m5 blog

After watching the video, which took about an hour to load, I found the video to be very intriguing. As the first Female Cherokee tribal leader can I just point out the elephant in the room that her name is mankiller?  I found it interesting that she didn’t actually get voted into the position but took over the role in 1985 when Chief Ross Swimmer became director of native affairs and stepped down. She also concluded that his whole tribal council opposed her. I went into this video thinking that a huge breakthrough for women’s rights had touched the native community, but in fact it fell into her hands after 82 percent of the votes made her deputy chief or second in command. Although the fact that they rest of the counsel did not oppose the position for ten years is a sign of equality within the sovereign government. I also love the fact that President Clinton gave her the highest civilian honor awarded in America and she accepted it. That is a testament to the bond that is slowly growing between two cultures in within the same country. During expansion Natives opposed becoming civilians of a U.S. Government, so for a Native Chief to be given that award with that title is groundbreaking in my eyes. As we learned this term President Clinton was known for his Native policies, which I’m sure helped the process. What I believe made her a successful leader was her remarks to running a tribe; “"I think the best advice I would give is to develop teams of interdisciplinary teams of people to help you in problem-solving; don’t try to do it by yourself”. That is very smart thinking when you have everyone watching you because you have changed the history of your people. It explains why she was leader for 10 years.

Mankiller, Wilma. "Governance, Leadership, and the Cherokee Nation." Leading Native Nations interview series. Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy, University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. September 29, 2008. Interview.