Indian Slavery: An Unspoken History

My name is Raymond Two Hawks Watson. And as I mentioned, I am CEO and founder of the Providence Culture Equity Initiative, which is one of the lead sponsors on the Seventh Annual New England Native American Culture Week. Before I go any further, I do want to take a moment to acknowledge the sponsors of the week. We'll start with our fantastic sponsor for tonight's evening-- this evening's event-- the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, here at Brown University. And of course, Dr. Tony [? Bouges, ?] he's right over in the corner there. So thank him very much for his hospitality and hosting us here. [APPLAUSE] Roger Williams University School of Continuing Studies has been a sponsor, as well, as Rhode Island College, the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts. National Park Service, for the powwow will be doing-- and I'm going to touch base on some of the events that have been taken place this week, as well. Eastern Medicine Singers, and Chief Daryl Black Eagle Jamison is here, as well. He's the head of the Eastern Medicine Singers [? Drum-- ?] very supportive since we've started. And basically all of the individuals who in their individual capacities come out to support and raise awareness about New England Native American culture, because we found that it doesn't necessarily get the attention, or awareness raised about it, that other Indian cultures in North America, and beyond, get. So we really started this seven years ago in a conversation between [INAUDIBLE], from a Rhode Island College, and myself, about the interest in just raising more awareness about the cultures that were specific to this area. It started off with just a conversation about having a powwow. But we soon realized that just doing the powwow wasn't enough because people come to powwows and they leave without really understanding anything about the culture. It's more of a spectacle for them, and we definitely like to share our culture in that way. But we wanted to encourage actual academic, sort of, dialogue and conversation, and learning. We wanted to facilitate learning about our culture, our history, who are people are. And as [? creator ?] would have it, we're here on our seventh year, so it's been a fantastic week of programming, thus far. We started on Monday with a panel discussion entitled, "Squanto: Friend of Foe," which was held at Rhode Island College. And we discussed the historical figure of Squanto, and actually realized that's not actually his real name. Was is [? Tisquantum? ?] And [? Tisquantum ?] means, man, in [INAUDIBLE]? So we were basically calling him man. And the role that he played getting kidnapped, taken over Europe, finding his way back, getting kidnapped, brought back over there again. And then eventually making his way to be a translator between the Indians that were in the area, and the colonists, and all of the-- for lack of a better term-- drama that came out of that, and how it's impacted us, even until this day. So it was a very lively discussion, pretty well attended, and it was a great way to kick off that week. Tuesday, we had a Nikkmo Meswne drum social in the courtyard for Roger Williams University's School of Continuing Studies. It was an excellent event. And it was a great way to show right in the heart of the city that our culture is alive and well. So if people were driving down Empire Street, riding [? by AS220, ?] they saw a cultural vendor out there, they saw a food vendor out there serving traditional New England Native American cultural foods. And they saw the Eastern Medicine Singers out there, rocking away as we usually do. So it was a very nice time. We do, once again, appreciate Roger Williams University for facilitating that, as well. Last night we supported a gentleman by the name of Walter Callender, who has a fantastic initiative called, Practico Innovations, which seeks to find, and highlight, and give financial resources and supports to individuals with innovative ideas that are coming from communities that are invisible in plain sight. So the basic premise behind Practical Innovation is that so many innovative ideas that have impacted the world, have been found by big corporate entities going into third world countries, and looking at what people are doing to survive on a daily basis. So they go and they kind of study these people, and then they come back here, and they have the facilities and resources to take it to the next level. So they make lots of money off of these products, like syringes, and Tide, and all of these different things that we use in our everyday life that we don't understand, came out of someone trying to figure out a way to just survive on a daily basis. So Practical Innovations makes it a point to target individuals from those communities. And he had reached out to us wanting to connect with the local Native American community. So we supported that event last night as part of New England Native American Culture Week. And we'll be following up with an event with them sponsored by Rick, as well, sometime in the near future. Of course, tonight we're here for our panel discussion on Indian slavery, and Unspoken History. And I'm really excited about this. As I started to learn more about my own history, one of the most exciting, and also daunting and saddening things, was to learn that a large amount of the slaves that were enslaved were actually darker skinned Indians, and it's not talked about as much as it is the experiences about African brothers and sisters. So we want to add that element to the discussion, as well, to understand that this thing called, slavery, it's not just for one group of people. It's not just the Africans who are enslaved. A lot of Irish brothers and sisters made their way here through, quote unquote, indenture, which is slavery by another name. So this is an issue that affects everyone from a cultural perspective. And we really wanted to highlight an aspect of it that is seldom talked about. Tomorrow evening, in collaboration with WaterFire Providence, will be having a torch honoring ceremony at the Roger Williams National Memorial, just to honor past and present supporters of the New England Native American Culture Week. So if you happen to be in the area, please do stop down. It'll be from 6:30 to about 7:30-- quarter to 8:00-- right at the Roger Williams National Memorial. And then, of course, how can you do anything with Indians if you don't have a powwow? So this Saturday and Sunday at the Roger Williams National Memorial will be the Seventh Annual Big Drum Powwow. It is a traditional Eastern Wooden Algonquin style powwow. So if you been to powwows out west you'll recognize certain elements of it, but the music is definitely going to be different. You'll be hearing a lot of the Algonquin dialects, the regalia is going to be different, you're going to see more Eastern style dress. And it's just a great time, smack dab in the heart of the city. And it really fees into what we like to call, the living culture element of this fantastic place that we call Rhode Island. That there's so many cultures here, that are not just in history books, but they're alive. You can go and see their festivals, you can go and visit their ceremonies. They allow you to come into their world in that manner. And we really need to acknowledge that for the tremendous resource that it is, here for this state. So I think I've done enough rambling at this time. It is my great pleasure and honor-- oh, and I need to acknowledge mister Larry Wilson, from Rhode Island College, who has been one of the coordinators for the tremendous events that are taking place this week. Larry, being the bright and proactive individual he, is handing out flyers, so you can learn a little bit more about what has taken place already this week, and what will be taking place. So, Larry, thank you, as always, for the fantastic work you're doing for being here tonight. Somebody has to keep [INAUDIBLE] on. [LAUGHTER] But it gives me great honor and pleasure to invite up PCEI's Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer, and also an international Kingian nonviolence trainer, Mr. Jonathan "Globe" Lewis. If we can have a round of applause. [APPLAUSE] Keep that going for Mr. Watson, he deserves y'all. Keep it going for Mr. Watson. [APPLAUSE] Good evening. Y'all are kidding me, Right [LAUGHTER] I mean for real. There are no passive participants who achieve their liberation or freedom. And if you're going to be a passive learner in this process, you have to allow for others to represent you. And when that happens, sometimes bad things happen. So let's try that again, good evening. Good evening. All right. [LAUGHS] It sounds silly, but I do stress my greeting every time I do a presentation, or speaking event. Because I believe if we hope to get anything out of this moment, we have to be willing to at least put something into our greetings to one another. So thank you very much. Tonight we're talking about something that's very, very important. And this particular geographic location played a pretty large role in this-- this enslavement of Indians. I said enslavement, because they're not slaves, but folks were enslaved. We're go-- as Ray said, I am a Kingian nonviolence trainer-- international trainer. Currently I am working for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Dr. King's organization, as their senior level nonviolence trainer. And Ray already mentioned, I'm the chief policy and advocacy officer for PCEI, the Providence Cultural Equity Initiative. But we're going to move along. And please, we're going to have these exquisite presenters speak about their expertise, we're going to be covering pre-colonial, colonial, and current-- excuse me-- contemporary issues, and what's happening around Indians and Native Americans. But before we go any further, let me introduce our speakers, and then we're going to hear from each of them. After that, we'll have an open session for questions and answers, and that's where we hope for full participation. Pierre-- I knew I was going to mess it up. I don't know why, forgive me. It's a tough one. [LAUGHS] It's Pierre Morenon. Pierre Morenon, from Rho-- Morenon. Morenon, from Rhode Island College, Taino Palermo, from Roger Williams University in Continuing Studies, Marjorie O'Toole, is the director of Little Compton Historical Society, and a second year master's student at Brown's Public Humanities Program, Geri Augusto, faculty at Brown, visiting professor, international Public Affairs, and Africana Studies, Watson Institute faculty fellow. Those will be our four speakers for this evening. We're going to, again, allow for questions. But please let all the presenters speak first, and then we'll have as much engagement as possible. Some will be including visuals, so please pay full attention. The first speaker we'll have for this evening is Taino Palermo, from Roger Williams University. Thank you. So as John said, my name is Taino Palermo. I'm [INAUDIBLE] of the [INAUDIBLE] Guaynia Clan in the Guaynia region of Borinquen, which is known to many today as Ponce, Puerto Rico. And what I wanted to run through today was a very-- you know, the Tainos, as a population, exist in very few artifacts and mostly through oral history. We hosted an indigenous peoples conference last year and had Cacique [INAUDIBLE], who was one of the last few predominantly full-blooded Tainos living today. He's over 60% Taino blood-- indigenous bloods in North America. And so he's one of-- there's less than five-- and so he's one of the last living ones. So it's an honor to continue to be able to speak on the plight of the Taino people, who have been transformed into what we know today as Puerto Ricans. And so, if you are Puerto Rican, or know Puerto Ricans, they come in all shapes and colors. And that's because, as their indigenous roots go, as Tainos, they were mixed with the Spanish conquistadors and African slaves. So I'm just going to run through a timeline for you, which is documented-- which is a cross, of a mixture, of oral history, and documented Spanish history, which will end with an image of a little piece of documented US history. So, as we know, when we learn in elementary school, in 1492 when Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He hit the Caribbean first, what they call the West Indies, and saw indigenous people, which gave them the name Indians. He hit Hispaniola in that region, which is modern day Dominican Republic and Haiti, and circled through modern day Puerto Rico, Cuba and southern Florida. All of which is what the Tainos inhabited. So they inhabited the Caribbean region, as well as Southern Florida. So in 1493 was his second voyage to the New World, where he actually landed in Borinquen, and documented as many as 50,000 Tainos across Borinquen and Hispaniola, as they called it, which was Dominican Republican in Spain. So in 150-- so, what happened was, he comes back, shares all of this, and it catches the attention of the Spanish crown, who then commissioned Ponce de Leon to head back out there. He does and meets Cacique of Caciques, Agueybana. And Agueybana is the Cacique of Cacique, the chief of chiefs. And, as the story goes, he shows them the entire wealth that they have. They don't know it's wealth, they think