A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
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The fifteenth Native American Music Awards (the NAMMYS) once again honoured the best in aboriginal music while showcasing the wide diversity and depth of talent among the nation's indigenous performing artists. And once again this historic event was bypassed by the mainstream media to the loss of the North American public who would have been entertained and enlightened as to the many dimensions of Native music whose artists are the equal to any other professional musician who picks up a...
What constitutes a lie? There is the obvious verbal and written distortions of the truth but what is not said may also be deemed a lie. Take this as an example: Mr. Thompson goes to the A-1 Used Car Dealer. He is told that the vehicle he is interested in is in top shape, will pass inspection and is safe to drive. Based upon this assurance he buys the car and is driving home when the accelerator sticks. Despite his best efforts to slow down the car speeds up. When he tries to apply the brakes nothing happens. He tries to shift gears but the...
The accusations that Minnesota Vikings football player Adrian Peterson, a 29 year old 1.85 m tall, 100 kg running back, applied corporal punishment to his four year old son sufficient in severity to cause bleeding and bruising is cause for of all us to examine how children are disciplined and whether any adult has the authority to assault an adolescent, particularly one who is still an infant. Among aboriginal peoples children were raised as “wild Indians” free to roam about almost without restraint. As the European colonists observed Nat...
Iroquois on both sides of the Canada-US border were drawn into the War of 1812. For those mostly Mohawks who fought alongside the Canadian and British forces it was a matter of survival for they had good reason to suspect the expansionist Americans while their relatives to the south (mostly Seneca) elected to wage war out of fear that a position of neutrality would give cause by the US to remove them entirely from their shrinking land holdings. The effects of that war are very much an integral part of Mohawk history since for us it was in...
After reviewing the statements issued by the St. Regis Tribal Council in support of extinguishing forever all Mohawk claims to our aboriginal territory it is obvious none of the lawyers for the Tribe, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne or the Mohawk Nation Council have read, studied or creatively analyzed the dreaded 2005 City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York case and its limitations. A careful reading would reveal that the Court made numerous factual errors in its conclusions beginning with the repetition of the myth that the...
As we travel about our ancestral lands in what is now New York State it is good to see how many places have Kanienke (Mohawk) names. The names are a source of pride to those who call these places home even if few New Yorkers know their true meaning. The following is a partial list of place names which are distinctly Mohawk or as described by the Mohawk people. Think about this the next time you are passing through our homelands. Schenectady: Ska-na-ta-ti: other side of the pines Cohoes Falls: Kahon:ios: canoe falls Schoharie: Sko-ha-li:...
The question of what to do with the Canadian Border Security Agency buildings on Kawehnohkowanen:ne need not be a complicated one to answer. Under Mohawk laws of possession, the CBSA was given a limited right of occupancy as long as that entity demonstrated care and consideration for the land. The Mohawk Nation held underlying title to any given section of territory within its ancestral boundaries with the people retaining the right to settle, develop and exchange land as long as the property was used in compliance with traditional law and...
In these days of rapid, often overwhelming change the need to be anchored in culture and community becomes critical. If one is to stand against these technological and social waves there must be ideas, rituals and beliefs which are so deeply rooted as to weather those forces which would otherwise leave us as transients without substance or meaning beyond the immediate. For the Mohawks we have been fortunate in having the essence of a common identity in place and over the past generation have taken steps to insure we continue as a people. We...
One of the most profound teachings of the Mohawk people is that we exist in a place and time within a universe which is responsive to who we are as human beings. We have been given the gift of life to know the world and the intelligence to understand why we live. We are essentially a happy people with enhanced abilities to create societies in which the expression of joy is pervasive. Only by adhering to the individual and collective rituals of thanksgiving are we liberated to realize the true potential of the human mind. There is no fear in...
John Chabot, former National Hockey League player and citizen of the Algonquin nation, has an idea whose time has come. He believes that the indigenous nations of North America have the talent to form a men’s hockey team capable of playing on the international level and by rights should be represented at the Olympic Games. Currently, the NHL has a number of Native players who could form the nucleus of such a team and would immediately prove to be highly competitive. Players like Corey Price of the Montreal Canadiens, Cody McCormick of the B...
The world knew Pete Seeger, who died on January 27, as a human rights activist, a defender of the earth, an advocate for universal peace and one of the most prolific and creative musicians in American history. He was the composer of songs which have now become folk music standards: "Where Have All the Flowers Gone", "Turn, Turn, Turn", "If I Had a Hammer", "Good Night Irene" and the civil rights protest ballad "We Shall Overcome." From his youth he demonstrated compassion for the oppressed,...
Nothing new for the Iroquois in New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2014 State of the State address delivered on January 8 in Albany. The State will continue to pretend the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy does not exist. He deliberately did not invite the legitimate representatives of the Confederacy to the State Capitol since it would require him to acknowledge that the Grand Council of the Haudenosaunee does indeed speak on behalf of the majority of the 80,000 plus Iroquois. Cuomo carefully chose the weakest cultural and political links a...
1. The Washington DC area is the homeland of which native nations? 2. Which of the four major sports were invented by Native people? 3. Which football teams played the first game in which the forward pass was legal? 4. Who was the quarterback that invented the spiral pass? 5. Who was the first president of the National Football League? 6. Which pro football player also played professional baseball, was a two time Olympic gold medalist and the most feared running back of his time? 7. Which Native athlete was the true “greatest” of all time? 8....
