Funding for cspan2 comes in these Television Companies and more. Including. Along with these Television Companies support cspan2 as a public service. Hello Everyone Welcome to tonights program and thank you so much for being here. My name is marsha i come to you from the center for brooklyn history at the brooklyn Public Library. And bpl presents which is the librarys arts and culturend arm that brings you so many programs and conversations like tonight as well as musical performances, family and childrens events, literary and philosophical discussions and so much more. Tonight program the history is one part of a much larger and far ranging initiative at bpo is honored to be presenting in partnership with the wisdom of leadership. This Initiative Includes new yorks first ever exhibition of Cultural Arts which is now on real at bpo library in Environmental Education center. As well as many future programs and topics like the myth of the purchase of manhattan. We will have poetry readings there is an upcoming published anthology of essays. It is quite ambitious. I am humbled to represent my bpl colleagues who have the lead this ambitious effort. It is truly my honor to introduce tonights discussion on their behalf. In a few moments you will hear three perspectives on the history that has too long been overlooked. Es misrepresented and lied about. For 10,000 years the lenape lived in an area that includes parts or what are now the states of pennsylvania new york and delaware waves of often brutal forced migrations, forced removal this first nation was its first two locations from oklahoma to wisconsin, two parts parked further north and west. Before i introduce tonights speakers i have two quick notes for you. First, as always you have the option choose close captioning tonight. That button is at the bottom of your screen. And a second i want to invite you to share your questions tonight. Use the q a box which is also at the bottom of your screen. Now, it is my honor to introduce ourr speakers and turn it over o them. Curtis zunigha is a member of the delaware tribe of indians and cofounder and codirector of the Lenape Center based in new york city which promotes the history and culture of the lenape people through the arts, humanities, social identity environmental activism. This multimediaul experience includes writing, producing, directing, acting, narrating, composing and performing traditional music. Joe baker is an artist activist worked for the past 30 years is an enrolled member of the delaware tribe of indians of oklahoma. Cofounder executive director of the Lenape Center. Hes often an adjunct professor at Columbia University school of social work. And was recently visiting professor of studies at colorado college. Joe curated the lenape exhibition i mentioned earlier. Heather bruegl is an indigenous historian a citizen of the wisconsin and firstline descendent in addition to her many speaking engagements she has become accidental activist, speaking to different groups about intergenerational racism and trauma im helping to build awareness of our environment and other issues in native community. Shes former director of Cultural Affairs community and now heather serves as air direcr of education for forager project. Our moderator tonight doctor tibi galis has been a good executive director of the switch institute for the prevention of genocide and mass a atrocities 2006. Board and raised in romania previously worked as an associate researcher for the Uk Parliament where he helped develop uk position on that un special advisor on the prevention of genocide. Welcome, welcome to all. Imhi not going to turn this ovr too curtis for a word of welcome on behalf of the lenape. Pay, [speaking native tongue]. Welcome everyone and welcome to this amazinge webinar. I am a codirector of the Lenape Center as mentioned arts and Cultural Organization that was based in the beginning but now we cover the entire the land of the lenape the original homeland which extends all live to the foothills of the catskills mountains and all the way down the river to eastern pennsylvania that emptying to the delaware bay. Its original homeland. It is amazing we are apart of this webinar this evening. And on behalf of the Lenape Center speaking as a lenape man i welcome you to this it played and we arela very glad that you are here with us this evening from where ever you are joining us. Thank you very much curtis. Id like to welcome everyone and recognize to you today from the lands of the original people of the land where im speaking to you today but i also like to start by recognizing that the organizations i have enjoyed to leave at the Auschwitz Institute is not in the land of the lenape. I would also like to recognize the lenape deep connection to the homeland. Organization dedicated the Auschwitz Institute believes in the importance of acknowledging the settler genocide. And the resilience of the lenape still today continue to resist. I would like to invite all of us to listen to this very important discussion. On to open our hearts to learning about the history of our lands and the history of the people of our land. I would like to invite curtis to start us off in this discussion. Thank you. All right. I was asked to write an essay about what was originally called the forced migration of the lenape. I ended up writing an empty dsa. My approach was to get away from the term of migration or diasporan. We