The
Culture of our people

Our offices have been very busy these past winter months.

On September 30, we commemorated Orange Shirt Day at the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site in Fairway, Kansas. Our efforts to learn more about and honor our Shawnee children who attended the mission continue, and we will not stop until we have a full understanding of the mission’s history.

After the Orange Shirt Day event, we shifted gears to commemorating the anniversary of the death of Tecumseh. We did not celebrate his death, but rather his life. He has been attributed as to having said...

"Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.

Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.”

Tecumseh also said that from his tribe, he takes nothing, that he himself was the master of his own fortune and destiny. It is with this mindfulness and with full remembrance of all our former Shawnee leaders, chairmen and women, chiefs, and hokimaki and hokimawikwaki, boceli noki bocelikewe, men and women, that gave themselves to our people that we will commemorate Tecumseh day every October 5 into perpetuity.

I hope all is well as we enter the winter season. In addition to events and meetings, our tribal programs officers have been busy strategically planning for upcoming social service program rollouts, and more information will be mailed to you in early 2022.

I’m also very pleased that even with all the new growth in our staff at headquarters, over 60% of our workforce are Native citizens, and nearly half of those are Shawnee citizens.

As I previously mentioned, we continue to engage the federal, state and local governments in issues that affect our tribe. In several cases, we are exploring ways we can enter partnerships that can benefit our tribe and the communities we reside in. We strive to build a future that will guarantee a positive future for our families, specifically our children, grandchildren and generations that follow.

I always try to make the point to say we. I say that because it takes all of us working together to make it all possible. Whether it is the Business Council, support staff, volunteers or citizens, we all share in the successes and failures. We cannot afford to think of ourselves as individuals because any decision we make can have blanket effects on each of us and across Indian Country positively and negatively. With that being said, I will state that we always carefully study outcomes as we work toward a positive future for our Shawnee Communities.

niyaawe, (Thank you)
Roy D. Baldridge Second Chief