Felix Clary
ICT + Tulsa World
TULSA, Okla. – A dozen Cherokee bicyclists hit the road Monday, June 3, on their journey back to Oklahoma, recreating the Trail of Tears their ancestors walked.
Shawna Baker, a Cherokee Nation Supreme Court justice from Tulsa, is on the 40th annual Remember the Removal Bike Ride. She and her team started in North Carolina, where they met up with another team of riders from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Together, they rode to New Echota, Georgia, where the Trail of Tears began.
“In each location, you feel a different weight your ancestors carried,” said Baker in an ICT and Tulsa World interview.
The ride honors the journey Cherokee ancestors took during forced removal from their homelands in Georgia to Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and finally Oklahoma.
“In one place we visited, there just so happened to be a field nearby where a number of Cherokees camped for months while they were waiting to begin their walk on the Trail of Tears,” Baker said. “The weight in that field is heavy.”
She said that while her home is in Oklahoma, her other home is in Cherokee, North Carolina, the center of her tribe’s creation story.
“It’s the birthplace of all Cherokees, like the Garden of Eden if you will. So we are traveling to our home there, then back to our home in Oklahoma,” said Baker.
Baker also said as a jurist, the most impactful moment for her so far has been visiting the council house at the New Echota State Historic Site in Georgia.
“They reconstructed what would have been important buildings like the council house. The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court has met there,” Baker said. “Coming to the point where our courts and laws originated was really impactful to me as a justice, and it encourages me to be a better jurist.”
Baker is not only the third woman, but the first 2SLGBT+ person ever confirmed to the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court.
Baker said the cyclists ride about 60 miles a day.
“I feel great. I’m very grateful that we’ve had beautiful weather and an outpouring of local support from church groups and other organizations. They have lifted our spirits with their hospitality, keeping us upbeat and vibrant,” she said.
The other cyclists are Cherokee youth ages 16-25 and several youth leaders. This is Baker’s first ride as a youth leader, and she said her goal is to help the youth discover who they are as individuals.
“I’m doing it for several reasons. In the Cherokee culture, we teach that we make important, thoughtful decisions because they impact up to the seventh generation. … I am the seventh generation since my ancestors walked the Trail of Tears. So I focus on my family’s grit, resilience and perseverance,” she said.
The cyclists plan to arrive in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, at the town square by the Cherokee Nation Courthouse pavilion on June 21.
The Cherokee Nation has created a documentary short film about the inaugural Remember the Removal Bike Ride.
The other cyclists include:
• Taylor Armbrister, 24, Little Kansas
• Camerin Fite-James, 24, Fort Gibson
• Jaxen Smith, 21, Tahlequah
• Jaslyn Christie, 19, Fort Gibson
• Jasmine Goodman, 23, Fort Gibson
• Kiyah Holmes, 24, Tahlequah
• Lexi Melton, 22, Vinita
• Hannah Neugin, 18, Muskogee
• Heather Fite, 46, Fort Gibson
• Ashawna Miles, 50, Tahlequah
• Kristy Ross, 49, Pryor
This story is co-published by the Tulsa World and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Oklahoma area.
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