Looking back upon my childhood, I can recall various moments when my mother told my sister and I that we had Cherokee blood in our veins. She would tell us stories about her grandmother, our great great grandmother, who was born on the Cherokee Reservation in Oklahoma. She left the Reservation and moved to Texas after falling in love with my great great grandfather. Whenever I would think about the two of them, I would imagine a great love story where a man in a truck drives onto the reservation, meets my great great grandmother, they fall madly in love, and the two run away together to get married. For the longest time my identification with the Cherokee was much like the romantic tale I would picture, it was always something nice to think about, but it was never a concrete reality for me.
When I was around twelve years old, I became a registered member of the Cherokee Nation. The stories I had heard from my mother while I was growing up became more realistic to me. I felt a deeper connection with them and wanted to know more. I wanted to learn about my heritage, about any family members still living on the Reservation, about my ancestors, and about the culture. The most I knew at the time was that the Cherokee originally resided along the East Coast, but because of the Indian Removal Act they were forced to move west and many died during the Trail of Tears. I also found myself interested in the many different tribes and the differences and similarities among their various cultures, and wanting to know more. Over the next few years, my interest in Native American history grew. As my knowledge on the subject began to expand, so did my awareness of the extremely large amounts of misconceptions associated with Native Americans. It became clear to me that in history classes, the story we were told was from a single perspective. Historical events however, can not be accurately relayed if the viewpoint is from a single perspective. History is written with bias. There is more to the history of the Native Americans, which is not depicted through the single story that we are taught. Had our textbooks been written from their perspective, the portrayal of history would be much different. Only hearing the one story, we are deprived of the potential to view the complete picture and determine our own personal opinions and views of the events. I can still recall the first time I told one of my friends that I had recieved my identification card from the Cherokee Nation. His immediate reaction was to ask, “How much money do you get from all those casinos now?” This question was an example of the perception that people have of Native Americans because of the single story that they have heard and been taught. The story begins with how the Natives were perceived as violent to the early American settlers and leads all the way up to present day, where they are commonly perceived as are alcoholics, own casinos, receive special benefits from the government, and live on reservations. The single story is one of stereotypes that do not all ring true for every tribe and every individual Native American. Many have done well for themselves and many have not, but that still does not change the fact that overall, they are viewed and treated a certain way only because of what one story says. Sophomore and Junior years of high school, I volunteered on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Pine Ridge is unique for many reasons. It is home to the Oglala Lakota Nation, site of Wounded Knee, and it is the poorest reservation in the U.S. While working with and talking to members of the community, I learned that in a majority of cases, it was easier for them to succumb to the stereotypes instead of prove them wrong. For example, one young woman I met told me about her father who fell victim to and died from alcoholism. When he would leave the reservation and venture into the surrounding towns, he would be treated as if he were a drunk. Eventually he decided that if the world around him labeled a drunk, he might as well become one. Situations like this are way too common on the reservation. When everyone surrounding you has a negative preconceived idea of who you are and treats you based off of that idea, it becomes extremely difficult to prove them wrong. This preconceived idea comes from the trust and belief in a single story.
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