A ravenmocker is a horrible creature that used to be human but has turned its life force over to evil. It is called a ravenmocker (Ko:lan hye-lisk) because as it flies through the night searching for victims its cries resemble the call of the Raven. In traditional Cherokee culture the ravenmocker is greatly feared because there is no way to look at someone and know he/she is a ravenmocker. The ravenmocker feeds upon the souls of the living, usually as they are lying ill. They enter the room of the sick and dying and pierce the liver of the unfortunate and drain away the life he had left, thus extending their won miserable life. The ravenmocker, in the shape of a trusted elder, will hold a newborn child and scratch his back, thus stealing that child's future years. Once handed back to the parents, the child withers or suddenly dies (SIDS) and no one seems to know why. The Raven was a revered bird among the Cherokees. Its feathers were worn by high ranking priests who governed villages during times of turmoil and war. They were known among the people as Ko:lan or Raven in English. The fact that the evil ravenmocker mimicks the call of such a revered species makes the symbolism even more painful. My thoughts on our ravenmocker's words follow:

RM said:
In order to join the Cherokee Nation, you must first have a CDIB card.

My reply:
The ravenmocker should read the law before making a statement that cannot be supported by fact. While the amendment to the constitution now requires that individuals have an ancestor on the by blood and Delaware sections of the roll, there is no requirement that the individual have a CDIB card. Whether the Freedmen are ever restored or not, it is not appropriate that the Cherokee Nation, a sovereign in its own right, should depend upon the United States to determine first, who is Cherokee and who is not. If I, as a descendant of native Cherokees listed on the Dawes Rolls should choose not to approach the United States to obtain some a plastic card that purports to measure the immeasurable Cherokee blood I possess, then my own government, the Cherokee Nation, should not force me. And there is no reason to obtain a CDIB card in order to determine my citizenship in the Cherokee Nation except for the purpose of racial classification. I can point to all NINE of my direct acestors who appear on the Dawes Rolls and prove with documents to each one, and NEVER have to mention blood. The reason for that is simple. Blood is not the measure of citizenship. While blood, through intermarriage, is diminished, citizenship, handed from parent to child, remains full and intact in each generation. Our ravenmocker, much like Chad Smith and his minion, would ask the Freedmen and their supporters to simply accept the expulsion. I say NO. The rights of the Freedmen is inextricably tied to the rights of the whole Cherokee people. I fight for their rights in order to protect my own. The Cherokee Nation is a NATION comprised of varous ethnic groups, each distinct from the other, but blending to create the whole.

RM said:
In order to get a CDIB card you must prove that you are directly related to a Cherokee Indian on the Dawns roll. Is that not clear enough?

David replies:
It is quite clear that ravenmocker, along with Chad Smith and his minion, seek to turn the Cherokee Nation over to the federal authorities. A CDIB card is a federal document created to segregate the Cherokee citizens based on the rediculous notion that "blood" determines ability and intelligence. It doesn't! The CDIB was never intended to be used for citizenship purposes, that came about in the first efforts by Ross Swimmer to exterminate the Freedmen in 1983. Prior to his racist and unlawful efforts to block the Freedmen from voting, any Cherokee citizen could register to vote simply by proving through documentation to an ancestor on the Dawes Rolls and we all know, the Freedmen did that and voted.

Here is what must be made clear to ravenmocker and anyone else who thinks the Freedmen and their supporters will be like reeds in the river. That just isn't going to happen, at least not this time. When the Freedmen of the Choctaw and Creek Nations were voted out, it appears no one was watching. Well now the world is watching and this cannot be swept under the rug. I have not invested nearly 25 years of my life to this cause to give up now; not when the "prize" of citizenship and suffrage is within reach. There are and have been many battles in this war on racism; some are won, some are lost, but so long as racism lives, in whatever corner and whomever shall succor it, I will resist.