BACKGROUND

Whenever politicians start these "About Me" bits, they always start off the same way. I could tell you that I am a happily-married father and grandfather to a half dozen of each and that the grands call me "Poppy." I might also tell you that I am a proud rabbitclan man and my hometowns are Miami and Quapaw while the center of my spirit has its roots in White Oak Oklahoma.

But that wouldn't tell you really who I am, so I want to talk about Community. I was in 4th grade when I realized that being "Indian" meant different things to different people. It was on a playground that I learned that sometimes you might have to be ready to get into the dust and shed some tears, and blood. I got chased and held down on the playground by classmates as they tore off my eaglefeather that my dad had sewn onto my Cincinnati Reds ballcap, but I wasn't alone in being treated different. I remember those childhood years in the 70's and elderly ladies in the grocery store would give my folks the stink eye. I was too young to realize how recent interracial marriages were in some places. But I wasn't alone. In the intervening years, I have heard others talk about that unwelcome feeling of being simultaneously "not Indian enough" and of being "mixed."
 

I say all of that to say this: Shawnee people come in all sorts, shapes, and sizes. Serving on the Shawnee Tribe Business Council and meeting citizens from all over testifies to that, but its also our own peoples history. We always took in folks, whether they were captives, escaped slaves, orphans, or allowed "spitofaaki" (bearded ones) to come into our Shawnee spaces. 

 

Each of us here today are an answered prayer of our Shawnee ancestors. It was in 1540 that Shawnees first met people from another continent and  many of us alive today will live to see the half-millennium mark in 2040. Through those centuries, we engaged in diplomacy with the English, French, Spanish, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and of course, the United States. Shawnee delegations representing our communities as a distinct government, not only met with Europeans consuls, ambassadors, and governor,  but we found also new family members from those places.

 

Today, we are reclaiming the space that our Ancestors left for us. Our sovereign, governmental birthright is being exercised in local, state, national and even international dialogues. People in the halls of national government are beginning to ask "What do the Shawnee think?" I am looking now to a future where we will have Shawnee Youth Council attend these visits of state, so that they stand ready for us all when it comes their time to lead our Sovereign Nation.
 

A seventh grade boy asked me once what was it like to be chief? What was the job? The way he framed the question was about as perfect as could be hoped. It gave me pause because no one had put it like that before. I told him and I continue to tell people, it is my Job to undo the effects of our Removal. To restore our landbase, increase the prosperity and health of our People, as well as bring back together Our Family of Shawnees from across the diaspora. But perhaps most importantly, to reach people with the message that there is no specific way that makes anyone "Shawnee." We are each part of the tapestry of what makes us an amazing people and we have always been so.

 

So to answer why I do this, why I want to remain Chief of the Shawnee, its really as simple as Community. We still need to blaze a trail as a Sovereign Nation of Shawnee People and find a way to Gather Back Together.  

Truly Yours,

Chief Ben Barnes

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