Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

Well fed, confident and healthy the young Mohawks did what they do best when they are at ease-they danced. The Smoke Dance competition at Kawehnoke was not simply an affirmation of youth and talent but an affirmation of the joy which is at the heart of Onkwehonwe culture.  The drum, the songs, the dancing is said to attract the Thunder Beings as they move about the earth, carried by the wind and bringing the sky waters.

At this event, the dancing attracted others besides Akwesasnorons.  While the singing was going on a small group of cars came from the east, crossing the bridge, its occupants escorted by human rights activists from Montreal where they had come to know and support our cousins in Kahnawake.

The cars stopped near the dancers, next to the closed Canadian Customs building.  Rising from the vehicles were Arabs and Jews, called to Akwesasne because they were concerned that Canada was once again bringing unnecessary problems to an aboriginal community, problems which may well have become a crisis had not the Mohawks shown the world its determination to make a choice at this “crossroads” in our history to respond with discipline, unity and peace.

The Arabs were from Palestine, the Jews based in Montreal.  The Arabs came from an area of the Mideast which has known centuries of conflict.  They were representatives of 3,000,000 displaced people who had been dispossessed of their homelands after World War II and now live in permanent “camps” in Lebanon, Jordan, on the West Bank and in a small strip of territory called the Gaza, one of the most crowded areas on earth.

The Arabs know what it is to be marginalized, stereotyped, lied about in the media and in the movies.  They have endured the loss of their sacred sites, the destruction of their homes and the placing of an entire generation of children in physical, emotional and psychological jeopardy.  They know what is to be manipulated by external agencies and dehumanized by the police.

But they came to Akwesasne not to speak of the problems endured by the Palestinians but to join the Mohawks in song and dance.  They sang songs which have never been heard at Akwesasne, songs which expressed their joy and caused them to dance, our smoke dancers following their steps.  They took part in the Friendship Dance, smiled broadly as they were formally welcomed to the territory and then clapped their hands in happiness when the Palestinian flag was raised next to the Customs, to show everyone the respect they had for the Mohawk people. That banner still flies on Kawehnoke, a signal to the US and Canadian authorities that this struggle is now being watched by other nations, other peoples who feel they have an interest in its outcome.

Such is the power of the Smoke Dance and the honour the Mohawk leadership has brought to this cause.