Ode to My Mother

Ode to My Mother

39 lines


My mother was an original
one-of-a-kind person
with a tangled family history
that she explained one day.

Many a year ago,
My mother spoke to me
About her family’s tangled history,

She spoke to me
Of lies, half-truths, and myths
Some of which may have been true
And throughout the evening
Her history came alive.

She was born in the hills
of North Little Rock
The 10th of 11 children
Of an ancient, dying race.

The Lost Tribe of Cherokees
who had run away
Refugees who fled in the hills.

Part of the lost tribe of the Cherokee Nation
Part African American, Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek,
Dutch, French, Scot-Irish, Scottish, Seminole
Who fled to the mountains
To avoid the trail of tears.

Rather than join the rest
In the promised land
Of Oklahoma.

They did not exist
No DNA evidence
Less than 20,000 of them left.

I asked my mother
What does this mean?
She said,

No BIA money for you,
My non-Indian son.
Long live
the Lost Tribe of the Cherokees!

Personal note:


Note:

Father’s family

My father on a trip to Norway met his long-lost cousins. They told him that they had Laplander relatives and my father was introduced to some of his Laplander cousins. Before joining the FS I looked into getting a Norwegian passport as the grandson of a Norwegian citizen, unfortunately for me, my uncle informed me that she was born in Canada so I was not eligible. He also informed me that one of her grandparents was a Russian Jew. and he informed me that the Aller family had originally come from France and moved to Germany as during the Hundred Years war. One part of the family ended up in Spain and that is why there are so many Allers throughout Latin America. There is also the possibility of more Jewish blood as some of the Allers may have been secretly Jewish. My uncle also said that the last names Aller, Ahler, Oller and Eller are are variants of the same last name.

My direct US ancestor fought in the US revolutionary war and was given citizenship and land as were other German Hessian mercernaires who fought with George Washington Armies.

Mother’s family

according to Mary, her parents spoke Cherokee and she knew a few words as well

She grew up in North Little Rock and was the 8th child of ten. She left for the Bay Area during the dust bowl of the 30s which devasated small family farms in Okaholma, Texas, Missouri and Arkansas. they were the original enviormental refugees who fled to California where they became known as “Okies”. Many settled in the Central Valley.

I once met her Brother and he looked very Indian.

The lost tribe only numbers 25,000 people mostly living in Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and Oklahoma. they are descended from Cherokees and other Indians who fled into the Ozark mountains to avoid the Indian removal known as the Trail of Tears that occurred in 1830-1832. They were never enrolled in the Cherokee nation’s census as they ran away in the 20s before the census was done.

They have been fighting to get official recognition ever since. The two official Cherokee tribes are opposed to recognition because their claim to Cherokee status is not supported by evidence including DNA testing. Most such testing shows trace elements of native Ancestry but does not break it down by tribal affiliation. Most of them do not speak Cherokee or have much Indian cultural history. They were known in the South as the Black Irish because they were dark-skinned and had Irish last names.

I once met a self-described Ambassador of the Cherokee nation at a State Department event. The US government signed the UN treaty on the rights of the indigenous people which requires annual consultations between Central government offices and representatives of indigenous people. The State Department and the Department of Interior take turns in hosting these annual events. The Department took exception to the Indian leaders calling themselves Ambassadors, but he did not care at all. As far as he was concerned he was the Ambassador of the Cherokee nation.

he confirmed that we were probably distant cousins as had cousins in Little Rock with the last name Aldrige. He said that the Cherokee Nation would never recognize the lost tribe officially as they did not want to share BIA resources or gambling revenues with them. But they all knew that they were part Cherokee mixed in with other native people, French, Irish, Scot, English, and African.

I met Bill Clinton at an event in Mumbai after he retired. He said that he knew some Aldriges and we were probably cousins so he said he would call me Cousin Jake.

I later told that story to Mary. She confirmed that we are probably cousins but Bill Clinton was just another crooked southern politician to her despite being probably a second cousin or something.



for more info on the lost tribe of the Cherokee Nation see the following Bing AI synopsis

The Lost Cherokees, traditionally referred to as Black Dutch or Black Irish, are estimated to number around 9,000 in Arkansas and about 500 more in southern Missouri. They seek official recognition as a tribe after years of investigation. The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has been working on their recognition petition for nine years1. However, it’s important to note that the term “Lost Cherokees” is not one used historically but has emerged more recently.
Regarding their location, these individuals primarily reside in Arkansas and southern Missouri. Their quest for recognition aims to secure their rights and cultural identity as part of the Cherokee Nation1.