First Americans Museum

[Rover]

Are you joking or a joke? READ A HISTORY BOOK! American Indians were forced from across the US to OKLAHOMA! How can you not get the historical significance for our state?

You are assuming he can read and understand. LOL

[RodH]

Do you really want a list of all the states and cities named after Indians? You guys are trying to sell something that is available in every sq inch of America. No one is going to buy the product when everyone gets it in their own backyard for free.

You are making pehaps the best argument for why we need the AICCM.

[redrunner]

You are making pehaps the best argument for why we need the AICCM.

wow, spot on.

[Just the facts]

You guys are hopeless on this subject. Not every tribe in America was forced marched to Oklahoma. Heck, not even every tribe in Oklahoma was forced there. There are a 807 Indian tribes in America and you guys think you have market cornered. Have you guys ever traveled outside Oklahoma? Did you visit any local Indian tribes on your out-of-state trips? If not, why not? And going to their casino doesn't count.

[Questor]

It's funny, every time someone I know or someone from work comes here from out of town, one of the first things they always reference is our Native American culture and they ask about museums, etc. of that nature. People are always surprised to learn that the closest thing we have is the cowboy museum. I can almost see the thought behind their eyes, something along the lines of 'isn't that Texas' thing....' It is beyond bizarre to me that we don't have any cultural places here that celebrate the one thing we are probably most widely known for.

I don't know if this is still part of the deal, but at one time I read that this museum was going to be a part of the Smithsonian Institution. If that is still planned that is a fantastic boon for us. People who are museum-goers are going to want to go to this museum simply based on its association with the Smithsonian.

Not having a Native American museum in OKC is just a gigantic tourism and marketing disaster.

[Double Edge]

You guys are hopeless on this subject. Not every tribe in America was forced marched to Oklahoma. Heck, not even every tribe in Oklahoma was forced there. There are a 807 Indian tribes in America and you guys think you have market cornered. Have you guys ever traveled outside Oklahoma? Did you visit any local Indian tribes on your out-of-state trips? If not, why not? And going to their casino doesn't count.

Yes. Several states and Canada.

[Just the facts]

It's funny, every time someone I know or someone from work comes here from out of town, one of the first things they always reference is our Native American culture and they ask about museums, etc. of that nature. People are always surprised to learn that the closest thing we have is the cowboy museum.

There are Indian cultural centers all over the state.

http://500nations.com/Oklahoma_Tribes.asp

[Questor]

There are Indian cultural centers all over the state.

http://500nations.com/Oklahoma_Tribes.asp

Which is why I specifically said the city of OKC. Not everyone from out of town wants to go driving for hours and hours out into the boondocks. And none of them are Smithsonians.

[Just the facts]

Do you wonder why none of the local OKC tribes have built a cultural center? Find the answer to that question and then you can explain to your out-of-town guest why we don't have any Indian cultural centers in OKC.

[ZYX2]

Nah, drop some funds over Tulsa way and I suspect this cultural project will also "pop" in available funds.

Of course, I mean our project is NOWHERE near as important as yours. We just thought we'd throw that in there to be difficult.

I agree that this project needs to be finished, but Tulsa cannot be put on the backburner every time. OKC and Tulsa should both get their museums, but that does not mean that all funds must be spent on OKC's and then Tulsa wait another decade before the Pop museum is once again considered.

Don't get me wrong, I really want to see this museum opened. I will definitely visit it, but I am getting sick of certain people from OKC thinking that the Oklahoma Pop Museum is unimportant. What you guys are saying on this thread is very similar to what is said in Tulsa about the proposed Pop museum.

[dankrutka]

You guys are hopeless on this subject. Not every tribe in America was forced marched to Oklahoma. Heck, not even every tribe in Oklahoma was forced there. There are a 807 Indian tribes in America and you guys think you have market cornered. Have you guys ever traveled outside Oklahoma? Did you visit any local Indian tribes on your out-of-state trips? If not, why not? And going to their casino doesn't count.

Oklahoma was the center of American Indian culture in the world after the removal. There were more Natives here than anywhere else. Per capita it wasn't even close. Your argument is like saying, "I saw a native New Yorker in Florida, why would I need to go to NYC to see what New York is like." You are beyond hopeless on this subject and about 90% of other subjects you post on. You just talk without ever knowing what you're talking about.

[Larry OKC]

Do you wonder why none of the local OKC tribes have built a cultural center? Find the answer to that question and then you can explain to your out-of-town guest why we don't have any Indian cultural centers in OKC.

Maybe for the similar reasons "local OKC tribes" haven't built a Casino in the OKC city limits? They build their individual cultural centers within the jurisdiction of that particular tribe. Has any Oklahoma tribe built a cultural center NOT within their "nation"? The one tribe that has proposed a Casino first in Bricktown and then a resort styled complex out near Frontier City is headquartered up near Tulsa. OKC is a good, centralized location to support all of the tribes in the State. As I have said many times before, it can be a win-win for the individual tribes. Rather than pulling visitors from their own centers, the broader one can serve as a marketing tool for them.

