The People
Tribal Report of the Northern Cheyenne Nation (August/September 2006 Vol. I No. 9)
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Why the Northern Cheyenne are not Celebrating the Bicentennial of Lewis and Clark Tribal Report Staff In 1492 an explorer by the name of Christopher Columbus landed on a remote island in an area now known as the West Indies in search for gold and slaves. Americans still celebrate his arrival and murderous rampage every October. In 1519 Hernando Cortez met the Aztecs and eventually murdered half the population after small pox had decimated their people. In 1531 Francisco Pizarro stumbled upon the Incan Empire in which he began to annihilate because the Incan Emperor decided that the Holy Bible was in no comparison to Incan writing. For the next 500 years European explorers would arrive in Native America to lay claim to land, kill for sport, and establish a system that placed American Indigenous people in a subhuman category. Does this system still exist today? In 1776 the United States government was established and merely 27 years later the Louisiana Purchase was brokered; Indian land was sold from one white man to another. In 1803 the Corps of Discovery made its way through the Louisiana Territory to meet and greet any and all Indigenous Nations. At each stop they Corps leaders presented Chiefs and other Indian leaders with medals of peace and a charter that stated that the United States’ were now in control of their Indian land, basically stating the Doctrine of Discovery. What is the Doctrine of Discovery? The Doctrine of Discovery was written in 1532 by Francisco De Victoria and stated that any European nation that landed on any non-Christian lands was automatically entitled to such land. Basically stating that Indigenous people did not own their land on which they reside. Any and every Indigenous people living on non-Christian lands were considered unfit to live on any land simply if they were (1) non-Christian and (2) if they were not farmers in the full and complete sense of a farmer from a 15th century Europeans perspective. This gave any European nation the legal right to take Indian land simply by landing on it. The Doctrine of Discovery still remains a part of Federal Indian Law, even after 500 years. In 1823 two white men were fighting over a piece of Indian land and the case made its way all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The question was who owned the land; the person who bought it from the Piankeshaw Nation before the U.S. existed, or the person who received the land from the U.S. Land Commission. The court ruled in favor of the person who received it from the U.S. The reasoning was that Indians did not own their land and could not sell it. Justice Marshall cited the Catholic Church’s 1532 Doctrine of Discovery, a medieval doctrine that was nearly 300 years old at that time. So why are the Northern Cheyenne not celebrating the bicentennial of the journey’s of Lewis and Clark, known as the Corps of Discovery?		The Doctrine of Discovery is one reason why the Northern Cheyenne are not celebrating the arrival of white men to their country. Like most Indian Nations during the Lewis and Clark Exploration, the Northern Cheyenne brushed off the “discovery” charter that stated the U.S. ownership of vast traditional lands. Cheyenne chiefs must have thought these people were insane to believe that lands the Cheyenne people resided on for thousands of years were now in the hands of some white men 2000 miles away. Lewis and Clark both documented such resistances in their journals. They paid special attention to the Blackfeet and Lakota people who could have ended their expedition in a matter of seconds. Like the Blackfeet and Lakota, the Northern Cheyenne resisted. Ironically enough, since the Lewis and Clark expedition, these Indian Nations have suffered the most at the hands of the United States. For two hundred years these particular nations have suffered from massacres, treaty violations, the illegal confiscation of lands, harsh reservation life, corruption of traditional governments, destruction of their family and kinship systems, and neglect from the United States Government. Another reason why the Northern Cheyenne are not celebrating the Corps of Discovery is because of the warnings from the Cheyenne prophet Sweet Medicine. Sweet Medicine warned about the arrival of white people and the items that they would bring. These gifts would eventually destroy our people. One of these gifts would be shinny metal objects. It has been explained that coinage, gold, and silver would curse our people into becoming greedy and selfish. The peace medals offered by Lewis and Clark were refused by then Cheyenne leaders; they were perceived as one of those gifts that Sweet Medicine warned about. Another gift was the gift of sickness. Sweet Medicine warned about the new diseases that these white people would bring to the people. So the Cheyenne leaders of that time did not want to accept any cloth items including blankets for fear of infection. Despite the two hundred years of mediocre political and social relations between the United States and the Cheyenne people, the Northern Cheyenne continue to resist, especially from celebrating the arrival of the Corps of Discovery. Just thirty years after Lewis and Clark visited the Northern Cheyenne, a small pox epidemic wiped out one band of the original ten comprising the entire Cheyenne Nation. Two years later, another band of Cheyenne was annihilated due to a cholera epidemic. In 1851 the Southern Cheyenne signed their first treaty which reduced their original homeland, below the North Platte River, to 10% of their original territory. In 1864, the Black Kettle band of Southern Cheyenne was massacred at Sand Creek. And this relationship Sweet Medicine warned about has taken its toll ever since the Lewis and Clark expedition. Do the Northern Cheyenne or any other Indian Nation need any more reason not celebrate Lewis and Clark, Columbus Day (October 9th), or any other holiday that honors the violent conquests of white heroes? What about Thanksgiving? This story will be shared in the next issue of the Tribal Report. Tribal Report of the Northern Cheyenne Nation (August/September 2006 Vol. I No. 9), page 11.
