Volume 4, No. 3 (Fall 2001) -- Native American Issue

Click an image to read its caption.

In writing this column, I am compelled to write of our Native American spirituality and faith, which I hold strong to as I reflect on recent events involving our country. I awoke this morning to pray and burn cedar in our home. I was comforted by this tradition, but my heart is heavy as I, like millions of Americans, contemplate how anyone could willingly and intentionally kill what our Creator has so beautifully constructed — human life. I am grieving for people I do not even know.

My Grandmother used to say that white men did not teach the Indian about God; we knew of our creator thousands of years before. The Kiowa call him Dah-kee. As I grew up in my Grandparent's household, I would often hear my Grandfather, a Cherokee Methodist minister, and my Grandmother, a Kiowa woman leader among her own people, as they would pray. I would often awaken in the stillness of the morning hearing them singing hymns and praying for their family, and the families of others, including our government and tribal leaders.

I was always told these prayers were powerful, and that we will be prayed for hundreds of years after. It is our responsibility, our legacy, to continue these prayers.

I pray for the Mohawk Indian Ironworkers, who were working 50 floors up in Lower Manhattan. They were less than 10 blocks away from the World Trade Center when one of the deadly airplanes came within 50 feet of their construction crane. I believe they were surrounded by the prayers and tribal songs prayed for them by their ancestors years before.

I pray for the Prairie Band Potawatomi in Kansas and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians in California, and other tribal leaders who took the lead in offering financial assistance and support to the many families and their needs in another part of the country from their own. Their generosity will be returned in blessings back to their people.

I pray for more than 300 tribal leaders who were in our nation's capital at the time. I am thankful they are safe, and I am thankful they were there, because I am confident that not one of them left the city without praying in their tribal tongue or holding a prayer ceremony for those affected by this tragedy.

I pray for the Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents who are missing and their families. We, as Native people from many tribes, have a common belief that our extended families are our immediate families. This kinship belief is evident in our nation, as we meet in our work places, meeting halls and places of worship to join each other in prayer. Native American tribes across the country are reacting with powerful prayers and ceremonies in honor of all victims of this tragedy. Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, a university for Native American students, lit a fire circle on campus for prayer and reflection.

I pray for our tribal elders who teach us forgiveness and true altruism even in the light of darkness and despair.

Image 1: Dorothy D. Stites.