it's offerings for their gods, and so-- this is gold. Taino stands for the Good People. They're not what you would hear of like Aztecs, or Mayans, with temples, and sacrifice killings, and things like that. They're not even a warrior race to that extent. So Agueybana goes back to Spain with Ponce de Leon, and Ponce de Leon comes back with an armada and begins the wiping out of the Taino Indians. So in 1501 the Spanish crown then approves the export of slaves from Spain to the Caribb-- to the Americas-- to all of their colonies in that area. And by 1508, 1510 is when colonization takes full flight. And so, by 1509 is when they established repartimientos, and essentially what that is, is indentured servitude. And it consisted of distributing among officials and colonists fixed numbers of Indians for wage-free and forced labor. And so the crown then instituted something called encomienda, which is supposed to replace repartimientos after priests were in an uproar about the treatment of these indigenous people. So Spain, being the colonizer, just rebranded slavery. And then by 1510-- so as the Tainos saw Spaniards coming with their ships, and weapons, and things that they have never seen before, they thought they were immortals. And so Cacique Urayoan-- Cacique Urayoan and his warriors, as the story goes, drowned San Diego, which was a conquistador who was notorious for beating, killing, and raping Tainos. They drowned San Diego and watch him for seven days to make sure that he doesn't rise. And when he doesn't word spreads across all of the islands that the Spaniards are not immortal. And an uproar begins and Spain then begins the-- a war against Tainos. And what was once kind of like a soft enslavement became an all out slaughter and full enslavement, to which many Tainos fled to the mountains or off the islands. And many died along the way, but they also dispersed to parts of South America and the Gulf Coast. And so by 1513 African slaves are introduced into the islands. And by 1517 King Carlos the V authorized the importation of 4,000 slaves to the Caribbean. So from 1520 to the 1800s there was an ongoing slave trade that passed through the Caribbean. And as you can imagine by this time, as they're colonizing the United States, it's continuing on through the Caribbean. If anyone saw the movie "Amistad," and the Fort in San Juan, it was a major port for the slave trade. And so by 1803 all the major global powers were starting to abolish slavery among their colonies, the British, the Dutch, the French. Spain, on paper, abolished its slavery in Puerto Rico in 1873. However, I have an image during the Spanish-American War, and the signing of the Paris Treaty, the United States creates-- they develop a baseline census-- 1899. You could actually go to census.gov and find this census. It's the baseline census for-- thank you-- for Puerto Rico by the US, take it in 1899, that enumerates coloreds, free and enslaved, men and women. And so, at some point in time there was an agreement to adhere to the abolishment of slavery, but obviously there wasn't at the US. As they started enumerating individuals in Puerto Rico are now-- they're documenting slaves there, and colored slaves. So what's also interesting about the 1899 census of Puerto Rico is that they also validate the existence of aborigines. So they mention in this census that Spain, for a long time, was boasting about the genocide and the wiping out of the Tainos. Yet, what the census says, is that there are captains who are scouring the land, as they start colonizing and taking over, and finding aborigin-- this is a quote-- aborigine-looking people with wide noses, flat in the front and back, who have to be-- who must be aborigines, and disproving the claim of Spanish census. Because Spain kept census as well. So that was their-- Spain tried to establish the [? paper ?] genocide of aborigines by just calling them dark slaves. And the US creating a baseline census, references aborigines as people in the mountains in 700 or 800 numbers. But anyone who is of a darker complexion was either-- or white-- was either white or colored. There was no acknowledgement of aborigines, or Indians-- Tainos in particular-- after that census. They then become Puerto Ricans. And so the classification begins that way and continues to today. So that is what we know through documentation and oral history of the enslavement of the Tainos, who have become modern day Puerto Ricans today. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] [MUTED CONVERSATION] Let's thank Dr. Palermo one more time for that analysis. [APPLAUSE] I joke sometimes with Chief Two Hawks saying, I wish they had not been so friendly. [LAUGHTER] I do joke. But the spirit of humanity is extremely important. Loving another is extremely important. And I'm grateful for that because that's the only thing that can help us heal through these unspoken stories of difficult times. Thank you again, [? Dr. Palermo. ?] Thank you. The next speaker we're going to have is Marjorie O'Toole, who's is going to share with us about slavery. [INTERPOSING VOICES] [APPLAUSE] I don't have any slides, and I wonder if the media person-- or if we have any control over the light-- if that can go off. Thank you. You're welcome. Now I can see you. My name is Marjorie O'Toole. I'm the director of the Little Compton Historical Society. I've done that job for about 10 and a half years now, and I love it. I am also a second year student in Brown's Public Humanities Program for my master's degree, but I go part time, so although I'm a second year student, I've been doing it for six years. And I have another year and a half to go. So I've been here for a very long time, learning as I go. And what I've learned here at Brown has helped me put a spin on my work in Little Compton, that I think has really helped me to move closer to academic standards. So the local history that we write is more accurate, better researched, and I think, better source information for academics who may want to use it for their own work. Several years ago I took a class on slavery in the Atlantic world with Lynn Fisher, who's here tonight, and I had to write a 20-page research paper. So I said, hey, I think in one of our books in Little Compton one of the old historians has a list of enslaved people. And I went and found the list. And there it was. And it's a list of Negroes and Indians in Little Compton, and there were 44 people on the list. I said, this is great. I'll write about these 44 people. That'll be my 20-page page paper. It'll be awesome. And I-- and there were a couple of typos, and so I said, I better check this. And when I checked I realized that they weren't just typos, they were these really kind of hideous omissions in the historic record. And that if I looked hard enough I could find more, and more, and more, and more people. So instead of a list of 44 Negroes and Indians, I have a database of 200 enslaved people, who lived in Little Compton between 1674 and 1817. And they were African, and they were Native American, and they were mixed race. And by mixed race they were African Indian, African white, Indian white. And then-- so I wrote my paper. And poor Dr. Fisher had to read a 60-page paper, instead of a 20-page paper, because I was going crazy with all this information. And then I went to my board and I said, I really think we need to do an exhibit, and maybe a book, on slavery in Little Compton. And that's a hard thing because some of our biggest funders are the descendants of slaves owners. And I was so proud of my board because almost without any discussion at all they said, that's a great idea, let's do it. And so that was scheduled for this year. So this year at the Little Compton Historical Society we have a 300-page book that started as a 20-page term paper. And we have a very-- it's a small exhibit, but it is a very nice exhibit on the stories of enslaved people in Little Compton. And that exhibit is up through February, so I hope you'll all come see it. And we welcome groups, if you have a group that might like to come see it. And we have a lecture series, and we have public programs, and we're going to do a monument. And it's a whole year devoted to enslaved people-- the enslaved people of Little Compton-- who we didn't really remember existed. And as we're getting really kind of close to the end of putting all of this together-- this is 2016-- you know, you check through your notes and things don't always hit you the first time you see them. So I was maybe six weeks away from sending this off to the publisher, and I was like, you know what? 2016-- the last enslaved woman in Little Compton received her freedom in 1816. That's our 200th anniversary of freedom in Little Compton. And I have shivers when I say it, and I had shivers when I realized that. That's like, OK, well, I know what day her master died, so I know-- I thought I knew what day she was freed. And then I called a lawyer-- two lawyers-- and I said, so, in your will, does it go into effect the day the person dies, or does it go into effect the day that it goes through probate? And they both said, oh, probate. OK, so I know what day it went through probate. So I know that August 5, 1816 was the last day that someone was enslaved in Little Compton. And I know that with confidence because it winds up with the census records, and so forth, and so on. So by accident we scheduled our year exploring slavery on the 200th anniversary of freedom in the town. And some-- I don't want to get too goofy-- but I think sometimes there have been powers greater than I moving me through this project. Because sometimes things have just worked out better than you'd expect them to work out. So what we have are the personal stories of the enslaved. I'd really, really like the history of ordinary people, I think that helps us understand the world so much better than the history of famous people, or the history of elites. So one of the most important things to know is that I've lived in Little Compton all my life. That's probably the most important thing about me, which is very strange, but-- You've all heard of English exceptionalism? Come to Little Compton, right? We are the greatest place on Earth. I'm sorry if you don't believe that. We are. [LAUGHS] So we're kind of super exceptionalists. So when I was eight years old we celebrated our 300th anniversary, and I got to ride on the Brownies-- on the Girl Scout float-- and it was awesome. And everybody in town, every kid in town, got a coloring book. And there was a big picture of Benjamin Church, because he's our founder, and we're supposed to love him. And there's a big picture of a Awashonks. Then I colored them both, and are supposed to love them both, they're both our famous people. And, for probably the next 30 years, I mean, give or take, because I do run the historical society. Those were the two most important people in Little Compton, Benjamin Church and Awashonks, that's it. So now as we learn more and more-- now we know the stories of ordinary English people, and we know the stories of 20 or 30 Sakonnet people, not just Awashonks and now we can really start to understand their history. So this was going to be a book on slavery. Dr. Fisher convinced me that it had to be Native American and African American slavery at the same time. It just makes sense. As I'm doing my work, my research, it can't just be about slavery anymore, it has to be about indentured, too, because they're so tied together. And then, a few months down the line, I realized I had to add a third section on freedom, because the story of enslaved people doesn't necessarily end with their enslavement. People do gain their freedom. They live, sometimes, most of their lives as free people. So let's talk about them as a newly emancipated people, too, and what happens to their descendants. So this grew, and grew, and grow over the last few months, the last year or so. There are probably 50 people's lives explored and explained in here using primary source documents. And I think it's a great way to try and understand the institution of slavery through these personal stories. As I learn about these people the more difficult, sort of academic concepts, start to make sense, and it just all fits. So because I work for a nonprofit I get to blatantly push people to purchase things like this. So please buy this book and learn about the lives of enslaved people in Little Compton. But I want to talk about-- just mention two other books, as well-- actually three others, as well. About six years ago, as an organization, we really started to look beyond Benjamin Church and Awashonks, to tell the story of the Sakonnet people. This is a beautiful little book, it's almost like a coffee table book. But for the first time in Little Compton local history, we talk about Mamanua, who was a Awashonks' stepson. It was a divided tribe, they fought with each other all the time, they fought with each other over land. The English were playing one against the other, they were attacking each other. The English didn't really like working with women, so they pushed the Awashonks out of the way, and dealt with Mamanua instead. Nobody knew that, Mamanua is not in the coloring book. You know, where was his story? And so a woman other than I, Janet [? Lyle, ?] discovered his