 |
| Les Williston at Choctaw cultural gathering. Photo courtesy Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. |
Bringing the Ancestors Home
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Sept. 9, 2024
OKEMAH, Oklahoma --Les Williston, Choctaw, spoke on living life with honor, during the Convening of the Four Winds gathering at the Phillip Deere Round House on Sunday, hosted by the Mvskoke family of the international rights leader Phillip Deere.
"Your ancestors are always around," Williston said, speaking of the sacred places along the rivers.
Williston is entrusted with bringing the Chahta ancestors home.
Williston said mounds near a river in Louisiana were bulldozed for a dirt road along the river. They bulldozed the mound and used the burial for fill dirt.
"Bones are sticking up out of the ground," he said, describing how the bones of his people were scattered across the land, and washed into the river. He said there was looting, and it is likely there are skulls of his people taken and now in peoples homes.
"Many are gone now, they have bulldozed them down."
Williston, from the Choctaw Nation in southeastern Oklahoma, said he brings the ancestors home and buries them.
"We dig those holes and bury them with respect."
He said there is no ceremony for this, "They have already had their cry, their ceremony."
"We ask for forgiveness for failing to protect their bones."
When he holds the bones of his ancestors, he thinks of his nieces and nephews, his
family and ancestors, and puts them back into the earth.
When he held the jaw bone of a baby, he said, "I leaned against that grave and I cried out loud." He said he could see this family, as in a photo, a mother and father holding their baby.
"Burying our people we bring a little honor back to our people."
Williston said mounds near a river in Louisiana were bulldozed for a dirt road along the river. They bulldozed the mound and used the burial for fill dirt.
"Bones are sticking up out of the ground," he said, describing how the bones of his people were scattered across the land, and washed into the river. He said there was looting, and it is likely there are skulls of his people taken and now in peoples homes.
"Many are gone now, they have bulldozed them down."
Williston, from the Choctaw Nation in southeastern Oklahoma, said he brings the ancestors home and buries them.
"We dig those holes and bury them with respect."
He said there is no ceremony for this, "They have already had their cry, their ceremony."
"We ask for forgiveness for failing to protect their bones."
When he holds the bones of his ancestors, he thinks of his nieces and nephews, his
family and ancestors, and puts them back into the earth.
When he held the jaw bone of a baby, he said, "I leaned against that grave and I cried out loud." He said he could see this family, as in a photo, a mother and father holding their baby.
"Burying our people we bring a little honor back to our people."
He said the ancestors are buried with this thought, "We will make sure you are never disturbed again."
Their graves are hidden.
Williston said that all along the rivers, like the Kiamachi River in southeastern Oklahoma, there are sacred places, places that are the heart of the people, places where the council was built.
Speaking on bringing the ancestors home at the Phillip Deer Roundhouse on Muscogee Creek land, Williston was joined by Native people from throughout the nation during the two-day weekend gathering. They shared the history of the struggle for Native American rights, the hard-won victories of the 1970s, and the ongoing struggles to protect the water and rivers -- as the racism, threats of eminent domain seizures, the violence of man camps of the oil and gas industry, the desecration of lithium mining in burial places, and the manipulations of the United States government continue.
With gratitude to the Native women gathered here, Williston said he appreciates the strength of the women speaking and their leadership, for it is a matriarchal culture.
"It is important that the women take the lead," he said. "I hear the wisdom come from these ladies."
"We should always listen to the women, our clan mothers and clan sisters."
Their graves are hidden.
Williston said that all along the rivers, like the Kiamachi River in southeastern Oklahoma, there are sacred places, places that are the heart of the people, places where the council was built.
Speaking on bringing the ancestors home at the Phillip Deer Roundhouse on Muscogee Creek land, Williston was joined by Native people from throughout the nation during the two-day weekend gathering. They shared the history of the struggle for Native American rights, the hard-won victories of the 1970s, and the ongoing struggles to protect the water and rivers -- as the racism, threats of eminent domain seizures, the violence of man camps of the oil and gas industry, the desecration of lithium mining in burial places, and the manipulations of the United States government continue.
With gratitude to the Native women gathered here, Williston said he appreciates the strength of the women speaking and their leadership, for it is a matriarchal culture.
"It is important that the women take the lead," he said. "I hear the wisdom come from these ladies."
"We should always listen to the women, our clan mothers and clan sisters."
Read more in the series from the Convening of the Four Winds gathering at the Phillip Deere Round House in Okemah, Oklahoma, September 7 -- 8, 2024, at Censored News.
Seminole Evan Haney: Fighting the Right War, Bringing the Resistance Home
'Bringing the Ancestors Home,' Les Willison, Choctaw
Convening of the Four Winds, Day 2
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/09/listen-live-convening-of-four-winds-at.html
Defending the Ancestors: Voices from the Phillip Deere Round House
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/09/defending-ancestors-voices-from-phillip.html
Live from the Phillip Deere Roundhouse: Day 1: Convening of the Four Winds
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/09/live-now-from-phillip-deere-roundhouse.html
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/09/listen-live-convening-of-four-winds-at.html
Defending the Ancestors: Voices from the Phillip Deere Round House
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/09/defending-ancestors-voices-from-phillip.html
Live from the Phillip Deere Roundhouse: Day 1: Convening of the Four Winds
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/09/live-now-from-phillip-deere-roundhouse.html
No comments:
Post a Comment