http://newsok.com/article/3169945/1195239843

Fri November 16, 2007

‘We want to remember ... where we came from'
Native Americans demonstrate: Some don't want revelry

By Michael McNutt
Capitol Bureau

For Lindsay Whitefeather, Statehood Day was a chance to send a message to
Oklahoma educators to do a better job of teaching tribal histories.

"We should be proud of who we are, and we shouldn't be forgotten,” said
Whitefeather, a Comanche from Anadarko, who held a sign reading, "Teach
Indian history in our schools — broken treaties, Indian removal.”

"Our history is not taught,” said her sister, Leslie Whitefeather of
Norman, whose grandfather signed a treaty with the U.S. government in
Medicine Lodge, Kan., which guaranteed tribal land in Oklahoma along with
goods and services. As with many other Indian treaties, the federal
government failed to uphold the bargain.

The sisters were among 500 American Indians who took part in a march and
ceremony Friday on the state Capitol to commemorate the forced removal of
tribes to Oklahoma Territory.

What does group want?

Some said they took part to protest the state's centennial celebration, but
most said the occasion was to remember the hardships of their ancestors.

"We survived,” said Brenda Golden, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation
and an organizer of the Oklahoma Indians Survival Walk and Remembrance
Ceremony.

Golden, of Clearview, said she would like the state's schools to teach
history of the tribes in Oklahoma differently.

A start would be to remove the annual land run celebrations, in which
various lands assigned to American Indians were opened for white
settlement, she said.

"It's demeaning to American Indians for that to be re-enacted annually,”
she said. "I just tell my children go sit in the middle of the lawn and let
the kids run over you because that's what happened to us.”

Oklahoma became the nation's 46th state on Nov. 16, 1907, after unassigned
lands set aside for Indian tribes were divided for settlement in land runs
that began in 1889.

The state's centennial was celebrated Friday with a parade and
re-enactments of the statehood announcement in Guthrie, the state's first
capital.

"I don't appreciate the fact they're making a big revelry out of it,” said
Rodney Factor of Seminole.

Educating Oklahoma students about the tribes' histories would improve the
perception some in the state have of Indians, said Factor, a Seminole.

What is state doing?

"Our educators should be looking into their concerns,” said Blake Wade,
executive director of the Oklahoma Centennial Commission, when asked Friday
for his reaction.

Tribal members played a part in centennial activities, such as all chiefs
of the 39 tribes in Oklahoma participating in Friday's centennial parade in
Guthrie, he said. An American Indian sunset ceremony concluded centennial
activities Thursday in Guthrie.

The American Indian Cultural Center, being built in downtown Oklahoma City,
is an official state centennial project, he said.

Elders recall hardships

About 200 showed up shortly before 9 a.m. for the start of activities at NE
16 and Lincoln Boulevard. They marched northward several blocks to the
state Capitol, where about 300 more joined them. At the front of the
procession, several carried a large sign that read, "Why Celebrate 100
Years of Theft?”

Speeches were made and drums were played on the south Capitol steps before
the group, marched to a small park just south of the Capitol, where tribal
elders recalled stories of hardships faced by their ancestors when they
first arrived in Oklahoma more than 100 years ago.

Gary Whitedeer of Ada said he didn't come to the event to celebrate
Oklahoma's statehood. He would like an apology from the state to the tribes
on how they were treated.

"The state should recognize strong tribal sovereignty to our tribal
officials and give us more right to self govern and give us some of our
land back,” he said.

Golden said tribal members attending the ceremony at the Capitol didn't
want to celebrate the state's centennial.

"We want to remember where our ancestors are from and where we came from”
even though it is painful, she said.

"When our ancestors were moved here, they were told this was going to be
Indian Territory forever.”