Dana Tiger's Dedication Speech for "On Their Honor They Kept Watch"

December 16, 1997
Cherokee Nation Courthouse
Tahlequah, Oklahoma

Good evening, welcome and thank you for being here.

In 1989 I was drawn away from my birth family's home in Muskogee to the hills of Cherokee country. For some reason that I didn't know then.

I bought a little cabin in the country and me and my dog and cats embarked on making a home in Park Hill, Okla.

Today I look back and see that what I did those nine years ago was the beginning of the most important days of the rest of my life. You see, family has always meant more to me than anything in the world. But at age 27 I left my momma's home... and, I know some of you are thinking that's kind of old to be venturing out of the nest for the first time... but, I will tell you myself that I'm a pretty big baby. Anyway, this Tahlequah town had a feeling about it that my old home town did not poses for me. So, onward I came!

What these hills did for me and continue to do for me is a never ending amazement. There is deep under-flowing power in the land on which we are standing and this power flows up into your body and gives you strength and awakens you to parts of your self that you didn't know you had, but, always wished for. This place is magic.

For example... One night while sitting in my cabin I decided to pray for a compatible companion since my sister had convinced me that I was lonely living way out in the country by myself. The very next day on my own dirt road I met the most talented, hard working, feminist thinking, Cherokee man right out in the country... so I asked him to marry me, and he said Yes!. So there... I still can't believe it. We have 2 of the most feisty and opinionated, "activists in training" children, now age 2 and 4, that a mother could ever dream of.

Those things are Cherokee miracles. This place sustains me, gives me hope, helps me cope.

In 1990 my dear brother Chris who was 22 years old was murdered in Muskogee. It was these Cherokee hills and trees that listened to me scream then told me to gather myself together. Be Strong and go to your Mother. Then my beautiful sister Lisa tested positive for HIV in 1992. It was these Cherokee Hills that heard me wale and cry, but, then said "Stop crying," go be strong for your sister and your mother.

The Cherokee mountains, like Wilma Mankiller, Pat Ragsdale, Diane Blalock and all the rest of you that say to me, "Be Strong, fight this fight, do your best, take care of each other," and so we DO!

It is that and so much more that this painting is about. This painting is my acknowledgement and honoring of that under-flowing current of lifelong courage that you possess as you stand strong to defend this beautiful Nation, the Cherokee Nation.

It is my hope that you will accept this painting and consider it part of the land that we love so much... and that when you look at it you will see yourselves as the warrior women and men that you are! Forever dedicated to protecting and defending this land on which miracles are made!

The ancestors are watching and the are proud!

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