[Just the facts]

Larry you got the right answer - there are not any tribes with ancestral land in OKC, which is why there are not any cultural centers in OKC.

[Just the facts]

Oklahoma was the center of American Indian culture in the world after the removal.

Keep telling yorself that. Tribes from the Everglades to North Dakota will disagree. BTW - you got your analogy backwards, Oklahoma is trying to claim the cultural heritage of prisoners when they real home is on the East Coast. If you want to learn about Cherokee culture you go to where the tribe lived for 900 years - North Carolina - not where they were imprisoned.

http://www.cherokee-nc.com/

[betts]

Regardless of who lived where when, the Native American Cultural Center has the opportunity to become another point of interest for visitors and, if finished right, a potential source of pride for Native Americans who live here now. In my opinion, we need to find the funds to finish this. If you want to get down to what the Center would do for us, it gives Oklahoma City one more thing to tout as an attraction for people looking for things to do when they visit. We're woefully lacking in those, compared to some other cities, and this is something unique, something other cities won't have. How nice it would be to have another place to spend an afternoon in Oklahoma City.

[Just the facts]

I don't disagree with that Betts, but that additional attraction comes at great expenses. We are still talking atleast another $70 million plus on going state funding once it opens. How many more miles of streetcar could we get for $70 million? Could we reach the State Capitol thus connecting the government/medical research/entertainment/business community of Oklahoma? Could the State use that money to replace the federal funding for the Heartland Flyer or to start service to Newton, KS or Tulsa?

[betts]

Soneone else will have to comment on funding for train service, because I have no expertise in that area. Yes we could run more streetcar line and get to the state capitol, but I doubt the state will give the city that $70 million. Plus, I see downtown development as essentially multidisciplinary. Completing the Native American Cultural Center enhances downtown and river development. The more things we have that bring people downtown and visitors to our city, the more use the streetcar gets and the more sales tax comes in, the more impetus the city has to expand the number of streetcar miles.

[RadicalModerate]

Whatever happened to Indian City, U.S.A. in Anadarko?
(And how about that "open air Indian museum" in what used to be Miskelly Park in Choctaw?)

[OKCNDN]

Whatever happened to Indian City, U.S.A. in Anadarko?
(And how about that "open air Indian museum" in what used to be Miskelly Park in Choctaw?)

The Kiowas bought in three or four years ago. It now stands empty and unused.

[RadicalModerate]

Hmmmm, Kemo Sabe [OKCNDN] . . . News not good.
Strike me like arrow of Ward Churchill being given membership to wacky, offshoot, tribe in Oklahoma.
Never happen in Wisconsin or Illinois or New Jersey or Minnesota or Dakotas.

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/oklahoma/

Proactive Potential Offense Disclaimer: I always thought Tonto was the smartest guy in the room--or on the prairie--even as a child.

[OKCNDN]

Hmmmm, Kemo Sabe [OKCNDN] . . . News not good.
Strike me like arrow of Ward Churchill being given membership to wacky, offshoot, tribe in Oklahoma.
Never happen in Wisconsin or Illinois or New Jersey or Minnesota or Dakotas.

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/oklahoma/

U supposed to be funny or something?

It's attitudes like yours that is most likely the primary reason that the cultural center is not finished or funded.

Let this guy write the welcome statement for visitors since he is so well-rounded in native culture.

[RadicalModerate]

U missed the point.
Sorry about that.

[earlywinegareth]

State/city should give the partially completed museum and land to whatever tribe can develop it into a massive hotel/casino complex.

[dankrutka]

Regardless of who lived where when, the Native American Cultural Center has the opportunity to become another point of interest for visitors and, if finished right, a potential source of pride for Native Americans who live here now. In my opinion, we need to find the funds to finish this. If you want to get down to what the Center would do for us, it gives Oklahoma City one more thing to tout as an attraction for people looking for things to do when they visit. We're woefully lacking in those, compared to some other cities, and this is something unique, something other cities won't have. How nice it would be to have another place to spend an afternoon in Oklahoma City.

African Americans were enslaved here from Africa. Does that mean we should ignore their history in the United States also? You just don't get it. It's like talking to a brick wall of ignorance. When the tribes were forced to move here it was (and still is) a tragedy, but they then had to remake their lives and continue their culture here. The tribes were forced to change, but that does not mean that their lives have been meaningless since they arrived - as you keep indicating. Their culture has had a great impact on Oklahomans. I grew up in Tahlequah. Try telling the Cherokees that the Cherokee capitol located there is meaningless. Oklahoma is still where many tribes call home. No state has the per capita number of tribal people as Oklahoma. Please cue up your next ignorant comment, Just the Facts, in 3,2,1...

[redrunner]

I think you quoted the wrong post...Betts seems to be on your side.