In response to all of you ignorant non-Natives, let me repeat what another individual said in reference to others telling us to "get over it." The individual suggested that you tell Americans to just get over 9-11 and see what kind of response you get. Why don't you tell the Japanese to get over Hiroshima or the Jewish people to get over the Holocaust? Not one of you would dream of suggesting such a thing but feel it acceptable to tell my people to just "get over it." All you non-Natives should be on your knees kissing this great land and thanking us for giving up our land so that this land could come to be known as America. Because of our ancestors and their sacrifices, you live in a part of the world where you have the right to go on-line and share your ignorant and racist ideas with the rest of the world. And some refer to Oklahoma as the Bible belt?!!

People don't seem to realize that Native Americans still feel the hurt of what happened to our people. My parents' parents were forced to go to boarding school. Several of my grandparents and great uncles & aunts had their mouths washed out with soap when they spoke their native tongue. They were forced to dress in "white man" clothes and forced to cut their hair. I have heard my grandparents and parents speak of these things. I'm sorry but how can people expect us to just "forget" about "this" past? Yes, it's in the past. Yes, it has happened and most of us has moved on. However, the past is still there. It lives in our souls. I have white friends, black friends, friends from all kinds of different cultures. I don't "hate" anyone. And although I did not walk in the protest at the state capitol, I also did not celebrate the centennial. There are great people in Oklahoma. I'm from a small town in Oklahoma. I grew up with racism. Racism from white people and racism from Native Americans. When I first moved to the city and worked downtown, I ran into racism quite often. You can tell by the way people look at you. I'm not like some Cherokees (lol). You take one look at me and know that I am from a southwestern tribe (lol) Not Comanche, though. Not that dark! (lol--Indian humour here). Anyway, racism still exists today. Although it has been a hundred years, the wounds are still there. Scabbed over--maybe; but they are still there. So don't tell us just to get over it. It may take another hundred years.

I've read all of the comments concerning the protest and was struck by the lack of recognition of blacks in Indian Territory and Oklahoma history.

The comments from posters who associate themselves with the so called Five Civilized Tribes are the comments I find particularly troubling.

The constant lament about the "Trail of Tears" and the "oppression" of these specific tribes omits the fact that when the Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole tribes were "forced" to migrate to Indian Territory with them were people of African and African-Native descent who were enslaved, in the thousands.

While people are protesting the centennial and its effects on tribal nations, no where in any of the posts is mention of the oppressive institution of slavery that was embraced by the Five Slave Holding Tribes, why?

It is fundamentally wrong to complain about the treatment of Natives and not recognize the oppression, disenfranchisement and violence the tribes inflicted on people of African and African-Native descent.

The comments by people who identify with the Chickasaw nation seem to totally ignore the vicious racism that this particular tribe held towards people of African and African-Chickasaw descent. As people complain about their ancestors being removed from their lands, there seems to be no connection to the efforts of this tribe to remove all blacks from their nation following the Civil War and the ending of slavery with the signing of the Treaty of 1866.

Apparently those who have posted in regards to this article have closed their eyes to their ancestors oppressive, racist and violent past regarding people of African and African-Native ancestry.

I would hope that if you are sincere about your concern for the rights of "Native Americans" and particularly those who are citizens of the Five Slave Holding Tribes you begin to reconsider your own history as it relates to the enslavement and disenfranchisement of the Indian Territory Freedmen and their descendants.

Chickasaws are white people posing as Indians...
Ed Lova, Oklahoma City - Nov 16, 2007 1:43 PM

I'm sorry Ed, but I work for the Chickasaw Nation and I can honestly tell you that you are so incredibly worng. They came here to Oklahoma along with many other tribes during the Trail of Tears. They are not white people posing as Indians as you say. These are good, hard working people who are striving to make a better life for themselves and their families and strive to maintain their heritage and language for generations to come. You think they are posers? How about you take a trip to Tishomingo sometime and see what the Chickasaw are about?

where did the other posts go?

Once again, Jason can only degrade.

Troy, my grammar is flawless, so I suggest you take an English refresher course. But the larger point is I've found that people who complain on web forums about other people's spelling & grammar are usually posters who have nothing of any topical value to contribute, their own intellects usually scraping the bottom of the GED barrel.

A friend from Mississippi writes...Not to be unpatriotic, but God Bless America and the Trail of Tears do not go together. You can't put a square peg in a round hole unless it is smaller. The Government of the United States of America in 1830 Gathered together 28,000 Choctaw Indians Herded them together and shipped them to Oklahoma. Of that 28,000 between 6-8,000 made the journey. they figure 12% wandered off. The rest died along the Trail. This was just the Choctaws of Miss. The Choctaws that never left by the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek of 1830. They were given one full section of Land and 1/2 section for wife 1/2 to males children over 18 and 1/8 for males under 18 Ect...They would also be considered U.S. Citizens and not fall under the protection of the Federal Government. Not one single Indian possed that land after five years. The only way he could lose the land was to walk off from it. Well The Acting Indian Agent then was latter indicted, but not convicted of Fraud.He testified that from the Higher ups he was told that they did not want the Indians to keep their land, so with some help from some unsavory Characters. He devised a plan so if they would drive the Indians out they could take the Land., and they did. because of higher ups maybe convicted .No one was ever convicted and no Indian ever got his land back either. The Indians that did not leave did not get on any of the Indian Census Rolls thus could not live on the Reservations. Driven off their land, No home to live. Most did not make it. Society drove them out. Their own Brothers desserted them. Some of the Females married into White Families, because of available Females for wifes were in short supply."

