A Native American tribe in South Carolina has welcomed a new leader. On March 19, Gregory Crummie was sworn in as chief of the Santee Indian Tribe on March 19, taking over for Randy Crummie, who died of Covid-19 in October after 12 years leading the tribe.
The tribe, which is recognized by the state but not the federal government, has over 6,000 members across the United States with about 450 still in South Carolina, WLTX-TV reported.
Gregory’s goals are to keep working toward federal recognition and keeping the tribe’s culture alive. Part as that is trying to bring back as much of the Santee Indian Tribe’s language, most of which has been lost over the years.
“There is no known dialect of our language so we’re trying to find that back,” Gregory said.
Part of the language is playing the drums and chanting.
“To a lot of people it just sounds like we’re just yelling but it actually means something so we’re gonna try and teach them all of that,” Gregory said.
