The Only Pilgrim
The joys and struggles of growing up in the North Carolina Cherokee Nation.
When I was six years old my mom and dad decided that they wanted to pick up and move away from everything they knew. They decided to move to a small town call Cherokee, which is a Federal Reservation in the mountains of Western North Carolina.
This led to me being raised in a mostly Native American population, where 90 percent of the kids at the school are Native American.
It wasn't till I was about 8 years old when I started to realize that I was different than most kids at my school. I remember one day in school we had a class play of Thanksgiving dinner and the teacher made me and one other white kid be the pilgrims while the other kids in my class got to be Native Americans. At the time I didn't think to much of it because I was only 8, so it didn't really bother me.
Going into the fifth grade is when it started to get noticeable. The Native American kids started to realize that I was different, and they started to pick on me because I was one of probably 3 White kids in my grade. When the kids would get mad at me they would always say “shut up, white boy” or “ go back to Europe where you belong.”
I’m not here to just talk about the bad things. One of the good things that came from being raised in a mostly NA population was a broader perspective.
During history classes when we were learning about the Trail Of Tears and how the Natives were treated when the White people came over, it was like I was a ref in a football game. I wasn't on either side and I could see where both side were coming from. It also gave me a better understanding and appreciation of Native American culture and how it works.
My dad moved to Cherokee because he wanted a new start for our family. Cherokee also paid more then most high schools around the area which was a factor in our move. My dad also saw Cherokee, NC, as an opportunity to go live and work in a new environment.
The Eastern Band Of Cherokee Indians used to occupy 140,000 square miles before the Trail Of Tears. As time went on the Cherokees stared to lose more and more land. By the 1800s, they only inhabited land in North Carolina and Georgia. In 1838–1839 the Government signed the Indian Removal Act in which they removed all the natives to a reservation in Oklahoma.
Sixteen thousand Cherokees started the walk; it is estimated that only 50 to 75% of them would complete it. A small number of them were able to hide in the mountains and those people are what now make up the Eastern Band Of Cherokee Indians.
In 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gambling Regulatory Act, which allowed the Cherokee nation to build a casino. On November, 1997, the Cherokees built the first major casino in North Carolina, which is now ranked top 20 for best casinos in the US.
The Cherokees get most their money from the casino. Through the money that they make, the tribe is able to give every enrolled member six thousand dollars every six months. They call this “Per Cap day.” Since they are not able to give kids the money, the tribe puts it in their bank instead. So by the time the kids graduate high school, they will have a little over 200 thousand dollars in their bank account. They used to get all the money at once, but recently the tribe changed it to 25 thousand at graduation, 25 thousand at twenty-one, and the remainder at twenty-five years of age.
Coach Chris Mintz
My dad coached at Cherokee for eleven years. During this eleven years he would go on to have the most wins out of any coach in Cherokee history, with a record of 249–68 while at Cherokee.
When I was in eighth grade my dad coached me in JV football. Having your dad as your football coach isn't the easiest thing. When your dad is your coach he is harder on you than everyone else, and sometimes you get in arguments. During my high school career me and my dad would play one on one, we would play once a year. It would take me till my tenth grade year — and three banked three-pointers—to finally beat him. Yes, I called “glass” on each one.
Going to Cherokee High School was very special to me. The main reason was that I was able to play sports with my brother. During this time we would go on to win Cherokees first State Championship in 2017. Over six years together, my brother and I would account for a total of fourteen thousand combined yards.
My junior year I had a opportunity to attend a really good school to improve myself in both academics and sports. So after some long hard thing I made the decision to attend Christ School in Asheville, North Carolina. At times it has been tough, but has made me a better person.
“Everyone had to make new friends and go to new schools.”
An Interview with Chris Mintz
It was a Thursday night at 9 pm. Me and my dad were not able to have the conversation over the phone, so we did it through text message.
Q: Please state your full name and occupation?
A: Christopher Mintz Teacher/ Coach.
Q:Where did you attend Elementary School?
A: Union primary school.
Q:What was your first car?
A:Honda Accord.
Q:What was your favorite sports was growing up?
A:Growing up, baseball, but in middle school it switched to football.
Q:Where did you attend high school?
A:I went to West Brunswick High School 1 year and Polk county for 3.
Q:What is your favorite color?
A:Blue.
Q:What is your favorite food?
A:This is a hard one, but if I had to choose one I think it would be a steak.
Q:Who is your favorite NFL player?
A:Cam Newton
Q:How many years did you play that sport in college?
A:I played 5 years of college football 2 at UNc and then 3 at Gardner Web University.
Q:What made you move to Cherokee?
A:Had had a chance to take a job that I wanted.
Q:How did this move affect your family?
A:We all had to pick up and change our lives that we were use to. Everyone had to make new friends and go to new schools.
Q:What made you want to become a teacher?
A:I enjoy being around kids and coaching . Teaching allows me to be able to make a living and do something I really enjoy.
Q:How has being in a mostly NA population affected you?
A:Let me see, what it’s like to be a minority in a place where some of the struggles you go through just cause you are different.
Q:what made you want to move to a place where you had no family and no friends?
A:It was just a job that I wanted to take and I had a chance to take it.
Q:What made you want to be a coach?
A:When I was in high school I coached a rev league team and really enjoyed it and knew I wanted to be around sports in my job.
Q:Did you struggle with the change?
A:Yeah that was probably the most difficult , we had very little knowledge of the culture at Cherokee or the people.
Q:How much have you learned about the culture?
Q:How do the kids there compare to other public schools?
A:They are very similar to inner city schools.
Q:Did you ever think about going back?
A:Yeah we have talked about it and will prob retire there.
Reflection
This project made me want to learn more about my dad and the Cherokees. Throughout this project I have learned some interesting facts about both my dad and the Cherokee Nation.
The project have me a greater appreciation for the Native American game of stickball. Similar to Lacrosse, stick ball was how the Cherokees handled disputes. For instance, if two clans were fighting over hunting grounds, instead of going to war they would play a game of stick ball to decide who would control the territory. In early October, I was able to attend a stickball tournament in Cherokee, NC, with students from Christ School. It was a neat opportunity to share my hometown and its Native American culture with the Christ School community.
Some of my biggest challenges during this project was to find out who i was going to do it on. When I first started i was going to do it William Otto Mintz, who came over from Germany. When researching William I found that he was hired by the British and went to what is now the United States to train soldiers. During his time in the US he switched to the patriot’s side. Other than that I couldn’t find anything else about him on the internet. In the interview I would like to have a longer interview. I would like tell the stories on where I came form and how I was raised. I would also like to tell the stories of my dad and grandparents.
Sources
Cherokee, Eastern Band of. “The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.” Cherokee, NC, visitcherokeenc.com/eastern-band-of-the-cherokee/.
“Gambling Comes to Cherokee.” NC DNCR, 13 Nov. 2016, www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2013/11/13/gambling-comes-to-cherokee.
