Conversations with Chief: A Living Breathing Culture

what does it mean to be choctaw is it the color of your skin your blood quantum how you were raised i don't think any one person can really answer that because being choctaw means something different to everyone [Music] there's miss melissa sue and and michael happy bolts on there that's when we were skinny too when i'm searching for answers to life's tough questions i often seek counsel with one of our beloved elders so i paid a visit to sue folsom look at that beautiful beadwork and this the sash and she did that on a loom and you in some traditional dress and my mom made these for us so it says 1970 choco princess wow melissa sue williams i didn't know i was sitting here was here with royalty and nobody knows the name melissa looking through sue's family album i was reminded of my own childhood memories growing up in southeastern oklahoma i was curious about the difference between sue's traditional upbringing and those who didn't share that same cultural experience it's interesting i had a cousin that came from california and of course he's 132nd choctaw and the the question that he had he said you know i'm really struggling in my choctaw and i thought well what makes you think you're not choctaw and he said because you know i'm only a 32nd and he said and i grew up in california so i don't really know the traditional ways i don't know the cultural ways you know if he's just one thirty second choctaw but he's proud of that one thirty second choctaw then that's okay you know as long as you are proud of who you are and proud that you are choctaw that was one of my conversation i wanted to have with you because i know you grew up in a very traditional home them speaking the original language me and my younger brother we heard choctaw in the family but they wouldn't let us speak back to them in choctaw because my two older sisters couldn't even speak english when they started the school we had to answer in english so that we wouldn't have the problems they were having at that my older sisters did in school i remember my grandpa said that he did not want my mom to endure some of the things that he he did you know so being made fun of going to school and not being able to speak english but he taught me more of the language and i was telling you before that now my son speaks more than than i do and then hopefully my grandsons will speak more than human it's carrying it on from one generation to another that keeps that moving that keeps it alive well you know and i think sue about us as choctaws we all kind of come from a fragmented if you will cultural past you know most people don't know about the indian relocation program where our tribal members after world war ii ended up taking jobs being moved out to the west now people are starting to make the migration back and so i keep saying it's kind of like these it becomes full circle it's exciting to hear about the people coming home and reconnecting with their families i think just by being near each other we're able to strengthen our cultural bonds i was curious to know how sue is keeping the culture alive in her family how do you teach that to your kids and to your grandkids that culture to make sure that they continue the legacy well i'm very fortunate that my grandkids live close just the other night i was humming one of our songs when he asked me he said what are you humming and he's seven years old and i said oh it's a chocolate him he said well that really is pretty you know he knew it wasn't something that he he he would hear us sing in english some of the english hymns but he he knew it was different you know i think you remind me again of my i have a great niece and she's the eighth choctaw blonde headed blue item with my mom she stayed with my mom all the time when she was little bitty she would listen to some of the hymns and things like that and she used to ask her i said uh abigail said so how much chalk are you she goes i'm full blood i mean she but she managed and now as blood quantum diminishes and citizenship becomes an issue then i think people hopefully remembers that it is our traditional ways and practices that makes them choctaw that makes them proud well you know like your cousin if he's proud that he's just you know a little bit but proud of that you know his choctaw blood then that's that's okay but as long as he you know feels knows that he's choctaw he may say a little you know or you know learn a little bit about the language or just read and you know that way that can make him more proud of what part of the choctaw he is and what he knows about that part and at least being vocal about it don't be ashamed anymore and [Music] the identity that i can say i am choctaw i met with christine davidson owner of frybread express i joined the crew inside the food truck to get hands-on experience serving indian tacos how do we keep our culture history how do you keep culture and history alive and live those values out the chantal spirit it just i want to keep it alive through our food my grandmother she always welcomed people with food traditional values things that were instilled in me as in you know taking care of your elders if somebody's hungry feed them we think during doing this we can share our food our passion for oh man they love these indian tacos people come from all over to get these i love it it's very good and we just are inspired by by the faith and family that we have and what we've got going on we decided we would go ahead and just keep busy with it and schedule more events and just stay with what we wanted to do was just like i said have our freedom and be with our kids or grandkids spend more time with them and family family family oriented we want to build memories while we can before they get too old [Music] something i'm very excited about is the opening of the choctaw cultural center i took a tour of the new facility before it opened with stacy shepard i just think it's how much it will honor our elders and then for our young people the children my grandkids your grandkids that are going to walk through this place and learn so much and have that opportunity to carry with them at an early age maybe something that i didn't have so much of when i was a child so i think that's really exciting well me too and i'm excited to go see the rest of the facility let's go our next stop was with the cultural center's new chef amy salcedo what are you cooking chef amy hey hey i got some taunchy labona here for everybody to try oh tanchi looks awesome you like that sugar nippy in there oh thanks you guys want to try it well of course okay i'm so excited to be here to have you to be able to work in the nation and be able to bring all this to you guys i love all the cultural food and i'm excited you guys try it chef amy so how did you learn to make well i'll tell you cooking is such a passion of mine i've been doing it for a long time and i grew up cooking in the kitchen with with my with my grandma and my mom so it's like a really it's a family thing so for me learning how to eat tanchi or making tachi cooking is a labor of love and when you sit down with people whenever they're eating it's such an intimate experience like you're you're opening up to communication you're enjoying your food and it slows people down it slows you down and brings your focus right to you and to who you're with growing up we always had um we always had family meals together yeah good it's a little warm but lunch pop but it's good lunchbox in our culture we have faith family and culture and i feel like that comes full circle when you bring food in the mix and people come here to the cultural center they're going to have a chance to do that well we're so glad you're back home i'm so glad that you're you're passionate about your food by the way is awesome your tongue is really good and so okay are we there i'm ready to try some fry bread before we left the cultural center i want to take time to reflect on how our culture has persevered we have a wonderful legacy of who we are as choctaw people it's interesting to go from the from 1830 to where we are today i'm so thankful that our culture and history has persevered through all of this i think tribulations there's nothing that we can't survive [Music] what does it mean to be choctaw it's such a personal question with so many answers i think it's our self-determination our own pride and the care that we have for each other i hope that you have found out what being choctaw means to you

Channel: ChoctawNationOK

Views: 865

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Id: mRihOOsaZ5s

Length: 11min 11sec (671 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 21 2021