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A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 9 april 2022

Muscogee return South nearly 200 years after forced removal

By JAY REEVES tinued once people arrived
Associated Press in Oklahoma because so
OXFORD, Ala. (AP) — Na- many were seriously ill after
tive Americans whose an- the trip. The weekend festi-
cestors were forced out of val is different, she said, be-
the Southeast almost 200 cause tribal leaders devel-
years ago during a purge oped the idea on their own
that cleared the way for and the city welcomed
white settlers returned Fri- the plan. A partnership be-
day for a two-day festival tween the two got started
with a name that sums years ago when municipal
up its purpose: "We have officials began developing
come back." the park on the old village
A busload of Muscogee site, discovered artifacts
(Creek) Nation citizens and and notified Muscogee
others in vans and cars leaders, she said.
traveled from their homes While a group from the
in Oklahoma and else- Muscogee Nation vis-
where for a celebration in ited the park in 2016 after
the east Alabama city of it opened, most citizens
Oxford, located on what haven't.
once was part of Arbeka, "This is the first time many
a Muscogee community people coming have been
dating back 12,000 years. here," Butler said. "We know
The people who lived there these places but we've
were forced to move west Butch McIntosh, left, leads the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Honor Guard during the opening of a never seen them with our
in 1836 during the "Trail of two-day festival in Oxford, Ala., on Friday, April 8, 2022. own eyes."
Tears," a brutal journey of Associated Press The nation wants to do
about 700 miles (1,125 kilo- more to connect with the
meters) during which many chance to meet their lead- ing to tell its own story, Prin- major fighting force was local community and Mus-
died. ers. cipal Chief David Hill said. defeated by U.S. troops cogee still living in the South,
Land that once was a vil- "We're trying to reestablish "If you read the history at the Battle of Horseshoe the principal chief said. The
lage inhabited by an esti- our presence in our home- books now it doesn't re- Bend about 55 miles (88 nation already is working
mated 3,000 people is now land," Butler said. ally tell you why and how kilometers) south of Oxford on educational programs
the site of a city park with The Muscogee name for we were removed with the in 1814, leading to its even- with area schools, Hill said,
sports fields and a walking the event is "Reyicepes," Trail of Tears," he said. "We tual expulsion from the re- and there have been dis-
trail, said RaeLynn Butler, or "We have come back." didn't want to leave. We gion. cussions about using city-
who manages the nation's With the United States cur- were forced to leave." About 23,000 Muscogee owned land at the park,
historical and preserva- rently considering how to Once among the largest were forced out of the which includes a recon-
tion department. Tribal citi- best interpret a history that groups in the Southeast, Southeast in all, Butler said, structed mound and inter-
zens gathered there at the includes the enslavement the Muscogee territory in- and as many as 4,000 died pretative signs, for a cultur-
start of a two-day event to of Black people and the cluded parts of the pres- on a journey that included al center.
tell Muscogee stories, sing mistreatment of other mi- ent-day states of Alabama, long stretches of walking "We look at it as, 'If they
hymns, explain tribal history norities, women and Native Florida, Georgia and South and rides on barges and can't come to us, we'll go
and give area residents a Americans, the tribe is hop- Carolina. The tribe's last riverboats. The deaths con- to them,'" he said.q

State Department: WH gift records for

Trump, Pence missing

ments during Trump's final chives and Records Admin- cation on Monday.
year in office, citing missing istration and the General The report notes that the
data from the White House. Services Administration, but lack of gift information
In a report to be published was told that "potentially could be related to internal
in the Federal Register next relevant records" are not oversights as the protocol
week, the department says available because of ac- office neglected to "sub-
the Executive Office of the cess restrictions related to mit the request for data to
President did not submit retired records. all reporting agencies prior
information about gifts re- The State Department's Of- to January 20, 2021," when
ceived by Trump and his fice of Protocol reported the Trump administration
family from foreign leaders the situation in footnotes to ended and the Biden ad-
in 2020. It also says the Gen- a partial list of gifts received ministration began.
A man walks past boxes that were moved out of the Eisenhower eral Services Administration by U.S. officials in 2020. However, it also noted that
Executive Office building, just outside the West Wing, inside the didn't submit information The office publishes such there had been a "lack of
White House complex, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, in Washington.
Associated Press about gifts given to former lists annually in part to adequate recordkeep-
Vice President Mike Pence guard against potential ing pertaining to diplo-
By MATTHEW LEE plete and accurate ac- and White House staffers conflicts of interest. A pre- matic gifts" between Jan.
AP Diplomatic Writer counting of gifts presented that year. view of the 2020 report 20, 2017, when Trump took
WASHINGTON (AP) — The to former President Donald The State Department said was posted on the Federal office, and his departure
State Department says it is Trump and other U.S. of- it sought the missing infor- Register website on Friday from the White House four
unable to compile a com- ficials by foreign govern- mation from National Ar- ahead of its formal publi- years later.q