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Native American Heritage Month is “A Thousand-Year-Old Story” Native American Heritage Month is "A Thousand-Year-Old Story"

By Cooper Boardman

BOARDMAN: A WALK IN TO THE SKA-NO CENTER IS AN INTRODUCTION TO NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE. SKANO IS AN ONONDAGA GREETING THAT MEANS “PEACE AND WELLNESS.” THIS PLACE IS HELLO TO LONGHOUSES, IROQUOIS ART, AND EVEN ONE OF CENTRAL NEW YORK’S MOST POPULAR SPORTS. IT’S AN IMPORTANT GREETING, CONSIDERING NOVEMBER IS NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH, A CHANCE TO TELL A NATIVE STORY.

ARNOLD: “WHICH IS A THOUSAND-YEAR-OLD STORY.”

AND IT’S AN ONONDAGA STORY. PHILIP ARNOLD IS ONE OF THE FOUNDING DIRECTORS OF SKANO—HIS FAMILY IS HOUDANASHENEE. ARNOLD SAYS YES, PEOPLE SHOULD UNDERSTAND THE MISTAKES THAT WERE MADE, BUT WE SHOULD.

ARNOLD: “ACKNOWLEDGE MUCH OF WHAT WE ADMIRE ABOUT BEING AMERICAN HAS COME FROM THE HOUDANOSHAUNEE FOR EXAMPLE.”

EXAMPLES INCLUDE THE USE OF CORN, THE GAME OF LACROSSE, AND SO MUCH MORE. WHEN PEOPLE WALK INTO A PLACE LIKE THE SKANO CENTER, ARNOLD WANTS THEM TO SAY

HOPKINS: “IT BLOWS MY MIND”

BOARDMAN: THE REALITY IS, NATIVE CULTURE IS ALWAYS AROUND US IN CENTRAL NEW YORK. THAT’S TRUE HERE AT THE SKANO CENTER. IT’S TRUE OF THE SNOW FALLING FROM THE SKY, AND EVEN HERE AT ONONDAGA LAKE, WHICH STILL HOLDS RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE TO THE HOUDANOSHAUNEE. AND, EVEN HERE AT ONONDAGA LAKE, WHICH STILL HOLDS RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE TO THE HOUDANOSHAUNEE. REALLY, THIS PLACE, AND THIS MONTH ARE ALL ABOUT REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE BUILT CENTRAL NEW YORK. AND THE FACT THAT THEIR CULTURE STILL PERSISTS TODAY.

HOPKINS: “I’VE ALWAYS BEEN ATTRACTED TO THE IDEAS THAT THEY HAVE FOR MAINTAINING PEACE AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO MOTHER EARTH. THAT WE DON’T OWN THE EARTH. THEY ARE PART OF THE LAND.”

BOARDMAN: AND NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH IS A CHANCE TO CELEBRATE THAT. REPORTING FROM LIVERPOOL, I’M COOPER BOARDMAN, NCC NEWS.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — November is Native American Heritage month in the United States, and in Central New York, indigenous connections are everywhere.

Philip Arnold is the founding director at The Skä•noñh -Great Law of Peace Center in Liverpool. The center is  a place to celebrate native culture, which is especially important this month.

“Native American history is American history. We have to ackowledge past mistakes, misdeeds,” Arnold said. “…But also their contributions. The fact that they still are among is a remarkable story.”

Arnold says heritage month is in part understanding that Haudenosaunee culture is still prevalent in our society today. Rooms at The Skä•noñh highlight the indigenous people’s use of corn, the inception of the game of lacrosse and more.

“It blows my mind,” said Linda Hopkins, one of the center’s Thursday visitors. “It’s mind-boggling how much the Native Americans contributed to this country. And it’s unknown.”

Native American heritage month does its part to change that. The Skä•noñh is an Onondaga greeting meaning “peace and wellness.” The building was originally a county facility named “The French Fort.”Arnold helped lead the change to focusing “on telling the story of the native peoples of Central New York.”

“Native American history is American history.”

—Philip Arnold

“We have public school kids going through The Skä•noñh Center, rather than going through the French Fort. So that’s kind of a seed change in terms of getting to the youth,” Arnold said. “Having them grow in appreciation of the region as well as the Haudenosaunee. We’re sort of moving in the right direction.”

The Haudenosaunee story is more than 300 years old and is ingrained in the United States women’s movement, the beginnings of Central New York and much, much more. Native American Heritage month was established in 1990 by the federal government, and Arnold says coming to places like The Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center is a way of honoring native culture.

“I’ve always been attracted to the ideas that they have for maintaing peace and their relationship to mother Earth. We don’t own the Earth. They are part of the land,” Hopkins said.

 

Reported by

Cooper Boardman

Boardman, a Westport, Connecticut native, is a broadcast journalism student at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He serves on the sports staff for WJPZ-FM student radio, WAER FM radio and as a host for CitrusTV, the university’s student television station. Last summer, he was the play-by-play voice of the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Boardman views

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