Tsa-la-gi Gv-d!

Tsa-la-gi Gv-d! [means use Cherokee!]




Facebook and I have had many one sided conversations this past month.

First, they asked for my id so I sent it-

scanned/photos of

-2 pieces of mail I received from others last year with my name in Cherokee on the address

-a document I received in celebration of my birthday last year

-2 membership id's with my photo and info

-a copy of my driver's license and local library card

-links to websites that have existed for decades under my name in Cherokee

-a copy of an article that mentions me using my name in Cherokee syllabary

Facebook then stated the Cherokee "characters" do not fit their policy for "authentic names"

then Facebook abruptly stopped corresponding with me- and they deleted the "dashboard" through which I had been corresponding with them.

Every record of our conversation was on the dashboard and that has all 'disappeared'.

I will keep trying, but it caused me to realize that a tremendous amount of folks out there-

state groups as well as federal-

could make a difference but they cannot do anything either because they don't even use Cherokee on their membership id cards.

so that alerted me to a new purpose: 

-to convince all entities claiming to be Cherokee to start using the language on their id's,

-to encourage them to start using the Cherokee as their identity in social media, and

-to promote the use of Cherokee in more venues.

I am sad this happened- that facebook feels that Cherokee cannot be an authentic name even though they allow Chinese symbols as translations of names- because of this- I lost a lot of info I had posted on FB-- no chance to download it before they yanked me off--

but maybe it needed to happen.

I had no idea so few "Cherokees" feel a need to even use Cherokee.

No wonder the language is 'dying'--

we are committing "cultural suicide"--

maybe it is a direct result of all the cultural genocide down through the years but its time we took a stand and started speaking and using Cherokee not as a symbol but as a real language.

will you join me in my goals?


  -to convince all entities claiming to be Cherokee to start using the language on their id's,
-to encourage those group members to start using the Cherokee as their identity in social media, and -to promote the use of Cherokee in more venues than just social media