I read with a sad heart and dismay about the difficulty the Nanticoke Indian Association is having funding its 47th Annual Powwow. We, the public, are the ones missing out if the powwow is canceled.
We of other cultures have no idea how proud we should be to have a living Nanticoke community in Sussex County. Nanticoke history goes back hundreds of years that we can document, and long before the time when explorers came to our shores. We, the white culture, pushed the Indians off their lands all across the United States. To have an Indian community in our midst is a privilege.
I have traced my genealogy back to 1600s to Scotland. How exciting for me to learn how my ancestors may have lived and survived during upheavals in land wars and kings’ takeovers. While tracing my ancestors, I discovered my seventh great-grandfather married a Cherokee woman. It gave me a new perspective on Native American history. As children, we played cowboys and Indians, and the cowboys always won because the Indians were monsters and scary. As I look back on what type of history was being promoted to me, I cringe. How misinterpreted and misunderstood Native Americans were. In truth, Native Americans revere the great spirit and all creation, giving thanks at the hunt for the meat provided for their sustenance. They lived with nature and peacefully, fighting only to defend their lands and way of living.
The Nanticoke Indian Museum is filled with artifacts that are very interesting and tell about their ancestral way of life.
Let us support the Nanticoke Indian Association with our monetary donations toward funding the powwow and toward the expansion of the Nanticoke Cultural Center. They need volunteers (signupgenius.com) as well as dollars (GoFundMe).
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