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This comment is from Rich Holschuh. He lives in Wantastegok/Brattleboro and serves as chairman of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs. He is a citizen and cultural relations officer of the Elnu Abenaki band and co-director of the Atowi Project.
Professor David Massell’s op-ed, “The Strange Truth About Abenaki Vermont,” published on VTDigger on May 29, is itself a disheartening example of polemics disguised as facts.
As a history professor at the University of Vermont who repeatedly assumes the role of cultural interpolator and apologist for someone else’s politically motivated disparagement campaign directed toward the university’s eponymous status, the opinion-bumbling characterization seems reflectively appropriate.
Presenting a set of statements about deeply subjective lived experiences as troubling objective truth, without the necessary contextualization and humanization, and projecting them into a near vacuum of public understanding, is a graphic example of the strategic use of selected statements to support a predetermined conclusion. .
Massell’s arguments are similar to the oft-repeated claim of “sole authority” made by certain office holders within the Grand Counseil of the Waban-Aki Nation Inc., whose agenda is being supported and platformed through the use of the facilities of their employer at UVM. . His connivance goes far beyond being a messenger, but an agent.
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by Opinion May 29, 2024, 6:01 amMay 29, 2024, 8:40 am
Not only is this narrative being twisted through proscriptive definitions, but the underlying reality is that the message is also being controlled by a few people in the Abenaki First Nations governments of Canada. There are many native citizens (Abenaki and others) who do not agree with this agenda of aggression or its motivations.
To be clear, this impulse to marginalize others for the sake of exclusive self-benefit runs directly counter to the wisdom of “making kin” and seeking balance through reconnection and reestablishing relationships.
The possibilities of an affirming future for all of us, including our Mother Earth, regardless of our respective intertwined experiences and heritages, will not be achieved through separation and competition. We do not choose to behave this way.
Abenaki descendant communities within what is now called the state of Vermont and elsewhere (borders are a recent construction on the essential understanding of the land as self) are neither “less than” nor “other,” and much less non-existent. This is not how we are called to be in the world.
Simply put, people have had a different experience here in the Green Mountains and river valleys, an experience that does not easily fit into a limited qualification or set of assumptions imposed by others through restrictive legal mechanisms. Vermont’s state of understanding has continually evolved toward a more complete acceptance of experience. This is not the time to retreat into deliberate exclusion and diminution. Together we have come a long way and we still have a long way to go.
State-recognized Abenaki bands choose to work to improve relationships with all of our kin, no matter how distant or complex, and with our neighbors. We look forward to having healing conversations with the Abenaki communities in our north and with all of you, including the people of UVM. Our hands are extended in friendship and not raised into fists in opposition.
K’namiolbnaji nabiwi: see you soon!
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