By Maleaha Brings Plenty
{Note: Ms. Brings Plenty, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and a sophomore at the University of Iowa, is a descendant of Okwataga (1800-1900) and was asked by the Museum of the Cherokee Indian to write a poem regarding him.}
Removal and heartbreak weighed heavily on my mother’s heart
My family hid in the mountains while others were not as fortunate
Fortune is a subjective concept
We got to stay on our homelands when others could not
However, the people who removed us got to sit and laugh from their mansions
They adored the sight of the blood of those they deemed below them
Maybe that’s why 1861 was an eventful year for the country
The Confederacy seemed like a statement
A statement against the government that taught us how to hate
The glittering gold blinded us when we put on those uniforms
Eventually, I switched my uniform for that of blue
I fought for the country that sought to destroy us
Despite the overt aggression from those in charge
I wore the uniform of those who made it their mission to eradicate us
Either way I was fighting for a government that never wanted us to win
That was a hard fact I had to carry with me for decades to come
“Stalk, pursue, and kill”
That was how people would write about the Cherokees during wartime
We had mastered the art of hunting and killing
The savagery the government wanted to suffocate
Was what made us infamous decades later
Their secret weapon didn’t have the title of being American
We created the land they stained with blood
I lived through many terrible circumstances
Our people were removed from the only land we knew
11,000 years were stripped away from my relatives
I fought in the war that tore the country in half
I died before Native people were considered citizens
We did a lot for this country for many decades
1924 was the year we finally got the title we deserved
I’ve always thought American was a beautiful adjective
I wish I could have used it to describe myself
