I haven't gotten all the facts yet. So it would be sort of misleading for me to give you a single answer.
But if you read about the current plight of the Freedmen, the locations of events current and past. You start to see a very ugly pattern.
What I'm hoping to do, is answer some questions that have never been asked within that group of people.
All that sounds very vague, and I apologize for making it so. But the internet is full of people who have nothing better to do than steal your ideas, and make money from them.
I'm not in Ok, hwr, have ancestors who made it there according to family records. Sadly, they were lost when hurricane ripped roof & most of top floor of an aunt's house; the book of births, deaths, marriages are all gone but we pass our heritage down from each generation, incl'g herbal/homeopathic medicine, history, rituals, & the stories passed from more generations than can be counted or traced thx to white govt from theft of land, murders, & forced integration. Still, much was taught in secret a way from racial whites w/no respect, no honor, & no trust...
I was born in NC. The only thing I was never taught, and it's a shame, is the spoken/written language of my Cherokee ancestors & the language of my Arapaho ancestors. My great-grandfather, who lived to be 100yrs old, was born in the late 1800s, when the racism wad bad for Native Americans. He thought by not teaching us our language, he was preventing ostrization from the community as he had as a Native American child growing up off the reservation, but still, there is a hole in me & others in our family bc of that decision, but he taught us (esp me) a great deal despite refusing to teach us our languages. You could say we were blessed in that respect. Many others are not so fortunate.
Hwr, I am the only one who actually did rec' the previous Matriarch's blessing/permission, if you will, to marry a pure white man (blonde hair, very fair complexion, & even baby-blue eyes), but he respected my heritage even if he doesn't share our spirituality, some of our customs, & ways. It only became problematic when we had children. He isnt thrilled they don't follow Christainity; hwr, it's like I told him, even as their mother & esp after becoming Matriarch, we are not allowed to choose their path. It's a journey they must take & decide on their own. And they did but it wasn't the path he wanted.
Still, where we live, it's not something we share with outsiders bc there is still animosity, even today, esp in a small city in the bible belt. It's almost stifling at times. It is the reason I spend a week or two in the Reservation each year & why are children sometimes come with me. It is the one place we are free without judgement that's closest to where we live.
Oddly enough, our biggest problems stem from his mother's lack of acceptance of my love & the value my family instilled in me regarding my heritage. It has been one of the so rest of spots we've dealt with in 27+yrs, plus the years we dated. She is more than a little prejudiced when it comes to my family but she won't live forever & I didn't marry her, I married her son. I still don't know how he managed to be as understanding & open-minded w/a mother like his but I'm glad he is.
His father wasn't in the picture but I have to believe his oldest brother & his wife played a large role in it. They are Catholic, yet they have never, not even once been disrespectful regarding my ancestry or beliefs. They've even put the MIL in her place before I had a chance. She didn't & doesn't like it but she shuts up & keeps her vitriolic notions to herself 98% of the time; as for the other 2%,one of us puts a stop to it before she goes too far. It's the condition I set with regards to het access to our children & his siblings & others stood by it, forcing her to choose to be a grandparent by accepting me & my ethnicity or losing a son, DIL, & grandchildren. She made the right choice, even tho she does slip at times...
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