story and presented it here. And then-- and I wish I'd read this before I finished writing my book-- but Margaret Ellen Newell has a relatively new book, a year old I think, on Indian slavery. Everybody in this room should read this book. It leaves you without a doubt that the Pequot were in King Philip's war, centered on slavery, centered on the desire to enslaved native people. And then the next book is not yet written. But [? Linford ?] Fisher's book will be coming out shortly, and he'll deal with African American slavery and Native American slavery at the same time. And I'm looking forward to that very much. But in the open question portion, what I hope to do is, maybe, share some of the stories of individuals. Because each person that I encountered in the research taught me something about the institution of slavery. And this-- and about the local nature of the institution, how it will change from location to location. [APPLAUSE] Thank you very much, Ms. O'Toole. I would love to read that, and to find out the daily stories of folks. Because it's so important to have these conversations, to truly get to know the people, and not just the statistics when we talk about the ships coming over. Or we talk about those that were here in grandiose numbers, and we lose the humanity in that sometimes. So thank you very much for work that you produce, I think it's very important for society as a whole. Thank you. All right my friends, let's shake-- I was going to say, let's shake it up, because I like to shake it up at events I go to. It's something that we do in nonviolence training, but let's clap one more time, y'all. [APPLAUSE] Geri Augusto, professor here at Brown University. I think-- [INTERPOSING VOICES] [APPLAUSE] That's [INAUDIBLE]. [SIDE CONVERSATION] I learned two things from my elders, both here and in Africa, that are very important to me. And so I want to begin my remarks with those two things. The first thing is that whenever you are standing on soil, where the bones of others may be buried deep down below, you begin everything with the salutation of respect to them, even if they are unseen, or unknown, or unrecognized. So I want to do that first. And secondly, and this is from my grandmother, she always told me, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. In the matter of tonight what I have is a little knowledge. There are numerous scholars, some of them my colleagues here at Brown, who are making the study of Indian slavery one of the focuses of their work. More importantly, they are historians of the nations and of the communities of Native Americans and others in this region who know far more than I do about the history of Indian slavery. So my task is to try not to be dangerous, in honor of my grandmother, yet add something useful to the collective pot, so that we can have a good discussion. I'm going to do that by focusing on a few thoughts around the question of Indian slavery, which have come up in my own work. That work is not so much about slavery as it is about the kinds of interactions, usually contested, and in conditions of violence and duress. But also which occasion [? exchange ?] of knowledge, which took place between indigenous people, enslaved Africans, and colonizing Europeans in the Americas and in southern Africa. In the interest of time I want to do this by images. I hope that this setup works. If not you're going to have to imagine what I'm saying. And I'll give the briefest of remarks about three historical spaces on which my thoughts have been focused over the past decade. And we might be able to return to some of them later or on another occasion. The first set is going to be about Dutch Brazil in the early 17th century sugar plantations. The second set is from New England to the Caribbean. And the third set is Long Island-- from Long Island to Providence, and the Harlem Renaissance. I will see if this actually works. Yeah, OK. Except that's not the right one. [LAUGHTER] It's OK. These are just covers of the kinds of natural histories, in other words, the colonial archive that I spent a lot of time looking at. So you get very old histories of the first European natural historian who goes to Barbados, or to Jamaica, or to Brazil, or to Haiti. A lot of these are actually held in-- here, original copies in the John Carter Brown Library. I want to spend a moment on this one, which is from Brazil. This is actually the first natural history of Brazil. You can see the European imagined nation working, and how they see the Native Americans, or the Tupinamba people, as they call themselves in Brazil. And the interesting thing about this old first natural history of Brazil for me is that, I'm always thinking about the knowledge of plants in that-- so the knowledge that African, enslaved Africans, and, in this case in Brazil, the enslaved Tupinamba. Because everywhere in Latin America, it's first the Native Americans who were enslaved. And then when that doesn't work in some kind of way, Africans are brought in. So the reason why this book is important, done by Willem Piso and George Marcgrave, is that it was done in the time when the Dutch briefly held Brazil. Now we know Brazil is a Portuguese colony, but in the 1640s the Dutch were holding Brazil. And the governor, Count Maurice of Nassau, thought it important to do scientific studies. So he brings over Willem Piso to look at questions of plants, and the knowledge about plants. And in this time we remember that the knowledge about plants is like knowing where gold, and diamonds, and oil are later on in history. So Piso does this book. And what do you find when you see the book is that the Tupinamba and the enslaved Africans are there on these early sugar plantations at the same time. And they're exchanging knowledge with each other. Most of the book is about what he calls the simples, which are the medicinal plants, the herbal medicines of the Tupinamba. But occasionally you find a page, like this one that's shown there, where he reports that the Africans are teaching the Indians how-- or the indigenous people-- how to use particular plants. And so you begin to get a notion of the plants that the Africans managed to bring over, or they were brought over in the slave ship, like sesame, eggplant, and okra. And you are so get a sense of how the Tupinamba are teaching the enslaved Africans about some very important plants, usually maize, but also cassava, which is the bread of the Caribbean. It's the bread of the Tainos, it's the bread of the Brazilians. The terms that were being used by the Portuguese and the Dutch at this time are also interesting. They call the Tupinamba in the beginning when the enslaved them, negros de terra, the blacks of this land. And the ones who were coming in from Guinea and from Angola, and thus the first set, they are negros de Guine, and negros de Angola. It's an interesting use of the notion of color and slavery. And the picture on the lower right, what you see is, it looks like you're trying to depict Africans, but actually this is an early depiction of Tupinamba who were enslaved, and who are put to producing the bread, this bread called casabe, or cassava, depends on which part of the Caribbean or Latin America you're in. And these were first enslaved Tupinamba, who have to produce this bread. So for me this is an interesting evidence of, not just the enslavement, joint enslavement side by side, of Native Americans and enslaved Africans, but also the knowledge the exchange, and the knowledge and the wealth of knowledge, that they bring to the colonizers. This picture is a picture in Africa of Angola, the city of Luanda, and at the same time that the Dutch are holding this part, this tip of Brazil, as part of their empire, they're also briefly in charge, or colonizing, the Angola kingdom. They never get quite to colonize the Congo kingdom, but the Angola kingdom in Luanda. This is the oldest fort, one of the oldest forts on the coast of Africa, it's San Miguel de Luanda, built in 1576. And the interesting thing is that, when the Dutch-- built by the Portuguese-- when the Dutch take Luanda briefly in the 1640s, they bring over Tupinamba masons, stone masons, sailors on the boats, and some of those Tupinamba escape all together. They melt into the kingdoms, within the kingdoms of Congo and Ndongo. So one interesting research question for me is, sort of like the disappeared Taino, where these people go? And what we're thinking about them teach us about slavery and relations among Africans and Native Americans, with respect to slavery, and not just slavery. This is a picture with which I'm sure it depicts things that most people in this region would be familiar with, which is the Massacre of the Pequot in 1937 in Connecticut. This is one of the beginnings of a massive deportation of Native American people from New England to the Caribbean. So it then posits another question, where did these people go? They go to-- everywhere in the Caribbean. They go to the Bahamas, they go to Barbados, they go to Jamaica. So when I was a child, probably like many of you, who are at least my age or older, we were always taught the Indians, the Native Americans, are largely disappeared. I have there a quote from Herman Melville, the book that we all had to read in school, Moby Dick, where he says-- you know the name of the boat, the ship is the Pequod, first of all. And we don't even know why it's the Pequod when are we reading it. But he says, "you will no doubt remember the Pequot was the name of a celebrated tribe of Massachusetts Indians, now extinct as the ancient Medes." So he's writing this in 1851 but these supposedly extinct people, many of them are not just still here in New England, but are also in the Caribbean. And in fact, one of the things that was most astonishing to me in trying to do the research of black people and Native American side by side in this question of slavery, is the intra American slave trade that went on in the Caribbean. A waterborne traffic, they didn't cross the Atlantic, but was going around in the Caribbean, was a very, very large flow of slavery. The estimate now is that over a period of 400 years, more than 2.5 million Native persons, many of them from New England, were in slavery in the Caribbean. This is besides the Taino who lived there, this is another set. And this is salt water trade expelled them all over the Caribbean, to Little Bonaire and Curacao, to the many small Lucayas, to Hispaniola, and to Puerto Rico. In fact, one study done by Resendez, which is called "The Other Slavery," is that in the period between 1670 and 1720, from the Carolinas, South Carolina particular, more Indians were exported out of Charleston, South Carolina that Africans were imported into Charleston, South Carolina. So one of the chief things that I've been doing in trying to do research about botanical knowledge in the Caribbean, is looking at this question of black people and Native Americans, or enslaved Africans and enslaved Native Americans, living side by side during a period when we were told, at least when I was in school, that all these people had disappeared. So you get for example, the famous work by Hans Sloane in Jamaica, and if you read the archive, if you read the original, which many of these originals are in Brown's JCB Library, you get this understanding that these supposedly disappeared Indians and these are slave Africans, are actually living side by side for quite some time in many of the Caribbean countries. This is a quote just from Jamaica, from the Natural History of Jamaica, done by one Han Sloane, in which he talks over and over again about the Indians and the Negros, the Indians and the Negros, even Indian and Negro doctors, and the diseases that they were able to cure using plants that were natural to Jamaica. And deep inside the book, the Hans Sloane book, is an account of a Lucaya, which is the other name for the Bahamas, a Lucaya couple enslaved in Hispaniola and how they try to get away, and then they're returned to slavery. So you have to ask yourself, we are already in school about how Native Americans disappeared in the United States, supposedly, how they disappeared, as well in the Caribbean. But they show up over and over again in these natural histories. So one of the things that also shows up in these old colonial histories is a question of Native American revolt, enslaved African revolt, and how afraid the colonists, up and down the east coast and down into the Caribbean, were of this revolt. So in 1502 you get one of the earliest ones, where the Spanish governor of Hispaniola asked the King of Spain-- essentially he just says, please don't send me any more of these African slaves. Let's have a moratorium. Because they run away to the mountains of Hispaniola, which today is Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and they don't come back. And furthermore, they pair up with the Native Americans, who are the Taino who are fleeing, and we don't know what's going on up in the mountains, but it's dangerous, so let's just have a moratorium. You move to 1676, and this is from a study done by Professor Linford. Yeah, where are you? I think he's here somewhere. Exactly-- one of his early studies-- because he continues to do this work. "Dangerous Designs: the 1676 Barbados Act to Prohibit New England Indian