Erect Horns and the Dependent Indian Moe’ema’etatse Prophet Erect Horns told the Cheyenne people that they would endure four life changes in their existence. He advised that during each change the Cheyenne would lose part of their culture, but they will also hold on to what is most important. The first change Erect Horns discussed was that the Cheyenne came from the earth at creation to live in the Great Lakes Region. Here our Cheyenne ancestors planted corn and ate fish and birds for survival. This first change was sacred and a gift from the Ma’heono, the holy spirits. The second change according to Erect Horns would be a sacred gift from the animals, the Hovahne. This was when the Cheyenne moved from the Great Lakes Region to hunt buffalo. It is a period known as “The Days of the Dog.” The third change would be when horses were introduced to the Cheyenne. These horses were a sacred gift from other Xamaa’evoestaneo’e, or other “ordinary/indigenous” peoples. This period is known as “The Days of the Horse.” The fourth and final change would not be a sacred gift, but more or less a curse. This gift would be from what Erect Horns called “water men,” or known today as Ve’ho’e. This would be the most difficult change for the Cheyenne and it is known as “The Reservation Era.” The people would be cursed with despair, anger, greed, and dependency. These four curses are destroying the Cheyenne people today, and they are a direct result from early reservation life. Despair crept into our ancestors’ lives when they were confined to the reservation. They were no longer free and could no longer live as they did in earlier times. The Northern Cheyenne Reservation was established in 1884. During this time there were very few buffalo left. Not much is different today as our people drown their despair in drugs or alcohol, the 500-year Indian problem. This must stop and we must be healed. Anger found its way into the hearts of our ancestors since they were unable to properly raise their children. They became angry at white people for causing the despair. And they eventually became angry at each other. Not much is different today as our people are easily angered at each other, and as we complain to our leaders about the simplest things. This must stop and we must be healed. Greed became the answer to our ancestors’ anger and despair. Our ancestors were tempted with the materialistic lifestyles of the Ve’ho’e, and some were over come by the temptations. No longer do our people value our culture, language, land, ceremonies, and sacred histories.		Instead we value cars, cell phones, clothes, and other useless material items that make us not more Ve’ho’e, and no less Tsetsehesestaestse or So’taa’e. We slit the throats of our own people to satisfy our own greed. This must stop and we must be healed. Our ancestors were unable to hunt and survive off of the sacred gift of the buffalo as they once did. Instead they received food rations and clothing from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This created a dependency in which our men would no longer remember how to hunt and our women would no longer remember how to make clothing. Our relatives because accustomed to handouts and became lazy. Our people have become dependent on others to care for and teach our children, others to feed our families, others to protect our people; dependent on the BIA, dependent on churches, dependent on schools. This laziness has been inherited to the generations that exist today. We have become so dependent that we no longer want to work. Instead we cling like leeches to the Federal Government for assistance. Or we demand that our Tribal Government desecrate our own land for coal and coal bed methane, just so we can have a big per-capita check and have money we did not earn. This dependency must stop and we must be healed. Are we willing to throw our entire existence away so we can sit around drowning our despair with drugs and alcohol, being angry at each other and complaining at our leaders, slitting each others’ throats for material greed, and waiting for someone else to give us money? Are we willing to continue to live in despair, with anger, as greedy, dependent fools? Erect Horns said that the fourth change would be the most difficult since it was not a sacred gift. However he did say that Sweet Medicine would come during one of these eras to teach us how to live. Sweet Medicine would teach our men to be warriors who would protect and care for their children. He would teach our women to be mothers who would teach our children to be healers and chiefs. How do we heal ourselves? It is simple: spiritual change will lead our people out of despair, away from anger, towards humbleness instead of greed, and away from dependency towards self reliance. Sweet Medicine’s teachings will liberate our minds from these curses. But it does not matter what religion a person chooses, as long as it leads to spiritual healing and away from dependency. Spiritual healing must be done. As elders we must heal so the parents of today will heal, and in turn, the children will heal. We cannot bring back the past, but we can make every generation spiritually strong. It has already begun, let’s keep it going. Hena’ehaanehe Tribal Report of the Northern Cheyenne Nation (August/September 2006 Vol. I No. 9), page 11.
Cheyenne Epic Summer 2006 Pictures at Devil’s Tower Tribal Report of the Northern Cheyenne Nation (August/September 2006 Vol. I No. 9), page 11.
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