The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has used the approach of the United States' 250th birthday to reflect on its heritage, its history and its role within the state. Chief Gary Batton, who leads the nation from the southeastern part of Oklahoma, set out how the tribe sees itself as both a sovereign people and a partner to the wider community around it. Oklahoma, he noted, has the second largest Native American population in the country.
He began with the name of the state itself. Oklahoma, he explained, comes from two Choctaw words, okla meaning people or clan and homa meaning red, together giving the land of the red people. He offered a few words of the language as well, greeting the audience with halito, meaning hello, and yakoke, meaning thank you, an easy way of sharing the culture with visitors.
Batton described the Choctaw Nation as a sovereign nation within both Oklahoma and the United States, but one that works closely with every level of government. He said the tribe enters into compacts with cities, counties, the state and the federal government, and noted that making such agreements is nothing new, pointing to compacts with Ireland and France as far back as the 1800s.
Much of his message centred on community. Although the nation is sovereign and does not believe it should be taxed, Batton said it chooses to donate money back to the places around it. He said the tribe funds 89 public school districts in its area and gives money to the cities and counties where it has businesses, on the principle that a rising tide lifts all ships.
He did not shy away from the darker chapters of the past. The Choctaw were the first tribe to walk the Trail of Tears, he said, losing a third of their people. Yet even after that suffering, the nation heard of people starving in Ireland and sent money to help, a gesture Batton presented as proof of a long tradition of looking out for others.
That resilience, he said, is central to Choctaw identity. The nation describes its people as tushka, or warriors, and treats empathy and strength as part of both its traditional and organisational culture. He acknowledged that the nation still faces real problems, including areas of poverty and domestic violence, but said those struggles are not an excuse to stop trying to improve lives.
Batton also pointed to the tribe's economic weight, citing a 4.5 billion dollar economic impact on the state of Oklahoma. He said housing and health care remain priorities because they are what his people, and the wider state, urgently need. The overall message, he said, was to recognise the troubling times of the past while keeping the focus firmly on the better days ahead.