I once had a good conversation with a American Anthropologist from Akwesasne.
He was a very intelligent gentleman, but he couldn’t get over the fact that us Mohawks are still fighting on after all we’ve been through. He said that based on his studies of our living culture that we are definitely still the warrior people portrayed in the history books of old.
As we were talking, there was a heated meeting happening in Akwesasne about letting the Canadian Border guards carry government issued side arms at their border post on Cornwall Island. The meeting was at 11pm on Sunday night, and the deadline for arming the guards was at midnight.
The general consensus from the people was no damn way! The border guards harass the Mohawk people of Akwesasne enough already without guns, what they going to be like if they’re armed?
We remember our agreements, but our once ally Canada suffers from short term memory loss and down right amnesia. They wanted to use us Mohawks and dispose of us when they were done.
They were going to get squished between the French in the North and the Americans in the South so we saved the crown again.
Then we came to rest in the Mohawk Village in Brantford along the Grand River to act as a buffer to protect them from the Americans in Upper Canada.
The thing that they can’t seem to get is that we’re nobody’s disposable pawns of warfare. We’re the living breathing voice of our earth mother and we’re saying anyone that thinks they run nature or can tell the four winds what to do are arrogant fools. The earth owns us. And we clarified our position again and again.
This time on Cornwall Island at 11:55pm the CBSA Border Services evacuated their post and walked off the job. There were five hundred angry Mohawks outside hollering. We were going to roast some marshmallows as we had done in the past. History shows that a Six Nations Haudenosuannee Grand River warrior kindled the fire that burnt the White House to the ground in the war of 1812. He was awarded a pension for it.
That’s how we roll. This particular night was no different and the powers that be knew it. I told the guys out there that I’m down for whatever, but it’s your show since I’m visiting. I was always told you must let the community members lead in any kind of direct action out of respect because they have to live there after you’ve gone home, so you must tread lightly.
We did get the backhoe out and a big excavator was on site ready to go if we chose to dig in. The situation was getting tense. I noticed a Akwesasne plain clothes police officer I had seen around taking mental notes of the crowd.
When everyone was listening to the Great Mohawk Orator Jake Swamp and looking forward, the spy was looking backward at the faces of the people. I notice these things. It’s my job as a Mohawk Wolf. It’s also not my first time around the dance floor.
So at the end of the day our so called allies relented and agreed not to arm their border guards on our territory. They will keep pushing for sure. It’s against our great peacefullness to bring weapons on to our territory that could harm life. Friends don’t do that to each other.
If it is our job as men to carry the burden of peace then so be it. If we have to fight, it is our job to protect our future children’s inheritance. We have made it this far, and if we were going to go anywhere we would have been gone a long time ago.
I told my anthropologist friend and he whole heartedly agreed that the great creator wouldn’t have went through all that trouble of sending Tekanawita to the Mohawks if we were going to just get swept away with the influx of foreign blood.
The weak will get absorbed, but the true warrior families will live on. There is no mercy in natural law. When winter comes we better be ready, and when the maple sap starts flowing, you better have your rubber boots n bucket ready. Wakiro!
If you wish to correspond with him, Cameron “Bubsy” Martin can be reached c/o the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, 711 Exeter Rd., London, ON, N6E 1L3.
