Oklahoma Indians Survival Walk and Protest

Date: November 16, 2007
Place: Oklahoma State Capitol
Oklahoma City , Oklahoma
Time: 9 am to 12 pm

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oklahoma City , 11/4/07 – The Oklahoma Indians Survival Walk and Protest is scheduled for 9:00 am on November 16, 2007 .
This
activity will counter the Oklahoma Centennial Celebrations because we,
as Oklahoma American Indians, do not want our people to forget what
happened to our ancestors nor can we let others across the nation lose
sight of the real history of Oklahoma Indians and Indian Territory . We
cannot sit quietly while the only mention or acknowledgement of the
victimization of Indians is a re-enacted Land Run and Mock Wedding
Ceremony.
“Our part of the story, the part where our lands are
invaded and stripped away from us, and the part where our cultures are
attacked, the part where our peoples' lives are trampled and forever
altered by this encroachment of land hungry invaders is always
conveniently neglected or overshadowed,” says Gerald D. Tieyah
(Comanche).

Glenda Deer (Kickapoo), co-organizer of the
protest says, “I think it's important for our children and
grandchildren to understand how Oklahoma was really acquired...it's
important for them to know the truth....”
“I remember a story a Sac
and Fox elder told me some years ago. She said that her grandfather
told her the Sac and Fox people had to remove the bodies of white
people from the Deep Fork River before they could use the water, people
killed by the ‘settling’ of Oklahoma” recounts Dr. Johnny P. Flynn,
Department of Religious Studies, IUPU, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Earlier
this year, Richard Ray Whitman (Euchee), an Oklahoma City artist, actor
and activist, said, "Native Americans know the importance of
celebration, but renewing the vows of Indian Territory and Oklahoma
territory, what does that entail? Have they met? I think we've been in
sort of an abusive marriage up to this point - not the ideal
relationship. It's like the dominant husband and the submissive wife.
We need to examine those things and say....what's the role of this
today?"

Visit www.myspace.com/mvskoke_lady or
www.myspace.com/thunderclanwoman for further details, or contact Brenda
Golden at (405) 570-7752 e-mail musccreekgrl@msn.com, Glenda Deer in
the evenings at (405) 275 4059 e-mail of thunderclanwmn@yahoo.com, or
Cornell Tahdooahnippah at (405) 701-1823 e-mail of
chieftain8@hotmail.com.

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