It is time for an update in regards to our situation in Kentucky. Today we are progressing, we have a state commission called the Kentucky Native American Heritage Commission and currently, with a few exceptions, the commission seems to be on track and focused in their mission; education and awareness. Also a truly historical office has been created in Harlan County, called the Harlan County Native American Site Protection Office and I am proud to serve as protection officer. We are moving forward and working with the Commonwealth, not against them. Much of what we do will of course be confidential but the public will know we exist and hopefully we can change the culture in Southeastern Kentucky and stop the looting of our ancestor's graves.
On the political front the future is bright. We have a group here in Southeastern Kentucky that can, if pushed, influence a large number of votes. With the advent of the local or community forum, no one is immune to being exposed and The Rural Democrat seems to be positioned to be the voice of Southeastern Kentucky and for that I am proud. But as we all know Southeastern Kentucky, in regards to the vote, has historically been ignored. But as organizations like the Ridgetop Shawnee keep adding members by the dozens per week, and all members are documented Native Americans, our Native American voice will not be ignored. Politics and elections are not priorities of the Ridgetop Shawnee but as the membership grows, our voice will be consolidated. It is entirely possible that our Native American voting block will exceed 10,000 in Southeastern Kentucky alone and with those kind of numbers the Native American agenda could become a very important part of any local candidates platform. Governor Patton gave Native American leader's like Tom Jones of London credit for over 15,000 votes and Governor Fletcher gave us credit for 12,000 votes statewide. There is no doubt that our influence will grow.
In Southeastern Kentucky the Ridgetop Shawnee is poised to create a small industry within the next 24 months we will hopefully create jobs. Revenue from our industries will enable us to begin paying for a few health programs for our elderly and young people. We have plans to open a state of the art Native American museum and as we look to support the expansion of adventure tourism plans are in the works to create a large Native American park that will include cabin rentals, trails, certified Indian arts and craft sales, a year around festival grounds and maybe a few tourist traps. We may also use the land that was donated to the Ridgetop Shawnee in Powell County as a designation for tourism.
Now for the bad news; as all of us know, we have problems in Kentucky. There are rogue organizations that create unwanted attention from very influential Native American tribes outside the Commonwealth. One confidential situation may result in the specific targeting of groups in Kentucky and we will be flaunted as examples of what not to do. This is a dangerous situation that could set our people back a decade or so in the credibility department. And as most of you know there is no statewide consolidated group of leaders that can sit down and negotiate with influential forces outside of our Commonwealth. The Ridgetop Shawnee will not stand by and see our plans melt into the mountain side. We have plans to create jobs, pay for educational opportunities, pay for job training for a great number of people in Southeastern Kentucky, create a prescription drug assistance program for our members and also we plan on creating a group health care program that will provide coverage for our members that need it. The Ridgetop Shawnee estimate a membership of over 2000 by 2010 and that estimate is on the conservative side. I have been doing Native American genealogy for over a decade and I estimate that 60%+ of the populations of Harlan, Clay, Leslie, Bell, Whitley, Letcher and Knox counties have Native American blood running through their veins and we want every single one of them to be members of the Ridgetop Shawnee.
If I had to grade our situation a this moment in time, I would give us a B in Southeastern Kentucky and a C- for the rest of Kentucky.
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