By BROOKLYN BROWN
Tsisqwohi (Birdtown)
In the newsroom, we often hear about the “death of newspapers.” But, as a reporter at the One Feather, I do not worry about the death of our newspaper.
I don’t believe the One Feather will ever die, even if we’re the last little paper standing, and here’s why.
When Sequoyah invented the Cherokee Syllabary in 1821, he invented the first written language of any Native American nation. The syllabary was a groundbreaking tool for us in the next eras of American history, where our quick adaptation of the syllabary and documentation of our history would be crucial in laying the groundwork for our sovereignty and survival as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Cherokee Nation, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. We also had the first Native American newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, which was the first paper to be published in both English and Cherokee. The first issue of the Cherokee Phoenix was printed in 1828, just 7 years after the invention of the syllabary. This is truly remarkable.
Even before the invention of the syllabary, Cherokee people document history through storytelling, music, dance, and art. We have the knowledge we have today because of thousands of years of documentation, also known as journalism. Journalism is a Cherokee tradition.
Will West Long and Inoli were prolific Cherokee journalists of the early 20th century, documenting daily life in Cherokee, North Carolina, from community meetings to the weather.
We have always had a newspaper, even before it was defined as a newspaper. We have always kept the stories of our people, because we know how important it is, not just for today, but for the past and the future. Cherokee fluent speaker and educator Tom Belt once told me that Anikituwah do not look at time as linear, but as a circle. Everything that happened then matters now, and everything that happens now, matters for future generations; and everything that happens now and forever for the Cherokee people, mattered to Will West Long, Inoli, Sequoyah, and all the Cherokees who keep stories. They were thinking about us.
That’s why I believe the One Feather will never die. Even if worse comes to worst and we lose freedom of press in this country, we will always keep our stories, because we kept them through worse.
As long as we have high school graduations, council meetings, basketball games, Cherokee fairs, ribbon cuttings, award ceremonies, community events, the “good stuff,” YOU, we will have a newspaper. Because this is YOUR paper.
