“Betsy Love’s life experiences stand in for a broader historical phenomenon: the complex and exploitative relationships between people of color.”

Chickasaws are a proud people: proud of the strength and military might we were known for among Indians in what is now the southeastern United States; proud of the strategic alliances we made with the English, and then the Americans; proud of the “unconquerable spirit” that meant we survived colonization, removal, and Oklahoma statehood; and proud of the prominent status women have always had in our nation. But because my Chickasaw identity is tied to my Blackness, I see a negative side to this pride—one inextricably linked to the history of enslavement.