Pow Wow reunites Native American community




Updated 1:00 PM April 14, 2003
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Pow Wow reunites Native American community

By Todd McKinney

Native American dancers, drummers, artists, musicians and their families converged upon Crisler Arena April 4-6 for what has become a highly regarded national gathering of tribes from across the United States.

Following her remarks, President Mary Sue Coleman speaks with a dancer Saturday afternoon. Regent Katherine White stands behind them. (All photos by Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services, unless otherwise noted)

The annual Dance for Mother Earth, sponsored principally by the U-M Native American Student Association and the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs (MESA), presents a yearly opportunity for friends and extended families to participate in traditional Native American dance and drumming competitions to honor significant events, to offer authentic crafts and art to the public, and to reconnect with family.

In her welcoming remarks, President Mary Sue Coleman cited the University's promise to educate future generations of Native Americans, including the Ojibwa, Odawa and Bodewadimi tribes, whose gift of lands provided the initial resources for the foundation of the U-M. "Consistent with our promise, the University provides—to some of today's finest Indian scholars—the education their ancestors sought," she said. "We do this to maintain our trust with the generations."

Regent Katherine White spoke of the recent affirmative action argument before the U.S. Supreme Court and thanked the Michigan and Wisconsin Native American community for preparing a powerful amicus brief in support of the University's position. "Their brief, unique among all the others, conferred an endorsement that both advanced our legal arguments and buoyed our spirits," she said.

Because Native American people enter the military at the highest per capita rate of any racial or ethnic group in the United States, there was a special focus this year on soldiers and veterans. "The dancers are out there dancing hard and praying for those in harm's way—praying for people from Native and non-Native communities alike," said Steven Abbott, Native American coordinator of MESA. Abbott noted that the first American woman killed in the current conflict was Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, a Hopi from Nevada.

Another loss stunned the gathering with the announcement that the infant grandson of one of the head staff had died in his sleep earlier that morning. Within minutes, a quilt on the center of the floor of Crisler Arena was overflowing with more than $5,000 in donations to the family.

Mike Willis (right), a member of the Bear Creek drum group, sings a traditional intertribal song. Bear Creek, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, was the "host drum" for the three-day event.

Because the Pow Wow operates as a large family reunion, complete with sadness and joy, the mood soon brightened. Vendors from locations as distant as British Columbia and Oklahoma offered a variety of goods. People feasted on traditional foods, children tugged their parents toward treasures, and the air was dense with the slamming of the giant drums, pounding time for the singers, whose songs have been sung for generations.

Henry Red Cloud, fifth-generation descendant of chief Red Cloud of the Oglala Lakota nation, traveled from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to create awareness and support for the On the Wings of Eagles Project—his effort to create environmentally sound and appropriate housing on the reservation. "I came to tell the people about how we're using recycled and reclaimed materials—tires, natural insulation, lumber and aluminum cans—to create a new kind of healthy housing for my people," he said. "That's one way we can respect the Earth, and improve the lives of my generation, and the next, and the next—the seventh generation." Red Cloud's group was one of several nonprofit groups that came to the Dance for Mother Earth. (Photo by Todd McKinney)

Pow Wow reunites Native American community

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