DRUMS ALONG THE OHIO

MarIon Kelly has danced at powwows “since I could walk,” he said. His current fancy dancer regalia — in bright oranges, blues, reds — was made at home with his
father. He finished it just in time for last year’s annual Oglala Nation Powwow, the biggest on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Powwows involve
more than athleticism for the 18-year-old, who is an award-winning grass and fancy dancer. they involve more than meeting friends and family. Powwows are about
more than the attention in the arena. .ey are about staying involved in his Native American culture in a positive way. “I just dance for the people who can’t dance and
are sick,” he said. “It’s a healing dance.” .That’s why it shouldn’t matter that he is an Oglala Lakota/Navajo who dances in styles not historically from his tribes. Kelly
is one example of many around Indian Country who demonstrate an evolution of cultures that scholars have called pan-Indianism.

Today the biggest display of this intertribal exchange is the powwow. Few powwows came through Cleveland where I grew up. And because my father was an avid
critic of powwows, I skipped many of those that did. Since Dad was my hero, I never asked questions. Yes, my dad, a Native person, is anti-powwow. At the risk of
sounding like a daddy’s girl, I think he is the most compassionate and deep thinking Native man I know. Still, on the value of the powwow in Indian Country we
disagree. Dad says tribal cultures have been decimated by strategic killings, boarding schools and disease as well as more recent factors. He maintains that we, as
Native peoples, have lost so much of our culture that many in our tribe resort to cultural borrowing. .that is what happens at powwows, he says, and that is phony and
wrong. "They’re fun but are they culturally relevant? Not every tribe has the same thing. We’re self-deceiving,” my dad said earlier this month. “The traditions of
another tribe we cannot accept as our own. You may call that pan-Indianism, but it’s still not authentic. We’re supposed to be 500 nations. You can’t just lump us
together and make us run around in circles in the clothes of yesteryears.” Many people developed their traditions from anthropologists who do not know our history,
he said. Socially, powwows are fun. But “it’s not us.” I bought into this argument, defending it in friendly debates for years, until I went off to college.

When I was a student at Creighton University, a Native American Studies professor challenged my long-held view of powwows. Just as any other culture changes, he
said, so does mine. The roots of pan-Indianism go deeper than powwows, though. Tecumseh’s resistance to European settlers hints of early pan-lndianism, said Jerome
Kills Small, a University of South Dakota professor of American Indian studies. Tecumseh, a Shawnee leader, was a master of joining the forces of many tribes, even
enemies, by borrowing from and adapting to each of their cultures to persuade them to fight a larger threat: European invaders. Tecumseh, Kills Small said, adopted
from the Red Stick Confederacy of the South and the Iroquois Confederacy of the North to unify them around the beginning of the 18th century. As a former powwow
arena director, fundraiser, coordinator and dancer, Kills Small knows his stuff. He remembers seeing cowboys take off their hats and take to the arena floor when he
was a boy. He had a cowboy hat, too. At the next powwow, he took it off and carefully made his way out to the floor. With his hat raised, head bobbing and feet
beating the floor to the sound of the drum, Kills Small was—unbeknownst to him at the time—contributing to the evolution of Native culture. “I borrowed from their
style,’ he said of the cowboys. Powwows are all about borrowing. His father, Kills Small said, first introduced speaker systems to powwows inspired by how they were
used at rodeos. Much of the powwow—from the grand entry to the introduction of the royalty—comes from rodeos. The pan-Indian nature of powwows is also important
because it reflects the intermarriage of Native peoples, he said. They reflect how Natives have adapted to change.

Regalia is another aspect of the powwow that mirrors this notion of adaptation, he said. The regalia has gotten brighter and shinier than it was traditionally.
Ultimately, I am a reluctant supporter of pan-Indianism. If there were a way to retain only our tribal identity, without pulling from others, that would be great. Today
that is unrealistic. And I am not willing to sacrifice the remnants of what remains— whether from my tribe or not— for the sake of tribal snobbery. Sorry, Dad. If
panIndianism means that a Seminole is keeping a Native tradition alive by working on grass dancing regalia, or a Cherokee is learning Navajo songs, or an Ojibwe
spectator is spending an afternoon socializing with Choctaws, Shoshones and Mohawks in a positive way, then yes, it is worth it. If supporting powwows means that
there will be more proud Natives like Marion Kelly learning about the great tribes of North America, then I’m all for it despite the criticism—even from my dad.

Nancy Kelsey, Little River Band of Ottawa, is a student at the University of Nebraska.

Reprinted from Summer Issue 2003

Long ago when the rivers were clear from the bloodstains of war and there were tribes of many nations across this land. But now a way
of life is gone. But new heart ships have taken the place of the old. The white man came from across the long waters to this soil. I know
changes must come. Yet I bear the scars from such times. Even so my heart beats in a mixture of what is joyful as well as those events I
think of that which bring sorrow. Where are the bluest waters----a place where the sun that's the brightest: The richest forest----the
greenest fields---the most majestic mountains---the kindest people---the most generous God.
Oh, Great Father I wonder where things would be from where I Stand
Had the invaders never came to take this land.

No More Teepees

For there are no more teepees across this land.
No more teepees from where I stand.

Long ago many teepees dotted the flat lands and hillsides as well
Now there are buildings and roadways as far as I can tell.

For there are no more teepees across this land.
No more teepees from where I stand.

Roaming buffalo and the free herds of horses are now hard to find
Only a few are found throughout the Rockies and the pines.

For there are no more teepees across this land
No more teepees from where I stand.

I still wonder who stood here where I stand this day
Was it here or somewhere near that children came to play

For there are no more teepees across this land
No more teepees from where I stand.

Cleveland State University Celebrates Native American Heritage

By Cheryl D’Mello, DRUMS ALONG THE OHIO correspondent

The pulsating beat of Native American drums reverberated through the Fenn Tower Ballroom of Cleveland State University(CSU) on Thursday,
November 20 at the culmination of the Native American Heritage Celebration which was sponsored by CSU’s Office of Diversity and
Multicultural Affairs (ODAMA).

Celebrating the Native American Heritage at CSU included films, photo exhibits, lectures, dancing, and food. The award winning film “Skins” an
inspirational tale about the relationship between two Sioux Indian brothers living on Pine Ridge Indian reservation was screened on November 6.
James Workman, a community educator curated a photo exhibit and gave a gallery talk “Who You Calling Chief?” on November 16. In
collaboration with the Black Studies Department – Curtis Wilson Colloquium Series, ODAMA hosted the lecture “Lesser Known Personalities
in the Old West” by Cliff Clay who is a historian and nationally recognized visual artist on November 19. He spoke about the intersection of the
Native American experience and the African American experience in the history of the U.S. In addition, Clay showed slides of his paintings that
depicted the African American cowboy along with other authentic historic photos.

Jim Northrup, poet, syndicated newspaper columnist, performer, and political commentator from the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation in
Minnesota, addressed a large audience of students, faculty and community members for the final event of the Native American Heritage
Celebration on November 20. He spoke of his experience and life in his lecture entitled: “I’m Anishinaabe and You Ain’t”.

Northrup shared humorous anecdotes about his encounters with people who are curious about his heritage. “I feel that humor goes a long way in
easing the aches and the wounds,” said Northrup. Here are some examples:
Question: “Do you speak your language?” Northrup: “I speak yours too.”
Question: “Do Indians have psychic powers?” Northrup: “I knew you would ask me that”.
Question: “Why do you call the reservation a rez?” Northrup: “Because the white man owns most of it.”