The Gifts

Most people don't know that we were, once again, planning to travel to Massachusetts in an attempt to speak with Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown. Unfortunately Hurricane Sandy caused our flights to be cancelled so the trip never happened. Per Cherokee tradition, we were taking gifts for those we had hoped to meet with. Though the trip never took place, we still have two gifts that are waiting to be delivered. 

To us, each gift carries symbolic significance.

For Elizabeth Warren, we have a small Cherokee basket. 

A gift is a matter of respect and symbolic of sharing what we have; our culture, food, music or art. It shows that we honor a person enough to give them a piece of ourselves. We selected this gift for Warren because we feel it is important for her to acknowledge the truth about her ancestry and only take from us what we offer, not what she wants. We hope she will accept the gift as a gesture of respect from us while also showing respect for us by ceasing to make false claims of Cherokee ancestry.

For Scott Brown, we have a Cherokee made bolo tie. 

The artisan calls it "The Journey." We selected this gift for Brown because we feel the Creator/God has sent him on a journey during this campaign so he could experience first hand the damage false claims of Indian ancestry can do and perhaps, in the future, he will help project the voice for the often silenced and commonly overlooked group, real American Indians. We hope he will accept the gift as a gesture of respect from us while also showing respect for the gift of insight into false claims of Indian ancestry he has been given.

Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.

copyright 2012, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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Warren Can Tell By Looking? Is She a Racist too?

Remember when Warren supporters, Democrats, Rachel Maddow and others were throwing a fit and calling Scott Brown a racist when people assumed he believed he could tell who was or was not Indian "by looking"? Well, apparently Warren believes the same thing. Get on her, people. Tell her off now too. Don't let your partisan feelings get in the way. Make sure you give her a good cussing! If you don't, I will have to believe your "concern" over racism and Indian identity was purely a political stance to favor Warren and you really don't care about it other than to exploit Indians to try to get what you want.

Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.

copyright 2012, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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The Bay State Banner's Confusion on Indian Identity and Racism

There are no curse words in Cherokee. My full blood friend told me that is why we learned to do it so well in English. And tonight, I was showing just how proficient I have become at it. In truth, I think I was doing so well, I might have actually made up some new bad words. I was spewing language that would make a sailor blush. Do you wonder what caused such a reaction from me, a woman who usually tries to display a bit of ladylike behavior?

In an editorial in the Bay State Banner, the writer said,

“Discrimination against Native Americans was also pervasive. It would have been demeaning for a white family to acknowledge any Indian ancestry. That is probably why Warren did it. She wanted to be clear that she was not failing to recognize any of her diverse family. Warren is so competent and talented she did not need special ethnic privileges. It must have been a matter of pride for her to claim her achievements on behalf of her ancestors who may well have been considered to be inferior and were undoubtedly the victims of racial discrimination.”

This writer is exploiting our painful past in an effort to demonize Scott Brown while attempting to portray Elizabeth Warren as a victim. This is absolutely unacceptable. Elizabeth Warren is not a victim, but instead a perpetrator of the continued colonization of the Cherokee people.  While she unapologetically continues to claim a history and ancestry that does not belong to her, she is, by default, saying she can take anything she wants from the Cherokee Nation and its people. 

I want to make one thing very clear here – Warren has NO Cherokee ancestry. She has NO Indian ancestry. None, nada, zilch! This is key, folks. WARREN HAS NO INDIAN ANCESTRY. Do I need to say it again? WARREN HAS NO INDIAN ANCESTRY! There, do you get it? She is not Indian and has no Indian ancestry!

This writer also says, 

“Brown’s crude assault on her ethnic heritage was unconscionable.”

Scott Brown cannot be assaulting Warren’s ethnic heritage because she doesn’t have one! In my humble Cherokee opinion, Brown is asking the questions that need to be asked. Did Elizabeth Warren, a non-minority, fill a spot at Harvard that should have gone to a minority professor? She is not registered with a federally recognized tribe and she has no Indian ancestry, so there is no reason she should have been listed as a Native American for diversity purposes.  Because she was, it brings into question the reason she was hired at Harvard since her public educational background is not in line with the rest of the tenured faculty at the college. Brown bringing this issue to the forefront is not a matter of attacking her heritage, but instead a matter of questioning her integrity. It is appropriate.

