Native Americans gathered on Thursday to offer blessings and forgiveness for past transgressions

Native Americans gathered on Thursday at Ballground Plantation to bless the land and offer forgiveness for past transgressions.

The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed on Sep. 27, 1830 at Ballground Plantation, between the United States Government and the Choctaw American Indian tribe. The treaty was carried into the Indian Removal Act and ceded around 11 million acres, in what is now Mississippi, in exchange for around 15 million acres, in what is now Oklahoma.

One of the principal Choctaw negotiators was Chief Greenwood LeFlore. LeFlore was elected as the Principal Chief of the Choctaw in 1830.

LeFlore led other chiefs to sign the treaty, which effectively ceded the remaining lands of the Choctaw in Mississippi. The treaty allowed Choctaw who remained to have reserved lands, but the United States failed to follow through.

Members against the treaty made threats against LeFlore, who remained in Mississippi and accepted United States citizenship. LeFlore went on to be elected as a legislator and senator in the 1840’s.

“Through that time, brother was pitted against brother and some things happened that there had to be an apology. So, an apology brings healing. To walk in unforgiveness brings a curse,” said Chaplin of the Chickasaw Medical Center Randy Wade.

Thursday’s gathering was a chance to forgive the past and move forward to the future.

“Today forgiveness was given and forgiveness was received so that now we can move forward,” Wade stated . “We’re not stuck with what history tells us.”