"I ask the Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma to excuse me for speaking about your relatives. I was asked by Indian Country Today Media Network, and I am moved to do so prayerfully. The act of tampering with the graves of your ancestors affects us as well, and we support you. I am deeply bothered by it, I want to know things and I want to say some things from what I heard and read.

Why are the Poarch Creek Indians of Alabama digging up Creek graves at Hickory Ground so they can build a casino? This is an insult to everything we stand for as American Indians, and it affects my people in in its insensitivity and ignorance. It gives our enemies the ammunition they need to discredit all of us and our attempts to preserve and protect our sacred graves. When the Creek Nation were forced out of Alabama onto their Trail Of Tears, like many tribes, groups of them scattered and were not removed, but had to fend for themselves and hide from the government. To their credit, after many years they held together and fought the government in court and reclaimed federal recognition against all odds in 1982. The toll this takes on a tribe cannot be fully understood by most of us until something like this happens."

Get the Story:
Dan Jones: Poarch Creeks Should Reconsider Digging Up Graves to Build a Casino (Indian Country Today 8/20)

Related Stories:
Related Stories:
Muscogee Nation threatens lawsuit over Poarch Creek casino (8/14)