In the fall of 1813 the war between Britain and the US was stumbling towards a stalemate. The Americans under US Secretary of War John Armstrong had developed a strategy to invade the provinces of Quebec and Ontario (Lower and Upper Canada) using a two-pronged attack from the south and southwest. Two armies, one encamped in Burlington, Vermont and the other at Sackets Harbor on Lake Ontario were to coordinate an assault again Montreal and thereby split the colonies in half and isolate the British-Canadian-Native forces in the west, cutting off...
When Sonkwaiateson walked upon the earth he found there was a need to create animated life. He made birds to fly about and fill the sky with music, fish to cleanse the waters, insects to carry seeds and animals with four legs to browse and graze among the plants. He selected the deer to become the leader of all the mammal beings and upon the head of the males he placed ona:kara (antlers) so they might sense danger and protect the herd. When Skennenrahowi was looking for a symbol to mark each of the 50 rotiane he placed deer antlers atop their...
In the fall of 1813 the Mohawks of Akwesasne were once again at the perilous position. Formal hostilities between Britain and the United States had resulted in war the previous year. Akwesasne was in a unique geographical location considered essential for the defense of Canada and, by the Americans, as vital to their planned invasions along the St. Lawrence River. On the territory itself factions resulted from divided loyalties, a remnant from the American Revolution. The pro-Americans were led by Louis Cook, a commissioned officer by General...
Four years ago New York State closed Camp Gabriels, a minimum-security compound operated by the state’s Department of Corrections. Originally a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients, later a part of the Paul Smiths College, the 91 acre site was recently renovated by New York until the reduction in the number of state inmates led to its closure. Among the many buildings are a chapel, gym, new dormitories, a new water and septic system, updated heating plant, cafeteria, administration office, health clinic, athletic fields, greenhouse and auto m...
Every composer or performer makes a choice as to the style and type of music by which they will be defined. For aboriginal artists it can be a difficult one as they balance culture and commercialism. What sells? And how to reach a market which is widely ignorant of indigenous musical styles and content? Some do make the deliberate choice to use contemporary technologies to compose songs which seek to put into music their experiences as Native artists and to become politically charged. As we know music is often the best, most powerful means of...
As Mohawks we are taught from infancy to honour our elders, abide by the traditional teachings and accept our ancient values as given to us across the generations. One of the most profound instructions, which should be the foundation for all of our laws, is to do no harm to the rights of the unborn unto the seventh generation. This means our descendants have the legal right to the basics of life: clean air, pure waters, and fertile lands. It also gives us the obligation to preserve that which makes the Mohawk people distinct. It includes not...
Long before the arrival of the Europeans to Anowara:kowa (Turtle Island or “America”) the Iroquois had established rituals to welcome individuals and groups to their territory. These rituals were to form the basis for diplomatic relations, which in turn could lead to formal agreements and treaties with foreign nations. It was vital to the Iroquois to define their home territory by asserting sovereignty as they extended hospitality through the sharing of resources and the alleviation of physical, intellectual and spiritual burdens. Through the...
Tonto means “stupid” in Spanish and this movie obviously relishes not only that name but uses it to describe anyone suckered into this 150-minute mess. Nothing makes sense in the film, from the stunning lack of historical accuracy to the silly action sequences, the simplistic dialogue or the physical settings. At one moment the characters are in the dust plains of what is supposed to be Texas, then riding through Arizona’s Monument Valley before having their ranches burned in what looks like the high mountain meadows of the Canadian Rocki...
The Tonto and the Lone Ranger movie features Johnny Depp playing a Comanche native but the first actor to play the role was a Mohawk of the Six Nations territory in southern Ontario. His stage name was Jay Silverheels and this is how he came to be a performer in Hollywood movies. In the 1930’s the sport of lacrosse was very popular, particularly those games played in hockey arenas during the summer. The sport was sponsored by the Montreal Canadiens hockey team, which led to the formation of a professional box lacrosse league. Its high speed, e...
Pete Seeger is now 94, but he remains in good health and is involved in the annual Clearwater Festival, a folk music gathering on the eastern bank of the Ohiiokeh (Hudson River). Begun in 1978 to raise support for the cleansing of the Ohiiokeh the event attracts tens of thousands of people who listen to performances from folk artists and obtain information about ecological and human rights initiatives. Seeger is considered the foremost folk singer of his time with his songs recorded not only by...
As the War of 1812 dragged on through the spring of 1813 many Iroquois were uncertain as to which side they should fight. The British forces had suffered defeats when the colonial capital at York (now Toronto) was captured and burned on April 27 followed by the loss of Ft. George to the American forces on May 25. These victories placed the Iroquois at Ohsweken and the Mohawks of Tyendinaga, Akwesasne and Kahnawake in a delicate, vulnerable position. The American strategy was initially designed to attack the British garrison at Kingston thereby...
The Mohawk people at Akwesasne were joined by their Haudenosaunee kin in a May 17 march through their territory and across the two international bridges which cross the St. Lawrence River. Rotiane (chiefs) from the Onondaga, Mohawk and Tuscarora national councils led the 400 plus marchers as they brought a message to the representatives of the Canadian government seeking an end to the current situation involving the Canadian Border Security Agency. Four years ago the CBSA elected to move from their station on the Cornwall Island district of Akw...
