Wilma Mankiller’s speech was extremely inspiring to listen too. She is a strong woman who has endured much in her personal life, as well as the history she lives with being a Native American Cherokee woman. Wilma Mankiller was a leader of the San Francisco Bay
In viewing this video, the intended audience is non-Natives. Many of the topics Mankiller spoke about, I’ve already learned in reading Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians but Were Afraid to Ask, by Anton Treuer, and An Introduction to Native North America, by Mark Q. Sutton. However, had I not read our texts, watched a plethora of videos, and researched using outside sources; I would’ve gained a lot of useful information from her video alone.
Mankiller explains in depth about tribal governments, emphasizing that although Native Americans have shared experiences, there are individual differences between tribes. For example, tribal governments differ; Cherokee and Navajos elect their leaders, but the Onondaga women install and remove their leaders. Mankiller not only highlights differences between tribes and how they elect their governments, but she speaks about the political power of women in tribes, which dispels media stereotypes. Women’s roles differ from in each tribe also; Navajo women once controlled the economy of the Navajo nation by owning and managing the livestock, and Cherokee women were consulted for important community matters.
Mankiller speaks of when she was asked by someone why do Native Americans have their own tribal governments when there is the American government, and her answer was profound; she explained native Americans have had their own tribal governments for centuries before America came to be, and they were doing just fine managing internal and external affairs, like constructing peace and trade agreements between the tribes.
When speaking about land allotments, Mankiller stated that individual allotments of tribal land had “a profound impact on the culture, economy, and life ways” of the [indigenous] people. Tribal governments only hold a fraction of land that was originally theirs and non-native people fail to realize that native people have given up “billions of acres of land” (YouTube). I believe this is very powerful because those who have little knowledge about Native American history may underestimate how taking land from the indigenous people affected them in so many different ways. I also think that putting the acquired land into a number like “billions of acres of land” gets peoples attention on how massive a takeover it was.
As a non-Native, I was a bit embarrassed when Mankiller spoke about a time when she was Cherokee Chief in Oklahoma
Mankiller goes on to talk about Native American culture and the tradition of storytelling. I was very touched when she spoke about the profound loss generations can suffer when a tribal leader passes on. She says when that happens, they lose thousands of years of tribal knowledge because oral stories are lost. I can’t explain why that touched me so; perhaps because of the tradition, or because of the wealth gained from these stories, or even the generations they spanned. Mankiller stating that emphasized how this tradition is so much a part of their history, that it made me realize that even though their land was stolen, culture and traditions almost broken, the one thing they could hold on to that couldn’t be stolen is/was the voices passing on their histories.
I absolutely loved when Mankiller spoke about peace and balance within which is gained from yearly ceremonies to let go of the noise in their minds. This yearly ceremony of Cherokee tradition promotes a sense of “oneness and unity.” This practice is not something that only Cherokees or Native Americans can do, it’s a tool that all people can use to gain focus and clarity, while letting go of past animosities and negative thoughts. However, knowing that this is a Cherokee yearly tradition shows how balance and peace within is so very important to them as a people. I suppose it’s how they are able to stay resilient as a people.
In looking to the future, Mankiller speaks of programs that promote literacy, health, and education. She explains how her people and Native people as a whole are once again “thinking for themselves.” With a history of doing as they were told by the U.S government, it has taken hundreds of years for Native Americans to regain confidence in themselves as a whole, and practice activism to ensure that their people endure – and that endurance cannot happen unless they believe in themselves. I know that makes it sound all too easy, but this has taken generations to achieve and get to a point where they believe in themselves again as they did pre-Columbian times.
Sutton, Mark, Q. An Introduction to Native North America.
Boston: pearson, 2012. Print.
Treuer, Anton. Everything You Wanted to Know about indians but Were Afraid to Ask. Minn.: Borealis Books, 2012. Print.
Wilma Mankiller. 6 Feb 2006. Youtube. 30 April 2013.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVLgwpHSYv0
