“When the Dutch arrived and wanted to sign a trade agreement with the indigenous people, they were very aggressive, as Amsterdam was then the center of the trading world,” he explained. “Our leaders said that they didn’t believe the Dutch were going anywhere, and instead wanted to sign a treaty of principles that included mutual peace, friendship and longevity. When their paper was lost, we’d still have the belt, which we do.”
The promise behind it was that the Two Row campaign would allow the immigrants and the indigenous people to travel along their paths down the river of life, with respect for each other’s religions and traditions and differences. “It was said that this treaty would exist as long as the Sun rose in the east and set in the west, and as long as the rivers run downhill, and as long as the grass turns green. Well, those things are all still happening, yet most people know little to nothing of these treaties or indigenous peoples.”
Chief Lyons said that he felt that the Renewal Campaign was as critical today as ever, because “We are all living in an unsustainable way. We have this covenant of peace and this common cause of human survival. There is only so much land and so much water. Whether you are black, yellow, red, white, we are one family of humans.”
The chief will participate in the reenactment, paddling down the river with indigenous people on one side and immigrants on the other parallel path, traveling the river in solidarity.
A Rosendale couple, Sally and Paul Bermanzhon, have become very active in the Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign. “I’ve always been very interested in indigenous peoples’ history and issues,” said Paul. “I’m also the son of two Holocaust survivors, which has always had a lasting impact on me in terms of genocide. Arguably one of the largest and longest genocides to ever take place began when Christopher Columbus landed in 1492 and he and his European travelers commenced the mass murders of indigenous people, which was a practice that continued for years and decades and centuries as America led extermination campaigns to get indigenous peoples’ lands.”
Paul got to know some of the people involved with the Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign, and said that he was so “taken by how much I had to learn from them and their relationship with the Earth. With the ecological collapse we are facing, it’s critical that we learn how to tread lightly, how to stop and reverse the destruction we’ve unleashed.”
He and his wife helped provide meals during last year’s trial run down the river at various points in Kingston and Poughkeepsie. “We will do whatever we can to support this summer’s Two Row Treaty reenactment,” he said. “Since I’m disabled, as I don’t have use of one of my arms, I wouldn’t be much help in the canoe; but there are plenty of things I can do to support this effort. There are so many wonderful people involved, and it’s a pleasure getting to know them and share meals with them.”
Chief Lyons said that he hopes for greater education. “We’re not written about, talked about, which is one way to silence history. All they do is to parade us out on Thanksgiving, and everyone puts a feather in their hair and talks about turkeys. That’s the sad extent.”
While there were an estimated 15 to 20 million indigenous people living on the North American continent prior to the Europeans’ arrival, a US Census from the 1900s, according to Chief Lyons, shows only 250,000 indigenous people. “If that’s not genocide, I’m not sure what is,” he said soberly. “But now we’re up to about 2 ½ million, so we’re here and we’re standing strong, traveling down the river of life.”
To learn more about the Two Row Wampum Campaign, go to https://honorthetworow.org.
