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Sermon November 11, 2018
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Pentecost 24, Proper 27, Track 1 – Honoring Veterans and Native American Heritage Month
http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost/BProp27_RCL.html
Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’ Mark 12:43-44
Please be seated.
Recently I heard from a former parishioner in Kentucky, Ken Phillips. Ken is from the Cherokee Nation. Ken was married to Shelia, who unfortunately died this past year. Shelia was also from the Cherokee Nation and Ken and Shelia lived on land that had always been in Shelia’s family.
Ken and Shelia also frequently traveled to Cherokee, North Carolina. They often brought clothing and other items needed by people living there. They visited friends. They brought the Kentucky Native American Heritage Museum to many celebrations on the reservation, as well as events throughout the region. The Museum is a traveling one contained in a large trailer.
Shelia is the one who got the phonetic “words” for Amazing Grace in the Cherokee language, which we’ll sing as our offertory today.
For many years, Ken and Shelia organized and hosted a pow wow on Labor Day weekend. In recent years, the event was held on their land. One of the most important parts of the pow wow was the entrance of the Color Guard. This was an honoring of the People who were Native American and who served in the military of the United States.
This is so interesting, because people of registered and recognized tribes have dual citizenship. They are citizens of their tribe and citizens of the United States. Yet, US citizenship has been very recent – only since 1924. But even with citizenship conferred by the United States, Native Americans were often denied the right to vote, which was determined by individual states. Even when other groups had the right to vote, Native Americans were denied such rights.
It would take many, many sermons and hours of time to accurately portray and explore and come to terms with the history of the European invaders near genocide of the Native peoples. It’s so confusing to think about living on the land and having some people come in, set up a government, tell you you can’t live on the land…you have no rights to it. You have no legal status in the eyes of the world, possibly, because your “government” is not recognized. And the people supposedly in charge of carrying out the legal agreements and treaties mistreat you and defraud you. You are thought of as less than human and unworthy. Your culture and way of life are devalued and thought of as savage or less than human. Your children are forcibly taken away from you. Many of you are outright killed or murdered or starved to death. It’s an awful, awful history.
Yet, people survived in spite of it all. And in spite of it all, they served this country in many ways.
Today at 11am, we observe the end of World War I. it has been 100 years since the war ended on the 11th Day of the 11th month at 11am. We know that in war, some give everything they have, because they give their very lives. We know that in peace, some give everything they have to work for peace, because they give their very lives.
And Native Americans fought in World War I. Even though many were not citizens and could not become citizens of the United States. Some had been able to gain citizenship by serving in the military, or owning land outside of the reservation or marrying a White man.
Despite their citizenship status, it is estimated that over 12,000 Native Americans fought in World War I. Some Native Americans who were Choctaw were code talkers. Many of the Germans knew and understood English. They could understand messages being sent by radio, telegraph and telephone lines. Even though speaking in native language was severely punished in the United States, one regiment used their soldiers from the Choctaw Nation to send sensitive messages in their native language. They had to add words for things like grenade and machine gun.
And Native Americans bought over $25 million in war bonds to fund the war.
An advocate for citizenship for all Native Americans described it like this:
“The Indian, though a man without a country, the Indian who has suffered a thousand wrongs considered the white man's burden and from mountains, plains and divides, the Indian threw himself into the struggle to help throttle the unthinkable tyranny of the Hun. The Indian helped to free Belgium, helped to free all the small nations, helped to give victory to the Stars and Stripes. The Indian went to France to help avenge the ravages of autocracy. Now, shall we not redeem ourselves by redeeming all the tribes?” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Citizenship_Act
It is easy to understand why some give so generously, putting their lives on the line for their country. They want to protect their families. In the case of some conflicts, they also care about others in the world who are experiencing oppression and genocide. And I don’t know about you, but I find it mind boggling that someone treated so poorly by a country would nonetheless join its Army, fight its battles, and risk their own lives to do so. That is truly giving one’s all….
Amen
Native Americans and WWI
http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/573
map of battles: https://blogs.loc.gov/maps/2018/03/americans-in-the-first-world-war-and-the-fight-for-citizenship/native-
Nipo Strongheart
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nipo_T._Strongheart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi7WndXQ-rA