Slave Importation." They were by now very, very afraid of these Native Americans who had revolted, and who almost won the war in this region. And so several thousands of them are deported. And the governor down in Barbados says that he really doesn't want any more of these. Many of them are already there, but he says he really doesn't want any more of these because it's like a contagion to have them. These Native American uprisings that are taking place in Virginia, and Maryland, and New York. And now these people are deported or sold down into the Caribbean and causing trouble. This happens over and over again in the Caribbean. The quote at the bottom is from a famous Caribbean poet and historian, Kamau Brathwaite. And he writes a poem about-- just part of it, is about the Maroon coast in Barbados, which many people think, oh, there weren't any Native Americans left there. And he writes about the ones that got away. The ones that found a settlement somewhere on the coast, which they call the Maroon coast of Barbados. And he talks about how they got away, and how important it is that they found their freedom. Something's wrong. Yes. So the reason why this is called "Native Revolt, Black Revolt and Colonial Fears," is that, this question of Native Americans and not yet African Americans, but enslaved Africans, joining together in possible revolt. It was one of the biggest fears of colonial times. Finally, I want to talk briefly about-- how should I call this? By then this is a question of cultural resistance, is basically what we're left with in the New England area. And this woman, usually you get to see histories about-- what's the name? [INAUDIBLE], yes. So I thought I would use a woman instead of [INAUDIBLE] because he's fairly well known. This lady is called Olivia Ward Bush, and she was both Native American and African American. And she writes a very famous poem-- at least famous in the time in 1898 in Newport-- called "Driftwood." And although it's a fairly sad seeming poem, it's actually a poem about resistance. It's actually a poem about the fact that, like driftwood, the Native Americans, who by then are very much mixed in this area of New England with African Americans, still manage to endure. And in the final part she says that with their lives some poor misshapen remnant still survives of what was once a fair and beauteous form. And yet some dwelling may be more bright, someone afar may catch a gleam of light after the fury of the blinding storm. This poem is actually a poem about resilience of Native Americans in this New England region. So I want to close with that. I actually had closed with something else, but I didn't bring it with me, which is a weaving, a carving, that the Narragansett have kept for a long time-- a weaving, which is about the dispersal of the Narragansett through the Caribbean. Because I think that also speaks to a kind of history that we want to understand more. So in conclusion, I want to close with what I hope that some of what I've sketched tonight leads us to think about. The kinds of projects where the historians of the nations and communities, the colonial archives and a re-reading, not just of the secrets buried in the soil, but the wisdom inserted in poems and songs, in weavings and carvings, might bring us a greater understanding of the historical phenomenal of Indian slavery in the Americas. I want to suggest that this could lead us, not just to new histories, of what my friends on the [? Bahian ?] coast of Brazil call, the people of the waters. But new words on the nature of rebellion and revolts for freedom and for sovereignty in the Americas, from the eastern woodlands, to Barbados, and Brazil. And a different kind of critical triangulation of our knowledge about slavery in this old world-- it's not a new world-- in this old world and the Americas. I think Brown, with its new Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative could be becoming a good place to try that out. [APPLAUSE] [BACKGROUND CONVERSATION] Come on down. Let's please give it up one more time. That was fascinating, absolutely fascinating. [APPLAUSE] And the idea that story is not being told of Natives being shipped elsewhere. I'm surprised Hollywood hasn't told that story. Or am I surprised? But thank you very much for that. I want to do the slideshow here. [SIDE CONVERSATION] All right. I'm not going to touch, it see what happens. You know, it's odd that I'm going to be talking about some of these topics as they have extended into the 20th century. I teach in the anthropology department at Rhode Island College, but I'm an archaeologist. So it's interesting that the archaeologist ends up talking about the 20th century. And it's not ironic because we are using sort of the techniques of archeology to explore the treatment of children who were incarcerated at a state institution right here in Rhode Island. So it's an interesting process to think about how we might be able to look at more recent problems and issues. When I first came to Rhode Island back in 1978-- I want to tell a few stories-- I had been working out west. I'd been working in New Mexico, done quite a bit of work with people who are of historically Taos Indians, and Picuris, and Mescalero, and Dene. And I'd been raised in New England, but I spent a decade or so working out west. And so in 1978 I came to Rhode Island College to run a contract program to do applied archeology in Rhode Island. And one of the first things I heard was that there aren't any Indians here. I mean why would you want to come here? And that was news to me, you know. When I was seven years old my mother took me to a powwow in Mashpee, and I saw a lots of Indians. And here I was being told that there were no Indians here. Now, who told me that? Well, of course, state officials did. There was a pa-- I don't really want to use names because that could be offensive. But I remember reading in the newspaper, the Providence Journal, that the head of the [? DOT ?] had been chastised because he had reported there were no Indians, and publicly shamed. And also when I met with scholars, with academics, with anthropologists, and historians, here in Rhode Island, I was told that there aren't any Indians. Now you imagine, I'm a young guy, and I proceeded to work. Of course the federal laws changed and the Narragansett Tribe was recognized by the federal government in the 1980s, and that sort of transformed things, I think, quite a bit. But the reason I'm saying this is, there is this incredible legacy of denial that exists in this state. And if you've lived here for-- and I discovered when I walked in the door, and I have seen it, you know. So when I was asked to talk about these sorts of things that I'm doing, I feel quite nervous doing this because I'm never quite sure how people are going to use the information that we are in fact projecting. Even the topic of talking about slavery, black, white, Indian relationships, is a very, I think, tender topic for many people, including Native Americans. Last year, for example, when we showed-- remember Larry, we showed that film on black Indians? Yes. Who did not come? Who did not come? Many members of tribal people did not come. It's a very difficult subject. So I think it's very nice for us to talk in this way, academically and so forth, but it is never quite clear to be how people are going to receive what we're talking about, and how they are going to understand it. I remember I worked as a volunteer. I was working at the Rhode Island Indian Council. I had brought a group of students from Rhode Island College, and we were going into the Rhode Island Indian Council, and we were working with young children. We had an after school program, and we were helping young kids down at Broad Street, who were Native American in an after school program. We're helping them with their reading and writing and so forth. And I loved the program, it was great. I loved the kids. And I was doing a lot of video work back there, so I took some video tapes. And I brought that videotape to a conference held right here at Brown. It was a conference talking about Indians, and what was going on in the 1990s. Showed that videotape of Native American children in an urban context, doing things that were not very traditionally Indian. They were doing the kinds of things that kids do in urban areas. And I have to say all hell broke loose. People came up to me and said, you can't show those images, you can't talk about that stuff, because it was embarrassing. Again, when people are confronting this problem of, who am I? And you've lived in a state where maybe you've been told that you don't look like an Indian, it's very difficult. So I'm just letting you know that I feel uncomfortable doing this, but I'm going to proceed anyway. So much of my work has been with ancient antiquity, working with tribal people here in Rhode Island since 1978. Working with members of Narragansett tribe on projects, and so forth. We've even done a couple of projects on tribal land, very interesting projects. Then in 2001, I got a call from a fellow at the [? DCYF, ?] and he said, you know, there's this really interesting institution called the State Home and School, and I think, maybe you should go and look at it. This is a state institution that-- and I think maybe I will move ahead with some slides here if I can, so which should I push? Just this one here? All right. I don't know if you know this, this is a so wonderful graphic. This is a metropolitan plan 1906. You know, Providence was one of the wealthiest cities in the United States in 1906, and some of the stuff that was going on was unbelievable. They had a green, sort of, a plan for Providence, with roads, and parks, and-- boy, I wish they'd implemented that. Province would be quite a beautiful place. But I've circled up in the corner there, the State Home and School for Dependent and Neglected Children. And of course Brown is over here, so it's not very far away. And that's the place and the spot that I have been interested in. Just to put it in perspective, a lot was going on in Providence, and a lot was going on in Rhode Island in the late 1800s. The Progressive Era was just an amazing thing. Not only did they create institutions for children, but also jails, and all kinds of things. This is a very, very, booming sort of economy with institutions about very, very progressive in their thinking. And I suppose you know what was also happening in the 1890s, right? 1890? This is when the Narragansett Tribe was detribalized. If you look carefully at the papers that are published-- state records-- and look at what was discussed when the Narragansett Tribe was detribalized. The people of South Kingston were very concerned. If the tribe is detribalized what is going to happen to all the old folks and children? And of course the state came back and said, oh, don't worry we'll take care. And you can see all of these institutions came into play, right. It is, of course, coincidence that we're talking about here. But the logic is inescapable that these institutions took on the role of caring for people in all kinds of situations. But the Narragansetts and tribal people now [? had ?] the state, and the state institutions, to play with. Now here's the odd coincidence, this is an old photograph, but this is Rhode Island College. I've highlighted where the Anthropology Department used to be, and that's where the State Home and School is. So in 2001, when this guy came to me, and said, would you-- do you know anything about the State Home and School? I said, no I don't know anything about it. And he said, well, it's [INAUDIBLE]. And that was quite a shock. And so we started working there. Let me see if I can give you some perspectives. So this is a photograph of the beginning of the State Home and School in 1885. And it's on a hill right next to a building at Rhode Island College, which anyone at Rhode Island College knows, the Kauffman Center is right next to it, but that was built much later. You can go and stand on that hill today right by those rocks and look out and see those same buildings. Here's another perspective, where that triangle, that pointed area here is, that's where the rocks are, that perspective. But this is what this institution looked like in 1908. So it grew. And here's the first image of children I want to show you. So what kind of children came into the State Home and School? Not very many immigrant children. Children who were Catholic tended to go into Catholic institutions. Over the period between 1935 and 1980, for example, there were over 60 institutions that dealt with children who were held in custody-- just lots and lots of institutions. The State Home and School was the state-funded one, it was the largest one, most money, most staff. This is just Mrs. Armstrong's class and you can see that there are people of color here, right? Some of those are Native American. I can guarantee you that. I don't know the names of any of them, but I can guarantee you that some of them are. So this is what it looked like in the 1950s, and you can sort of see that this is when they're adding brick buildings and so. If you go to the campus today, those red-colored buildings, those are the ones that are standing. All the wooden ones, which date back into the 1800s, those have