by Lois Rayburn

Created on: May 21, 2008

INDIAN

Brown skin, red skin, bone chokers, feathers, beads, moccasins, turquoise jewelry, dream catcher on your dash. Pictures on your walls, crystal on your shelf, deerskin by the fire, wolf dog at your feet.

I'm not a Sioux, Blackfoot, or Arapaho; my ancestors didn't ride horses or hunt buffalo. I'm French and I'm Scot, pretty proud of that too. But my head and my heart they're Cherokee through and through. My grandma was red, mixed blood are we now my skin now white, so looking at me you might never know.

You've got a Cherokee website, a Cherokee name, have studied our history, probably have visited our mountains too. You might even own a log cabin back in the woods, filled with your collection of Indian Pride. You claim you're an Indian but you can't empathize with my grandma in Kentucky who pulled a knife to protect her red sister from those prejudiced eyes.

You've forgotten the struggle our ancestors went through. You now have mixed blood living white in the day yet call yourself red when it's convenient to play. And then there are those who have darker skin than me and think themselves somehow superior to me. They look at my skin, my hair and my eyes not seeing my Indian blood that runs deep inside.

Does your family cook frybread? Play stickball in the afternoon? Do they go to water, burn sage to purify too? Is your home the outdoors, the woods sometimes your church? Do your men know how to hunt, yet respect and love the animals too? Are your women tender-hearted yet strong as steel through and through?

Are your children valued over all else and taught at your knee the wisdom of the elders, the stories of our past? Do they know the bonds of family outlast all the rest? Are they loyal to their kin? Do the brothers watch over their sisters more than a husband ever could?

Do they know the love of Jesus, of ancient Cherokee ways, display gentleness, kindness and a peaceful heart, living off the land, taking only what they need, loving all the things God made, knowing that's all we really need. No lofty ambitions, no frantic pace, no anxiety-driven mad dash in a rash, no, those were never our ways. Just wanting to live daily and enjoy family, friends and life never seeking to obtain possessions or status was our way of life.

The Cherokee sharing all things in common was the norm and the rich who didn't share were dainfully scorned.

So, remember should you call yourself a Cherokee, our ancestors look after us every day it's true and God, our Father is always there

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