugi
It's a bit confusing, to say the least, to see the US government clutching its pearls over how to confront the scourge of white supremacy and the organized terror surrounding it. The poor government just seems lost as to what to do.
Which is strange since the US government has tons and tons of experience destroying groups or movements it deems dangerous. Tons. One approach, COINTELPRO, was launched in 1956 and wreaked havoc on progressive movements for decades. You can read David Garrow's harrowing account of the FBI's war on the civil rights movement in general and Dr. King in particular here. Or you can read about the infiltration of the American Indian Movement and its destruction from within here. Or you can read about the injustices of the Leonard Peltier case and COINTELPROs relation to it here. Or you can read about the relentless and ruthless war against the labor movement here.
The US government has plenty of experience fighting and destroying movements when it wants to.
It just has to want to.
#Gadugi
Thank you to the Chieftains Museum/Major Ridge Home for the invitation to speak and for the hospitality! It was a pleasure to speak about the history of Cherokee education. Thanks to all who came!
On this day more than most, in this time of hope and challenge, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."
Happy Veterans Day from the Gadugi Partnership, and thank you for your service! As a percentage, Native Americans serve in the armed forces more than any other ethnic group. Men like Ira Hayes, women like Lori Piestewa, and many others have distinguished themselves and brought honor to their communities through this service. One such hero is pictured below...this is the statue of Charles George, an Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian who also was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor that stands in Cherokee Veterans Park on the Qualla Boundary.