gone, except for one. There is one remains. And we have save that. So every year a few hundred children went through this institution. Some of them stayed just for a few days some stayed throughout their childhood. It's a highly varied thing. Over the course of a century well over 10,000 children went through this institution. It was big. If you think about 10,000 children, with siblings, with brothers, you know, sisters, with family members, with cousins, with uncles, people getting married, people living in communities, people going to church, and so forth. When you think about how many human beings in Rhode Island have been involved with this institution somewhat, it's really quite large. So when we talk about invisibility-- the invisibility that I'm focusing on here is the invisibility of children held in custody. And they happen to be people of color, white, all sorts of backgrounds, and of course, Native Americans. So I'll just show you a few slides of them, here's some of these-- these are quotes out of the Province Journal. One of the things that's very nice about state institutions is that there are hundreds of newspaper articles on it. All have been inventoried. Very nice sort of visual record. This is kind of-- I put this in for shock-- "Two Babies Die of Food Poisoning, Doctors Probe State Home Epidemic." Now one of things we've done, in addition to the archeology, is looking at how children play, and what they do at this institution, we've worked with former residents. Because this institution lasted until 1979. My first taste was in 2002 when I started talking about this project in a class. A young woman raised her hand and she said, my mother was there. Her grandmother was there. And of course she was Native American. We found her, and we found her relatives, we found her records and so forth. So we have periodically held reunions. And some of these people that are depicted here, have self-identified as Native American. Again, my assumption is between 5% and 10% of the people going through this institution may have been Native American. So that's a sizable percentage. We don't talk about boarding school in Rhode Island but we should talk about state institutions that have the same effect. Oops, I just blew it. I blew it. That's what I'm trying to do, but it didn't do it. Oh, it was such a nice slide. Maybe we-- can we go [INAUDIBLE]. There we go. Some people actually can go home, which is nice. So the undocumented in this case, of course, are children. And the effects of an institution like this are quite profound. I think that, you know, as an archaeologist I have to say that, we don't have much history-studying institutions, we don't have much history-studying state institutions. We have a very short history of studying children. Looking at issues of incarceration is not part of what we typically do. But we're working away and we, and as I said, we've interviewed about 80 people, several hour-long interviews. These have all been transcribed in our archive. So we have quite a good database of information. And we continue to work with these people as we can. So thank you. [APPLAUSE] Please keep it going. Let us thank our presenters, y'all. Please keep it going. [APPLAUSE] OK, my friends. [INAUDIBLE] Right now we'd like to come to our question and answer component to our session. We have microphones on either side. So if there are any folks in the crowd that have any questions, please come on down, and we will get to you as a first-come first-served. But I had a couple questions, if I could ask our panelists, to start us off, if that's all right? Dr. Palermo, do you mind? No. What has it meant to you to learn about your traditions? And, have the Taino people disappeared? And what are they doing now? Well, I'm a little-- I'm kind of an exception. My parents wanted to never forget my Taino roots by naming me Taino. [LAUGHTER] My sisters have Taino names. My middle sister, her name is Guanina, which is a play on the Guaynia region, by which we come from. My middle sistes-- my oldest sister's middle name is [? Sorey, ?] which is one of the [? Cacican's ?] daughters, she's a princess. So I was always aware of the existence of Taino. I grew up in American public schools, so I kind of just ate what was fed to me about Native Americans, about Christopher Columbus. I found out later on in life that Christopher Columbus was a large part of why I didn't know about people. And then, being a Puerto Rican from the Bronx, it was of no surprise that there was black in my blood, African in my blood. Puerto Ricans and blacks in New York City are like one and the same. So that was of no shock to me. I think learning about the real breakdown of the conquistador, the Taino, and the African slave, and the trifecta that makes up a modern day Puerto Rican, was it was an eye opener to me. I think what really blew my mind was really understanding oral history, documented history, how would pertains to classification and identity. And so, you know, I've always known myself as a Puerto Rican, but what does that mean? Puerto Rico isn't a country, we don't govern ourselves. And there was a really great article about why is Puerto Rico marching in the Olympics? Why aren't they marching with the United States? So there's an identity crisis among Puerto Ricans, which is very closely tied to the economic crisis in Puerto Rico. And so all of that is the manifestation of a genocide through paper genocide, oral genocide, and literal killing genocide. And so, no, we are not dead. [LAUGHS] We exist. We are-- our blood has been diluted, or diversified depending on who you ask. But we are very alive, and we are very populous. Many of us just don't know it. Thank you very much, Doctor. Oh, sir, do you have a question? Yeah, I'm calling on a friend of mine. [LAUGHTER] Could you come on down to the microphone there, sir? Well, I guess my question would be for Professor Geri. Augusto. My apologies. As far as the importation of African slaves, and then you said there was the exportation of American slaves here in New England, as well as in South Carolina. I'm just curious as to what was-- or how did they classify these individuals when they moved them from here to other locals? Did they still call them Indians, or they classify them as just a colored race? I'm probably not the best person to answer that question, but I'll give a general discussion of classification, and then people can correct me. In the early records you see people classified by the names of their nations, and I mean Native American nations. As time goes on you begin to see them classified as things like, mustees. And after a while, you begin to see those who have-- who are mixed African and Native American, get progressively classified out of the Native American part of their heritage. You begin to get a-- you get a loss of people's names from the nations from which they come, and they get classified as Indian. And you get a progressive moving out of people who are part, Native American part, African American, into African American. So in the time that I was talking about, which is kind of an earlier colonial period, some of those names still would have been used, but when they get to the Caribbean is when they really get lost into just being called the Indians. Because these are exported from the United States because of the rebellions and the revolts, and sold into the Caribbean, where they practically disappeared in some of the places that they were expelled to. And that's a different case from the Taino, who always lived there. This is where they were from. But the ones who were expelled from the United States, parts of the coast down, and they gradually kind of disappeared into the population, intermarrying with enslaved Africans, primarily, in the case of the Caribbean. Yes, sir. Would you mind stating your name and your question, please. Mr. Too Cool, with the glasses on inside. [LAUGHTER] OK. Good evening, I am [INAUDIBLE], represent of the [INAUDIBLE]. We are a tribal trust nation for Taino people and for the betterment of their condition. My question had to do with, specifically, some of the-- well, is pertaining to Dr. Augusto. Some of the documents that I saw gave that impression in terms of what you were saying there. I'm familiar with what was called the castas de naciones, which is the nation casts. I saw there that there was, like you were saying, los negros de-- kind of-- Negros de terra. Yeah, the different kinds, right. Did you-- I had a question about that, but I'm trying to figure out how to frame it. Because it seems to me that the basis of the slave trade to the new world, or within the new world initially, had to do with nations, and what those nations skill sets, or what they were prized for physical attributes, or whatever it was. Eventually over time, I understand that in the Caribbean it turned into many different casts that had many different interesting names, whether you call mulatto, Criollo, whatever, all these different things. I kind of had a question, and I don't know if you came across this in your research at all. Because there was so much exporting of people within the Turtle Island-- the Americas. Were there, at times, ways in those records that did not match with some of the names, for example? Because what I've-- my theory has kind of been that they just-- within the slave trade, they would falsify records, falsify the names of people, or where they perceived them to come from, and then that's how kind of a paper genocide goes in terms with some of the names. What did you come across that was similar to that? I think you have the clue when you say that the names are beginning to be made up and falsified. In the case of African, enslaved Africans, a lot of times the classification comes out of the port by which they left Africa and come to the New World. It doesn't mean that those people are necessarily from that area. They could be in the general hinterland, and then get that name and come. In the case of Native Americans is different. The one that I showed for Brazil-- remember this is very early Brazil, this is like early 1600s. Brazil is founded as a colony in the 1500s. And this expression, Negros de terra, blacks of this land, is something that the Portuguese made up. The names of the people who lived in the area are, on the coast, especially, were Tupi, Tupinamba, and others as you go further into the Brazilian interior. Bur all long the coast, those people were Tupi. So to call them Negros de terra is something that the Portuguese, or let's say the Spanish and the Portuguese, are beginning to do a classification as they wish to classify people. So they're classifying them as blacks of this land. And then the ones who are coming, being brought in slightly later from Africa, are classified as blacks from Guinea, or blacks from Angola. Those would be the two earliest for this place. But you are right, these-- your implication is that these names are mixed up, made up, and in time replaced the actual names that the people called themselves. Thank you. Why does that matter? Why does the changing of one's name matter? I guess I'll throw that to anybody in the room. Because I think it's important for us to continue exploring that a little bit, if it all possible. I'm sorry? It matters for the descendants who are trying to make those connections between their ancestors [INAUDIBLE]. I think it matters because individuals have [? names, ?] you know. The names are tied to lineages to tribes-- to tribes-- oh, OK, all right. So, individuals have names, names are tied to lands, which are tied to tribes, or lineages, which denote at, many times a chronological history. Whether it's an oral history tied to a name that's tied to a land, which allows individuals to tie themselves in nations, which allows individuals to make claims. Those claims, whether they be on land or resources, equal self-sustainability. And without self-sustainability there is no survival to a people, a culture, or a way of life. Thank you. And we had another comment back there. Yeah, I just wanted to reiterate that it's an attempt to steal identity. If you change the historic and traditional identity of a person, and their descendants will become confused and not know who they are, it's a way of amalgamating everyone into this pool of America. Sure. Many people of different identities, who are now just Americans. So you lose who you really are. And one of the things that was done in the South, that I know of, but probably throughout America, there were state officials that actually changed birth records of Indians, and they would chang-- just arbitrarily change it to white or black. My great great grandfather and grandmother, their birth certificate say black, and they were probably Cherokee because that's our historic lineage, a traditional, you know, oral tradition of our family is that we're Cherokee on that side. And then their children were changed back to white because [INAUDIBLE]. Right. So that the next generation, their birth certificate says white. So how do you figured that out? [LAUGHS] So, yeah, it's a way to steal identity. And it's just part of what the US government has been doing for 500 years. So wiping out their culture, right? Yes. And if we put that term of identity theft into the current context we all