PUBLICATIONS

• Originally published in Counterpunch NOVEMBER 18, 2016
  
  
  Seven Generations for Standing Rock
  by JONI SARAH WHITE
  
  
  To some who watch the struggle at Standing Rock led by its Native guardians there is a fundamental disconnect . . . indeed misunderstanding . . .  about what they are doing and why. To sisters and brothers in harm’s way in North Dakota it’s more than the defense of land that is sacred today . . . or was yesterday . . . but ensuring it remains no less so for each generation to come. Like endless time before, tomorrow knows no bounds. Like resistance today, their children and children’s children, carry that duty tomorrow.
  
  
  
  Each Indian Nation has its own sacred covenant with their maker . . . a sacred trust that binds their existence and spirit with those that have come before and those yet to travel . . .  a journey sculpted by that trust. It is a bridge for today that connects all that has been with all that is yet to be; a duty to act here and now to preserve and protect what was and what will be. Without it, for Native people there can be no tomorrow.
  
  
  Among my People it is called Seven Generations.
  
  
  To the Kanien’kehá:ka of the Haudenosaunee, Seven Generations is not simply an abstract legend that shades the contours of our lives, but for us an obligation as a People that transcends the narrow confines of here and now. For all our family at Standing Rock, it is a living sacred trust, a marriage to the land that has been our strength for time immemorial and will remain so for generations to come.
  
  
  Our elders have long understood and passed to us the connection between those that have come and those to travel in their wake.
  
  
  “In all of your deliberations in the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self-interest shall be cast into oblivion. Cast not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of the nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is just and right. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the past and present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground – the unborn of the future Nation.”
  
  
  The struggle at Standing Rock finds its power in tradition, but its strength and purpose in the here and now. Native people are much more than mere talisman created to give symbol and comfort to others. We have unique traditions and beliefs, ways that chart our course. Though at times we invite others to walk with us, it is not to lead the way.
  
  
  Our communities are much more than mere building blocks and store-fronts; they are tribal and national territories where we battle daily to endure . . . to maintain our culture, dignity and universal right to self-determination.
  
  
  Ours is a struggle that has not been easy . . . often it’s been one wrought with pain and peril. Though, at times, we’ve lost much . . . it has never been our vision or our way. We know who we are. We have not and will not surrender our self-respect and future to those who seek to seal or purchase it.
  
  
  From coast to coast in ways little every day we struggle to ford the river of time. Survival is much more than convenience . . . it is the knowledge that when the winds of change seek to dampen our spirit and silence our voice, we must refuse and we do.
  
  
  In dedication to my family at Standing Rock, I lend this voice.
  
  

  On this day:

  The poverty of our minds

  bailed to surface by the

  brilliance of survivals shine

  
  

  Our nations

  rhythm washed bones

  mark tempo with the cross stitch of stars

  And fools chant chorus of no holds to bar

  This is our homeless and sovereign time

  Brothers in arms

  no more a crime

  Each held to the clones and the drones

  that now code our spine

  
  

  Behold the Spirit of

  King and Queen

  This new democratic monarchy

  Feast upon the beauty

  in between

  Set eyes ahead for remedy

  forget not family,

  we are free

  to be and see

  One human destiny

  
  

  Where titans doze towards legacy

  in victory we will be found

  As misplaced sage rings for embrace

  A healing song woven round

  for the earth they break

  in the hunger to take and take

  Cry Her shadow, a whisper, a trace

  Each moment etched upon her face

  
  

  This is the magic that writes us down

  To gently right our crooked crown

  Worldly hustle and ebb

  to flow
  Torn and tarred

  For all to know

  Old glory and grace

  To give and grow

  
  
  Seven Generations is a river and we, my friends and family, are in the midst of its current. We the People will continue to insure its waters are defended, clean and pure.
• Water is Life: With Solidarity for Standing Rock
  
  by JONI SARAH WHITE
  
  (Originally published in Counterpunch Nov.4, 2016)
  
  
  
  I am Kanien’kehá:ka . . . born of the Haudenosaunee, “People of the Flint” . . . of the Iroquois Confederacy.
  
  
  
  I am a Mohawk, born in Akwesasne upon the land and the water where the “Partridge Drums” . . . . where the St. Lawrence River rubs-up against two foreign States. We are the protectors of the “Eastern Door” . . . a nation that has refused defeat or surrender to those who challenge our duty to safeguard sacred land and the water which defines it.
  
  
  Though many aim to weaken our resolve . . . some to silence our voice . . . we endure as guardians, Warriors of Land & Water. An existential understanding, ours is an obligation born of pre-colonial tradition that flourished well before the arrival of those who snatched the United States and Canada from our land. We exist as the Original People of this continent in full harmony with the other Nations of this Our Mother Earth. Historically and contemporary. . . most recent at Oka . . . the Mohawk Nation stood firm and declared to the world that not one inch more would be lost to the pursuit of those who see life as but a test of how much can be taken in the empty chase of greed masquerading in the name of well being and need.
  
  
  At Standing Rock, my sisters and brothers today make the same stand. Gathering in one mind, together with the knowledge that “Water is Life” and in this truth we are one human nation. In their name, in their honor, in their strength in all kind, I dedicate this work. It comes from mother earth. We all do.
  
  
  Our Water in each form is sacred . . . without it we cannot exist.
  
  

  Water,

  She possess

  the specific rhythm

  of a poet

  Close to grace

  given to cumulus clouding of frenzy

  Perhaps she is as subtle as a late night bloomer

  A desert cacti

  A winged bird of prey

  Feeding on the smallest of creatures

  Nesting in the hearts of men

  of boys

  of beginnings

  Our Water,

  She is of the earth

  It can be said

  But,

  It is the silk of sky she wears best

  Riding the rainbows of the moon

  The most delicate of hues washing her shadows

  All the shades of white to marble her weightless flight

  The whirlpool of her

  digressions

  mapping veins

  blue as,

  High noon July Sky

  against

  A northern river

  Wide and deep as frozen yesterday

  Our Water is Life,

  She paints the horizon

  We set sail

  against

  The four winds gathering nations

  To carve

  backward the motion of time

  a feast of all memory

  Her power

  essential and sublime

  
  

  
  
  Joni Sarah White is a Mohawk from Akwesasne who’s paintings and sculptures have appeared throughout the world. A graduate of Dartmouth College and recipient of fellowships from both Hedgebrook and Chautauqua Institution. Additional work of hers can be seen at www.wethepeople.gallery