Elizabeth Warren, her supporters, and the mainstream media using the history of American Indians to portray Warren as a victim and Brown as a racist, is not appropriate. It is unconscionable that they would think it is acceptable to appropriate the persecuted past of our families and use that past in a way to portray Warren, an ethnic fraud, as a victim. It is outrageous they would attempt to use us and our heritage to claim Brown is a racist when he has, in no way, personally and intentionally, done anything disrespectful toward us or our ancestors.  

American Indians are an invisible minority, often overlooked, and usually silenced by those who stand on a higher platform or who have a louder voice. Cherokees have been trying to draw attention to false claims for years, but no one heard us or cared. When Scott Brown confronted Elizabeth Warren’s ethnic fraud, finally an issue that is important to many tribal members appeared on a nationwide stage. Whether intentional or accidental, Brown confronted one of the biggest threats to tribal sovereignty today – false claims of Indian ancestry.

As the writer of the editorial shows, Warren and her supporters have no respect for the tribal sovereignty of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes. Because Warren has no defense for her ethnic fraud, she and her supporters are trying to turn Brown’s speaking in defense of things that fall under tribal sovereignty into an attack on race.

The irony here is that Warren is the candidate who, though claiming to have American Indian heritage, refuses to speak to or interact in any way with tribally enrolled Indians. It doesn’t matter if it is a small group of Cherokee women; a group of Democratic National Delegates; or a Native journalist. If a person identifies themselves as an Indian, Warren will avoid them.

At the very least, singling out an ethnic community for dismissal is disrespectful. Though plenty of people have found Brown's conduct unnerving, he has spoken directly to Indians in an adult and reasonable way and has addressed issues as they occurred. Warren, on the other hand, has declined to even give a comment to Native media outlets that have asked for one. Highlighting one candidate's missteps while ignoring another candidate's hatefulness is misguided because it means the person is using outrage to whitewash a complex issue. If anyone was actually concerned about racism against Native Americans, they would be talking about all of the offensive things that have occurred in this race, including those committed by Warren, instead of just attacking Brown.

Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.

copyright 2012, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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Family Lore: Chief Baker and Elizabeth Warren

A lot of Cherokees are concerned about our Principal Chief's recent attendance at the Democratic National Convention as a delegate. Some are also concerned about Baker's obvious loyalty to the Democratic party. They feel it is greater than his loyalty to the Cherokee people. This became obvious to many of us when our chief abused his role as our chief to denounce Scott Brown, the Republican candidate for the US Senate out of Massachusetts, for tomahawk chops and war whoops, while completely ignoring the fact Elizabeth Warren, the Democrat running against Brown, has been falsely claiming to be Cherokee for months.

Besides his blind loyalty to the Democratic party, I wondered if there might be something else that would lead Baker to refuse to call Warren out on her false claims. I wondered if there was something in his upbringing that would lead him to be soft, very soft, on fakes and the stories they tell. When I compared his genealogy to Warren's several months ago, I noticed that one story he tells is not true, but I thought there might be more, so I continued to dig. It didn't take long to see why Baker might feel sympathy for fakes and wannabes.This post is the first in a series that will show Baker's ancestry and why I believe he would throw real Cherokees under the bus by refusing to acknowledge the truth about our history.

Baker is Cherokee. There is no doubt about that. He has the ancestry and he is recognized as a registered member of our nation, so he IS Cherokee. That is not the issue we are exploring. The topic we are exploring in this series is the fact that there is a lot of things in his family history that could have been passed down and led him to form the opinions he now has. By showing many of the things Baker probably heard his entire life are not true, I think we can show he has some misconceptions about Cherokee history and genealogy and therefore, he is giving Warren a pass when he should not be doing so.

