Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning, Welcome, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 2: It's time now for Native Beat and we have John
Speaker 2: Weston in here with is today.
Speaker 1: How are you doing there, John, I am doing great. Tom.
Speaker 1: I'm a lot better than I was back a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago. Good to see you upright.
Speaker 2: Yeah, really, you know, third third time as a charm.
Speaker 2: I think for upper respiratory infections. At least I'm hoping
Speaker 2: it is Oco Nagata Hello everyone, Oco, tom ostasun ali,
Speaker 2: good morning and happy Monday, or as we like to
Speaker 2: say in Cherokee, Una do doc quah si as always Thom.
Speaker 1: It's going to be back.
Speaker 2: Like I said, you know, back of MARSL Radio studios,
Speaker 2: I fought a third respiratory infection and it's just one
Speaker 2: of those things you can't seem to kick, you know
Speaker 2: that As we're talking before we went on the air,
Speaker 2: and yeah, they're even sitting out text to the schools
Speaker 2: warning you know, parents, if your kids are.
Speaker 1: Sick, keep them home. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, make sure these kids wash their hands. That's that's
Speaker 2: another big thing. Well, you're at a tall order for
Speaker 2: a kid, it really is. Yeah, It's like it spreads
Speaker 2: like wildfire and we all kind of know why, but
Speaker 2: you know that's the main thing. If you're sick, stay home,
Speaker 2: you know, from work. If your kids are sick, try
Speaker 2: to keep them home. I know it's easier said than
Speaker 2: done sometimes, but you know people are often reluctant to
Speaker 2: stay home. But like I said, it just keeps those
Speaker 2: nasty little bugs to yourself. So before we begin today's show,
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Speaker 2: our listeners for your continued to support and tuning in.
Speaker 2: And as I mentioned on the last show that we recorded,
Speaker 2: I appeared on Fribred Journeys with Chris Crane on our
Speaker 2: sister station, the mighty six ninety KGGF on Inauguration Day,
Speaker 2: January twentieth. We talked about some of the ongoing projects
Speaker 2: we have at Washington County Cherokee Association, which is located
Speaker 2: in Oceanleda, that's where I'm president, and Chris and I
Speaker 2: exchanged jokes back and forth about the ongoing tomahawk throwing
Speaker 2: rivalry between our two communities, and I told her be
Speaker 2: prepared because it's going to start warming up soon.
Speaker 1: And I'm not talking about just the weather.
Speaker 2: I told him, I was like, make sure you dust
Speaker 2: off that trophy because we're bringing it home this year.
Speaker 2: Of WCCA and that's probably when it's going to stay
Speaker 2: for the next few years. And now that's a tall order.
Speaker 2: I hope up my actions can match my word when
Speaker 2: I say that. But anyway, just joking, we have a
Speaker 2: lot of fun and that's what's important. And the old
Speaker 2: joke among natives is, you know, if we tease you
Speaker 2: and we joke with you, then we like you. If
Speaker 2: we don't, we either don't know you that well or
Speaker 2: you're probably not a favorite person. But anyway, I love
Speaker 2: teasing them, especially Bill Davis. They're president up there. Chris Crane,
Speaker 2: she's always great. I mean, she's been no stranger with
Speaker 2: K One Studios, any of it. Tomahawk throwing is something
Speaker 2: we all brag about, and it keeps our competition alive
Speaker 2: between our communities. I think that's a good thing. Healthy
Speaker 2: competition is always a good thing. It just makes sure.
Speaker 2: I used to used to have a saying, try to
Speaker 2: make your best better. You know, if we can do
Speaker 2: that in communities, that's going to be great. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: here's the other great thing about it. It's also low impact.
Speaker 2: So when we wake up the next morning, we're not
Speaker 2: feeling sore. If we played a few games.
Speaker 1: Wow. Okay, you know, so that's some of the things.
Speaker 2: Especially I'm approaching well next year, i'll be fifty the
Speaker 2: Big five ozero. Most of the people who play with
Speaker 2: me or a little bit older too, So yeah, it's
Speaker 2: definitely something that's something we all enjoyed just because it
Speaker 2: doesn't tear up your body too bad. That's good. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's fun to do. It is fun to do. So
Speaker 2: we have a lot going on locally and throughout Cherokee Nation.
Speaker 2: As always, February sixth, at six pm, the Washington County
Speaker 2: Cherokee Association will be hosting our delegate designee to the
Speaker 2: US House of Representatives, Ken te Kim, was a very
Speaker 2: impressive CV. In fact, she's a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
Speaker 1: Of course.
