How to Spend the $8,400,000 Cultural Settlement

Alcoa and General Motors announced March 27th that an agreement had been reached regarding their culpability in destroying the environment and undermining the traditional lifestyles of the Mohawk people.

Of that, $8,400,000 is earmarked for strengthening the culture of Akwesasne.  This money should not be given to one single council since the damages to our heritage are not restricted to the border or one agency, but has been of profound impact on every family within our territory-which includes all of our aboriginal lands in the region regardless of the artificial boundary lines the outside entities have tried to impose upon us.

The three Mohawk governments must meet to create a committee to receive suggestions and proposals from the community as to how to best use the funds. Of specific importance should be those programs which have direct impact on the Mohawk youth. Since the money is to support the retention of a distinct Mohawk identity here are a few ideas as to how to accomplish this:

-Language is all-important. Without this we have only a partial understanding as to who we are and the enormous wealth of knowledge within our culture.  To know the environment is to speak Mohawk, to carry on with our traditional knowledge we need to speak with our elders. To lay any claim to special status based upon a Mohawk identity, which includes treaty and other aboriginal rights understanding, Mohawk is essential. There needs to be greater support for the Akwesasne Freedom School, more Native programming on CKON Radio and other areas of communication.

-The success of the adult Mohawk language program at Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa under the direction of Brian Maracle at Ohsweken should be replicated at Akwesasne. Maracle has proven that you can take non-speakers and within a year produce adults who can converse in Mohawk. Individuals who elect to take part in these remarkable classes should be given scholarships and other incentives.  Pay people to learn and speak Mohawk if necessary-like they do in Oklahoma Cherokee country. Knowing Mohawk is particularly important for the Mohawk Nation Council which oversees the ceremonial cycle of the community.  It is this connection with the natural world which will determine our physical and cultural survival into the next generation.  This is not religious but simple common sense.

-A summer camp for boys and girls has long been a dream for many people.  Not since the time of Ray Fadden have our kids had the chance to interact with the environment by actually camping, hiking and canoeing in our homelands for a prolonged length of time. Nowhere in all the territories of the Iroquois is there a place for the kids to learn about nature while in a natural setting.  Such a camp should have Mohawk guides and classes taught by our knowledge keepers.  It should be a place where Mohawk is spoken.  As has been proven by linguists that if a child is immersed in a language they will master its fundamentals within six weeks.  A camp will also enable us to teach kids the skills all Mohawks should possess.  For the teenagers, simple survival techniques we invented should be revived and passed on to them.  As we all know a healthy teenager with an understanding as to who they are within their own heritage and in the world makes for a person confident, disciplined and more apt to succeed at whatever they do in life.

-A collective effort by all three councils to establish a Mohawk Nation archives with audio, oral and internet components to collect as much information as to our heritage as possible.  This should be preserved in a dynamic Mohawk Nation Museum, which offers not only displays but also formal instruction into those cultural elements deemed distinctive to the Mohawk people. The Museum should become a local, regional and international resource center for all things Mohawk.

It is important not to restrict the money to one council but to establish an organization which is apolitical and open to all ideas. The enormous harm Alcoa and General Motors have caused us will not be repaired in a single generation nor is the $8,400,000 nearly enough to compensate for our injuries, but it can be the seeds which our descendents will harvest. Let us truly think as to what we can do for those yet unborn.