have been using that term but the more i reviewed and remembered our story it truly was forced relocation. In writing about our people, we were the ones who encountered originally it began, first he began with the italian explorer sailing for the french. Followed one third years later by henry hudson was an englishman. He was sailing for the Dutch East India Company explore routes for the first trade. Upon encountering the lenape people there were numerous stories and accounts written by explorers, military leaders, missionaries. And other colonial settlers. That talked about the lenape people is a strong and ancient people. With a culture and a belief system that in some ways was much akin to the british quakerism. Above all we have and still have deep spiritual relation of the land. We talk about being removed from my homelands, the homeland of the original lenape people, to me and by extension to so many of our people, to me it is like being an orphanage. Someone whos been taken away from the arms of our mother. Untaken far away to where we cannot see our mother anymore. There is a long history that goes all the way from original contact in the early 16th century to the late 19th century. And today at the lenape people are broken up into various groups. Today their names include the name and delaware. That was our colonial name. I am a member of the delaware tribe of indians for that is our colonial name delaware. Ii came from a British Colonial governor sir thomas west. Now the lenape people became known as the delaware throughout this historic period of time. But as we encountered more and more of the europeans, again the dutch followed by the british and ultimately the americans as the hunger for more land and opportunity to have a free and independent land to live on. They displace the original people who were all ready free and independent people leaving on the land. That isto the lenape. Our stories and much of what you will see in this exhibit will tell our story of how we were forced away from our homeland in an environment in a theater of war after a wildly became war refugees. If you listen to the news or watch the news you see about other countries and people being displaced in their own countries in the theater of war. That is what the lenape went through. This exhibit will not only tell that story and there is my essay that i wrote were i take us through that trail were today the lenape todays modern descendents known as the delaware i am enrolled member of the delaware tribe, are located in northeastern oklahoma and wee had been years since 1867. There are other communities one in oklahoma, two in southern Ontario Canada and one in wisconsin. Collectively we are the descendents of the original lenape. We are like different branches from the same tree trunk. That tree trunk is rooted firmly in the homeland. And now with Lenape Center and ive been involved for over 10 years now with the Lenape Center i feel like that orphan child who hasle come back. Back to new york. Back to lenape. To connect with my mother, the motherland the original homeland that is the deep Spiritual Connection with the land, the waters, the ancestors. It has never gone away. The partnerships we have made with such institutions as a Brooklyn Library in the center for brooklyn history. People are making a way for the lenape to return to our homeland. And in doing so and by telling our story people learn that we still existed. There was so much erasure of our history, our culture, our language, and our presence. Done by centuries, decades of people who took over the land most often times by force or by fraud. Basically wrote the lenape out of the history. But Lenape Center and our friends with a Brooklyn Library, we are here to tell you wait never died out, we are still here we are grateful we can come back to the homeland now and connect with the spirit of our homeland. And in doing so we continue the generation the generational connection. After all of these centuries back with the homeland. That is extremely gratifying or in our culture and language we pay honor to the sacrifices of our ancestors the gift of the creator for culture and language which we still have one that has passed on to us. We will continue to grow back and assert our presence and assert a claim to our homeland that we never willingly gave up. I hope you all will learn more about the center. We do have aeb website called te Lenape Center. Com. You will find a lot of incredible information about the growth and development of our organization and all the work we have done. We are arts and culture organization. We are also very much engaged in Environmental Protection and care for the land because again that land has a spirit. So, i share with you this sense of the lenapeeo people are no longer orphans. We have returned to our mother and our mother is opening her arms and welcoming us back. We also comment by working with various organizations we are taking our place back at the table of power. We bring traditional knowledge and incredible culture and languageha that only inventions the entire fabric of that which is lenape. That which is new york city. That which is the Brooklyn Library and all of our partners in the wonderful people we have gathered together with. With that there are some other here representing lenape i want to share this time with them to provide additional perspectives. I encourage you to look around