Introduction to the Maine-Wabanaki: gkisedtanamoogk at TEDxDirigo

thank you ask away question tonkatsu no huh are you her Jana's super said no Tibetan to MacCachren Raj the Intimidator Kohana Oh Yamaha genuine dokkan dokkan and I enter cotton okasha how you watching a typical hog of a ski jump how you doing our kid time come on tonight we're a national pursue co-op you arty raja'na gonna shake your champion mock you for how you were hiding money to OHANA suppose said not a burden to my gosh okay you know just go across in Georgian in 1620 the separatists English coming off the Mayflower might have heard a language like that it's an amazing miraculous reality that that language is still spoken I want to share with you another miraculous development I am so inspired by the energy in this room you know snippets of experience that I've had and that I'm having you know is this delicate weave of emotion inspiration I'm often citing important teachers in my life in the classroom you know one of the more prominent teachers is Master Yoda and Master Yoda kind of delicately but in an elderly fashion you know enables us and then empowers us you know to think beyond the boxes that we're giving here to soul instructively today creativity you know I think our our political leaders need to be poets in artists because the artists of that caliber are using that creativity all the time and we need to be creative about this interweave that I often refer to is the human frontier the only frontier that humanity has consistently out of a fear-based realities that we created have consistently avoided so I want to share with you some ideas what you see here printed is what Columbus brought here to this part of the world you know envision if you can the Western Hemisphere separated from the rest of the world a great island all the what all the world is over here Western Hemisphere is here throughout the Western Hemisphere there were only indigenous Native American peoples living in the entire western hemisphere we're all different from each other different experiences different languages you know but common one common thread that bound us all together as an increasingly deep abyss of love of gratitude and it's it amazes me that despite what has happened since Columbus that gratitude and that love still exists we're all indigenous to the world we're all as humanity knows we only know one existence in that's tribal our togetherness you know the only thing that really separates you know Opticon or no since I live there most of the time the only thing that that separates tribal Orono with tribal Wabanaki just down the road is that the Wabanaki are still connected to the land in a very fundamental very deep love for everything in tribal or nois is is connected and based on abstract ideas their only difference and what I what I've heard today really inspires me and what I hear in the classroom really inspires me but we have to change this scenario we have to change no the perpetual 'ti of being mean and being in a mean state of being I want to bring you back to this do you remember almost a year ago Friday December 21st 2012 when the world was going to end and people believe that why because Indians were saying that the Mayan calendar the Mayan thinking indigenous thinking what they were describing was a new era you know December 21st 2012 was the beginning of a new era a new cycle of 5,000 years we had just come through a cycle of 5,000 years and out of that previous cycle of 5,000 years we went through a series of 13 heavens in nine hells the ninth hell ended in the you know in November in 1987 in for a period of 25 years known as the age of flowers was to determine whether the next cycle we would begin with heaven or hell heaven as defined as the condition of our spirit of our bodies what motivates us you know based on that love what motivates us you know our mind our body intermingled with the great sacred we call the great sacred God money to however we define that in hell or we just were in it a state of meanness you know and you and this room you come here you're inspired you're seeking something that's different from being mean mean based reality fear-based realities create that meanness we don't know we need a we need an ancient form of wisdom it's in us as food was talking about it's in our genes or not like that as a species it's in our genes over love but love that's activated love that's that's put out their love is founded and everything that we do we can get to that point of tribal existence then we have come home the Wabanaki this is a present state of Wabanaki the the wampum belt is the Confederacy belt of the Wabanaki the Wabanaki Confederacy has existed prior to the arrival of Columbus it still meets today it is the basis of how Maine got to be Maine and how the United States got to be the United States in its existence the Confederacy has managed to hang on to that thread that glooskap had asked had implored us to remain ourselves because there's a whole new wave of something coming here and that something wasn't friendly and we managed to hold on you know despite the political and the social economic ramifications of that hate based meanness that was brought here and had manifested through our whole 500 year existence together hurting everybody not just Indian country but everybody Muhammad's passion speech basically stole my fire [Laughter] it's an experience of every person of color to ever come here to the United States but the reality of it is none of us want to live like that none of us know in that that that support that glooskap it told the Wabanaki my northern cousins I come from what's now I come from not said much hippie oh darn us it so I mean what's now Cape Cod you know