"My name is George Thompson; I have been the Oce Vpofa Mekko (Hickory Ground Chief) for 42 plus years. This is a lifetime position and it will be until the day I die. It is not our character as Muscogee (Creek) people to express our customs, rituals and traditions to those outside. Things that have been passed down decades and decades stay deep within. So it is a rarity that I come to you to express myself. But I feel strongly about the subject at hand and I come to you with a heavy heart.

The Mekkos before me were lifetime positions as well. It was only four chiefs ago that our people sat at our traditional ceremonial grounds in Wetumpka, Oce Vpofa (Hickory Ground) Alabama. This was the beginning of our people and our traditional home. We are not rich in money, but we are rich in our knowledge and the language of who we truly are as Muscogee (Creek) citizens of Hickory Ground here in Oklahoma. These chiefs that came before me sat in their arbors, surrounding the fire, and taking medicine and participating in sacred ceremonies in Wetumpka, Alabama.

Today, this sacred ceremonial ground and burial site have been disturbed and is a parking lot and hotel casino for the Poarch Band of Creeks in Alabama. In the process of building this casino expansion, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians dug up seven chiefs and 56 remains. This truly makes me sad."

Get the Story:
Statement From Hickory Ground Chief George Thompson Regarding Poarch Creek’s Digging Up of Remains (Indian Country Today 9/7)

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Dan Jones: Poarch Creeks shouldn't put casino at sacred site (8/20)