all of the activities thats going on here with the Greenpoint Library the center for brooklyn history much more bigger and better presence of the Lenape Center in the years come. So with that i say thank you. Now we will h turned to heather and joe and after that will open discussion based on the questions that you all in the audience are sending as we are starting the conversation. Now i would like to invite heather to join the discussion, heather . Rex hi, thank you so much. My name in our language is sunflower i had my naming ceremony in the middle of the pandemic in september of 2020. Im very honored to be part of the panel this evening. Thank you to joe and curtis for learning. Ued thank you to the Public Library and the center for brooklyn history. I feel honored to bee. Here. I am coming to you from the homeland which are people of the waters that are never still. And they lie and government and wisconsin are very honored to be coming here from the homeland. I movedob here in october of lat year. From wisconsin. Prior to that i wasg living on the home line in southeastern michigan. Ihe worked for a number of years for the community and now im here in upstate new york. Actually im technically in the middle i was from the homeland but that is okay. In the homelands here and im so honored to be a part of this panel. I want to start with this, this is one of my favorite quotes i guess. It was from an activist. Were not at an were older than both concepts we are the people. We are human beings. I found that is really powerful to stop and think about that. We areho older than both of thoe concepts. We are the human beings. When i hear that i think about we are the original. We are oji we are the people who were hear from the beginning that creator created this beautifull island and place this upon we were here first. This is our homeland through forced removal time and time again over forced into different areas. Im a firstline descendents not located in northeast wisconsin the treaty of 1856 perp layoutch that was from the nation. Other nations gave up pieces of their home so that my ancestors and i will include the oneida in this asro well but other nations gave up their homelands so that we could have a place to call home. The reason we needed a place to call home was because of colonialism. We were forced out from the start. First encountered explorers and 1609. That is what henry hudson as curtis mentioned earlier. From that moment on, from the moment colonialism collides with the indigenous ives of this land, things changed forever. Your life changes forever. Now that im in the homelands ive had the opportunity to come home, i cannot help when im out in the land to stop and think about what my ancestors went through it order so that i could sit here and talk to you about them today. Famine, disease, loss of land, forced removal,ov wars, death, conversion to christianity, loss of self, loss of culture, loss of tradition, loss of language. They did all of that so that i cannot tell you their story. And contrary to popular belief, the nation is older than colonization we are older than the tales told by james cooper. He got it very wrong. Its a very beautiful movie im not going to lie the cinematography is great. But it is not accurate in its history. That people of the waters that are never still settled along the river that flows both ways. You know as the hudson river. Because that is its name. Removal from her homelands in new york to settling in the western part of massachusetts which was also part of our homeland a great conversion happened there that conversion fought with christianity. I had the opportunities last summer to come to the homelands for the first time walk around in massachusetts. Inc. About the history that was therapy the history that happened there in that place. One of the places i stopped it was the Mission House which is located. Knowing what happened at that Mission House that Mission House was set up suit jon sargent it was a missionary in a priest at the time could help would convert Indigenous People to christianity. You had mohicans that you had oneida and mohawk in all of these other nations come together. What happened there is not only is her loss of the traditional ceremony andnd religion, but wht happens is our identity starts to be stripped away from us we are no longer mohican. Because for some reason its too hard to remember all those names. So they start by taking away their land they start to strip our identity in who we are. So from that moment on for the stockbridge mohican indians. In that kind of stuck with us. We consider ourselves mohican, mohican nation, when not pay. But yet we brought the colonized name with this. What happens next is the American Revolution starts this is a war for independence im not going to lie to you. I love the early colonial history i find it very fascinating. Im like the worlds biggest nerd when it comes to this. And i can say it word for word. But what we dont talk about is the mohican nation and other indigenous nations including those which would have been fall on the site of the colonus wheat starved under t george washingtons. We were there. What happens if we come back for more . We are forced out of our homelands again. We find that when we are off fighting for the freedom to form the United States we were helpinger everyone. We come back in her land has been taken. This time we are in indiana. Indiana