Speaker 2: She's the director of our government Relations for Cherokee Nation
Speaker 2: and senior vice president of government Relations for Cherokee Nation Businesses.
Speaker 2: In twenty nineteen, the Chief named her our tribe's first
Speaker 2: delegate to the US House of Representatives because that was
Speaker 2: a guarantee that was given to us in the eighteen
Speaker 2: thirty five Treaty of nuw Echota, and it was outlined
Speaker 2: in our Cherokee Constitution. We'll talk more about that in
Speaker 2: a minute, but she was also named a Visiting Sequoia
Speaker 2: Fellow at her alma Modern Northeastern State University in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 2: and prior to returning home to the Cherokee Nation, she
Speaker 2: served as a partner for the Mepetsi Policy Group in Washington,
Speaker 2: d C. Which is federal avacy group representing Indian tribes
Speaker 2: and organizations, and she premuly served as president of Barack
Speaker 2: Obama's first ever Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs
Speaker 2: in the White House, and she did that for three years.
Speaker 2: She's worked for federal agencies develop and implement policies focused
Speaker 2: on environmental justice, economic growth, public safety, healthcare, education, and
Speaker 2: resolved long standing disputes. And Kim's work has helped us
Speaker 2: lead to the Presidential Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and the
Speaker 2: Executive Order on Improving American, Indian and Alaska Native Educational
Speaker 2: Opportunities and strengthening tribal colleges and universities. She guided the
Speaker 2: administration's support for the UN Declaration and the Rights of
Speaker 2: Indigenous Peoples, and she addressed the UN Permanent Forum on
Speaker 2: Issues affecting the World's Indigenous peoples. She's especially proud of
Speaker 2: her work toward the administration and support of proposed legislation
Speaker 2: to hold all perpetrators of domestic violence accountable for their
Speaker 2: crimes against Native American women. And that closes your purisdictional
Speaker 2: rapid gap in Indian country because traditionally that hasn't happened.
Speaker 2: You know, abuse is something that's often hidden. You know,
Speaker 2: it's something that isn't always punished, maybe to the.
Speaker 1: Extend that it should be.
Speaker 2: And she's played a key role in three White House
Speaker 2: teams Tribal Conferences, which led a government wide team to
Speaker 2: ensure that progress was being made on tribal policy and
Speaker 2: legislative priorities. She's also been a senior advisor to the
Speaker 2: US House of Representatives Native American Caucus co chair Representative
Speaker 2: Dale Kildee, serving the bipartisan caucus for nearly twelve years.
Speaker 2: She established an impressive record of accomplishments in a wide
Speaker 2: array of Native American issues. And the cool thing is
Speaker 2: she grew up in Claremore, She's held various positions of
Speaker 2: Cherokee Nation.
Speaker 1: Part of working in Washington.
Speaker 2: Came received her BA and political science from NSU and
Speaker 2: her Juriss doctorate from the University of Iowa College of
Speaker 2: Wall She also got her start was from Wyler. In
Speaker 2: one of her presentations, interning for William Mankiller, which aera conation,
Speaker 2: which to me, that's amazing in itself. I can't imagine
Speaker 2: what a great experience that was for her. And milbe
Speaker 2: An Killer was an inspiration and a mentor to her,
Speaker 2: which I just think is mind boggling in a way,
Speaker 2: because we really revere, you know, will a man Killer
Speaker 2: now for all the accomplishments and the leadership she provided
Speaker 2: the Cherokee Nation during the eighties. But anyway, we mentioned
Speaker 2: the Treaty of Nwichota earlier, and Cherokee Nation appointed came
Speaker 2: our delegate design But the.
Speaker 1: Question is what exactly does that mean.
Speaker 2: So in eighteen thirty five, the US government and Cherokee
Speaker 2: Nations signed the Treaty of Nuichoda, which forced our ancestors
Speaker 2: to give up their ancestral homelands back east and move
Speaker 2: west on the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. And what
Speaker 2: many people don't know is that that same treaty promised
Speaker 2: the Cherokee Nation the right to send a delegate to
Speaker 2: the US Congress. Article seven of the Treaty of Nwachoda
Speaker 2: is crystal clear, and it says we shall be entitled
Speaker 2: to a delegate and the US House are representatives whenever
Speaker 2: Congress shall make provision for the same. So we've been
Speaker 2: waiting nearly two hundred years for Congress to honor this promise,
Speaker 2: and we're still waiting today. We're simply asking for is
Speaker 2: the federal government to live up to its treaty obligations.
