"My family moved here in the 50's after WWII," said Michael Wise, who grew up in Los Angeles. They didn't talk about their Cherokee culture. He only knew his mom was French and English, and that his dad came from New Mexico after leaving Oklahoma. "Dad's side didn't really pay too much attention to their heritage, possibly because if you did say you were Indian you would be pushed aside or worse. I didn't really know anything until my grandmother came and lived with us and told us that we were Indian. I was about 12. She shared the culture with my two brothers and myself," Michael remembered.
"We all sat around and listened to our grandmother tell stories, but she didn't know too much because her family wasn't from the reservation either, she was born in 1890 so everything was pretty messed up around then. Most of my Cherokee heritage was all kind of scattered and broken up, it wasn't like I came off the reservation. The Trail of Tears just sort of blew everybody to the wind, as far as my personal ancestry goes."
