Serving Our Fellow Chickamauga
Each of our people have a great opportunity over the next few days and weeks to sign up for a position of service for The Chickamauga Nation. Contact your Regional Leadership and volunteer.
The reason, it is our duty to serve our fellow Chickamauga. That may sound corny to many today but the actual truth is that a vast majority of our fellow Chickamauga are over 60 years of age and they are old enough to remember the stories of their grandparents and great grandparents about the horrors of being an Indian. What many under 50 do not realized is that the horror stories told by family elders when it was quiet and dark outside and only family in the house reiterated the hatred the United States had against us. I hear stories at least weekly from our people about how they feared for their lives when they went to sleep after hearing the elders talk about the horrific indignities suffered by their families.
Please, get involved through service, even it is just 1 or 2 hours a week, it honors and respects the sacrifices our ancestors paid for us and our families. Many of our people are hard-working people who have dedicated their lives to provide something better for their kids and grand-kids than they had when they were children. When we provide a service to a family that is struggling not only is the family blessed, we are blessed in our hearts even more than they are. This is how we give back in love what was taken from us in hate. When we can help a family apply for a home improvement grant and then help them fix up their homes, we are honoring their ancestors as well as their descendants. When we apply for grants to help build a Chickamauga Children’s Home for Children who have entered the Judicial system out of no fault of their own, we are giving back in love. When we get grants to help train our people to be foster parents (short-term and long-term) where our Children do not have to go to foster homes to be raised by non-Chickamauga, that is when we are giving back in love. When we get grants to help our people deal with natural disasters such as floods and tornadoes, we are giving back in love. When we apply for grant to help provide for an Indian Housing authority, we help low-income Chickamauga and others in the communities get a home that is their own, that is truly giving back in love. When we apply for grants to help our families get fertilizer for their home gardens, raised bed gardens, or their 10 acres, we are giving back in love. When we care enough about others to go out of our way to make their lives just a little better, we are honoring our ancestors for 7 generations into the past and we are honoring our descendants 7 generations into the future.
We have the opportunity to help provide food, shelter, homes, home improvements, community development, solar energy, wells for drinking and irrigation, high speed internet, and that is only the tip of the iceberg. We have the opportunity to change lives for generation to come.
Yes, we are going to use the grants and loans of every government agency that will give us the opportunity because we have already pre-paid for every penny we will receive because of the land and lives taken from us in hate. We are going to partner with every company that wants to partner with us to help provide services and benefits to our people. We will find every spare penny, nickel, dime, and quarter we can to make sure our people have insulated homes, food on the table, an automobile that works, an education for their children, and the knowledge that The Chickamauga Nation will return to them in love that what was taken from our people in hatred.
We will do everything in our power to make sure we are honoring our past, keep one foot in the present, and make great strides toward the future. We must take up the mantle of protectors of our people. We were the most feared warriors in the Southeast Woodlands. We fought to the death to protect our families and that is the pride I hope we have for each other today, we will fight to protect our families, both in the same house and community. We are Tiscamogie, We are Chickamauga, We are returning in love that which was taken in hatred, and together We Stand.
(C) This document was produced at the request of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on July 18, 2019, to document the History, Anthropology, Culture, Religion, and Archaeology of The Chickamauga Nation.