Chattanooga Pulse

In response to our recent PulseBeat “Pondering The Passage” (October 29), we received a very thoughtful response from Ann Coulter, one of the planners most closely concerned with The Passage’s design.

“The Passage was intended as a celebration of the ability of the Cherokee and other Native American peoples whose rights were never respected and who were forcible moved west, to perpetuate their culture in the face of unbelievable hardships,” she writes.

“The Native American representatives who we consulted with during the design and construction, officers of the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indian and the United Keetoowah Tribe of Cherokee all opposed using the area of The Passage as a memorial or tribute to the The Trail of Tears…Native Americans felt it was much more appropriate to use the work of contemporary artists, which we did throughout The Passage, and active water features (water is a critical element in Cherokee culture and religion) to celebrate the true meaning of the place we call The Passage.”

She also included a letter from Dr. Richard L. Allen, policy analyst, Cherokee Nation, from which the following excerpts are taken:

“I do have concerns about the recent re-interpretation or I should I say the misinterpretation of The Passage as a memorial and solemn somber reflecting pool.  That was never the intention by the tribal representatives from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians or the Cherokee Nation.  The original intention for The Passage was to be a celebration of Cherokee life…nt a solemn somber event.  If that had been our intention, we would have agreed with the version of a memorial that was being introduced by the National Park Service at the behest of locals who present themselves as Cherokee and represent us in a manner that we find offensive.”

“The design for the Ross’s Landing that was presented to the Cherokee and Eastern Band by the National Park Service proposed a statue of Dragging Canoe to be placed somewhere in the city and a stockade with life size figures that would have represented Cherokees and Creeks held in captivity in perpetuity.  We rejected that and suggested that an appropriate memorial would celebrate our lives, not our tragedy.

“I am a Marine Vietnam veteran and I have been to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC on several occasions and I am affected by that memorial in a most emotional and somber manner.  I have also observed the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool and the ducks that swim in that pool.  In no manner does that reflecting pool create the emotional impact that the Vietnam Memorial does.  At the Vietnam Memorial one does not expect a festive mood, it would be inappropriate.  By the same token, one would not expect children or adults to be somber and reflective coming from the Tennessee Aquarium down to the River where one finds bleachers and a staging area on the river.  We understood that this was what was expected.”

Our thanks to Ann Coulter for this information, and we will be following up with her when The Passage re-opens. Stay tuned.