On this episode of Listen In, gifted teacher Shannon Batt sat down with Multimedia Editor Samantha Haney to discuss her experience as a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. She has been able to pass down her tribal heritage to both of her sons and over the past month has met with both Lafayette and middle school students to give a presentation and answer questions about her culture. To prepare for her presentation, Batt created a board talking about not only her personal story but the history of tribes in the United States along with what tribes look like right now. As part of it, she featured the beadwork she creates as a registered Choctaw artist along with items she’s collected from visiting with her tribe. Between the two presentations, Batt enjoyed how invested the students were, with the middle schoolers asking more questions and generally being a little bit more curious. Batt said that although she has never lived with her tribe, it feels like home every time she’s able to visit. There are no federally recognized tribes in Missouri and although at one time there used to be, the tribes were forced to leave. That has caused some of the culture to be lost according to Batt, which is part of why it’s so important to her that people know tribal members can be found anywhere. They don’t fit a specific stereotype or have a specific skin tone, instead, what makes someone part of a tribe is being blood-related to one of the original tribal members who were cataloged by the government. For Batt, that family member is her grandfather who was cataloged when he was a child. Native American Heritage Month offers a chance for Batt to not only have conversations about her culture but reflect on what being Choctaw means to her.