Speaker 2: We've seen this time and time again with treats. Promises
Speaker 2: are made, but they're not kept. Which actually, there was
Speaker 2: an old joke about in Washington the only promises that
Speaker 2: you're allowed to have are the broken ones, because that's
Speaker 2: pretty much that's pretty much the you know, the nature
Speaker 2: of the beast. But we just want what's promised to us.
Speaker 2: And it's not even a voting position. It's an observation
Speaker 2: and it keeps us close to the US Congress and.
Speaker 1: Impacting wall that maybe going to impact tribal.
Speaker 2: Nations, but also gives us a seat at the table,
Speaker 2: and I think that's important. So anyway, February sixth Thursday,
Speaker 2: She's kim t He's going to be here in our
Speaker 2: little community of Washington, County Cherokee Association. I think that's wonderful.
Speaker 2: I encourage everyone to come out to our community building
Speaker 2: Thursday night to meet and hear her. I promise it'll
Speaker 2: be a great presentation to find us.
Speaker 1: We're right next door, just east of the Kouiskui Health Center.
Speaker 2: That's on County Road to East West twenty nine hundred,
Speaker 2: about a mile and a half east of Highway seventy five.
Speaker 2: And we have a big, beautiful digital sign out there
Speaker 2: courtesy of Cherokee Nation.
Speaker 1: So now we're even easier to find.
Speaker 2: And we have construction going on and it's a little
Speaker 2: bit of a mess, but yeah, it's progress and it's
Speaker 2: great to see that out there.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: That brings us by the next point with WCCA, we're
Speaker 2: looking forward to have our building renovations completed. In our
Speaker 2: community building progress is coming along. We're happy to receive
Speaker 2: we've received a four hundred thousand dollars grant for completion
Speaker 2: of these renovations. We're also having additional lights installed in
Speaker 2: the parking lot. That's one of the things that the
Speaker 2: elders have always come to us about. They're like, hey,
Speaker 2: would you mind putting in some additional lighting in the
Speaker 2: parking lot because one light just wasn't cutting it.
Speaker 1: We'd like to see where we're going. That's exactly right.
Speaker 2: Want to make sure we're not tripping over anything, make
Speaker 2: sure we can find our cars, you know. So they're
Speaker 2: having those additional lights, as a God said, And we're
Speaker 2: also extending the size of the parking lot because we
Speaker 2: really needed to.
Speaker 1: It comes kind of cramped from time to time.
Speaker 2: Our facility will now have an office, a storage room,
Speaker 2: conference classroom, and a full service kitchen addition to drop
Speaker 2: ceilings and walls that are being finished, which brings a
Speaker 2: whole new look to the facility. And I've been out
Speaker 2: there a few times this past week, and what I'm
Speaker 2: seeing is more progress. In fact, the backing for the
Speaker 2: new edifice we're gonna have on the outside of the
Speaker 2: building is coming along. Our vestibule has been framed in,
Speaker 2: and we've received delivery with some of our kitchen appliances.
Speaker 2: And so that's exciting to see because you can kind
Speaker 2: of see it all starting to gel and mesh and
Speaker 2: come together, and really we all can't wait to see
Speaker 2: the finished project. Also, just let everyone know we received
Speaker 2: one hundred thousand dollars grant from Cherokee writ Nation recently
Speaker 2: for a storage building on campus. That will allow us
Speaker 2: to move our equipment that we have in our back room,
Speaker 2: such as our tractor and our other materials to that
Speaker 2: storage space. And that's going to free that back space
Speaker 2: up for a classroom. And like I remarked, we have
Speaker 2: a huge garage door that opens to the outside for
Speaker 2: that space. So if we decide that we're going to participate,
Speaker 2: say in the Barzel Christmas Parade or the Barzel Veterans Parade,
Speaker 2: any of these things to kind of make our presence
Speaker 2: known in the community, we can just back a trailer
Speaker 2: up in there, and you know, it's gonna be climate control.
Speaker 1: It's going to be great.
Speaker 2: Hre not I have to worry about the elements, and
Speaker 2: we'll be able to decorate and do what we need
Speaker 2: to do. So I think that's one of the great
Speaker 2: things is because it's climate controlled, we don't have to heat.
Speaker 1: And cool the whole building.
Speaker 2: We can focus on just a small part of it
Speaker 2: if we have a small group of people.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's going to be wonderful for us.
