I am a member of the Eastern band of Cherokee Indians; I was born and raised on the reservation in Cherokee, North Carolina when the reservation was extremely poor.
I was the fourth child of a beautiful, full-blooded Cherokee woman. Unfortunately, she loved her alcohol, and she already had four children; all of us had different fathers.
As a result of her drinking, after I was born, I became the responsibility, along with my other siblings, of my grandfather, who was a full-blooded Cherokee. He was also a Baptist preacher, and my grandmother was also a full-blooded Cherokee. My mom came in and...
