Welcome

Anita Harrell

We give thanks to the Creator for this day
We give thanks to the Ancestors, who watch over us
We give thanks to our Mother Earth, who sustains us
We give thanks to our Brothers and Sisters the plants and animals, who give their lives so that ours may continue
We give thanks to the People whose work and care and love nourish us
We give thanks to the Creator for all of these good things
May these gifts be transformed into positive thoughts, careful and kind words, appropriate and effective deeds.
Aho
Ase
Amen

With that "Goshpi Tchala Prayer of Thanks" I greet you, and welcome you to this 4th annual Coming Together. " Goshpi Tchala " is a Euchee phrase meaning "Red-Black People."

My name is Anita Harrell. I am of African and Native American descent on both sides of my family, and I choose to acknowledge, to honor and to learn as much as I can about them both. Unlike the United States Government, I recognize the possibility of more than "either/or," "black" or "white," "native" or "non-native." I embrace the second Kwanzaa principle of "Kujichagulia," and hereby declare that I am who I say I am. And who I am is Goshpi Tchala, a "Red-Black person," a "mixed-blood," a strong descendant of survivors, some of whom were Cherokee and Shoshone.

Today we observe the 383^rd anniversary of the establishment of the African settlement on Weyanoke Indian land. In 1619 the governor of Jamestown hid away about 20 Africans 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 know, 1619 marks the 1^st documented contact between Native & African peoples in a British colony. 

Coming Together is a grass-roots event. We're here to provide an informal opportunity for interested people to talk about the history and culture that have been largely left out of most textbooks & encyclopedias, including the intimate relationship between Native & African Americans.

I don't know about you, but I've never talked to any African American who could say for sure that they did not have Native American ancestry. I've read that perhaps as many as 95% could have Indian ancestry. Until recently, the term "Black Indian" was treated as a joke. No matter what your grandmothers told you, nobody believed you because they didn't want to believe you. Red & white was OK, but red & black wasn't, so it didn't happen. It couldn't happen. According to the history books when I was in school, the only relationship that ever developed was between Natives and Europeans. There were, therefore, in the African American community, no Cherokee grandmothers, no Choctaw grandfathers. My father often used to say, "None are so blind as those who will not see."

Despite what anybody else wants to believe, red & black was a natural combination. There is a long list of similarities in the history and culture. Here are some of the parallels that Deborah Tucker, a librarian and researcher at Wayne State University, found in her research that explain why this was so:

	Both groups experienced forced removal, Africans from their continent and Indians from their territories in the East.
	Both were enslaved by the British settlers.
	Indians experienced colonialism, social disorder and removal for more than five hundred years, and Africans endured the same thing on this continent for over four hundred years.
	Both groups were called savages.
	Both groups were forced into a three-way, culturally degrading situation that forced immense and intense cultural interaction, so that the European could take the Red man's land, and use the Black man's labor to work that land.
	Both groups had strong oral traditions for record keeping purposes, for remembering family ancestry, and for instruction -- storytelling traditions that both entertain and inform, as well as oral traditions for the development of helping and listening skills.
	Both groups had similar powerful cultural traditions, especially concerning birth and death.
	Both groups had strong spiritual traditions, with rituals and ceremonies that were an integral part of daily life. Indians felt the "Great Spirit" as a spiritual theme, while Blacks' survival of slavery was based around the church. The holy men had the positions of highest esteem, and  were a link between the people and the spirits. Most of them, African and Indian, had healing and clairvoyant powers.
	The musical component was strong in both groups' ceremonies. When the drum was taken away from enslaved Africans, they resorted to tapping out their messages, and thereby developed tap dancing.
	Dance was a major part of the ceremonies and cultural expression of both groups.
	Both the Red and the Black cultures included strong traditions of medicine men and the use of natural medicinal herbs. Some of these medical skills have come down to us as home-remedies, based on North-American plants and herbs.
	Both groups insisted on holding on to their culture and customs, resisting acculturation as long as possible.
	Both were forced to collaborate, and practiced "conflict resolution" long before it became a popular term in mainstream American society.

We, as Goshpi Tchala, "Red-Black" people, are living proof of a relationship of long standing. It is up to us to know the truth about our history and culture, and to share it with others. That's why we're here today.

This year's Coming Together would not have been possible without the generous help of many people. We give special thanks to Mr. Albert Spells and the Hatchery staff, Judy Belle, Bruce Harrell, Faith Holt, Louis Johnson, Gene Vango, Bob Johnson, George "Circling Eagle" Tooks,  Stephanie Anderson, my children Aline and Nick, and to all the presenters, who will introduce themselves to you shortly.

As I said earlier, this is a grass-roots effort; we have no sponsors. Any donations will be greatly appreciated, and will be used primarily to defray travel expenses for those presenters who have come from out of town.

Don't forget to allow yourselves time to see what our vendors have to offer. Please patronize them so they'll come back next year!

And finally, next year's Coming Together will be Saturday, August 9th - if that's OK with Mr. Spells!

Thank you.