Anyone who knows anything about Cherokee history knows there were two main groups residing in Cherokee Nation after the removal - the Old Settlers and the Emigrants. The Emigrants were those who traveled the Trail of Tears. The Old Settlers had removed many years earlier by their own choice and were not forcibly removed. Knowing this fact shows one story Baker tells about his ancestry cannot be true. 

A story Baker has adopted as a part of his public biography and used during his campaign is this -

"Bill John is the great-grandson of Nancy Walker Osage, an early Tahlequah Business Woman and Cherokee Healer. Nancy's mother, Sarah Tackett was brought to Tahlequah Indian Territory by friends after her parents died on the "Trail of Tears".

As we can see in "Meet Your Delegates", he is still using the story.

"Chief Baker is a fourth generation Cherokee born and raised in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the capital of the Cherokee Nation, where his great-great grandmother relocated after losing her parents on the “Trail of Tears” in the early 19^th Century."

The problem? As shown in my previous research, Sarah Harlin/Harlan Walker Tackett came from an Old Settler family. Her family was in Indian Territory long before the Trail of Tears. And her parents were still alive in 1851.

"Sarah Harlin, the great great grandmother of Chief Baker, was the daughter of Eli Harlin and Delilah Alberty. She was born about 1824. In 1851, she was listed on the Cherokee Old Settler Roll, Flint 23. In 1880, she was listed on the Authenticated roll of the Cherokee Nation under the name of Sarah Tacket, page 329, number 2707, Native Cherokee. In 1896, she was found on the Cherokee Census roll under the name Sarah Tackett, page 1255, number 3400. In 1896, she was also found in the Cherokee Old Settler roll, page 460. In 1902-06, she was found on the Final Dawes Roll as Cherokee by Blood, 1/2, census card 6402, roll number 15325. She was found on the 1910 US Census listed as Sarah Tocket, living in Crittenden, Cherokee County, Oklahoma with her son-in-law, her daughter, her grandchildren and her grand daughter-in-law; race listed as Indian."

The listing from that roll -

1851 OS Roll Flint Dist #23
Eli Harlan
Delilah Harlin
George
Sarah
Mitchell
Ezekiel
Nancy
Jane
Levi 

The story Baker tells, one that has probably been passed down in his family, isn't true. But he has believed it without researching to see if it is true. I believe that shows he made a mistake in judgement because this was an easy myth to stop. I believe it is one reason he is willing to accept family lore without proof from people like Elizabeth Warren.

In truth, Baker did have an ancestor who died on the Trail of Tears, but it was not in the family of Sarah Tackett. Sarah's husband, Ebenezer B. Walker, the father of Baker's great grandmother, Nancy Walker Osage, did lose his mother, Nancy Bushyhead, on the trail. Ebenezer's father died before the removal, so it is likely other family members brought Ebenezer on after he was left an orphan on the trail.

Does Baker telling the story wrong make him a bad person? No. But it does a disservice to his real ancestor who died on the trail by saying it was a different one. And it does a disservice to truth in Cherokee history by his repeating this story when it is not true. And it shows he believes family lore without investigating to see if the stories are factual. Because of his willingness to accept family lore as truth, I think it will soon become clear why he won't speak out against Warren. 

Stay tuned for the next in the series on Chief Baker's ancestry. There's more. A lot more. And it isn't pretty.

Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.

copyright 2012, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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Sticks and Stones and Scott Brown's Words

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.”

Haven’t we all heard that or said that as a child? Isn’t that what our moms or teachers or other adults told us when our feelings got hurt over something someone said about us? I am wondering if somewhere along the way, we Indians have forgotten it because I see a lot of mad Indians buying into the race baiting that Elizabeth Warren supporters and the mainstream media are promoting. 

These people are telling us we need to be offended because Scott Brown said:

One widely publicized debate comment has become a propaganda tool for Warren and her supporters. While they try to convince us that Scott Brown is a bad person for not understanding Indian identity, they refuse to admit Warren is a fake who wrongly used an Indian identity for her own personal gain.

As a Cherokee, I understand the issues surrounding Indian identity and how some people feel if they are perceived as non-Indian when they are a tribal member. I know it hits a nerve and people get terribly upset. But, that isn’t what happened here. Scott Brown did not mistake a tribal citizen for a non-Indian. He said a white woman was not a woman of color.  He did not say anything offensive to an Indian. But the mainstream media and the Warren supporters don’t tell us that.

