People Say That Crisis Changes People And

Though Many Non-native Americans Have Learned Very Little About Us, Over Time We Have Had To Learn Everything About Them. We Watch Their Films, Read Their Literature, Worship In Their Churches, And Attend Their Schools. Every Third-grade Student In The United States Is Presented With The Concept Of Europeans Discovering America As A "new World" With Fertile Soil, Abundant Gifts Of Nature, And Glorious Mountains And Rivers. Only The Most Enlightened Teachers Will Explain That This World Certainly Wasn't New To The Millions Of Indigenous People Who Already Lived Here When Columbus Arrived.

I Want To Be Remembered As The Person Who Helped Us Restore Faith In Ourselves.

A Lot Of Young Girls Have Looked To Their Career Paths And Have Said They'd Like To Be Chief. There's Been A Change In The Limits People See.

A Significant Number Of People Believe Tribal People Still Live And Dress As They Did 300 Years Ago. During My Tenure As Principal Chief Of The Cherokee Nation, National News Agencies Requesting Interviews Sometimes Asked If They Could Film A Tribal Dance Or If I Would Wear Traditional Tribal Clothing For The Interview. I Doubt They Asked The President Of The United States To Dress Like A Pilgrim For An Interview.

Everybody Is Sitting Around Saying, 'well, Jeez, We Need Somebody To Solve This Problem Of Bias.' That Somebody Is Us. We All Have To Try To Figure Out A Better Way To Get Along.