The Indian Way

Sequoyah, Cherokee 'halfbreed' scholar who invented the 86 symbol Cherokee alphabet, or 'syllabary' that he started work on in 1809 . His achievement is the only known instance of an individual creating a totally new system of writing.

It is true that I am not full blooded Indian, however I do recognize that I am the accumulation of thousands of years of my bloodline, every person, every circumstance, everything in which they where exists within me; as is the same with you and your bloodline, our DNA holds all these past moments of circumstance, thought, and feeling, that the people before us; our forefathers, experienced. The basic Indian principles are to love everything, to view the Earth as a great gift to take care of, and to show homage to the great spirit in the sky. The Indian way is also a way of great justice, and honor, for these things existed before man came and committed genocide on my people's. I can speak of these things because they DO exist in me, my blood, and my heritage, and I will not shy away from speaking these things out of fear of 'not having enough of the blood' in my veins. Skin pigmentation turns out to be a very obsolete DNA segment, that really does not define anything about a person, for I have seen black men who where not black at all, but there entire family was black, and this person was not adopted. So it does not matter what we look like, or do not look like, it matters where our DNA comes from, what genetic material is within us, this is what makes us who we are. I do come from that blood, it speaks to me as the wind speaks in the tree's, and cannot be denied. My people where viewed as primitive and lowly, but there manner of living, and there believes speak very loudly of honor and integrity, they existed knowing more about spirituality and character than most 'civilized' people today, and I am proud to share my forefathers blood. Skin color is diluted with every succeeding generation, and as I pointed out before it is a very insignificant feature of our genetic makeup anyway, but the deeper things in our genetics is what matters, the spirit in which it creates within, and the manifestations of that are what matters. I am just as much 'full blooded' as any of them, for they all exist within me. The long lineage path that produced me is within me is it not? Rituals, exact protocols I do not know, but I do not have to, for I know the spirit of them, the true core of emotional and mental characteristics that my forefathers possessed, I posses. I can feel it, it beckons within my soul, yearns to be set free on the winds of the new beginning. The great event in which they believed in, the great fathers of the sky coming, setting free the enslaved, making things right with the earth and its inhabitants again, soothing the disharmony in the universe. Interesting my forefathers viewed the 'whiteman' as a brother, and then this newfound brother wiped them from the ground for there own desires. The Indian way is having, then because of having, being able to give, they view everything they have and had as a simple reason in which to give to others, and this is what they did to the 'whiteman', gave him food, shelter, clothing, and most importantly the knowledge to survive in the unfamiliar surroundings in which they found themselfs. It is my right to rejoice in the knowledge of where I come from, whom I come from, and the character in which they manisfest. 'Whiteman' is not a racial slur, but an ideology, one that white people of power have proven to have over the course of history, and although many different colors of people have had this same ideology, the Indian people had never seen a white man before, hence they attributed this definition with the actions and ideology of them specifically, for the 'whiteman' was the only other human who acted that way toward them, ironically the whitemans ideology at that time was being formed throughout the entire world, and still seems to be a dominating ideology to this day. Due to the wisdom of the elders disappearing today, many of my people might not view me as anything more than a halfbreed, but real wisdom looks beyond the physical characteristics and into the spirit and soul, this is where the Indian Way in me resides. Today the Indian people have been sold out, and have sold out, there are still many treaties in which the U.S. government made with them that have not been kept nor honored. It is not as if the Indian people even had a choice, or much less a desire to have to sign treaties, for they where here first, and helped there so called brother's out, it was there land, and they where willing to share what they had with whomever came there way, even there land; which they did not even feel, for they felt the land was the Great Spirits', but in a decent and respectful way. I have read many writings from so called 'full blooded' Indian people, and all of it resonates within, frustrated with the perception of the confustions of today. And I do have a name, it is Bear, for I am not angered unless provoked, but when provoked being very fierce and dangerous. My exwife is the one in which gave me this name; she was Indian, also for the reasons of my hands used to be large and strong like a Bears paw, and even though we are far apart now, her gifting me with this sacred name I will wear upon me always. To my people everything was sacred, everything had meaning, many things in which having profound meaning. Many people will say that there believes are primitive and superstitious, but that is where most people miss the point of the Indian metaphor's, and the way in which metaphor's and examples where used in the context of there language to describe there believes of the past, present, and future, only the humble can see this wisdom, that being one of the great secret treasures of the Indian people.

Cherokee language information is here. The Cherokee where from the people of Kituhwa, which was the nucleus of the Cherokee Nation, the first European contact was made by Hernando De Soto's expedition in 1540, at this time the Cherokee dialect was pronounced "Tsa-la-gi", then the mixing of bloodlines occurred, and they also 'adapted' the styles and customs of these Europeans. Really since 1540, the "Ant-Kituhwagi" have been acclimating to the surrounding inputs of change; as all tribes have, in order to preserve there progeny.