Wilma Mankiller Video
Wilma Mankiller was a leader who spent
her life working to improve the lives of the Native American peoples even in
times of her own personal tragedies and health concerns. In the YouTube video the Associated Students Productions (ASP) presents Wilma Mankiller at
Sonoma State University on Friday, April 28, 2008 she discussed several
issues concerning the Native American people.
In 1969 she was part of the occupation
on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay.
She states in her autobiography, "When Alcatraz occurred, I became
aware of what needed to be done to let the rest of the world know that Indians
had rights, too. Alcatraz articulated [expressed] my own feelings about being
an Indian." (Mankiller) She met the person introducing her in the
video, Professor Edward Castillo, at that time.
When he introduced her he listed some of her accomplishments which
included 18 doctorate degrees, and she was principal chief of the Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma until 1995 when she declined to run for another term due to
health issues.
She stated at the beginning of her
speech that “the topic of her discussion tonight is context is
everything.” She believed that a lot of
the issues Native Americans deal with today grew out of her belief that after
hundreds of years too few Americans know much about the history, culture, or
contemporary lives and issues. She
believed that it is almost impossible to understand contemporary issues without
the context of historical issues. (Mankiller, Wilma Mankiller) She talked later in the video about how
surprising it is that so few Americans know anything about the original
inhabitants history or cultures but that they have had to learn everything about
the Americans. She said that this lack
of accurate information often leaves a void that is filled with stereotypes.
She called the information that she
shared as very basic and talked about the different tribal governments and how
different they are even though they all have sovereign rights no matter the
size or population. There are 550
federally recognized tribal nations, with different languages, cultures, and
each with different tribal leaders. She
also discussed the different ways tribes have of determining their leaders and
how the tribes are not all governed the same.
Some tribes follow traditional ways that have been in place for hundreds
of years while others have set in place a newer constitutional way of governing,
and some are still fighting for recognition after centuries. I learned that there have been more than 370
formal treaties made between the Native Nations and the United States
government. These are valid legal agreements that have been one sided with the
United States getting the land agreed upon, however rarely complying with their
end of the agreement. More than two
billion acres had been taken by treaty or government confiscation which
included land allotments of communal properties.
Wilma talked about the universal concern
among the tribes over the loss of traditional knowledge. I was unaware of just how much reliance on
oral history is still in play until she brought this up. She said that when a traditional tribal elder
dies they lose thousands of unique knowledge that has been passed down through
oral telling from generation to generation.
She felt that a priority needed to be placed on putting a system in
place to protect and preserve the traditional knowledge.
She spoke of the importance of cleansing
your mind of negative thoughts and concentrate on the positive and she told of
the ceremony that is held to cleanse those thoughts. She felt that her ability to stay positive is
a large part of her success in her campaigns.
I have to believe that she kept positive because she has kept fighting
for her people in spite of having cancer twice, two kidney transplants, and an
accident that caused her to wear a brace.
She even ended the talk with a question and answer session when she has
a hearing problem but asked for a member of the audience to come up and repeat
the questions for her. And she
attributes her ability to do that to what she learned from her family and
community about keeping a good mind.
What an amazing woman.
I think that this video contains a lot
of information and she has overcome many personal struggles yet continued to
work for her people. She is a great
inspiration to stay strong and continue to fight for what you believe in.
Works Cited
Mankiller, Wilma. Mankiller: A Chief and Her
People. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. Book.
Wilma Mankiller. Perf. Wilma Mankiller. Sonoma State University. n.d. YouTube.
http://www.doonething.org/heroes/colorme/t-wilma-mankiller.jpg
I enjoyed watching the video. I was inspired by her strength to overcome obstacles. I was in agreement with the information she spoke about. I think the values she explained should be followed by everyone. I always try to be positive about things and know that negative thoughts are not healthy for you. It was amazing that she accomplished so much, by just being positive. She sets a good example for others to follow.
ReplyDeleteI loved her positive outlook and think that helps people be stronger and helps them with their struggles. I liked that she shared how she kept her positive attitude during hard times (and she had a lot) and that she also talked about the cleansing ceremony. She really was very interesting to listen too and made it so hard to keep my blog short.
ReplyDeleteWilma's influence will be seen by generations to come, she must have motivated and inspired many people from vast cultures throughout her life and advocacy. She was a deep rooted spiritual women who appreciates her culture and oral tradition of stories and the importance of passing down the values to younger generations. I enjoyed your post.
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ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching the video as well. I like how Wilma attempted to remain postive and optimistic despite everything. I as well think that is part of what made her so successful, and such a strong leader for the Native Americans. She represented them well, and shade light on how important it is for their history to be heard and preserved.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed watching this video and the messages it shared. She was a very strong, insightful and positive individual.
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