I came to Cherokee again after 10 years on July 29, 2017, not to see Harrah’s and all its “gilded cages”, but to expose my soul and spirit to the extremely unjust, raw and emotional upheaval of the Cherokee Nation’s version of “Unto These Hills”. I have always vowed to come back, because of the dramatization I saw then.
I finally made it back this year and brought five people with me. I was so surprised to see how different the dramatization was!
Please don’t misunderstand, the children were beautiful and theatrical, but the soul of the story was missing. The one I saw 10 years ago was more than just a show. The actors that included Mr. Mike Crowe had you praying for the forgiveness of humanity. Maybe it is just me. Being Afro-American could have me feeling super-sensitive about this Nation of people.
As heavy and deep as the one I saw years ago, I feel it was “The truth, nothing but the truth so help me…” I don’t know that I will come back, but I feel honored to have experienced what must have been the closest depiction of what happened to a race of people I have ever seen…it took courage.
Verna Spicer
Charlotte, NC
