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When settlers and explorers came to the New World, they encountered cultures and societies already deeply entrenched in the land. Though those people were pushed off the land over time by the ferocious technology, puritanical fervor, and unfamiliar diseases of the Europeans, Native Americans today are asserting their place in the nation's culture.
On Tuesday night Janice Falcone, a member of the Iroquois tribe, spoke about her culture and heritage as well as the work she has been doing for the last 30 years at the North American Indian Center (NAIC) of Boston. The lecture was sponsored by the Graduate AHANA program and is part of a series intended to educate attendees about the history of Native Americans as well as the struggles they face today.
Falcone began the lecture with a traditional Iroquois prayer of thanksgiving. The prayer is recited in the tribal culture when groups come together in discussion or for other purposes, and it invokes the people, the Earth Mother, the Creator, and other natural forces to bear witness and give blessing to the gathering.
"We need to stop and take the time to enjoy the beauty the Creator has given us," she said.
Falcone talked about the Native American view of the planet, which stresses sustainability and stewardship. She stressed the way in which the modern world is often disconnected from the natural world. "Whoever thought we'd be buying water?" she said, gesturing to a water bottle.
Falcone told stories of her youth, and of the reservation in New York where she grew up. Her father was a chief on the reservation, and, as such, was an important community leader.
She explained how the election of a tribal chief was a process that involved the whole community and was ultimately decided by the clan mothers, who are female elders respected for their age and wisdom. "The Iroquois were known for their long and deliberating councils," she said.
Her father, though a chief, also worked in a gypsum mine in order to provide for his family. Falcone said he was always eager to learn about new ways in which he could help and better advise the tribe. He was a voracious reader, she said, and would read her school textbooks more thoroughly than she did. "He should have gotten my degree instead of me," Falcone said.
The importance of education to the Native American community was a topic that came up repeatedly during the evening. Falcone said that her work with the NAIC is concerned with two main priorities: finding jobs for the unemployed and education.
Education and other skills training is important not only for young Native Americans, but also for adults who move to urbanized areas from the reservations.
Falcone explained that skills training is limited on the reservations, and that skills suited for life there, such as fishing and woodsman skills, are of little use in factories or industrial positions.
Education is also important in the Native American community because with it, Native Americans can explore their own heritage and develop a deeper sense of their selves and their culture.
"When I was a girl, it was not very good being an Indian," Falcone said. "It was the time of cowboy and Indian movies, and I used to cheer for the cowboys." Falcone said that her friends would tell her to stop, reminding her where her own identity lay, but she rebelled, saying that her people could not possibly have been like the savage image with which they were depicted in Western films.
"Our parents felt that if we took on our Indian culture, it would hold us back as productive citizens," Falcone said.
She commented on the resurgence of interest in Native American culture among the community's youth, which is possibly related to improvements in awareness and education on the subject.
Falcone said that in her lifetime she has also seen mainstream American culture become more interested in the culture, history, and heritage of America's native peoples.
She said that when she left the reservation and went to college, "All of a sudden, I had to answer every question about Indians … People were interested in me because I was different."
Falcone then played a video featuring Larry Mann and his three sons. Mann is a Native American who is trying to pass on the experience of his heritage and culture to his sons, so they might experience it as well.
"When you know who you are and you remember where you come from, you will do better," he said in the film.
Mann has taught his sons the traditional drumming and singing of his tribe. They tour the United States and have recorded a number of CDs, in an effort to keep the cultures and heritages of the native peoples of America alive. "We hold on to the traditions and values of the culture with this drum," he said.
Falcone went on to speak about the place of casinos and gambling on native reservations. She said that she was raised to disapprove of gambling, yet, she said, "I see it as a necessary evil."
She restated that at NAIC their primary objectives are to provide jobs and education to Native Americans. The growth of tribal casinos would provide much needed opportunities for employment within the Native American community.
Falcone also discussed the Thanksgiving holidays as a time of particular reflection and commemoration for the Native American community.
Some Native Americans mark the Thanksgiving holiday as a National Day of Mourning, she said, which is an act of protest that began in 1970 and has been observed annually since.
This protest against the centuries of injustice directed against Native Americans is capped by a gathering atop a hill overlooking Plymouth Rock. At the first gathering in 1970, Wamsutta James, a Native American activist, gave a speech in which he said, "What has happened cannot be changed, but today we must work towards a more humane America, a more Indian America, where men and nature once again are important; where the Indian values of honor, truth, and brotherhood prevail."
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