know that deals with our resources. That deals with our capital, that deals with our money, as well. We have another-- Europe had decimated their woods. And one of the big reasons they came here was our gigantic trees to build the ships, and houses, and cathedrals, and whatever. And we were in a way. So, got to get these people out of the way. Then we can take their resources. So enslave them, ship them out, whatever it takes, so you can get the resources. Could I make-- This country has been a capital investment since day one. Thank you, sir. I have a gentleman here, did I hear a voice from over there? Yes, come on over here. Yes, we'll [? have ?] this gentleman now. I'm the descendant of Choctaw slaves, as well as Pocasset Wampanoag, as well. In my research, in trying to reconnect with the heritage of my family, I had to go through a number of records. And what I found within my family, on the Choctaw side, is that we had a lot of names we considered at that time Christian names. We didn't realize what the importance of them were. When I came along in the black movement, and joined the black movement, we had this moved to take on pan-African names. And my great grandmothers, both on both sides, on my mother's side and on my father's side, were very upset about it. And said, well you know, giving up these Christian names, this white man's name, we're not going to keep that stuff, you know. I'm changing all my children's names to this, that, and the other. They say, well, no, you can't do that. And-- but they really could not clearly explain it to me. Until I got to this point here, 30 years later, I'm doing my geological research and I realized those names were the names of the ancestors that they had taken on. The reason they had taken on-- and so to keep the memory of those ancestors, like Annie, or Mariah, or Glenn, they've named children down the line those very same names, and that's how we were able to trace back who we actually were. The reason the names were changed is because, I think, what's missing here is the fact that, as opposed to the African slaves, the Native Americans had bounties on their heads. We were cash cows for the settlers, for the invaders here. So hence the name redskins. Those redskins had a bounty on those skins, so as a survival technique we had to change our names. Understood. We had to blend in. Sure. And then came along the census takers who took us from Indian to Negro, and from Negro to mulatto. And now black and African American to wipe out the very memory of us being here so that there's no claim to the land by our people. Thank you, sir. And we'll come up to the panel now. Oh, yeah, give it up for [INAUDIBLE]. [APPLAUSE] I would just like to say to anyone who descends from Pocassets, the Sakonnets seem to have blended in to, and merged in with the Pocassets. And the research that we're doing in Little Compton, and we dipped our toes into [? Tiverton, ?] there's a whole bunch of names. And if you know Pocassets genealogy, I'd love to hear it. Because, again, sometimes with first names, rather than last names, we might be able to put those puzzle pieces together and-- Pocassets is [? Pokanoket. ?] It's the nation. [INAUDIBLE] We have-- [INTERPOSING VOICES] We had the Sakonnets, in Little Compton, and the Pocassets in Tiverton in Fall River. Lots of mixing between the tribes, and in 1763 eight Sakonnet families were moved to the Pocasset reservation in Little Compton. And Sakonnet lost its identity at that point. And so I truly believe that a lot of the Pocasset families may well indeed be descended from Sakonnet people. And I'm trying to piece that together. I just wanted to-- [INAUDIBLE] --sort of emphasize that. So in the 1880s, when the state detribalized Indians here in Rhode Island, that meant that birth records, marriage records, all sorts of records, could not record the Indian identity. So if people, for example, come to state records after 1880, you just aren't going to see that sort of stuff. And again to emphasize that this was done by the state, you know. That this was done by the state that we live in, and it was done during a period of time when people thought that they were very progressive. But, the other thing I want to emphasize, is that children were taken out of homes. They were separated from their kin. Many of them did go back, but many of them did not. In 1912 we get the development of the foster care program, and children were placed into foster care. One of things I did not say is, as part of the records, what the state was calling this was that these were indentured records. In other words, if you look at the actual records of the State Home you will see that these children were placed in indentured. They were indentured to other people for a period of time. If you were an eight-year-old child, you were indentured until you were 16 or 18 to somebody. I just again want to emphasize that indenturing continued in Rhode Island, and servitude continued in Rhode Island, through the 20th century, through the state institutions. And this is not playing with words, I mean, indenture is a part of the actual document, this child is indentured. Maybe-- I'm just-- clarification question, what's the difference between being indentured and slave? And is there a playing on words there? There are some differences. There are some? [INTERPOSING VOICES] Some of the children said that they did not want to go into foster care because they considered it slavery. Got a question over there? I don't have a question. I actually wanted to say , my name is Danny Flores, and it's really funny to hear this. I'm from Guatemala. Our Mayan culture is very similar to what you were saying. In our history, what happened to the Pokanoket is the same thing that happened to the Mayan culture. Like we have many bands, and some of the people decided to be identified by the colonizers, some haven't, right? And one of the issues I have about indentured, or just plain slavery, is like, you have a choice. Like an adult person, you have a choice to die, or go into a slavery. Like a young person do not have a choice. And their only choice is to free themselves from their parents, or the people that have been given to, or die. So, one of the questions I have is, as Brown University, as slave owners, what have been the history written by their own people? Which I think as Pokanokets they know that the only reason they can trace their culture, or trace their people, is because the slave owners have a very good account of who they owned. So my question is more about, like we don't believe in owning the land, we don't believe in living in one land. We believe that we all deserve the place we are in. So how you do that when you have deeds? What you do that when you have boundaries, when you have borders? How that goes beyond what we are taught to believe? Indigenous people have taught to believe that they can't have what they used to have. So until when are we going to stop talking about what we think we have? Because we had it all until the white man came, or the colonizer came. My question is, when can be just brother and sisters beyond race and class. Because indentured slavery is about class. It's not about race. Like that is the part that I get really hang out. This is not about race, this is about class. It doesn't matter if the president is black or white, is about class, is about how much you have and how much you don't. So my question is about, is this about ownership, or is this about the right to live? Thank you for a question. Anyone in the panel want to respond to-- It's a tough question, I know. I want to hear from my chief over there. Oh, you're being called out chief. [LAUGHTER] That's a tough question to answer. Yes it is. I mean there's a lot of issues at stake here. I mean, even our peoples, all our people, sometimes are at war with each other and can't get along. You know, each Indian tribe is different. Each African tribe is different. I mean, if you look at the history of it. I don't know, I don't know how to answer that question, to be honest with you. Some of our own people sold us in the slavery. Marjorie, I'm sure you know, you were just speaking about the Sakonnets and the Pocassets. They were our mortal enemy because they joined with Benjamin Church. So, you know, it's a tough question. I really don't know how to answer it, to be honest with you. I mean, to put everybody together, and make everybody get along, I mean, it is almost impossible unless we all sit down together. You know, I mean there's got to be a start somewhere. But we need to all sit down together, we need to do more of this where we all talk. That's right. Because talking is how you resolve issues. I mean, today there's too much text and too much telephone, too much e-mail, you know, when you really need-- sometimes you just need to yell at people. [LAUGHTER] You know, I mean, really. [LAUGHS] You don't get your feelings out, you don't get your question answered unless you're face to face with somebody. So what we used to do is sit in the talking circle and talk to people. One of the biggest things is the loss of culture. And I go to local powwows around here, and our Eastern people are doing Western culture. I would say that's one of the biggest things is, people need to sit and do their own culture and stay together, and not take somebody else's because that may be offensive to them. And it's offensive to you because you're losing your own culture. So you need to sit down together and talk. I mean, that's the biggest thing that I would say is-- everybody needs to sit down and talk together, and do more of this, to make people aware of what's going on, and how other people feel, and how they're feeling. So that's where I would start. Thank you, chief. I did have a question. Oh. [LAUGHS] We'll go to a question and then we have some hands up there, but you're the chief, so please Thank you, thank you for coming to moderate. And I wanted to ask you a question, you have a lot of records over there, and I'm sure that the Pocassets, two of the Council chiefs are here tonight, myself and [? Dwayne, ?] would be more than happy to talk to you about some of those records. That's great. OK. Because I know that a lot of the Sakonnets-- some were absorbed into our tribe, but because of the reservation, the [INAUDIBLE] Reservation, they were placed there. But the Pocasset were the majority in the last of the royal family that Dwayne and I both descent from. We both come from the line [? of Amy ?] of Massasoit. So it's worth sitting down, maybe we can help each other. Great. Thank you. Oh, yeah, that's right, give it up for Chief. [APPLAUSE] And there's two right here. I don't know. I'm a bit rattled up to be honest. [LAUGHS] Because I want to speak to the comments said previously about, it's not about race, it's about class. I very much disagree with that-- Before-- this is where we want the conversation to go-- Sure. --where we're talking honestly to one another. Let us also acknowledge that there is a great deal of history that we are all bringing into the space. So anything that is being shared, is being shared from a space of compassion, and trying to understand. I'm just trying to head off any potential misunderstandings of one another. Most certainly, I greatly appreciate that. And so, what I wanted to say was that, especially considering in the context of the United States of America, is very much about race, right? Because not only is it about race, but mainly about power. And race just example files what that same power looks like, and what it looks like to be powerless, starting with slavery. Because Africans were Africans when they got off the slave ships, they were considered black, right? And the fact that slavery was a global enterprise makes blackness itself a global identity. So now all of a sudden you have the Third World, black struggle, black movement, right? And then racial demographics change into something new, along with the times and society in place, which has been a lot of what I've been thinking about in listening to the panel share their thoughts and their work. How is it that we can honor the memory of our ancestors, and their struggle? While at the same time trying to live in contemporary society, when contemporary society itself is the main cause of all this violence, and the history behind disappearance, lack of sovereignty, and the lack of power. But really what it comes down to is not being allowed to be human. Because most of us that are nonwhite don't have a certain degree of humanity. Whereas if you're black you're not human at all. So how do we live with the afterlife of slavery? How do we live with the afterlife of settler colonialism while trying to remain visible within the same structures of violence and power today? It's a dissertation in itself. I mean, I don't know. [LAUGHS] [INAUDIBLE], everyone, [INAUDIBLE]. Hi, [INAUDIBLE] a quick question. My name is Kat. I just wanted to say, thank you to the panel, first of all. It was awesome, but in some ways very triggering to listen to this. I represent the Narragansett Mashantucket Pequot and Pokanoket and Wampanoag people. So this is really-- I think this is so important-- and just what you were saying about visibility. And it goes back to that, and having our stories told. So I think