Remember? Sticks and stones….

One time, when speaking at an Oklahoma Historical Society event, former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Chad Smith, was approached by a woman who said, “You don’t look like an Indian.” He asked, “What’s an Indian supposed to look like?” He didn’t throw a fit. He didn’t make a big deal out of it to the media. He didn’t call the woman a racist. He just let it roll off his back.

When I went to Boston with some other Cherokee women, the very first comment left on the Indian Country Today article inquired about our appearance. Apparently the man wanted to see if we looked “Indian” enough to be taken seriously. We didn’t throw a fit. We didn’t make a big deal out of it to the media. We didn’t call the man a racist. We just let it roll off our backs.

Tuesday night, an Indian tweeted there were no Native Americans represented in the audience of the Presidential debate. I asked her how she could tell. Of course, it fell back to appearance. Though tweeted to a group of Indians, no one threw a fit. And no one made a big deal out of it. And no one called the woman a racist. No one really cared or noticed.

Well, no one noticed but me. I wondered why. Why do we get offended when the media tells us that we should be offended by something, but then when it happens right in front of our faces or when we do it to each other, we just let it go. Why are we allowing the media and Warren’s people to tell us what should or should not offend us. Don’t we know when we are offended without being told?

Warren and her supporters have played the race card well, very well, considering she is not an Indian. They played this so well that now, we real Indians are willing to overlook her theft of the very thing we are getting mad about - Indian identity. Heaven forbid someone say something to hurt our feelings even if the comment was not directed at us! Heaven forbid a non-Indian say another non-Indian is clearly not a Native American!  Oh my goodness! We better get offended!

Remember? Sticks and stones….

Elizabeth Warren has no Native ancestry. Her genealogy has been done. There is not an Indian to be found anywhere in her direct ancestral lines. I know some people misunderstand Indian identity, but since Indians themselves say the same types of things Scott Brown said and make the same types of mistakes, I think it is wrong for us to get upset with him. After all, we should know better due to our upbringing. Brown does not have that insight. And he can learn from his mistakes.

Elizabeth Warren does not learn from her mistakes. She has had ample opportunity to take ownership of her misunderstanding of tribal citizenship and Indian identity but she refuses to do so. She also continues to marginalize Indians by refusing to speak to any. If she was intentionally ignoring and avoiding any other minority group, it would be an issue. For some reason though, people think it is okay if she does it to Indians. Yet her people want us to believe that Scott Brown is the racist in this situation.

Scott Brown did not make a mistake and say a tribal member was clearly not a woman of color. He called out a fake Cherokee/Indian. It doesn’t matter if we are Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. I think this should be viewed as a good thing by all of us. Finally, no matter the reason or motivation, someone in the US political arena is actually paying attention and acknowledging there are people who make false claims of Indian ancestry. They are also saying this is unacceptable. Whether we agree with Brown’s politics or not, the fact he has acknowledged that false claims are a bad thing is, well, a good thing.

I am not suggesting anyone should support either candidate. Very few of us are able to vote in Massachusetts anyway. But I am asking all of us registered tribal members, no matter the Indian nation, to step back and think about this for a minute. Before you allow yourself to be misled by propaganda intended to incite anger in us, think about the things each of these candidates have done. Which of the two do you think is actually behaving in a manner that could be viewed as in an Indian's best interest; the one that says false claims of Indian identity are not acceptable or the one who uses a false claim of Indian identity for personal gain? Think about it carefully, because your sovereignty could depend on it. 

Sticks and stones may break our bones, but a fake Indian in Congress could destroy us.

Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.

copyright 2012, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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Email from a Warren Supporter

I received this email from an apparent Warren supporter today. I thought I would respond to it here so anyone else that has the same questions can have them answered as well.

