To the Editor:

I am writing in regards to the Nikwasi Indian Mound. I am concerned for the community of Franklin and the image it is giving off to the rest of this country. Franklin has a lot of part-time residents that live elsewhere and a lot of others who are keeping up on the goings-on that are deciding whether to retire or visit here.

First off, I cannot believe that the Town of Franklin has missed the mark concerning the return of the mound to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). This is an opportunity to close some wounds, restore a church to a culture that has thousands of years’ history to the land, and to demonstrate understanding and goodwill. Folks, when I ask people what religion they feel Franklin is, they say “there are a lot of Christians.” 

However, the Town of Franklin doesn’t uphold that image. Here is why. They are hypocrites not loving their neighbor as themselves. If they would look at this issue from a cultural standpoint, they would understand they are withholding a church from a people that lost it because they were forced by Christians that coveted their land, some stole it, murdered them for it and waged war against the Cherokee all because of gold. Christians were hostile against them back then and that is still continuing today because it is obvious they are not culturally sensitive people. 

The mound has looked horrible since it was desecrated with herbicide. Indians consider that like burning a church. If you understood culture, the Town of Franklin would have never done that to the mound. They altered it, which was also against the instructions from the Macon County Historical Society when the deed was transferred to the Town of Franklin. 

I had to go research a bit at the library to maybe find some answers why Franklin refuses to return the Nikwasi Mound. They claim it’s rightly owned by people that bought it. They claim that EBCI is a sovereign nation and what would happen if they owned a piece of land in the middle of Franklin. They claim that the complications from it being privately owned interfere with them returning it.

Those arguments are invalid. First, EBCI owns two other mounds and they are not going to alter, remove, or put a casino on it or use it to take over land. If you were culturally educated you would understand this is not something that is allowed in Indian culture to do to sacred sites. The deed being in EBCI’s name is no different if I put a piece of land that I owned in the name of the EBCI. All we are looking at is a real estate transaction. 

Here’s the interesting piece of information I came across in Barbara McRae’s book called Franklin’s Ancient Mound, Teresita press, 1993. The Siler family oversaw the matters with the Indian Removal process (Jacob Siler was the man that served in the legislature in 1839-40 when issues concerning matters of the Cherokee Indians were discussed). It was also Jesse and Harriet Siler that acquired the Nikwasi Mound in the 1800s and built a gazebo on it. The mayor of Franklin, Bob Scott, married a Siler descendant. 

Now I couldn’t help but to wonder if this is why it is so difficult to return the mound is because Mayor Bob Scott has personal family history against the Cherokee Indians and he is still enforcing cultural insensitivity. I really would like to know because that is sure what it looks like after reading the history about the mound and watching the behaviors of a culturally inept council.

The other argument is why didn’t the Indians purchase the mound back in 1949 to get it back? I can tell you why … they were poor, still struggling to survive from what happened to them after the removal. They couldn’t afford it folks. Again, cultural ignorance shines right through because some refuse to learn about others to understand it from their point of view.

I think the Town of Franklin needs to re-think its decision of just allowing the EBCI to take on the expense of maintaining the mound but not own it. You are killing the Town of Franklin’s chance to heal wounds, to perhaps let the EBCI build the community by building a museum next to the mound to attract visitors here. You are missing an opportunity to show what Christianity is really about and not look like hypocrites to the rest of the world like some of the white ancestors were. There is no room for racism, not loving your neighbor and treating others like outsiders in the Christian religion.

After gaining some knowledge on the history of the mound, Bob Scott, you have a lot of explaining to do because most of the arguments in the media from the Town of Franklin are horribly invalid and definitely culturally insensitive. I would suggest returning the mound before we end up on national news with Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson making your political life difficult  and ruining Franklin’s reputation.

Rachel Truesdell

Franklin