Earlier this month, I received a note from my son’s school stating that on April 22nd, students and staff will re-enact the Land Run of 1889. The re-enactment will include students grouped into “families” to race across the playground and stake their claims.

As a kid raised in Oklahoma, I remember participating in a similar event in first grade. I went to a school with a significant Indian student population. My teacher specifically asked that the Indian children wear their Indian clothes to school that day. I can only surmise this added to the dramatic effect for our re-enactment.

Thirty years later, I assumed Oklahoma public schools taught this subject without the Land Run re-enactment. I am not the only one with this viewpoint. Beginning in 2007, the Society to Preserve the Indigenous Rights and Indigenous Traditions attempted to petition the state to ban these land run re-enactments at public schools. From my perspective, re-enacting the Land Run of 1889 only serves to physically demonstrate one side of history.

The other side, our story, includes the continuous removal and relocation of thousands of American Indians across Oklahoma.

Beginning in 1902 with the individual allotment of lands by the Dawes Commission, Native lands were picked apart and slowly depleted over time, with eventual forced habitation on reservations.

But we survived, even after the systematic attempt to contain an entire race of people. We not only survived, we thrived - but we do so because we acknowledge our history and embrace our culture. Our Elders are treasured within each Tribe because they know the old ways; they remember and relay our history. Through their teachings, we learn humility, perseverance and the importance of community.