The email - 

Why aren't you asking Scott Brown what information he has that would deny Warren her ethnic heritage? His one and only argument is that "she doesn't look Indian". What a ridiculous and racist statement that is.   How many of you have red faces and black hair and hooked noses?  Apparently, thats what a Native American looks like to Scott Brown.  Don't you know that people who have Native American lineage come in all colors, shapes and sizes?  You have no credibility and I have serious doubts about your own ethnic heritage because you should know that its virtually impossible to document Native American blood lines.  The fact that you don't seem to know this makes me question your real agenda.  You are on the wrong side of this issue.

1. Why aren't you asking Scott Brown what information he has that would deny Warren her ethnic heritage? His one and only argument is that "she doesn't look Indian".  What a ridiculous and racist statement that is.

When I found the death certificate of Aunt Bea and saw that Elizabeth Warren was the informant who said her aunt was white, I posted it to my blog. Very quickly afterward, a reporter called me for a statement. When I watched the news online later, Scott Brown was also asked about it and he said he was aware of the death certificate. That led me to believe his campaign workers have been keeping him informed of anything that contradicts the stories Warren has told. When he spoke in the first debate and made the statement that she was clearly not a woman of color, I feel he failed qualify his remark by also stating that she has no proof of ancestry and she is not enrolled with a tribe - two things I would imagine he knows and also used to base his conclusion on. Of course, the comment came off as him being ignorant about Indian identity, but I don't know if that is the case or not. If it was, then hopefully he has learned and can move on. 

2. How many of you have red faces and black hair and hooked noses?  Apparently, thats what a Native American looks like to Scott Brown.

The only one who should have a red face after that comment is you. How racist and stereotypical were you trying to get there?

3. Don't you know that people who have Native American lineage come in all colors, shapes and sizes?

Yes, I do. I have never said you could identify a tribal member by looking. If you want to ask Scott Brown this question, ask him, not me. I can't answer for him. His saying something doesn't mean I say it or agree with it.

4. You have no credibility

Yes I do. But you support Warren so you don't want to believe I have any. It is the only way you can justify supporting and voting for someone who is an ethnic fraud. 

5. I have serious doubts about your own ethnic heritage

The Cherokee Nation says I am Cherokee, so I am. Your thoughts or opinions don't matter on this topic.

6. you should know that its virtually impossible to document Native American blood lines. The fact that you don't seem to know this makes me question your real agenda. 

What might be true for one Indian nation is not true for all. The Cherokees are one of the best documented groups of people in the United States. We have over 30 rolls and many more documents, ration lists, muster rolls, claims filed against the government, etc...It is actually very easy to trace Cherokee ancestry, often times easier than white ancestry. The fact you don't seem to know this makes me realize you don't know much about Cherokee history or genealogy. 

7. You are on the wrong side of this issue.

You assume that because I am against Warren's false claims of Cherokee ancestry that I must be on the side of Brown. That isn't true. I am on the side of truth about Cherokee history and genealogy. That is not the wrong side. I spoke out chastising both campaigns for their recent behavior. And if they keep it up, I will do it again. I think both campaigns are exploiting Natives and using us as weapons in their battle for the Senate.

Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.

copyright 2012, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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Warren - Down and Dirty: Defamation of Children

Most people don't know it, but I have been unmercifully harassed and threatened behind the scenes through emails and private messages on facebook by Warren supporters and volunteers. (Yes, some even say publicly they are volunteers with her campaign.) There have also been attempts made online to damage my credibility. My team and I have gone ahead with our research and ignored it, but enough is enough. 

My family, especially my children, are not fair game. For the Warren supporters to think they can go after them and say the things they are saying is absolutely unacceptable. 

I am not a Brown supporter and I have no affiliation with his campaign. This isn't about Scott Brown. This is about the theft of Cherokee identity. I didn't start researching suspect Cherokee claims with Elizabeth Warren. The team and I have done other genealogies before her and will do others after her. This is not something we specifically did "to pick on" Elizabeth Warren.

Most people who have any scruples would absolutely never bring an person's child into something. Especially an underage child, but these people are doing it. They are spewing vile lies on the internet about my children! MY CHILDREN!

