Eternal Hearts & Kindred Spirits
When solidarity feels like sunshine
Just a quick breath of fresh air in an otherwise heavy week:
Both Ireland and the Choctaw Nation now have sculptures honoring a special relationship based on their shared history of oppression and solidarity spanning more than a hundred years.
On August 30th, Choctaw tribal members and representatives from the Irish government gathered in Oklahoma to unveil the “Eternal Heart,” a sculpture built by Choctaw artist Samuel Stitt to honor and commemorate the ongoing solidarity between the tribe and Ireland. The heart entwined with the Celtic knot was placed facing the direction of Ireland.
Back in 1847, at the height of the Great Hunger and shortly after the infamous Trail of Tears, the Choctaw people collected $170 (about $5000 today) to send to Ireland to assist with relief efforts after hearing about the starvation of the Irish people.
In 2017, the Irish government commemorated the Choctaw Famine Gift by unveiling a sculpture called Kindred Spirits, a circle of 20 foot stainless steel eagle feathers created by artist Alex Pentek. Kindred Spirits is located in a small park in Midleton, County Cork, not too far away from Ballymaloe House.
The following year, the Irish government created the Choctaw-Ireland Scholarship, a fully-funded masters degree program for a member of the Choctaw Nation.
That the Irish have never forgotten the generosity of the Choctaw people was again made clear when, in 2020, they heard of the disproportionate impact that Covid was having on another Native American tribe, the Navajo Nation. Motivated to return the favor, a small group of Irish folks set up a GoFundMe that ended up raising more than $3 million to help alleviate their suffering.
It makes me think of this quote attributed to Grace Lee Boggs: “We never know how our small activities will affect others through the invisible fabric of our connectedness. In this exquisitely connected world, it’s never a question of ‘critical mass.’ It’s always about critical connections.”