and I have such a love for the people here for the Wabanaki I've had this 40-year love for the people here you know and I married a Wabanaki from the from the far north and lived in her community for over 20 years we raised our children there and part of the time we spend up there and part of the time we spend here it's been a great honor and privilege to be at the University of Maine and everything that I've ever done in my life was about was a construction on that primary basic tenet of love love for everything every morning I get up I can tell you how appreciative that everything is working you know in in in there there's an understanding that we that we understand the life above our let off our heads and a life below our feet and everything between that it could be the sky and the earth and everything between sky and Earth everything is connected everything even people and in that that way of being you know has helped me grow as a human being and I'm so so grateful thankful you know and I'm so grateful for for this present incarnation of this work the main Wabanaki Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission in our parallel organization two main Wabanaki reach our fronting this opportunity you know Indian country is the elephant in the room nobody wants to talk about it or what he wants to acknowledge because what does that mean to honor the treaties what does that mean to acknowledge that we were on the homelands of Indian country I'm not from Maine maintenance for me Maine is occupying you know in and this is the first such Truth and Reconciliation that involves indigenous peoples we are working together state and indigenous peoples and frankly I didn't think Maine had it in them that's not been our experience but it is now it is now and every one of us in this room has an obligation as it was said earlier you know to work together you know to begin to dismantle that elephant in the room no I have a plan I have a plan for you you know in that plan is based on love but it's also based on you know to enact at love and to know why we're doing what we need to do so we're doing this work there's the governor right there with the leaders of the Wabanaki communities on historic signing last June in that signing you know the the TRC was officially seated just this February and we've been spending the last six months creating the infrastructure and that you know the reality is that we're going to be dealing with pain with stories that people have kept in their hearts you know the condition the social economic strata and most most of the communities in Indian country is deplorable there are even worse than third world countries here in the United States and there's a reason for that there's a deliberate policy you know forcibly removing children from their families for an absolutely no cause because they're Indian and and and the impact that that's had the painful impact that that's had it's what the TRC is going to address in 1978 took the United States a long time to reach to that point in 1978 to create the Indian Child Welfare Act a way of recognizing that when you remove a Native American child from their family and from their community that that destroys that child even if that child is put in a foster place where they're loved and all because of their nature because if there is even the the color of their skin you know they know at some point they're different and that void and that gap does something to them and it has debilitated whole communities and whole nations and for the state of Maine to embrace what they have done since 1978 in violation of a federal law in violation of the constitutional mandate that these treaties were based on but here we are side by side about to embark on a journey of the human frontier and I'm so grateful to be part of that I'm so grateful for an opportunity to give back in the demonstration to the Wabanaki communities here that I so dearly love I have some colleagues in the room or dearly part of this work and I want my wife to also stand up in this I want to want you guys to stand up so you know who's working on this so what you see on the screen is my plan for you I love that saying from from the Chinese you know no matter you know there are many paths to the summit but a few is always the same there's a place for every one of us you know on the mountain of life I want you to do a favor don't clap don't clap I want you to I want these words to seep into your heart I want you to join us in this effort you know I heard just before I came here that the state of South Dakota is so inspired but what's happening in here Maine they're considering to do the same thing working with the Indian country in South Dakota people are watching this people throughout the United States Canada is undergoing a peaceful reconciliation a Truth and Reconciliation Commission we had a judge and a lawyer and activist from South Africa from their experience in the Truth and Reconciliation the world is watching this it's important work and we all have a responsibility to work together to begin to dismantle this horrid experience but to make this experience no one of absolute love and not Johanna don't question O'Connor watch you looked up a ton to my gosh minoan no clap you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 29,793

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Keywords: tedx talks, ted x, tedx, tedx talk, ted talks, Maine-Wabanaki, TEDx, Native Americans In The United States (Ethnicity), Maine, United States Of America (Country), TEDxDirigo, ted talk, Generate, Native American Studies, ted, English Language (Human Language)

Id: hepvpi-PlRc

Length: 17min 54sec (1074 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 26 2013