the land that we are supposed to help settle on with our brothers and sisters have been forced into selling. We had no place to stay. We moved again this time we moved even further from our homelands. We moved to wisconsin. First of the southern part of the state was set in what is now without a home their family theres a place for us to be. Again as long a river of fox river. That was at major waterway used for transportation of goods. Moving products around. And settlement. Settlers were coming into the area, they needed the space, we had to move again. So it was because of the nation given up their homelands we move further north and had a place to call home. Large time we were in wisconsin a group of our brothers until we were not as a stockbridge community. For example we learned both languages. I am a woman with mohican ancestry. I felt very honored all parts of the culture that iwe carry. The land is beautiful its covered ined forests was that great for farming . We had great force. The clearcut theer land. Over going to different economic base . Again we were in a position wewere going to be losing a lotf land. We were going to be losing our livelihood. There are some great Leaders Within that community of fought very hard, who stuck to their guns were able to reclaim some of that during the passage of the Indian Organization act of 1934. We were able to form tribal governments again. We were able to have our leadership the tradition, culture in recent years language. This is all very important. And will be also started doing was making this home. Back to the homeland. Eastern parts of new york. Massachusetts, connecticut vermont, new jersey, pennsylvania, people started coming home. It is such an amazing feeling when you step on these lands. I hate bridges i do not like bridges i never look down and i might look down i wasnt nervous i wasnt l scared i looked down and saw my ancestors saw the villages and there was this homeless that came over me. It was so unbelievably amazing. And after that coldness and happiness went away the anger started to set in. The anger of knowing what happened here, understand the history of it from ideal infects. I let that anger get a hole of me for a little while. Our ancestors removed off of this land for a progress that is something we have to talk about. We have to have a reckoning of that. We have to understand that. I feel so honored and so excited this lenape exhibit is upward its going to be truth. Its bringing truth in spaces that truth was not always in. That was really important i feel so lucky im able to be part of this and talk about our history. I might just finish with a quote from one of the greatest tipple met leaders the mohican nation has. He gave a speech in new york in 1954 and the fourth of july. A lot of t times the Frederick Douglass speech which was what is the fourth of july and mean to an indigenous person . Gives a great speech not to leave it with this i want you to think onme it. Because it means so much. My friend, your holy book the bible individual offenses are punished in existence time shall be no more. They are equally instructive National Crime atoned for in this world confirmation of existent adapts them. These events are above myself and for mybe tribe i asked for justice public sooner or later it will occur. Magi in hope. Thank you very much for including me. I turn this over to my next author, thank you. Thank you very much. Hello everyone. It is a great pleasure for me too join this conversation this evening. I want to express my gratitude to the public Library Center for brooklyn history and my fellow tribal members Curtis Zunigha and heather bruegl. Th my story in my thoughts tonight are really informed by the idea of both past and present. And the idea that colonization, while it has a student stupid hl thread and trajectory it is still very muchod alive and present in todays experience. As a tribal elder in inver vietnam veteran arrow i made a conscious choice to return to the lenape homeland. To do the work of building the platform for the return of our people to this incredible place that is our home. Growing up in oklahoma i was inspired by the tribal elder would she described to return trips to the homeland back in the 1970s. That instilled in me a curiosity to know more about this place that we come from. So what i want to share with you tonight how the past also informs the present. And how someto of the historical moments in time have found the expression and the real Life Experiences of my life today in manhattan. My story begins with my family who is first begins to appear in the publications in the mid 1800s from the last Federal Reserve of the lenape people in and around lawrence, kansas. Was a prominent right turn away of the raid. It was mentioned in the publication. That was in 1863. As curtis and heather have mentionedhe when they beat come our permanent home were shortlived. With the advance of the railroad once again forced to relocate into indian territory in 1867. And at that time the main body of delaware and by that definition those delaware those lenape people who had stayed together throughout all of the removals and found themselves once again, they removed indian territory. There were 25 or 30 families, about 900 people on wagon trains moving into indian territory. One person, grandma mahoney was in the care of our family the white turkey family was the keeper of the dog