Perhaps they’ll show Cherokee Nation officials giving away T-shirts at the game, as the tribe plans to do. The shirts have Bradford’s name and football jersey number written in Cherokee.
Bradford’s Indian bloodlines were never part of coverage during his outstanding high school career at Putnam City North. Why? As his father Kent told The Oklahoman’s Jenni Carlson during Sam’s breakout season as Oklahoma’s quarterback in 2007, "We actually have never been active in Indian affairs or culture. Not that we aren’t proud of the Cherokee heritage, but we were simply raised as middle-class, Oklahoma City people.”
Bradford’s great-great-grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee. He is one-sixteenth Cherokee. Best we can tell, Carlson was the first to publicize this, in her ’07 story about the Oklahoma Indian community’s pride in his success. She said OU’s sports information office asks each of the school’s athletes if they have American Indian ancestry; Bradford said he did and added, "But I don’t know much about it so call my dad.”
He knows more now, after winning the Heisman Trophy and being asked frequently about the subject, and says he hopes to learn more about his ancestry. No fan of the limelight, Bradford has nonetheless embraced this piece of his celebrity. "God has blessed me with a great platform,” he told the Orlando Sentinel.
What’s Cherokee for class act?
"God has blessed me with a great platform” doesn't sound like a huge embrace of Bradford's Cherokee heritage to me. It sounds more like a (politically) correct answer to a question. "Being Cherokee is a blessing...although I still don't know anything about it...next question."
Bradford's Heisman acceptance speech seems like a truer expression of his feelings to me. In several minutes of talking he didn't have anything to say about his Cherokee background. Apparently he referred to being "blessed" only during a Q&A after that.
I'm glad Indians have found someone they consider a role model. And I'm glad the Cherokee are getting exposure through their connection to Bradford. But I'm not as impressed as this writer seems to be.
Bradford still "says he hopes to learn more about his ancestry." Great. Let us know when he stops talking about embracing his Cherokee roots and actually embraces them.
For more on the subject, see Bradford the Messiah? and Basking in Bradford's Glow.
Below: "Cherokee Nation Chief Chad Smith is shown from behind as he wears a t-shirt with Cherokee Nation citizen and Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford's name and jersey number written in the tribe's alphabet. Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009 in Hollywood, Fla."
I try to educate people when they offend me by saying I "don't look Indian" or am really white for a Native American, or make a comment much like you did above. Because Oklahoma is the home of the Federal Government's Assimilation Project (cultural genocide) there are many Native Americans/Oklahomans, like me and Sam Bradford, who did not grow up near their tribe's cultural center and whose grandparents close to our culture died early in our lives. My great-grandmother was full-blood Chickasaw and she died when I was 4, her son died when I was five (maybe the short life span had something to do with the abhorrent conditions Natives lived in in OK until gaming was legalized). We also are the product of our Native parents and grandparents marrying the descendants of the white settlers who bought/stole the "left-over" lands. Therefore, we are screwed both ways, our ancestors dying before they could pass on our traditions and the fact that our parents/grandparents fell in love with someone outside our tribe. The fact that other "full-blood" Native Americans try to make us feel like we are less "Indian" is just as bad as the stereotypes non-Indians use. If any outside "full-blood" Native American came to Oklahoma and saw how understanding we are to each other about how being Indian is not only about you appearance, it is how you feel inside, much could be done to turn the tide of racism to Native Americans. I have never heard an African-American calling out another for not knowing what tribe they descended or its culture. The truth is, Oklahoma tribes have come a long way in reaching out to its members of all blood quantums because of the way our people were treated during the push for statehood. Do you know any other tribes that had to sign "rolls" in order to be determined "Indian" by outsiders and the federal government?
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the writing and lobbying you do on behalf of Native Americans, but you negate your positive arguments for treating Native Americans with respect when you criticize someone for not be "Indian" enough.
I hope the older us gen-Yer's get, the less and less this kind of reverse discrimination will continue.
Come to Oklahoma, reach out and get to know any of our tribes, and you'll find less "full-bloods" participating in or seeking out cultural/governmental activities than anywhere else in the U.S.
Nice. Sorry, but aren’t there any better Cherokee role models around?
ReplyDeleteI understand the guys plight. I’m half Cherokee, and a registered member of the tribe thanks to the fact that somebody put one of my ancestors down on a piece of paper, but I also grew up in the suburbs of North Texas, don’t speak Cherokee, and really didn’t learn much about being a Cherokee until I decided to learn more about my tribe in college. Nobody I meet would know I was Cherokee by either my looks or my actions, if I weren’t to tell them I was (and show them my card as proof.) So despite the fact that I’m Cherokee by law, and consider myself Cherokee, I’m not going to hype that fact (or let anyone else hype it) no matter how successful I am later in life because that would just feel…well, wrong.
What I don’t understand are Cherokees who want to hype or celebrate this guy for a heritage he apparently doesn’t care much for; why claim him when he’s not that eager to claim you?
A few problems with your comments, Anonymous. First, I didn't say one word about Bradford's appearance or his blood quantum in this posting. You're arguing against a straw man that doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I didn't say Bradford wasn't "Indian" enough. If he proclaimed, "I haven't embraced my Cherokee heritage and have no plans to do so," I could accept that. As I've stated many, many times, being an enrolled member of a tribe is enough to make one an Indian.
What I commented on was the disconnect between Bradford's words and actions. He's talking about embracing his Cherokee heritage, but he hasn't done it yet. That's an issue worth discussing no matter what his blood quantum is.
I also commented on why so many people have gone ga-ga over Bradford. He won a sports trophy, lost a big game, and still knows little or nothing about his Cherokee roots. About the only thing I see worth emulating is that he went to college and got good grades while playing football on the side.
FYI, my position is similar to Xanthippas's. If Indians want a role model, find someone who embraces his culture and works for his people. That could be Bradford someday, but it isn't him yet.
And to reiterate, this has nothing to do with his appearance or his blood quantum. I accept that Bradford's an Indian, but I don't accept that he's a great role model. Not yet, anyway.