Whoever controls the education of our children controls the future.

Individually and collectively, Cherokee people possess an extraordinary ability to face down adversity and continue moving forward.

Everybody is sitting around saying, 'Well, jeez, we need somebody to solve this problem of bias.' That somebody is us. We all have to try to figure out a better way to get along.

Negative thoughts were treated by Cherokee healers with the same medicines as wounds, headaches, or physical illness. It was believed that unchecked negative thoughts can permeate the being and manifest themselves in negative actions.

I think the most important issue we have as a people is what we started, and that is to begin to trust our own thinking again and belive in ourselves enough to think that we can articulate our own vision of the future and then work to make sure that that vision becomes a reality.

We must trust our own thinking. Trust where we're going. And get the job done.

I want to be remembered as the person who helped us restore faith in ourselves.