Continuance

Continuance Fall / Winter 2003-2004

The Last Word

For Us, This Is Not a Celebration :Viewing Lewis and Clark from a Native American Perspective
Roberta (Bobbie) Conner, Umatilla/Cayuse/Nez Perce 

For us, this is not a celebration. It is an observance or commemoration. We want both sides of the story told--the Army Expedition's and our own--and we want to tell our own story. We want to protect resources on the Lewis and Clark Trail including sacred sites. We want to help create economic opportunities for our people. We want the nation to realize and recognize tribal contributions to this great country including aid given the Corps of Discovery. We want the U.S. Government to do what it has promised and, above all, we want to protect the gifts the Creator gave us.  

The journal entries by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, as well as those by the other writers of the Expedition, tell us what they observed, what they perceived, and what they believed. They cannot reflect the impressions of the other participants in this significant time in history--the indigenous peoples. As visitors, they attempt to put the goings-on in contest but they were clearly at a disadvantage in language and knowledge of the terrain. As deft as Clark was at measuring and as astute as Lewis was in observation and dialects, they were still left to conjecture. 

Against pretty overwhelming odds, many indigenous groups have survived the past 200 hundred years. Many also perished. Languages of our ancestors are not long spoken in many Native communities. Efforts to document and preserve dialects, languages and songs are dangerously close to language loss. 

 In our region, we have been welcoming travelers for a couple of centuries. We are friendly, but please be mindful this is the place the Creator gave us. It is our only home. We may reside elsewhere temporarily but this is the only place we'll ever be from--it is part of us and we part of it.