FOR THE WELFARE OF THE WHOLE PEOPLE: HERITAGE STEWARDSHIP IN INDIGENOUS AND BLACK COMMUNITIES (livetweet thread)

Panelists:
Erik Denson, Board Member/Lead Instructor, Diving w/ a Purpose
Judy Dow (Abenaki), Executive Director, Gedakina
Frandelle Gerard, Executive Director, CHANT (Crucian Heritage & Nature Tourism Foundation)
Octavius Seowtewa (A:shiwi), Zuni Cultural Resources Advisory Team

Moderated by Reno Franklin (Kashia Band of Pomo Indians), Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Estom Yumeka Maidu Tribe @reno_keoni

CART captioning provided by Lori Stavropoulos

Sponsored by: @SbaArch, @IndigArchs, @ARF_UCB , @CIAMS_Cornell, @WennerGrenOrg, and @SAPIENS_org

livetweeting by: @lauraheathstout

. @WennerGrenOrg executive director Danilyn Rutherford is introducing the panel and all of the panelists.

Franklin: During these pandemic times, we must cherish the time we have together. Shout out to @potatokitty for inviting him.

Franklin speaking about the power of his experience on the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, working with a diverse community of POC speaking up for heritage preservation.

Franklin reflects on when the Quapaw Nation was building a levee and came upon a cemetery of enslaved people, and treated it as they wanted their own ancestors to be treated.

Franklin invites each panelist to discuss their own work. Starting with Erik Denson

Denson: Diving With A Purpose teaches diving to communities, and documents wrecked slave ships.

Denson: Diving With A Purpose also works worldwide, and works on coral restoration and other ecosystem preservation work through DWP Cares.

Denson: DWP started as a partnership with National Association of Black SCUBA Divers and @NatlParkServlce. The Guerrero Project documentary gave DWP its start.

Denson: check out http://Divingwithapurpose.org/  and https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/culture-exploration/0000016c-b54d-d50e-adfc-f54fb2ca0000

Denson: As diverse, we're always looking to do more. This program changed my life, and made me a steward of these historical maritime resources.

Franklin invites Frandelle Gerard to speak about her work and organizations.

Gerard acknowledges the land of St. Croix, its native communities, and her fourth-great-grandmother who lived 1757–1857 and was enslaved in Ghana and brought to St. Croix.

Gerard discusses evolving work of Crucian Heritage and Nature Tourism: Black people are not generally involved in tourism (hotels, restaurants, dive shops).

Gerard: CHANT created a four-day training for tour guides and operatives on the history of the island, including honoring original inhabitants. Our tours include that history and information about local plants. http://www.chantvi.org/aboutchant.cfm 

Gerard: CHANT got a Creative Placemaking grant to revive traditional arts. Because African people weren't allowed to express selves artistically, to this day the art is in furniture, architecture, woodworking, ironwork.

Gerard: Over past 4 years, we've created a traditional building arts program, introducing young people to these practices with the intention of having them become part of a construction team

Gerard: Identified a whole block that was all Black-owned (except for 1 property) in 1777. By 1810 it was owned by 5 African landowners, one of whom was one of the biggest landowners of Free Gut (the Free Black neighborhood). We talk about this history in tourism work

Gerard: Working with Gabrielle Miller of @utulsa excavating there. This is a full-circle anti-gentrification and and community-building and heritage project.

Franklin connects CHANT's work to the indigenous idea of merging the political and spiritual ownership of land.

Franklin invites Octavius Seowtewa to speak next about his work.

Seowtewa is a medicine man for the Zuni tribe and then became part of the Cultural Resources Advisory Team, and is now the leader.

Seowtewa recalls going down the Colorado River to where the Zuni people emerged from the Grand Canyon. Wanted to share that information with Zuni people and the Park Service (who saw the Zuni as too far from the Canyon to have a say)

Seowtewa: 2016 grant to make a documentary "Then, Now, and Forever: Zuni and the Grand Canyon"

Seowtewa: 2018 @PBS series also included him, and some videos with @patagonia, @NatGeo, @nytimes about Bears Ears. These videos show people what ancestors left behind.

Seowtewa: It was important to be the one to share this information, because so much of the information out there is created by white people and doesn't always make sense. Book with Marian Hopkins on "Continuous Trail, Continuous Path" book

Seowtewa: My work is to share the information I have learned as a Zuni person from Zuni elders, with the world.

Franklin turns it over to Judy Dow

Dow is Abenaki, "the people from the white land" - discusses various pronunciation history. ED of Gedakina, which works with women and youth on self-determination and leadership skills, food security, cultural revitalization, early reader literacy

Dow: One Shelf Project gives 50 books to two orgs per year. Books are vetted for historical and cultural accuracy, and sent to libraries and prisons and schools.

Dow: Food security was always a problem, but #covid19 made it even more challenging. For people who live >25 miles from the reservation, they can't get tribal assistance, so Gedakina steps in to help with food, rent, tech for kids for virtual school.

Dow: This work made clear that there was a disconnect between kids and elders - now setting up phone calls to give something to do to kids stuck in house and lonely elders.

Dow: This year, we have 5 acres of gardens, using traditional gardening and pest control practices. We're growing lots of root crops so that we could give people food through the winter.

Dow: We also grew medicinal plants, and taught our children how to garden and harvest. We have a grist mill, and are teaching canning. In September, we made agreements with hunters & fishermen to get fresh game and fish to families along with vegetables.

Dow: Through this work, we have been able to help our people, reclaim traditions. We also have educational programs that help our community learn about leadership skills, identify domestic violence and seek help.

Dow: We also confront the historical trauma of eugenics, institutionalization, sterilization in New England. We support each other in countering violence in communities. We also do a lot of research on this history to understand the historical trauma.

Learn more about Gedakina here: http://gedakina.org/ 

Franklin: COVID has made us lose our elders and native speakers, and hateful people have been coming out from under their rocks empowered by the President. We must do this work to empower our communities and our youth in these times.

Franklin: Q: What was the deciding moment when you knew it was necessary to start/join your org and do the heritage work you're doing?

Denson: The documentary on the Search for the Guerrero was what gave me the opportunity to use my diving to preserve our heritage, which is both a physical and a spiritual matter. We document the shipwrecks and we tell their stories.