Halloween, a day when native cultures are far too often appropriated by American citizens as “costume.” It seems fitting, then, that we might reflect back on an event that took place at UVM on October 9th, Indigenous People’s Day, when five members of the Wabunowin-Dawn Society came to UVM’s Fleming Museum to participate in a panel on Decolonization. The event was organized to underscore the importance of recognizing Indigenous voices in Vermont and at large, and specifically to advocate for the official replacement of Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day. While Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin released proclamations of said replacement in both 2016 and 2017, the change is not yet official. On the panel were three Abenaki people and two non-indigenous supporters. From left to right in the above photo, the speakers included Arthur Black Hawk, a non-Indigenous animist and long-time activist and advocate of Indigenous rights; Elizabeth Mariani, an Italian-American poet, artist, activist, and mindfulness educator in Burlington; Melody Walker Brook, an Elnu Abenaki tribe member, Chair of the Vermont Commission for Native American Affairs, UVM graduate, activist, artist, historian, and educator; Dee Bright Sttar, Abenaki Vermonter, activist, and former member of the Abenaki Tribal Council; and Charles Delaney-Megoso, a member of the Elders Council of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki Nation, and a long time native justice leader and activist in Vermont.
Near the beginning of the evening, Charlie Mesogo clarified that none of them was actually a current Abenaki tribal leader, as was advertised on the UVM event page. After introductions, Charlie spoke on the long-range history of the Abenaki people in Vermont he knows about, in terms of the movement and probable interaction (seasonal travel, trade, etc.) of different Abenaki bands which would have comprised a “more whole culture” before first contact with European colonizers. After highlighting the devastating effects of disease carried over from Europe, which first impacted Abenaki along the coast of Maine, Charlie provided an overview of past and recent legislature concerning the Abenaki in Vermont, and, in particular, how that legislature has been respected and enforced or the contrary. With the assistance of Charlie’s words, we can very broadly track the overall trend regarding settler colonist interaction with the Abenaki. Beginning with the French and the Jesuits, who “dealt with people different from themselves as not having souls,” we move through the eugenics movement in Vermont, beginning in 1925 and during which “if you weren’t a college-educated New Englander, there was something wrong with you,” and then we arrive in the present day which, thanks to two significant shifts which took place in 2010, is “not an ‘us vs. them’ situation anymore.” Those two shifts came as a result of the establishment of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, which recommends tribes for state recognition: first was the request for an education bill, and second was the request that Abenaki be allowed to own land. The panel was extremely eye-opening and one would hope it sparked a fire in many of those who attended to continue doing research about indigenous presence, and the efforts towards its erasure in Vermont and in the U.S. at large. Melody Walker Brook and Elizabeth Mariani both read pieces they had written for the VT Digger. A key obstacle in the work of indigenous communities is the lack of presence their own voices have in popular media, news, and history textbooks; the highly offensive and inaccurate stereotype of the dark-skinned, headdress-wearing American Indian is a nearly direct result of that systemically-perpetuated absence. In other words, our first job as settlers is to simply listen, and listen carefully, to indigenous voices and the ways of knowing they articulate. One highlight from Melody’s beautiful piece, entitled “Brook & Plante: Abenaki tribal statement on Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” reads: To understand how a land was won, equity mandates that one also recognize that for someone else, it was lost. When the values that necessitated struggle rather than cooperation met with might, suffering was left in its wake and for this reason Columbus Day has always been a day of mourning for indigenous people. As human beings, we all have frailties and fears, but we also have the ability to recognize them and aspire to a higher standard. Relating to this “higher standard,” Melody emphasized, at the end of the evening, that while there is a vast, deep, and plentiful collection of heartbreaking histories among indigenous communities which have been too long unacknowledged, the current need among Abenaki people is a need for “spirit”. Charlie identified the experience of indigenous Vermonters as an example of “multigenerational trauma,” and believes that we are now called, collectively, to work towards “healing the heart.” To this same effect, Melody expressed her belief in the priority of strength/survivance stories among Abenaki. Her work is channeled towards acknowledging, celebrating, and nurturing spaces for community, creative expression, preservation of Abenaki knowledge and traditional skills, connection with ancestors, and strides towards positive spiritual growth. There is a lot left to learn for most of us in the settler position, and it might seem a daunting task to undertake. At the end of the evening, when audience members were asking what they could do to help Abenaki efforts towards recognition and cultural revitalization, Melody pointed out that there are many Abenaki organizations that hold events open to the public, and that one of the first things we might do is to get to know the community itself. A multitude of other learning resources and active Abenaki-advocating organizations exist, and it is easy to find them with a simple Google investigation, perhaps beginning with something like the Wabunowin-Dawn Society of the Abenaki Artists Association. |