How Cherokee Nation Is Beating Back COVID
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2020
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As COVID ravages the American plains, the Cherokee nation stands alone – an example of how government might work to contain the virus. The tribe long ago gave up waiting for the federal government to come through on its promise of fully-funded health care, and invested in state-of-the-art healthcare infrastructure, just in time. But as winter sets in, Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. worries his community can’t remain an island forever.
Guest: Chuck Hoskin, Jr. is the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In Tallahqua, Oklahoma, the capital of the Cherokee Nation, there's a bronze statue welcoming students at the local university. |
| 0:13.0 | It depicts Sequoia, the Cherokee diplomat and scholar, best known for translating the spoken Cherokee language into a written one. |
| 0:22.4 | And these days, that statue is wearing a mask. |
| 0:27.0 | Masks are mandated around here, even though in the rest of the state, masks are optional. |
| 0:33.3 | It feels like in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, we're doing as much right as you can |
| 0:39.2 | and bringing all the resources to bear. |
| 0:41.2 | But as you go further out, it does start to feel like we're on a bit of an island because |
| 0:44.7 | we're impacted by other jurisdictions, principally the state of Oklahoma. |
| 0:50.8 | Chief Chuck Hoskin is the guy who put the mask mandate in place around here. |
| 0:55.0 | He also set up a Cherokee language COVID hotline for the elderly, made sure senior citizens could access $400 stipends to help with coronavirus-related expenses, and set aside a fund to help with utility costs for his constituents. |
| 1:22.1 | If you were just looking at the data, you might think you understand the impact the coronavirus has had on indigenous communities like this one. |
| 1:28.4 | As a group, Native Americans have one of the highest death rates from COVID-19 in the country, |
| 1:35.1 | and that mortality rate is getting worse. But here in Oklahoma, the Cherokee community has managed to flip the script. Here, it's chiefs like Hoskin who are leading, while state officials |
| 1:41.9 | fall behind. |
| 1:50.7 | Governor Kevin Sidd is declaring Thursday as a statewide day of prayer and fasting for all Oklahoma is affected by the pandemic. |
| 1:53.5 | I heard about the governor's day of prayer and fasting last week. |
| 1:58.6 | I'm a personal faith and I thought of you. |
| 2:03.6 | And it just made me wonder what you had thought about that. |
| 2:06.8 | Well, I did more than think about it. |
| 2:09.3 | I put out a statement in which I said I was going to join him in praying, but I was going to |
| 2:16.1 | pray that he and other state leaders had the wisdom and the courage to adopt the statewide mask mandate, because plainly that is what this state needs, among other things. |
| 2:26.2 | He has been completely absent in terms of real leadership on COVID, sending mixed messages on public health guidance, |
... |
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