Welcome

Great Spirit,
Whose voice I hear in the trees,
And whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me!
I am small and weak.
I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty, and let my eyes behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
Let me find the strength to have positive thoughts, to speak careful and kind words, and to do appropriate and effective deeds.
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes
So when life fades, as the sunset fades, my spirit may come to you without shame.
Great Spirit, I salute you.

Aho and Ashé.

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"Oh See Yoh!" I greet you as an unacknowledged daughter of the Cherokee Nation, and give thanks to Creator that I can welcome you to the 3^rd annual Coming Together. My name is Anita Harrell, and I welcome you. I am a member of the Wolf Band Métis. The Métis have Indian ancestors and are, like those of us called African Americans, a nation of mixed-bloods, welcome nowhere but among themselves, and historically subject to discrimination from a hostile US government. I am Black and I am Métis; I choose to honor both my African and my Native ancestry.

Today we observe the 382^nd anniversary of the establishment of the African settlement at Weyanoke. In 1619 the governor of Jamestown hid away about 20 Africans on Weyanoke Indian land here on this side of the Chickahominy River, to keep the Virginia Company from finding out that he had been trading with pirates. So, as far as we can tell from British or early American records, 1619 marks the 1^st documented contact between Native & African peoples in a British colony. Coming Together is a grass-roots effort. Our aim is to provide an informal opportunity for interested people to talk about the history and culture that have been largely left out of mainstream textbooks & encyclopedias, including the intimate relationship between Native & African Americans.

Many people don't know that up to 95% of those called Black or African American have Indian ancestry. Until recently, the term "Black Indian" was treated as a joke. No matter what your grandmothers told you, nobody believed you. The Métis recognize that Black Americans are as likely to have Indian ancestors as anybody else, and that nobody needs tribal cards or the permission of the US government to be who they are. We are happy to have representatives of the Wolf Band here today; they will tell you more about the Métis later.

I hope that all of you will feel free to join any group that interests you, to ask questions freely and to volunteer any relevant information YOU bring to the discussion. This is a day for sharing.

Thank you.