You know, people think they can whine and moan about Brown saying Warren is "clearly not a woman of color" and they think can play the race card over tomahawk chops, but neither one of those things is nearly as horrifying as going after a person's children the way these people are.

To the Warren people doing this - 

If you think your lies and threats are going to intimidate me into stopping my research and standing up for the truth in Cherokee identity and history, you are sadly mistaken. I haven't lied. I haven't done anything to you. I am not running for office. I have identified myself in full public disclosure to the appropriate degree as one who adds to public discussion. Your candidate, on the other hand, seems to be hiding a lot of things from everyone. If you want people to stop calling her a fake, your time would be better spent in trying to get her to tell the truth than it is in attacking me.

Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.

copyright 2012, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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Warren and Her Direct Attack on Our Sovereignty

I am highly disturbed at how the Democrats are crying racism when it is their candidate, Elizabeth Warren, who has usurped an identity that didn't belong to her and continues to double and triple down on that claim, still, without proof. If they want to stand up for American Indians, it should not be done by yelling racism but instead, by pointing out sovereignty and treaty rights. We are sovereign Indian nations and we have the right to determine who is or is not a member of our nations, not them. By the standards they are using against Scott Brown, his misunderstanding of Indian identity, they are also guilty.

Warren has had ample opportunity to admit she made a mistake. She refuses to do it, which means she has no respect for us as Indian Nations. She sees us as a race of people instead. Now the Democratic political machine is using us, as a race, the generic Indian, to play the race card. What I see is not racism, but instead, race baiting by Warren and her supporters. Because she claimed to be us, by default, she and her supporters are now using us, the Cherokee people, as their reason to claim racism. It isn't racism.

It is an attack on sovereignty by Warren and her supporters because they think they can tell us who is Cherokee, or who should be, based on race. By this philosophy, our nation, the Cherokee Nation, would be booting out the freedmen descendents. Warren and her supporters disrespect Indian Nations as sovereign nations. We are not one group - Indians - but instead individual nations who determines our own citizenship. Warren claims to be Cherokee and her supporters, the media and many others give her the benefit of doubt. That is where they get it wrong and that is where they disrespect us. We say she is not Cherokee, so she isn't. Cherokees decide who is Cherokee. Not the media. Not the Democrats. And not Elizabeth Warren.


Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.

copyright 2012, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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David Tadpole Stood for His Beliefs, I Do Too.

~~Stand up for what you believe in, even if you are standing alone.~~

During the US Civil War, my great great great grandpa, David Tadpole, signed up to protect the Cherokee chief, John Ross. Later, when Chief Ross decided to side with the Confederacy, my ggg grandpa went back home, refusing to fight against the treaty the Cherokee Nation had with the United States. Despite his loyalty to the chief, his convictions led him to take a different side than his chief.  He later enlisted with the Indian Home Guard, Union, when given the opportunity.

Today, following in the footsteps of my great great great grandpa, David Tadpole, I, too, must do what I feel is right and take a different side than my chief, Bill John Baker. I do not support or agree with the statement he released today. My opinion is that he should have requested apologies from both campaigns, Warren's and Brown's, for their offensive behaviors or he should have not requested an apology at all. 

Because Chief Baker was a Democratic National Delegate this year, I believe his statement was politically motivated and meant to give the Democratic candidate, Elizabeth Warren, a boost.  But what Elizabeth Warren has done is much worse, in my humble opinion, than any tomahawk chop Brown's people have done. By taking a Cherokee identity she has no right to, she has committed an act of colonization. She has usurped Indigenous identity, just as her ancestors stole the land and resources. It's a hostile act of genocide and it is not okay. But Baker is willing to overlook that. 

He said, "I will not be silent when individuals mock and insult our people and our great nation." I think what he meant was he will not be silent when Republican individuals mock and insult our people and our great nation. At least that is what his actions say. 

I know there will be some people who say Bill John Baker is the chief and I am just a citizen, so my opinion doesn't matter. Before they do, they need to remember one thing. My ggg grandpa was just a citizen too, but in the end, we can see it was he, and other Cherokee citizens who served with him, who had the best judgement. 

Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.

copyright 2012, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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