TO A GREAT-GRANDFATHER
BY HUGH CROW II, EASTERN OREGON CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
Oklahoma,
Did you lose a piece of your being on the Trail of Tears? Today I can say I’ve read books and found your name, once, on a website. I love you for the children you fathered. Whatever legacy each has left, I hope it honors where you’re from.
Please inform me, what kind of traditions do we hold in our households as a Cherokee people? I’m Christian, as many of us have become. Can you tell me how you perceive a loss of our identity, if that in fact exists in your understanding of things.
We’ve come far, and yet I know little of our tradition. Your sons who spoke our tongue have passed. I met one son on a farm in Muskogee before he passed — he was in his seventies. I’m sure you’d be proud. | HC
HUGH CROW II WAS MOSTLY RAISED IN BEND,OREGON. HE IS AN ENROLLED AS A CHEROKEE TRIBAL CITIZEN ON HIS DAD’S SIDE. HE IS MOSTLY DUTCH ON HIS MOTHER’S SIDE. HE BEGAN WRITING RAP LYRICS AND PRIVATE THOUGHTS IN A JOURNAL AT TWELVE OR THIRTEEN. THE POWER OF WORDS ARE ENCOURAGING TO HIM AND PROMOTES HIS GROWTH.
