Post 8 - Coates

The interesting part of the Cherokee Nation’s History Course, or “Course in Strategy” as Chief Smith would say, was the discussions on blood law. I can see how many people could misinterpret or conflate the true meaning of how the Cherokees keep their community of clans in balance. I see how the Cherokee philosophy makes sense but I also believe that treating an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is not the most effective way of dealing with problems. I like non-violent approaches because two wrongs, to me, do not make a right. But for the Cherokees it does. It is great to know the thought processes behind the dog eats dog world of the Cherokees.

The video that we watched made by Oral Roberts University falsely interpreted the Cherokee system of blood law – revenge as they call it. The Cherokees ways are not to be mixed with war. Once the balance was made or the green corn came, the skirmish brawls were over and reset. It was nice to have reaffirmed that the Cherokees were not constantly at war. I have never seen them as that and for all the others who do need to rethink passing judgment upon a very sensitive and conscientious group of people. By going through the course I felt less and less like an outsider which was one thought I pondered before the program started. A lot of terms and phrases are outsider phrases and the more I was taken in by the wonderful story that Julia was telling, the better I felt about reacting to that world from an insider’s point of view.

After we leave this program we’re all going off to our own places, to meet more people, and with us we will always have the information that we gained from this intensive history drive-by. The reason why it’s a drive-by is because we had more questions to ask but only so much time to look loosely at a topic and move on to the next hundred or so odd years. Frustrating as it was and rewarding as it was, now we all have an overview and notes to explore on our own. If the current governments of the world thought less about politics and more about balance that we would all be better off. The Cherokees way of processing justice and their system of keeping a community in balanced through clan reparations and exchanges is a model to study and I’m glad I did. It could be used today, with some major modern adjustments, but it could be done.