Trail of Tears motorcycle ride stops in Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – The Annual Trail of Tears Motorcycle ride celebrated its 30th year.

Ike Moore, President of the Trail of Tears Commemorative Ride said, “This is actually our 30th anniversary. We’ve been doing this for 30 years. The group you see here today came from Cherokee North Carolina this morning. We have 18 riders from the Indian reservation in Cherokee from the eastern band of Cherokee Indians.”

The ride simulates the path Native Americans took during the Trail of Tears.

Moore said, “Well a drought came that year and they weren’t able to go down the rivers so they had to walk from here to Waterloo Alabama and if you can imagine walking that far. There were a lot of lives lost during that time but this ride was starting to commemorate that route and bring awareness to that dark chapter of our history.”

For president Ike Moore this ride means more.

He said, A rider “pointed out earlier today when we were probably about 50 miles down the road, he said you know by now our ancestors were starting to lose the skin of their feet. It’s very emotional for me to ride in this. I’m Cherokee, I’m a member of the Chota tribe out of Alabama and I’ll tell you, it breaks my heart.”

He hopes it can educate the younger generation.

“As these kids and people are standing on the side of the road and some little kid will reach up and pull on daddy’s coat tail and say, ‘why is there all these motorcycles,’ and the daddy will know and will tell him they are here to commemorate the removal of our forefathers,” said Moore.

The ride is always on the 3rd Saturday in September.