with just a traditional ceremony that ensures the health and wellbeing of the community, the community health. That was 1867. In 2021 through the efforts of Lenape Center the descendents of grandmas family, the half family was being united again with the white turkey family. Rebecca lives in san diego and david who lives in the phoenix area, again, joined with us here in new york at the Lenape Center during the good work of returning our presence here. From that place of or before the arrival into indian territory 1867 we had to think about that. Inside as a result of the indian removal act of 1830. It forced over 60 different tribal nations into one area in the territory. People come into indian territory from different regions with different cultures and different beliefs l in different languages all living in close proximity to one another. We keep purposeful goal of the survivors. How do we survive this place and time . And then along comes the dawes act in 1887. I want to share with you a moment of two weeks ago was outside of new york its a mountain resort. I was learning more about the history of that place. In the history, who was he wasestablished by a quaker f. In 1870s it began a route the resort began in 1870. But in 1883 1916 the family decided to open their doors and invite conversations inviting the bureau of Indian Affairs in both the house and Senate Representatives of the Indian Commission to that resort to discuss the policies that would affect indian communities across this country. And two weeks ago i was there in the exact place. The parler it is called where the act was created. So that was a moment, the really personal thing to be standing in the exact place were laws and policies were created, and vision that would remove millions of acres from the hands of the native people. And would open up the surplus lands to white settlement. And that specifically struck a personal chord with me. Because it impacted my family then impacts my family today. So these acts of colonization that wehi like to immediately think of as things that occurred in the past, i think we have to really understand they are still active today. So i want to talk about the act and my Family History with that. I family was awarded just under 700 acres in washington county. 160 acres to the individual head of household and 80 acres for adult children. That impacted my grandmother stella white turkey and her allotment consisted of 80. 95 acres in washington county. All of that land soon became, with the discovery of oil it became an asset. A landmass that was open to development for the industries. So indian families were descended upon by entrepreneurs in the oil industry all sorts of legal maneuverings were occurring within that area of oklahoma to gain access to those lands. In 19204 my grandmother died suddenly of poisoning. In 1934 my uncle wilbur died who is scheduled to testify in a forgery case, was murdered. In the 1960s to the 1950s particular allotment was flooded with water to refresh the oil supply at that time. There is a great environmental damage. There were attempts to mitigate that damage to Environmental Resources the 1950s, 1960s. In 1970 the wells had been capped. The tanks had been removed as a certain level fell over the plan. But by 2000 for the allamerican Pipeline Companies that we have ears. There is a Movement Underway to put a pipeline across the allotment. At this time and in histories being farmed. My mother was in the courts protesting and fighting this pipeline access, just before her death. Of course the courts decided in favor of a Pipeline Company based on 1904 historic pipeline by the prairie Pipeline Company. So often we think of these acts of colonialism is acts of a historical past when they actually play out in our daily life today. So i would offer there are many family stories of resistance that continue within our communities. And that are worthy of a greater visibility. Her worthy of a public airing that we desperately need in terms of our society and our progress into the future. It is interesting this time that we find ourselves in and lets speak directly of the experience in new york city, that before the creation of Lenape Center some 14 years ago there was almost a complete erasure of our history here. No institution had stepped forward to make available an exhibition of lenape art and culture that would celebrate our existence in our homelands. Our vital Participation Art and culture of this region. And so we continuously fight against that erasure. We do that through opportunities of partnership and collaboration with organizations that are making assets and Resources Available to our weakness of hours and share our experiences. I think that is very important. And for anyone who is in the audience wondering what can be done today to help support a more truthful towing of a very complex history, i encourage you to reach out to the Lenape Center and reach out with other partners and participate in an open discussion about better ways of living. Which are essential for all people guards us of where youre coming from. And so with this i passed this a back to tibi galis. