My Indian Heritage

My friend Royann and I were talking today at work, about how much we loved Cher when we were little girls. We were laughing about how we would put a towel on our head and let it hang down our backs so we could pretend that we had the same long hair as Cher. She immediately went into her reenactment of Cher pretending to flip her hair and moving her head back and forth just right. She even placed the tip of her tongue on her top lip like only Cher could do to make it so cool. I remember practicing that lip action in the mirror while listening to Cher on my little 45 records. The only thing I remember extra that my friend didn't include , was that Cher always had her cheeks sucked in. Royann said that she used to bobbi pin her towels on her head to keep them on while she was pretending to "FLIP" it over each shoulder.

I guess I hadn't thought of that because my hair (towel) went falling off my head about the time that I went to reach for my microphone( hairbrush) seconds before I would break into " I've got you Babe" pretending Sonny was next to me. With my arms folded, I would always look to my right side and towards the floor because that is what Cher did. Sonny was shorter then Cher and I .

It's amazing who you can imagine being when you are at that age. It feels so real!!!

While we were talking about this I kinda started singing the song I remember the most.... Royann kind of looked at me and didn't really jump in and sing along. Now I think I know why....

I will tell you in a minute...

When I was little my dad had told us that we were part Cherokee. That is something that I was very proud of and would share with anyone that would listen. I liked knowing that I was part Indian and it was just really cool because I didn't know anyone else that could make that same claim. No one else at school knew an Indian.

Being part Indian as a child made me proud and besides I could feel it in my blood when Cher would sit on top of her horse in her videos and sing.

I also remember one of my favorite songs by Paul Revere and the Raiders... Cherokee People...

It is such an awesome song!!!! Powerful and it made me even more proud to be part of the Cherokee Nation!!!!

You can hear the song by clicking on the part that is underlined and says

Watch it on YOUTUBE

That song made me want to be Cherokee!!!!

This just might have started the, wearing moccasins, having braids and picking out the Indians from the cowboy and Indian bag phase for me.

I do believe that this is the song I was singing to my friend while we were reenacting Cher so I'm guessing that is why she might have had that "I'm so confused" look on her face.

I had Cher and Paul revere and the Raiders all in one act.

Cher sang "Half Breed" Being Cher's #1 fan I don't know how I was so confused.

Back to my story.... I was born in Texas and I was proud of that too. The rest of my family was not born in the South like I was. I found out that that made me different than the rest of them also. I remember learning in school that I was born in a Confederate state and so that made me a Confederate. The rest of my family were Yankee's. I was proud to go around and say that I was a Confederate!

My mom told me I couldn't say that anymore and that I would be in trouble if I did!!!!

So I went back to saying I was Cherokee.

She let me say that.

Years later after watching "Gone with the Wind" I realized why she didn't want me to say that I was a Confederate. We for sure did not support slavery. I guess I then became a Yankee born in Texas.

In Junior High I went on vacation with my friend Tauni and her family. As we were driving in their station wagon her dad ( Bill Jackson) would point out the red dirt up on the mountains and ask me if I knew why the dirt was so red in certain spots?

I actually had never really noticed or thought about it.

He told me that those were the spots where a lot of Indians were killed during the war!

I believed him, well sort of. It didn't make complete sense to me but somehow because I was part Cherokee it made me take notice of how much red dirt there is on the hillsides. I assumed that it was the Ute tribe since we were in Utah. There was no other explanation why the dirt was red so I went with it! I later tried to trick my own children into believing it but they wouldn't believe me for a second!

Some years ago while at my parents house my dad busted out into laughter and said.....

"Remember when I told you kids you were part Cherokee?" I gave him the "are you serious" look. He told me he was just joking and that we weren't Cherokee. He was laughing so hard!!! He thought he was so funny!

I was reminded that I am really fair skinned and have blue eyes. I guess I had never really wanted to think about that. Maybe I was a "half breed" like Cher sang about.

I told him I knew all along that we weren't Indian. I think I was a little sad to find out that I wasn't.

His comment then was...." but you really are!!!!' and started laughing hysterically again!

My father thinks that he is hysterical when he flip flops whether I am part Indian or not. By the looks of it, I probably will never know if I am 1/4 part or 1/20th. He won't tell me. He just laughs!!!

Once again I find myself in an identity crisis!!!!! As if not knowing my real birthday wasn't enough!!!!

Come on Chief Banta, tell me the truth this time....

Me think you not funny!!!

Me think time for POW WOW!!!