Jason,
I sugguest using correct spelling and proper grammar when belittling somebody about their assumed lack of knowledge.

Caelie wrote: "if you've ever studied anthropology, the socioeconomics of intertribal warfare in groups of people in band and clan typologies, especially on the Great Plains, was nothing compared to the wave of brutal genocide enacted by Europeans in America. THAT would make the Romans blush."___Caelie, that statement shows you understand little about either the history of the aboriginal tribes on the North American continent or the Romans. Tossing around cutsie Academia-speak like "socioeconomic" and "typologies" may impress those that don't no better, i.e., who haven't actually had an education, but it doesn't impress me. Please try again.

spit u out:
"Sad thing is half of the people saying something are just speaking to be heard."

Ain't that the truth.

I truely hate everyone equally! Everyone whines about something. Sad thing is half of the people saying something are just speaking to be heard. They don't know what there talking about, just he said/she said.

Jason:
No one's denying that, but if you've ever studied anthropology, the socioeconomics of intertribal warfare in groups of people in band and clan typologies, especially on the Great Plains, was nothing compared to the wave of brutal genocide enacted by Europeans in America. THAT would make the Romans blush.

David, you would think being an Oklahoman and American citizen would afford us many "luxuries," but we weren't even citizens until 1924, thanks to the Dawes Act, which was still used as a tool of assimilation. The legalities of allotment (because there are no more reservations in Oklahoma) along with legal agreements not upheld by the state and federal governments with various tribes, and judicial jurisdictions need to be discussed. We aren't asking for any more money from the government than what is due to us. Here's a wiki of a current court case regarding misappropriated Indian monies by the federal government:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobell_v._Kempthorne
It's not like the government just gives Indians money for no good reason. Have you ever known the government to just give anything away? I don't. I don't get any money from the government for being Indian, nor have I met one. Some tribes that get money from the government do so because of legal agreements made from tribes being coerced into ceding their lands. A good book to read regarding this issue is How the Indians Lost Their Land by Stuart Banner. Interesting read.

Chickasaws are white people posing as Indians...

I am Native American. Don't ask which tribe because I don't look at race, color, creed and I surely don't live in the past. My family is totally embarassed with the bigotry the American Indians are showing Oklahomans!

Mikel wrote: "The illegal European immigrants who invaded our lands brought disease, alcoholism, and war to our peaceful existence"___Piffle. Before the Europeans arrived there was no "peaceful existence" on the North American continent between the various aboriginal groups eking out a bare subsistence here. There was endless internecine warfare, human sacrifice as a religious imperative, and a form of vicious plunder economy so ruthless it would have made the ancient Romans blush. The absurd "Dances With Wolves" theory of history--that the aborigines we call the American Indians were all just a big happy tribe Mahatma Gandhi's & Mother Teresa's until the white man showed up and ruined paradise--is one of the more pitiful and intellectually shabby notions to ever have taken hold in popular culture.

Just read a couple more posts... are you suggesting Oklahoma/Federal government give more money to Indian reservations to fund healthcare, etc?

what is there to discuss? from my understanding, Native Americans (regardless of their tribe) are all afforded all the luxuries and rights of American and Oklahoman Citizens. Additionally, many (if not all) are given ADDITIONAL rights, exemptions, and/or funding because of their status as Native Americans. So my question still stands: what more should the Oklahoma government do?

And everyone seems to have some good points...even Pi.

Enjoy WAS the wrong word to use. I have taken a friend to one of the clinics in the past and it's not something I would want for myself. I'm just here trying to learn a little more about what/where the injustices seem to lie.

Pi, ENJOY, the "free" medical care? Holy crap, if you have ever been to an IHS clinic, enjoy would be the last word you would choose. As for free, various tribes pay for that health care via casino money or other ways. The Tribe pays for it. Not the government, contrary to popular belief.

And urban Indians live alot differently than those who still live on their respective allotted lands. Those lands are in isolated areas where there is little to no development, little to no employment, and horrible poverty. Why do you think those natives who can afford to move to the city do? People seem to just focus on the past. There are contemporary issues that stem from the past that need to be dealt with. We aren't "whining" about what what happened to our grandparents, but crying out injustices still committed today.

David, Pell grants paid for my education. So did loans.

As to what we should do about it now? Communicate, first of all. Tribes all have their own issues and entanglements with the state and federal government, so one tribe's situation isn't the same as everyone else's. Issues regarding taxes, development, tobacco, casinos, state and federal jurisdiction on tribal lands, and the conditions of various legal documents, both past and present, need to be discussed and hashed out the best we can.

Sorry I started all this but everyone seems to have legit points, but all the whining about how bad it is being American Indian doesn't feel right to me. Maybe I don't know enough Indians. The ones I do know are just like me. They have gotten over their bigotry, live good lives, have good jobs, can, if they wanted to, enjoy the free medical care. And hey...don't say anything bad about the casinos. I enjoy them too. I enjoy all cultures and learn alot from them. I just don't understand why people still want to whine about what happened with their ancestors. I'm Scottish/Irish/German and I'm sure if I dug deep enough I could find someone to blame all my problems on. Hey....we all have problems and issues which are only brought on by our own choices.