Indianz.Com > News > Chuck Hoskin: Cherokee Nation honors Wilma Mankiller with new park
🎥 LIVE: Join us as Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Principal Chief Wilma P. Mankiller Capitol Park. 🤍✨
Posted by Cherokee Nation on Friday, June 21, 2024
New Public Park will Honor Legacy of Chief Wilma Mankiller
Monday, July 22, 2024
Cherokee Nation
Cherokee culture is one of our most valuable treasures, but we don’t protect it by building barriers or hiding it away. Cherokee culture is best protected when it’s celebrated and shared.
In 2020, my daughter Jasmine suggested a playground across the street from the W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex. She was 14 years old at the time, I was newly elected Chief, and I thought it was just a plain good idea. Like many of our young Cherokees, she recognized an overlooked area and saw the possibilities to create something that will inspire future generations.
Jasmine’s idea grew, as good ideas do, and other strong-willed Cherokee women became involved, including Felicia Olaya, daughter of the late Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller. Felicia and other members of the Mankiller family reviewed concept ideas for the park and helped to shape what it eventually will turn into.
Deputy Chief Bryan Warner and I took Jasmine’s idea and turned it into a proposal for the Council of the Cherokee Nation. I want to thank the Council for their approval of the Principal Chief Wilma P. Mankiller Capitol Park Act in 2022 that made this park possible.
Recently, it was my honor to stand alongside Jasmine, now 18 years old, and representatives of the Mankiller family to break ground on the Wilma P. Mankiller Capitol Park, which is tentatively scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2025. The $10 million project will be open to all — Cherokee and non-Cherokee, Native and non-Native — as a celebration of our culture.
The park will span nearly 15 acres and will transform the vacant property into a vibrant community space. There will be a playground area, an area for traditional Cherokee games, a basketball court, a community building, a small amphitheater, green space, paved and hiking trails, an area for food trucks, public art, an heirloom garden, a picnic pavilion, a dog park and more. I’m particularly excited to see a coming statue that will honor the late Chief Mankiller.
Her legacy is inclusiveness, Cherokee progress and freedom of expression – all of which will become themes that visitors will see reflected in the park’s offerings.
Chuck Hoskin Jr.
is the 18th elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, the largest Indian
tribe in the United States. He is only the second elected Principal Chief of the
Cherokee Nation from Vinita, the first being Thomas Buffington, who served from
1899-1903. Prior to being elected Principal Chief, Hoskin served as the tribe’s
Secretary of State. He also formerly served as a member of the Council of the
Cherokee Nation, representing District 11 for six years.
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