“What is a sacred place? For many of us it’s where our family is buried, it’s where our churches are, it’s where our ceremonial grounds are… They tell us stories about the past and we take great pride in trying to protect them.” – MCN Secretary of Culture and Humanities RaeLynn Butler
OKMULKE, Oklv. – The Muscogee (Creek) Nation held the 5th Annual Honor Walk to Protect Sacred Spaces on Thursday, June 20. The walk began at the Claude Cox Omniplex Pavilion at 10 a.m. and followed the circular Fairground Drive route. The morning walk was in observance of the National Day of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places and was sponsored by the Department of Historic and Cultural Preservation and Hickory Ground.
The MCN has observed the National Day of Prayer to Protect Sacred Places since 2019 and has focused on bringing attention to the ongoing fight to protect the site of Hickory Ground in Wetumpka, Alabama. MCN Secretary of Culture and Humanities RaeLynn Butler explained,
“The 5th annual Honor Walk is an observance of the National Day of Prayer to Protect Sacred Places which happens on the summer solstice each year. The Muscogee Nation’s observance has focused on protecting Hickory Ground (Oce Vpofv), a sacred place in Wetumka, Alabama that was the last tribal town location of Hickory Ground before the forced removal. This is also a burial ground and cemetery for Hickory Ground. The Poarch Band desecrated this sacred place by clearing the land and excavating 57 graves to make way for a multi-million dollar casino resort. The Muscogee Nation has been in litigation for more than a decade and we continue to seek justice for our ancestors. To date, Poarch has refused to allow our ancestors to be repatriated. This one is the worst acts of desecration in recent memory, and today we remember and honor Oce Vpofv and all the Mvskoke and Euchee sacred lands that need protection.”
In 2021 the Honor Walk was nearly rained out, yet citizens still plodded through puddles and rain to show support and unity for the protection of Oce Vpofv. This year, amongst the bustling preparations for the MCN 2024 Annual Festival and soaring morning temperatures, Mvskoke citizens and other tribal allies showed up in numbers. According to Butler, this year was the highest in attendance.
Before the walk began, the event was initiated with speakers including Secretary Butler, Principal Chief David Hill, representatives from Hickory Ground, and Mary Katheryn Nagle (Cherokee). Nagel serves as an attorney in the litigation against the Poarch Band. She stated,
“I look around here today and I see you, if you’re Muscogee Creek, the only reason you exist is because one of your ancestors or more, fought incredibly hard to survive the Trail of Tears, survive one of the worst genocides in human history, so you can be here today. When you look back on American history, it used to be they were trying to eradicate us, they didn’t want tribes to exist anymore. Now they don’t want to eradicate us, they want to be us. That’s the story of Poarch. They are trying to be you… They applied for federal grant funds to buy the original Hickory Ground site and they told the federal government ‘If you give us this land we will protect it for the Hickory Ground in Oklahoma.’ And one of the first things they did when they got the land was dig up 57 of your relatives and put them in storage bins in Auburn University. That’s why we’re here today. They built a 246 million dollar casino on top of your sacred site. That’s one of the most offensive things a human being could do, so we’re here today to fight for the right of your relatives to remain in their final resting place. We’re also fighting for all of Indian Country because our tribes are still in danger, it might be 2024 and not in the 1830s but if we lose our sacred sites, if we lose our culture, if we lose our language there are no more tribal nations.”
Chief Hill reassured attendees the administration’s work is ongoing and continuous. During remarks he stated, “We are going to continue to fight on what happened…We’re going to continue to fight, we will fight to the end, we don’t want this to happen to any other tribal town or tribe… We honor our ancestors today, Mvto.”
Mekko George Thompson, the traditional chief of Hickory Ground, told Mvskoke Media at the event, “Today is a monumental day. As we are here today to honor our ancestors who were forced to leave their homes in the southeast, you know they came on an incredulous journey and hardships, but they managed to come here and they managed to create some of the things we enjoy doing today. As I looked out over the audience I was saying that to me, I saw a lot of people from different tribal towns that were present and that’s what this is about, coming together and honoring our ancestors. Hickory Ground is the number one example of what can happen to your tribal town and you should be aware of it.”
The National Day of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places began in 2003 on the summer solstice, and was organized by Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne/Mvskoke) and the Morning Star Institute. The institute was a Native American rights organization devoted to the promotion of Native land claims and protection of American Indian traditional spaces. The day is commemorated with ceremonies, prayers, walks, and other intentional actions. Tribal governments, Native organizations, and community groups have participated in the annual observance since its inception with events happening nationally.