that's really important. Yeah, oh, my goodness. So a specific question I have for Dr. Augusto-- thank you so much for sharing your research-- I wanted to know if-- I saw in one of the graphics, there was something that mentioned King Philip, and I was just-- it seems that there's a lot of research, and a lot of work going on-- or not going on, but that has gone on, particularly about the Pequot Wars, and I think a lot of it has to do with the funding. But I wanted to know if there are sort of-- where the work is being done about King Philip's War, and the legacy of that? And particularly because one thing that I don't know if people know this, but all the New England natives, we all know this. [LAUGHS] I think it's every two years-- someone correct me if I'm wrong-- there's a huge big powwow that happens in Bermuda. I have not been, but I've heard it's a really amazing and fantastic experience. And it's people who all, you know, are a little bit racially ambiguous, but we all know our-- know where we come from, and fight to maintain that. So I just wanted to mention that. That we, you know, have not disappeared. We're still here. Yes, in addition to my question. Thank you. Repeat the question again. The question was King Philip's War, and the legacy of King Philip's War. And another thing that I heard from my Pokanoket elders growing up was that you were not supposed to call yourself Pokanoket. And I think that relates back to the name piece that we were saying, you were not supposed to say you're Pokanoket, which is where the name Wampanoag comes from. Because we were all Pokanokets before King Philip's War so. This is where I would do two things, I don't know if you heard me in the beginning. But I tried to preface my small contribution with the utmost modesty that I could gather. And I wasn't doing it as a performance. It is exactly how I feel when you are asked to speak about a field of knowledge that's not the one that you normally work in, or that you've done the most work in. So I am not a historian of Native America. What I work on is the intersection of knowledge between enslaved Africans, indigenous people, and European colonists. It's an intersection. I usually work on the sciences, with respect to that, [INAUDIBLE] history of science that's told differently. So I want to make very clear that I responded to the invitation to speak, but this is not my area. The questions that you are posing are not my area of work, and I don't want to be arrogant enough to-- [LAUGHS] --prentend and answer to them. However, what can I say? I think that historians choose which groups they want to work on, and if that leaves a great imbalance in the historical record, I think that the classification of who is a Native American is very fraught in the United States. I was listening very carefully to my friend here, when he was talking about Choctaw-- Choctaw, right? Because in my family that also exists, and I only found out about it recently. And it's a very fraught question when you are both African American descent and Native American descent. It becomes very, very, very complicated. I am not an expert in this. It is not the historical work that I do. Your question is important, and I will slide over into a plug for what Brown is trying to do. As a result of demand of Native American students at Brown, who are not many, but enough to make this demand, and also intertwined with a set of demands about Black Lives Matter, I'll just say they're written large on this campus. We went through a process earlier this year, one of my colleagues is here, who is on the committee-- the working group that did that-- to begin to establish a program, a real proper program, of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Brown. Many of the questions that people were-- that have been raised, and that will be raised, I think are fair themes for that program of study. And what we have to figure out is how you do that, how should I call it? [? Dialogically. ?] How you do that involving as many Native Americans as possible, and then the scholars on campus. And we're surrounded by, not disappeared people, but Native American communities, various ones in the New England area. And so one of the challenges, and one of the invitations perhaps, that we can make is that, as the program gets up-- it has been approved, more or less. But as the program gets up and running we need to establish real partnerships, in the first place with Native American nations and communities in this area, so we can do this kind of work together. It includes a lot of oral history work that needs to be done, but includes also a lot of archival work. Brown has one of the richest repositories in the country, if not in the world, in the John Carter Brown Library. Nobody's here who's directly from the library so I can say it, that thing needs to be busted open and used for [LAUGHTER] --these kinds of purposes of study. And there are a number of professors on this campus, who are studying these questions from differing standpoints. One is my colleague, sitting right there, [? keeping ?] very quiet. But around the campus there are people who are trying to begin to do this. And at the insistence of the Native American students at Brown, we're getting to pull together a program. And I think that's the proper program, where the questions that many will raise from the audience, can be best answered. There are, of course, other programs for the study the Native American at other colleges and universities in the area. And I'm sure the program that's established at Brown would collaborate with those. But we know whose ground we stand on, and whose ground these buildings sit on. So there's a kind of a historical and moral obligation to do this work. And I think that at Brown it will begin to go forward. Not because it wanted to, but pushed as all such things are, pushed. If you want to read excellent, new scholarship on King Philip's War, very comprehensive, just go out tomorrow and buy this book Margaret Ellen Newell, Brethren by Nature. And the more exciting thing is that she's coming to campus to speak. And Shane is going to remind us of the date. October 27 at [INAUDIBLE]. And what is wonderful is she links the Pequot War with King Philip's War in ways that never really even occurred to me. And it has convinced me that it's almost a continuum. And I'm 3/4 of the way through and learning so much. And again, what was the date on that? It's October 27 at 5:30. October 27, 5:30. And location? [INAUDIBLE] There you go. All right. Thank you very much. Dr. Palermo, did you want to respond? Yeah, I want to respond to my brother's question right here because that was a very-- I didn't want that to go unresponded to. That was a very heavy point and question. And I want to respond to it in a couple different ways. One is, I see my response to your question thinking about the economic crisis in Puerto Rico, and what that means. And thinking about being a Puerto Rican from the Bronx, thinking about the struggle of the Young Lords, and thinking about the plight of Pedro Albizu Campos and the Nationalist Party, and thinking about the identity of Puerto Rican and Tainos, and what that means today. And I was on a panel at a conference last weekend about the Puerto Rican diaspora, right. It's ran by the Center of Puerto Rican Studies in Hunter College. And I was just dumbfounded and blown away at these conversations around, what do we do to support our people on the island? And my takeaway from that was really just, well, we don't have any power on the island, so let's all flee, come to the States, where we can vote, and get people into Congress who can care about making decisions about the island. If that wasn't a hustle backwards mentality, trying to hack an oppressive mindset, within the oppressors home, by being locked inside the house without the key. I wish-- I didn't know what to do in that space I felt what you just asked, right. And so it was like, where do I fit in all this? So you know, I don't know how this is any kind of helpful response, but it's really-- my first response to you is, before we can talk about the collective, we need to know ourselves. And my own self discovery was really tracing my family roots through documentation to my fifth great grandmother in Puerto Rico born in 1725, Salome Negron y Torres. Negron, a deviation on Negro, and Torres, who was more than likely the slave owner, the conquistador that owned their family. And so I would say, as it pertains to people of color who in some way, shape, or form, are native to this continent, not just this country, is to know where you come from, know what that means, and then understand what is bestowed upon you. You are an indigenous person to this land. What does that mean? It means you have rights protected under the United Nations, right? You have to understand your classification, you have to understand what that means. Are you a Puerto Rican from the country of Puerto Rico? No. Are you Native-- we use Native American interchangeably. That is a classification for the census. That's not a-- that's not the country of Native America, right? Latino, there's no country, Latino, right? So it's understanding the classifications, the identity, what that means, and then what rights are available to you, but not only are you entitled to. So doing-- like looking at what just happened in Canada just passed a sweeping government's legislation, like an apology and restoration of rights to the First Nations of Canada. Huge, huge achievement for the indigenous people of Canada. In Australia, Aboriginal people got their land back. Huge achievements. So, you know, it's a very loaded question with a very loaded answer, but I just want to make sure it was responded to in a way where it comes down to the individual understanding themselves, and who they're really connected to. I hope that helped. Can I also say, I wasn't skirting your question. It's still rolling around in my mind, and it will roll around for quite some time. It's, they say, heavy. So you know what is meant. But I think that you make a point that probably has just been made over and over again, because it's unpleasant. And it's particularly unpleasant in Latin America. Which is, sometimes it's not just about class, it is also about race and class. And you almost have to say it over and over again. People would like to kind of run from it. But it is about, particularly-- I mean, it's almost always true-- but it's particularly true also when you're talking about Native Americans. It is about race and class. So your question will roll around in the mind for quite some time. But I didn't want to skirt the question. I didn't answer because I don't have a facile answer for what you said. And I think your question did its purpose, if you will. Because I hope we're all mulling that over in our minds. Mr. Watson. So I just, first of all, I want to thank everyone for this fantastic evening. Can we have around of applause for our fantastic panelists? [APPLAUSE] And also a round of applause for our fantastic facilitator, Jonathan Lewis, as well, for the fantastic job you're doing tonight. [APPLAUSE] We are going to move onto some other questions, but I did want to just jump in real quick because I wanted to bring something up to make sure we touched base on it, particularly because it's been something that's personally affected me. And I know that there are several other Indians in the room that have been impacted by this as well. And particularly when it comes to classification, and then Pierre brought up the point of being recognized, federally recognized. So I wanted to address that also in terms of its impact to this day when we're talking about classification. And specifically because-- Pierre, you spoke about the tribe being detribalized in 1881, when one of the main chiefs at the time was [? Bristol ?] Michael Lewis, my fourth great grandfather. So my personal journey has been, my fourth great grandfather being chief of the tribe when they get detribalized, me coming across his death certificate, which has him listed as colored-- no longer Indian but colored-- down to me, who was not only listed as African American, but who has never been allowed to be on the federally recognized rolls. So I'm wondering if anyone could speak, or would be willing to, brave enough to speak about the ongoing impact that these classifications are still having on our people today, especially in terms of causing disunity. Because Narragansett, Pocasset, Pokanoket, these are all peoples. But then, amongst our own peoples you get, well you're not federally recognized so you're not a real Indian, that sort of stuff going on. So if we could talk maybe, or just touch on, sort of the self perpetuating genocide that we keep on ourselves by buying into these colonial classifications that they keep popping up with every 10, 20, 30 years to kind of keep things in the mix, the way that they've been. So I can kind of respond to that. So that is a textbook oppressive response. I mean there's really no other way to put it. When it is [CHUCKLES] right out of Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, when the oppressed oppress themselves they're feeling the oppressor job for them. So to think that federally recognized means any kind of superiority, or