Personal Background and Arrival in Georgia

• Tracie Revis, Yuchi woman of Muscogee (Creek) Nation, landed in Atlanta February 2021
• Yuchi name: sahAsAfanE, D@th@ (wolf clan), Polecat Ceremonial Ground
• Previously living in Tulsa, Oklahoma as chief of staff to Principal Chief of Muscogee (Creek) Nation
• Mixed emotions returning to ancestral homelands in Georgia

Meeting at Ocmulgee Mounds

• Purpose: meeting in Macon at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park
• Location significance: area along Ocmulgee River with 17,000+ years human history
• Former capital city of tribal towns, "Atlanta of its day"
• Deep-rooted hurt from forced family removal despite ancestral connection

Indigenous Language Preservation in Georgia Landscape

• Native words embedded throughout Georgia: Towaliga/Dalwa-leg-it's, Tybee/Dabe, Coweta, Muscogee, Ocmulgee
• Words serve as "whisper from ancestors who were once here"
• Blueprint of state etched on landscape through Indigenous language

Historical Context: Trail of Tears and Boarding Schools

• Trail of Tears/Road of Misery: removed tens of thousands from ancestral lands
• 1830s Indian Removal Act violence continued beyond Oklahoma arrival
• Generational trauma impact across families
• Grandmother, father, aunts, uncles sent to government-run Indian boarding schools
• Grandmother's first language Yuchi, forced to speak only English, had to relearn native tongue as adult
• Schools served to "silence community and steal future culture from generations"
• First generation not sent to government schools but still impacted by trauma

Spiritual Connection and Transformation

• Walking to mound sites, crossed bridge, smelled E'apane (medicine plant used in Green Corn ceremonies)
• Immediate transformation: "ancestors are still here"
• Experience like "taking black and white photo and turning it into color"
• Internal voice: "What would it feel like to ever live back in these lands?"
• Second voice: "We need to create relationship with this community, and we need to heal together"

Current Role and Mission

• One year later: living in Macon, Georgia
• Director of advocacy, Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative
• Daily work: bring tribal voice back to lands, make nation co-manager
• Creating Georgia's first national park and preserve

Secretary Haaland's Historic Visit

• September 2022: first Secretary of Interior visit to Ocmulgee Mounds
• Secretary Deb Haaland, first Indigenous secretary
• Purpose: examine acquired land being donated for park expansion
• Sacred land previously slated for industrialization
• Land "raped, overmined, stripped down to silt"
• Secretary placed hand on erosion scar
• Her words: "They are still here, your ancestors are still here, and the land will bring back who and what it needs to heal it"

Current Achievements and Recognition

• Georgia has zero federally recognized tribes
• Macon relationship building: seeing themselves "beyond the landscape"
• Reclaiming names and words, becoming part of culture
• Recent legislation: tribal sovereign flag permanently flies over City Hall
• Significance: "In land we were never meant to return, this is extremely powerful"

Philosophy and Conclusion

• Core principle: "if you take care of this land, it will take care of you"
• Land brought her home
• Community healing through land healing
• Closing: "mvto" (thank you)