Vowell Sister Response

Sarah Vowell describes the relationship of the Cherokees and America as being like a husband beating his wife. I think this is a somewhat appropriate metaphor, but I think there is one flaw, that makes Vowell come off as ignorant or uneducated in Cherokee History. I think its important to note that in most cases of a wife and a dynamic but abusive husband, the wife often has difficulty leaving and struggles to convince herself to leave or divorce her husband, and I think that this is not the case of the Cherokee nation. I think that the Cherokee Nation has proven in the past several years that it no longer needs to rely on the US federal government as much, and that it can survive on its own as a sovereign nation. Also, I think that the US government has proven in the past that it is taking strides to improve its relations with the Cherokee Nation, as well as other native tribes, these strides began as early as with Richard Nixon, a president credited by many scholars as being one of the biggest proponents of native rights.
I think that the term "heritage tourism" is a justified by Vowell's experience. Heritage tourism, to me, means the trips that families or people take to remember a past that they should never have forgotten in the first place. Heritage tourism reminds me of the people who travel to Ellis Island to see where their ancestors came through. However, I would not call the Vowell sisters Heritage tourists either. I think they were more informed than most tourists ever are. I think this is attributed to the fact that Cherokees stay very well connected with their past. The Vowell sisters were reminded of parts of their heritage I think, not reminded of their entire history. I think that is the difference between the Vowell Sisters and heritage tourists is that they relived their history more often than heritage tourists.