trumps-- a federal recognition trumps blood and bloodlines, is just doing the oppressors' work for them. Because what-- as an educator in community development and community health, I mean, [CHUCKLES] the federal-- reservations have one of the worst, if not the worst, health outcomes, educational outcomes. So what is federally recognition get you if you're not part of the cohort who owns the casino on the reservation? And even bringing that into a class, again, it comes down to the classification as a Native American who is federally recognized. And it kind of goes back to your question around, by being recognized or classified as Native American, or black, or whatever, you are property to your government. Right? So that's why we can kill unarmed black men in the streets and this is not a human rights crisis. It's not-- the UN is not coming in here, right? It's not the Syrian crisis, where we need to get involved because they're killing thousands and thousands. But we're killing thousands and thousands of our own citizens, in some way, shape, or form. Through police brutality, mass incarceration, subjugation, and oppression in the Native American federally recognized territories. But that's not a human rights crisis, it's not an international crisis, right? So classification is a very big stronghold on the subjugation by your government. And so the Native Americans harping on being federally classified are just doing the work for the oppressor. That's my take on it, at least. The bottom line still is it all comes down to money. Everything revolves around money, the classification, everything, even jails. Jails are a corporation. Towns are a corporation. They are about making the money. So the best thing that a person can do, first of all, is to understand the administration of justice, how things work. Education is going to help you a lot with a lot of the things that you're talking about here. Because if you don't understand how the system works, you cannot fight it, you simply can't. So if you understand the administration of justice, and how each intricate government operation works, as they saying federal recognition. Well, how do you get federal recognition? Because under the Constitution only Congress can deal with the Indian tribes. It doesn't say federal Indian tribes, there were no federal Indian tribes. All tribes are tribes. I know I have the blood, I did DNA, I don't have to worry about it. And my 10th generation grandfather was King Philip. So there's no reason for me to worry about being recognized by somebody who is recognized by my family first when they came here. [LAUGHTER] And that's one of the things, I mean you have to have the pride to do that, and say, I am who I am, and I'm not going to take it. But part of that is to get the education and to learn how that's how we lost, because they use the money against each and every person. And I'm not talking about just the Native Americans, it was the Africans, it was the Irish, it was the Scottish. They did it all over the world. It's all about money. And when people put the money aside, and they learn to get along, and stop thinking about the money, and how they're going to make money, then some of these problems will cease to exist. Because, let me tell you, it's all about the money and the jurisdiction. They have the jurisdiction to tax you, they have the jurisdiction to give you a ticket, to tax your house. Nobody in this country is free, unfortunately. And just like, I'm a veteran, I signed on the dotted line of property of the United States Government until I surrendered that right. You have to understand the system before you can fight it, before you can win. And we can't fight amongst each other. Every denomination in the world turned against each other, Africans sold their brothers, they sold their brothers to the slave traders. OK? Indians did to same thing. Mohawks came down and worked in Boston for slave catchers. So everybody is at fault. The bottom line is the money. And when we put that aside the problem will be resolved. Thank you. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] This may be our last question of the evening. Hi, my name is Andrea [? Walking Dove. ?] And I'd like to comment, first to you in reference to your question about what are we doing collectively to bring awareness to the history, and to King Phillip, and what we've done in the past. I was blessed to get some very good teachings from Three Bears, Donald Fisher. And one of the videos he showed me was of a 1987 video in Boston with many Natives around New England talking about education, and honoring King Phillip [INAUDIBLE]. And the response of the room from the Natives was an eagerness to reintroduce the rich culture of the Indigenous to the curriculum of our Boston-- Massachusetts. And the representative of Dukakis had said, it's long overdue that that happen. That was in 1987 and is yet to happen. So that's fore and foremost really where we need to go. Considering the treaties, all of them that have been broken since our country's been founded, the grandfather of all treaties, the [INAUDIBLE], education [? meant ?] care taking for seven generations, the water, the land, the air, our people. And making sure that all of our needs were met, and that was the true wealth. Of all the genocides that are happening now, and that have happened in the past, we are stopping through collectively wiping our tears from Wounded Knee, and healing our hearts. And understanding that it takes the wisdom of our elders and the nurturing of our children to really collectively come together, and understand that healing our hearts, first, will heal ourselves. And then we can heal those around us through the education. And as a 20-- 25-year school teacher, mostly in Rhode Island, I'm struggling with it daily, moving from school to school, because my school was bulldozed for asbestos and other things, I'm constantly attacked as to why I'm teaching indigenous wisdom. That can be an after-school program. And I say, no, that's what education is. You know the science of our [? educations, ?] how do we care take our waters, And finally in the history of our country our native tribes, brothers and sisters, are understanding truly what [SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE] means. It means, we are one. It doesn't matter what label we give us, but we are human. And the Natives in every part of our world have gathered at Standing Rock, and are care taking now in sacred [INAUDIBLE] ceremony. And they're care taking our waters. And they're having a sacred horse backride in October. And they're asking all of us to stand up in our own communities, which we are doing. We just need to keep doing it. And we need to stand strong and firm with our voices to those who think they can control our education systems and our foster-care systems and [? those ?] such. Because it's still happening. It's in the 21st century and our Native children are still being attacked, and it needs to stop now. That comes from the wisdom of a Mohawk woman, when something needs to stop, you say, just stop it now, so there. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Dr. Augusto said something that has-- I think, I just want to highlight before we wrap up-- and that is the colonialist is afraid of the black brown revolt. I think that's something that you shared earlier. That the system is afraid of black and brown getting together. I think, because of folks did get together a new reality would take place. And I think-- this is again just me going out on a limb-- but I believe the fear that many folks are saying that they're feeling before they're taking the trigger, has something do with this, has something to do with this. Just being afraid of somebody who says nothing, who has their hands up like this, I think there is a deep-- there's something major going on with folks. Recognizing what has been done to our people for centuries and generations, and being-- an understanding, if they wanted to do the same thing to me. But, as I go back to the very first comment I made about the Natives, it hasn't been about killing one another when they meet somebody different. It's been about that love, that extending to one another. And right now, my friends, the black brown unity is more important than ever, and extending the best that we can, our olive branch if you will, to the Master. Because we don't. Like you just brought, the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, we do not want to become what it is that we hate. So we have to be very careful that if we do gain the power that we are seeking, that we do not inflict the same pain on future generations. And I want to thank everybody for coming here, especially my good friend over here, Ray Watson. I never know exactly which name to use, he has so many. [LAUGHS] And they're all very powerful and important classifications, I will say. But Mr. Watson, we do all want to thank you, because you have carried this torch for the last seven years. Not alone, not alone, but when nobody else wanted to. [LAUGHS] [APPLAUSE] And I will be remiss if I did not acknowledge the other members of the planning committee that are here tonight. So of course, Professor Bogues, from the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, thank you very much, sir. [APPLAUSE] Mr. Larry Wilson, from Rhode Island College. [APPLAUSE] Daryl Black Eagle Jamison, here, who's been around since the first year, was well. I had the good fortune of bumping in and starting a conversation with [? Janet, and ?] putting the idea in her mind. But as Jonathan said, by no means at all has this been a solo deal, because we would not be here had it been just up to me to get it done. And I think-- That's the truth --anybody who works with me knows that I have no problem acknowledging that, and that I expect other people to understand that when we're working together. If you're waiting for me to get it all done, we might as well not do it. I just want to thank everyone, especially Brown University and the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice for this fantastic space. I want to take each and every one of our panelists. Can we have another round of applause-- [APPLAUSE] --for our fantastic panelist. And what's exceptionally about this is, and we touched on it earlier. Yes, she took off-- [? Elaine ?] left early, and that's why I didn't acknowledge her-- But from the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts, which has been involved since day one as well. There's just been a number of different individuals representing a number of different institutions and organizations that have been supporting this, that we can be here by the seventh year. But this year in particular, just to look at the panel there, and see representatives from Brown, Rick and Roger Williams in one room, discussing something that is impactful for the communities that are right here, in my opinion, having grown up here my whole life, that's historic right there, what we're looking at right now. [APPLAUSE] So a round of applause for everyone for being here. And a round of applause for our panelists for understanding the importance of definitely respecting where we come from, but understanding that each of us, no matter what capacity we're in, has something that we can add to collectively moving us all forward. I just want to, once again, remind us that tomorrow night is the fire torch ceremony at Roger Williams National Memorial. And then Saturday and Sunday is the big drum powwow, so please, please, please, please, please, please, please, do not let this be the last time you interact with this Seventh Annual New England Native American Culture because there's so much more. There's so much more out there. We just love showing off our culture here in New England because we were the first ones to meet the colonists in this area. We were the first ones to invite them in. Thanksgiving's coming up, if William [INAUDIBLE], Pokanoket Nation were here, he would make sure to point out the fact that, they were the ones who had Thanksgiving with the colonists, not the other way around. And that was in October and not November. And all of these little things that have gotten lost in the larger sort of colonial narrative that has been shown to us. It's so important that the history of the people from right around here be told, because the history of the people from around here is the history that started this thing called the US, which has had such an impact upon the globe. When you telling the story of New England, and New England Native Americans, you're telling the story of the world since that initial interaction. And it's an important story to be told. So in the language of our people we say, [SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE]. Thank you very much for listening to us this night. And [SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE] we do hope to see you all soon. [SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE] [APPLAUSE]

Channel: Brown University

Views: 5,101,617

Keywords: brown, brown u, brown university, brown providence, providence, rhode island, ivy league, brown university youtube, brown u youtube

Id: VZ8A52AC2LI

Length: 134min 45sec (8085 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 05 2016