Speaker 2: It also provides a great wind break, so half your
Speaker 2: decorations don't wind up in Lenapore.
Speaker 1: That's exactly right.
Speaker 2: And I have decorated plenty of parade floats, and so
Speaker 2: what I've discovered is find a staging area that's fairly
Speaker 2: close to the parade grounds so that you don't have
Speaker 2: to worry about everything blowing off in transits, and and
Speaker 2: of course have a chase car following you just to
Speaker 2: make sure if anything does blow off, they can collect
Speaker 2: it alongside the road.
Speaker 1: We've been kind of that before too. So a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago I went to.
Speaker 2: Telequan I signed a memoranium of agreement with Cherokee Nation
Speaker 2: for our seventy five hundred dollars CONTAGRAN, which stands for
Speaker 2: Community Organized and the Technical Training Assistance. And what that's
Speaker 2: going to do is help defray the cost of some
Speaker 2: of the things we have throughout the year that we
Speaker 2: have budgeted through contracted services, such as the internet supplies
Speaker 2: we need for things like publishing our newsletter and a
Speaker 2: surround sound PA system and other things necessarily for a
Speaker 2: successful operation of our association. That surround sound PA system
Speaker 2: is going to be very important to us because I've
Speaker 2: had elders that sit way in the back of the
Speaker 2: room and they're like man I can't hear what's going
Speaker 2: on up to the front, you know, So I'm going
Speaker 2: to make sure that we have adequate sound, and that's
Speaker 2: really important if you're trying to get information across the people.
Speaker 1: So I am really excited for all that.
Speaker 2: It really has, like I said, made an impact on
Speaker 2: our operational budget and our day to day operations as well,
Speaker 2: and so it's going to allow us to do more
Speaker 2: community outreach programs. It's going to make us even better,
Speaker 2: make us even better community, and give us more of
Speaker 2: a presence that we need to build a stronger community
Speaker 2: because people, if they don't know about you, they're not
Speaker 2: going to know about the association. They're not going to
Speaker 2: know about what we offer. They're not going to be
Speaker 2: able to come and enjoy in our meeting. And the
Speaker 2: Chief recognizes this as many of us do, that building
Speaker 2: a strong nation wins with building our strong communities. That's
Speaker 2: where it all starts. And I'm so impressed with his
Speaker 2: dedication to this ideal. Anytime I need help with something,
Speaker 2: I can pick up the phone and call him and
Speaker 2: he's always there, always willing to help. I've just been amazed,
Speaker 2: and you know how how tight his schedule is. I
Speaker 2: mean this guy I do. I really don't know how
Speaker 2: he ever sleeps.
Speaker 1: So we have that going.
Speaker 2: We got a twenty five thousand dollars grant that we're
Speaker 2: going to have coming up, and I went down to
Speaker 2: Cherokee Food Nation Food Distribution Center.
Speaker 1: We're going to sort of food sovereignty program.
Speaker 2: In fact, if anyone's interested in taking part in that,
Speaker 2: you can reach out to me an email at WCCA
Speaker 2: pres at gmail dot com. And we recently completed our
Speaker 2: ten week Cherokee language course. We're actually considering continuing it
Speaker 2: but through a distance learning program. And we realize that,
Speaker 2: you know, language is inseparable from our culture and is
Speaker 2: very important. So really there's a lot of exciting things happening.
Speaker 2: And before we go today, just want to courage everyone.
Speaker 2: If you have a community, try to find one. Check
Speaker 2: out our community Facebook pages for Cherokee Cultural Community in Dewey,
Speaker 2: the South Coffeeville NAFI community, our Norda Folks over at
Speaker 2: No Wada, and our Cherokee Association down to Ocean Leda,
Speaker 2: and also check out we have two official offices open
Speaker 2: of Cherokee Culture Community in Dewey.
Speaker 1: Check those out.
Speaker 2: Career services and our Human Resources Office, And as we
Speaker 2: discussed earlier, don't forget our February sixth, the six PM
Speaker 2: program we're having with Congressional Designy Delegate km Th.
Speaker 1: We hope to see you there.
Speaker 2: Catch frivate journeys with Chris Crane a mighty six nine KGGF,
Speaker 2: and you can catch a nativ on the Barswel radio
Speaker 2: app or Barswel Facebook page. A big wado, as we
Speaker 2: say in Cherokee, Janishi is the Delaware would say, Wanzi
Speaker 2: is the Osage would say. And to all of you listening,
Speaker 2: do to do gohun me until we meet again