The Cherokee mothertown, Kituwah, a tribally-owned archeological complex in Swain County, was the target of an act of vandalism late last week, according to an article posted on the TuckasegeeReader.com.
According to Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians historic preservation officer Russ Townsend, the perpetrators lifted a cattle gate off of its hinges and drove a full-size pickup truck onto the complex, making at least one pass over the Kituwah mound, which is the focal point of an archeological site that dates to the Mississippian period.
“We feel like it was an act of vandalism and luckily there was little damage to the mound itself,” Townsend said. He also said he has often been the victim of verbal abuse from passing motorists as he conducted school tours of the site with groups of Cherokee students. To him, that’s more damaging than the tire tracks on the mound.
Read the full story on TuckasegeeReader.com.
Photo by Giles Morris.
As a person of Cherokee (and white) descent, I find this deplorable. It just goes to show redneck racism is alive and well in WNC.
[i]It just goes to show redneck racism is alive and well in WNC.[/i]
Isn’t THAT ‘racist’.?
@Bill, I believe the term you are looking for is ‘classist.’ Poor white people are denigrated as a result of their class, not their race.
Get off cwaster’s back.
Any ill-bred white southerner who would desecrate anyone’s spiritual heritage deserves denigration, and I am willing to give cwaster the benefit of the doubt that he is not referring to all whites when he says “redneck”.
It was redneck racism. The big white boy sez so.
[i]Poor white people are denigrated as a result of their class, not their race. [/i]
But redneck does tend to imply a specific race, does it not?
(sorry to digress)
Sure, but if they were liberal, white yuppies instead of working class white people, their race would be a non-issue.
Check out the provocative book, “Redneck Manifesto.” Firestorm stocks it but I’m sure you could special order it from another seller.
Over & over again we see far too many folks writing off ignorance as a form of prejudice. Keeping it alive and well and finding new strength, enabling it to reach future generations with unmatched percision. This is an example of ignorance not racisim. It is time we stop making excuses for these people. Society, economics, not even potty training are responsible for the conduct of these people. They are !!! It was a choice and they made it.
@p.jumper.nc, No one is making excuses for the dumb asses who vandalized Kituwah. I think you misread the commentary.
It’s interesting that everyone assumes this vandalism was done by a specific race. I was at the location two months ago to do a ceremony by the river and there were 6 young large native men with their rifles who told me I needed to be careful because they were target shooting. They had placed a political sign between the shed area and the mound. And, sure enough, they were shooting through the sign into the mound.
Disrespect isn’t monopolized by non-natives.
Let’s be careful about assuming where the racism, disregard and disrespect come from. These decisions are made at an individual level. Accountability also needs to be at an individual level. Generalizations and assumptions only serve to cause more hatefulness.