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. Sharing stories of the removal, suffering and the essays you have the details of suffering endured by communities. My Organization Works to prevent atrocities. To prevent genocides, to prevent crimes againstch humanity which forced removal. When people speak about the atrocities they focus on the killing. Hearing you share the stories of removal, the stories of continued colonialism and continuing crimes. Ii wanted to ask you from the perspective of the Lenape Community and the other communities we are severing the relationship withth the modern lines to removal. How does that play in the sense of continuing crime committed against the communities . You have any thoughts on that . Heather, please . It is something that is still happening, right . That continuous slow genocide continues to this day. And i know that sounds harsh its maybe not an eloquent or happy answer. Who were removed under the land nson reservations. Reservations were supposed to be temporary. Y. They were supposed to be holding places for us and why . In 2022 we should not exist according to what the plan was going to be, right . As long as there are Indigenous Peopleei around there are sovereign nations around, trees still have to be upheld which means the federal government is still responsible for their end of the treaty. They will also note there is never been a treaty made between the United States and United Nation that has been one 100 upheld on the site of the federal government. Never, never, never upheld their end of the bargain. Until because of that you got it institute ways to get rid of quote the population. One of things introduced, we are the only group that has to have documented how much indian blood that we have. The only groups i can think of that have to do that are dogs and horses. And Indigenous People we are the only people that have to do that. That meant that corm dips below they start to disappear the federal government does not have to uphold those treaty rights anymore. Reservations were supposed to be temporary. Because we are not supposed to be here. That genocide from the start from that removal just continues and perpetuates today. It is 2022. There are so many other things added on top of that in order to help get rid of that. So the aspect of that heather, thank you for that perspective is the ongoing psychological trauma. Of colonialism. Im speaking to the spirits that exist just outside of parking lots in the darkness of indian print. Speaking of the Domestic Violence that plagues our communities. I am speaking about the atrocities, the sikhs is still a part of our community. These are all results of a people, a society that has been removed from their original place through trauma after trauma after trauma. And i think the challenge today is to find ae positive way of responding to this are brutal and often times of violent history that we continue to hold within our beings. Joe hit it onwe it very well. There is generational trauma, historic trauma that is often times acted out in todays lenape or delaware people todays indian communities. They are feeling the residual effects of colonialism which began, this is a tough part of examining the truth in history that Lenape Center is presenting. The colonialism is based on the Christian Doctrine of discovery. And the concept of manifest destiny that the christian europeans resentenced to this land to take dominion over it. And all of the language whether it was written in latin or other languages, they were referred to savages. And to convert them into christiansom i would become the working class to extract the resources from the land and send them back to the king, queens, and everybody back in europe. And also, all of that land would be made available to this wave in a wave of people coming to this new land. There was this idea that indians were savages. You either convert them or kill them and it is all right to kill them because the royalty and the pope said i sanction this in the name of christ. Its okay if you do that, dont feel guilty about it. And they did, scalps of bounties to kill lenape to remove them from their homeland. The introduction of smallpox infected blankets given to indians appeared these kind of old tactics push the lenape away and slowly we became erased from the history books, on the concepts of the people. It is part of the reason why seLenape Center of scumbag this erasure. Telling thell truth. In a way it helps people wake up and realize we are still here. We are still a living thriving people with a culture and a language we deserve to be welcomed back in the homeland and allowed to connect with the homeland and the spirit of thef homeland. And take ourul place rightfullyt the table of all power. Whether its political, religious, economic, artistic. Whatever it may be the lenape people collectively and our efforts as the directors of Lenape Center and our friends. Nd we went to bring these issues forward find ways of changing affecting Public Policy today so we are not still dealing with the messages of colonial and historical trauma. One of which we are actively involved in those are missing in Indigenous Women and children all Indigenous People many people still look at indian people at the lenape much like they did five years ago. Much like the did in 1776 and Thomas Jefferson called this merciless savages when he wrote the declaration of independence. Combine the erasure is more than just dealing with the pastor. Its letting a pass for a future so that when the lenape take our place back in our homeland we can bring traditional knowledge, practices and traditions that will only strengthen the existing community