Two Tribes, Three Sisters
Charis Nwaozuzu is a Cherokee Jewish tattoo artist out of…
Two Tribes, Three Sisters
by Charis Nwaozuzu
Two lands lost
One reclaimed
Both called “savages”
Both argued “lost”
Yet here we stand;
Stepping through the flames
Still here, still strong
The heartbeat of the land still beating in our hearts
The sun still smiling on our faces
For we will not be blamed
Not for the pull of the lands on our feet,
nor our cries for sovereignty
We will dance, we will rejoice
For our hearts will never be tamed.
The “two tribes” refers to Charis’s dual indigenous heritage as a member of both the Cherokee Tribe and the Tribes of Israel. The “three sisters” refers to the three main crops of indigenous Americans — squash, corn, and beans — which are grown together symbiotically in order to support the others and replenish the soil. The knot in the middle of the illustration is a compass, symbolizing the cardinal directions, and the sacred number four. According to Cherokee tradition, four cords connect the land to the sky: when they break, the world will fall back into the primordial waters.
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Charis Nwaozuzu is a Cherokee Jewish tattoo artist out of Oklahoma. She believes that storytelling through art is deeply rooted in both of her cultures, and is excited to be passing that tradition down to the next generation.