Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1498135
LOCAL BUZZ Forward together: From Ocmulgee to Okmulgee A look back on a year of advocacy "OVER THE LAST YEAR, we've laid a foundation for a strong partnership between the Macon community and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation," said Tracie Revis, director of advocacy for the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative (ONPPI), as she reflected on one full year of immersing herself in Macon's culture today and educating our community about hers. Revis, who is Yuchi and Muscogee (Creek), plays a crucial role as a liaison with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation (MCN) and the Macon-Bibb community. She's an advocate, not just to make the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park a national park and preserve (while that is a big piece of it), but to bring two cultures together — from Ocmulgee to Okmulgee. The move to Macon was one that was started when she left the role as chief of staff for Principal Chief David Hill of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation for Middle Georgia, the site of the former capital city of the Creek Confederacy and her ancestral homelands. Her hire was initiated as effort from ONPPI to create true partnership with the tribe in the efforts surrounding the creation of Georgia's first national park and preserve. In September of 2022, Revis, along with ONPPI Executive Director Seth Clark, organized a special dinner at the Terminal Station to kick off the annual Ocmulgee Indigenous Festival. The dinner hosted around 300 people, including dozens of visitors returning to their ancestral land from Okmulgee, Oklahoma, the headquarters for MCN. That dinner was extra special as U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary, attended the celebration as the headline speaker. This was her first time visiting Macon and the Ocmulgee Mounds in person as well as the first time any seated secretary of the interior visited these sacred grounds. It was a powerful moment for many, especially Revis. "She [Haaland] understands the importance of the land. I saw that as we walked together throughout the Ocmulgee Mounds and other areas of the ancestral land," Revis said. "After everyone walked away, I watched her turn around to this bigger erosion scar, bend down, touch the ground. She bent down and touched the land to say a small prayer, and that to me showed the difference of where we're at in this administration." Secretary Haaland was joined in this historic walk by a prestigious delegation that included members of Georgia's congressional delegation Senator Jon Ossoff and Representative Sanford Bishop, MCN Principal Chief David Hill and Second Chief Del Beaver, and Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife Services Shannon Estenoz. They traveled around both the original park and the thousands of acres of newly acquired lands, which were recently donated to the National Park Service to help expand the boundary. In December of 2022, Macon-Bibb County Commission unanimously passed a city ordinance to place a land acknowledgement on the grounds of City Hall and raise the Muscogee (Creek) Nation's flag. This action symbolizes a growing relationship between the Macon-Bibb County Government, the surrounding community, and the tribe. Commissioner Seth Clark, who authored the ordinance, said this partnership has been fundamental in formalizing a relationship with the Nation. "Tracie and I make a great team," Clark said. "With her relationships and knowledge, she's able to bring people together to find commonality on ways we can connect to benefit both Macon and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. We've accomplished a lot in the past year, and it's exciting to see other opportunities where we can come together." One month after Mayor Lester Miller signed the acknowledgement ordinance, more than 100 people gathered at City Hall for the Forward Together from Ocmulgee to Okmulgee Flag-Raising Ceremony. Hill and Beaver returned to Macon for the historic moment, watching on as Macon-Bibb County firefighters raised the tribal Nation's flag, now flying permanently over the land where the Muscogee (Creek) and Yuchi people were forcibly removed. "We are bound together over the love of this sacred place. We are dedicated to working hand in hand to be stewards and shepherds of it," Miller said during the ceremony. "This flag flies over an ancestral homeland ripped from you. This flag acts as a gesture of peace and goodwill. It is a message that you are always welcome in your ancestral 36 maconmagazine.com | APRIL/MAY 2023