today. We are ever so grateful for people like the Brooklyn Library and other institutions that are welcoming us to back and giving us a place at the table. That is what we are hoping will be an important emphasis on our mission at the Lenape Center in years too come. Thank you very much for responding to myy question. Maybe this is the right moment to speak of our experience these and barked with the help of the Lenape Center of developing our living land acknowledgment to engage with the history and engage with the president of the history of our lands with the crimes committed on our lands. I cannot play it in the audience how grateful we are for the guidance provided to us to understand as an institution working with human rights how we can contribute to engaging with the consequences of the history of our land. And to contribute to this we hope of the legacies that we live today and of the colonial genocide. I encourage everybody in the audience to reflectle individuay on how they can develop their own approach to engaging with the consequences of the forced removals, the genocide in their own living land acknowledgmentkn practices that will make us a better society. Now i would like to go to our questions. I will group questions. Some of them are more information requiring some are asking her students to reflect the first question comes from an anonymous participant asking what do you mean lenape. The second question comes from lauren asking what efforts are in place to put the history and to the curriculum for elementary and secondary schools. Joe . Rex you are muted sorry perks i okay thank you. Now i have a voice. I am happy to share with you regarding new york state curriculum there have been great outreach efforts made by individual teachers to Lenape Center requesting a more truthful honest and thorough history of lenape present in the homeland other than the cursory performing. Set curriculum that exist today. There seems to be an openness for the expansion of the curriculum and it is being driven not by new York State Department of education so much as it is being driven by the individual and courageous efforts of individual teachers. If i made, i am looking at the chat bar over here. There are so many questions. I think we only have a limited amount of time left on this webinar. I would encouragepl people to te their questions and email them either to the library, or i will give you the email address for Lenape Center which is simply Lenape Center gmail. Com. All one word. Lenape center gmail. Com. Many of these questions are great ones we just do not have enough time to cover it all. We can write more essays, we can create more exhibits. We can address these things in the months and years to come. They are the same questions we ask ourselves ass we begin to return back to the homeland. Thank you. Indeed, excellent questions. Its a shame to not be able to engage with them but given the energy of the discussion i would suggestt a giving back the audience is holding for us to, a time to answer a few more questions if you dont mind. Are you okay with that . The question comes i would like to know what is the best way for black people to support the lenape peoples efforts towards reclaiming their land and offer reparations . I am up worker towards liberation and my practices and believe i owe a debt to the land and the lenape people. Question from jared, how are they related to the lenape . Anybody who would like to reflect on these two . Heather, do you want to mention about differentiating between whats known as muncie and whats known as lenape, both the language in the Community Identity . Kicks you will correct me if im wrong. So muncie is part of the lenape but it is a language dialect. Within that there other dialect. This other dialect. When i refer to muncie i refer to the language of an entire about the people i say lenape. That is my clear understanding. I feel very much put on the spot right there. [laughter] and then just really quick, too, to the person who mentioned here the people working in that land thank you so much but i would encourage you to reach out which is a farm here in the Hudson Valley said indigenous farm does some really am agent work. They haveg done a really good about making sure they are paying homage and respect to the land. You can find them so fire. Com. If you google you will find them. Just want to say i see you and i acknowledge you and thank you so much for that. I valid you are passing your ancestor hardship and thank you for honoring mine as well. Cooks thank you very much. Let me just say that we too at the Lenape Center are working on the land in partnership with foreign on the Hudson River Valley to return ancestral seeds to the ancestral land. Theres programming that will be up part of the exhibition that will be very specific to address those topics of land and farming. The foodways other Indigenous People of the area. The Africanamerican Community thee origins of your story and colonialism are very similar to the lenape and to the Indigenous People in the homeland. The Christian Doctrine of discovery also extended to the african content and many of the native or Indigenous People of the african continent. They were taken into slavery and brought into the americas im andtalking north, south, Central America to become again a working slave class of people. So i think the Africanamerican Community in the native American Community