Cherokee land acknowledgment gets TV attention

WSPA 7 News came to campus to interview Wyatt Ware ’23, president of the Native American and Indigenous Peoples Association, and Helen Lee Turner, the Reuben B. Pitts Professor of Religion, about Furman’s land acknowledgment with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians.

The land acknowledgment was adopted by Furman in 2019 and was presented to the Cherokee tribal council Feb. 2, 2022.

“Furman University benefitted from the loss of the Cherokee people. So, I think we at least owe them an acknowledgement that we benefitted from their loss. I think that is a small sliver of justice that they do deserve,” Ware said.

The acknowledgment “is really a commitment to make our own students and this community know about the history of these people, and about the wisdom that they have,” Turner told the TV station.

Watch the WSPA story here. The story also appeared on the websites of WNCT TV, WSAV TV, and WCBD TV.