“I’ve taken a fair amount of teasing amount my name during this conference and I finally got a little tired of it last night when I got on the elevator and a man again teased me about my name—which is Mankiller. He asked me about the origin of it and I said it was a nickname and that I’d earned it." – Wilma Mankiller
When Oklahomans think about their politicians, what often comes to mind are a bunch of old conservative white people who are too busy obsessing over genitals and being a goddam bigot with their Facebook buddies to even acknowledge their campaign promises. But what if I told you that once upon a time there existed an elected official who poured her time and energy not into bullshit bills, but rather into community development and decades of advocacy? What if I told you about a leader who actually followed up on campaign promises to connect her constituents with housing, education, and healthcare? What if I told you about one of the smartest, most badass women to ever call Oklahoma home?
Then I’d be telling you the story of Chief Wilma Mankiller.
Wilma Pearl Mankiller was born in Talequah in 1945 and spent her early childhood on tribal lands before her family moved to California. The family moved out west as part of the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 that attempted to “assimilate” the Native families into cities but instead left the Mankillers and many more families worse off as they were struggling to find jobs while experiencing discrimination. Mankiller, whose great-grandfather arrived in Oklahoma via the Trail of Tears, equivocated her own family’s government-sponsored relocation to the generational trauma her ancestors experienced on the Trail.