would like to believe cannot only share stories of the effects of colonialism, but what we are doing today to revive our identity and address racism and colonialism that still exist in Public Policy. We cannot deny that it is still going on. And therefore we could work collectively to change thinking and institutions in the decades to come. And tryry to overcome what has happened in the past. It is an ongoing effort. Thank you. Our final two questions the first one from rosemary. Would you speak a little bit about the reformation process of languages. What do you feel are the prospects for those languages to become large in communities . The last question comes who is asking what books on lenape history would you recommend . Well, i can address that last question regarding what books. Theres a lot of information available. Not all of it is accurate or can be recommended. Iwhat i do recommend for everye in this audience to be sure and watch for the publication of this anthology which should be published during the month of june. Which will become a very Rich Resource for the public, for educators, its really one of the first publications that includes community voices. Voices directly from a community. Not recommendations or the for e scholars but community voices. Thatso is going to become an resource we can recommend at the Lenape Center. With regards to language, let me just say this. Language is the foundation of all things culture. Many people believe modern dell have lost their culture, they have lost their language. We have lost a lot of traditional knowledge but wehe have not lost our language. Thanks to the efforts of so many people some of who are still living today for instance with my tribe the delaware tribe we have a website talk lenape. Org. And on that is language, stories, the voices of now deceased tribal elders pronouncing words, telling stories. We have classes going on with the delaware indian tribe right now in oklahoma. We are learning from its kind of like a trail of breadcrumbs that our ancestors and many of our elders have left for us to go back and follow that trail and go back to the origins of our culture and language. The group right here in my Community Young lenape leaders were using our language website andoc bringing back some of her social intercultural gatherings we can speak in our language but as long as we have our language thats the foundation of promoting our culture we are engaged in a robust effort to keep that going. The dialect, and wisconsin and canada. They still have traditional speakers and elders. O but they have a growing groupf young people who were taken over now as the cultural leaders it is all based in speaking their language. We do not have everything we used to have but we are on this path of reclaiming it to strengthen our identity. And to strengthen ourom commitmt to returning to the homeland and growing the return of our identityy. Im speaking passionately about it now. That is a sacred endeavor that we do as a gift of appreciation. An expression of appreciation for the sacrifices of our ancestors that gave that to us in spite of the worst conditions ever in our history. And with that you can learn more about it. Again in this anthology that joe spoke about. Also living the website and see your ongoing efforts. Let me just say a few words i know on the land that knows that language. It l is the powerful. The land never forgets its very powerful. It connects the generations but one of the coolest things going on with meat right now in regards to our lenape languages im texting my 16yearold granddaughter in lenape and she replies in lenape. Quickset is so cool. That is awesome. I would like to thank our wonderfuls speakers for sharing their knowledge, sharing their knowledge, sharing their passion with us today. I would like to thank the audience for being so engaged i apologizetu for us not having te opportunity to answer all of your questions. Writing emails to the Lenape Center and to continue this conversation. I would also like to thank our generous host at the brooklyn publicnd library and the center centerfor brooklyn history for g us today. I just want to thank all of you for such a spectacular, way too brief beginning of a conversation. I have never really seen so much engagement in the questions that come in since really we started with virtual programs when covid began. So from my heart as enormous thank you. And i want to tell everybody because a number of questions have come in about the anthology that is mentioned. That is in process now. The bestt way to know when it will be published and how you can get it, to get your hands on it is to visit the website pages on brooklyn Public Libraries website. Which will go into the chapter. There it is. You will get updates there. You also be able to explore the upcoming programs. Some of them came up already in this conversation there will be d a program about missing and murdered Indigenous Women. Some of theaw questions i saw yu all asking. There is a conversation coming down the pike about seeing. We have poetry performances and many other conversations. So please look for those and join us for those. But most importantly, thank you all for being our audience. Thank you for engaging. And thank you heather, joe, curtis for such a moving and powerful first launch of the series. I wish everybody a wonderful night. But friends dont have to be. When youre connected, youre