from WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made late one night in May of 1974, when a convoy of families packed up their vehicles and left their homes forever.

This group of Native Americans had been living in reservations in Mohawk territory in Quebec, but had grown frustrated with overcrowding and with drugs and alcoholism.

They wanted to return to their traditional ways of life, to be self-sufficient and live off the land.

They followed the tributaries of the Saint Lawrence River to find a new home in New York.

The group drove to Moss Lake in Eagle Bay in the heart of the Adirondacks, moving into an abandoned girls camp.

They established a new settlement that they called Guardian K, meaning land of the Flint.

The Mohawks called it a repossession of their own land.

At first they said their new home was idyllic, but that didn't last long.

Tensions developed between members of Gagnon in this community and the state government, and people who lived in the nearby town who said that the Mohawks were illegally seizing land.

The state was hesitant to act, wanting to avoid violence that had plagued the state in recent years.

Notably, the second wounded Knee massacre and the Attica protests.

No one wanted to fight.

And what happened next is one for the history books.

Although if you're like me, they weren't in your history book.

This is a new story for me.

Our guest this hour will tell us that story, and many of us will not be familiar with it, even if it was covered by major media outlets at the time.

Walter Cronkite.

Many others really didn't get in the history books.

This hour, we hear the story of the good Yank community and where it was.

What it has come to be, how things are going now, and some of the lessons there.

We also discussed what our guests want others to know about reclaiming their land and their culture.

Treaty rights and these kind of relationships.

In 2025.

And I'd like to welcome our guests now.

There's a film that we're going to be talking about.

It's called This Land.

And documentary filmmaker and director, producer and editor of This Land is Mike Bradley, who is with us.

Mike, thank you for making time for us.

Very glad to be here.

Tyler Hemlock is a Ghanaian gay community member.

Tyler, welcome.

Thanks for being here.

Many thanks.

And Robert is with us as well.

And I would tell you, as a Ghanaian community member, thank you for being here as well.

Thank you for having us.

And Darryl Martin, also a member of the community, is on the line with us.

Hello, Darryl.

Thanks for making time for us.

I am so pleased to be here.

I have.

Okay, so let's start with this.

Let's start the fact that there is the Rochester International Film Festival coming up.

Thursday, 730 Friday 730, Saturday at 3:00 and 730.

You've got a chance to see some of these films at the Dryden.

And for Mike Bradley.

you know, I said this was a story that was new for me.

Why is this a story that you as a filmmaker wanted to tell now?

Yeah, it was new to me as well.

I think that's a pretty common story.

a lot of people that I've shown the film to so far.

Even people who grew up, as close as people, you know, very close to Eagle Bay, even in Eagle Bay.

Didn't know anything about this.

and I think it's an important chapter in our history around here that we should know about.

it's a film that runs about 19 minutes, and this is a festival where the max length is 30 minutes.

You're cramming a lot of history in this, but why do you think you know so many people who are not native are growing up without these stories in their history books?

Yeah.

That's a that's a a good question, I think.

there are a lot of reasons, with this particular story, I think both sides, for lack of a better term, sort of benefited from it not being prominent in the history books.

I think both sides sort of didn't get everything that they wanted in the negotiation.

I think the state of New York probably is not thrilled to have had this negotiation, negotiation go the way it did.

They, they did end up giving land to the people.

And, I don't know that they want that to be a precedent that everyone knows about.

Okay.

And what do you hope people learn when they see your film?

For me, I think one of the biggest things about this story is that the way that, frankly, just that which is that it was resolved mostly peacefully, and the community was established and, it still exists today.

And that this should be, to me an example of, the way that we can negotiate, our differences in a way that ultimately ends pretty much amicably for everybody.

Rochester Film Fest org has all the information.

If, if you want to get the full schedule, you want to learn a little bit more and make plans to do that here and in the credits of this film.

Mikey, thank you again and again.

Historic site.

How did you work with Keenan again?

Yeah, one of the interviews that's included in the film was shot at Gannon.

Again, they graciously, allowed us to use a space there to film an interview.

Okay.

so this land will screen Thursday, 7:30 p.m..

They would love to see you there at the Dryden.

And, I want to take the time to kind of let our guests tell their own story of not only the land, but what happened 50 years ago.

What has happened since?

and I'm going to start with Tyler.

do you think, you know, most non-Native people in this state know this story at all?

I certainly didn't know it.

no.

No.

I remember, my my uncle and, and others who go on speaking engagements.

This is while we were in Moss Lake.

They'd go on speaking engagements to schools, universities, and, and I remember questions that were asked that when they would get back and say, oh, you know what they asked me?

My uncle, you know what they asked me?

They asked me of Indians grew feathers out of their head.

And this is these are the kind of questions.

You know what I mean?

So, yeah, I'm pretty sure that, people didn't realize that.

How does that hit you when you hear that kind of question?

I don't know, it just like, I, I kind of feel bad, you know, like that.

And, People just don't know who who we are, you know, that we're part of this land and, that we actually exist as human beings, you know, and we're totally different from, from other societies.

We have our own culture, in our own language and in.

And nobody even knows about it, you know?

And it's like, so it's, you know, you got to live with that, you know, like, try the best you can to, to try to bring it back, you know, like, but, yeah, it's, it's, it's more or less like, I just kind of feel bad.

that it's at that point, you know.

Yeah.

And, you know, in the 1970s, as the film reminds us, you know, Attica had happened, New York State, there was a there's a lot of tension, certainly state leaders did not want the kinds of horrible stories that came out of Attica to be repeated.

And yet everything I'm trying to read and follow up after watching the film, it's like they're still calling in state police.

I mean, it was not, it didn't look like the most peaceful scene.

I mean, how would you describe the story for what happened?

I you know what?

There was a man that, came through that was there for lived there for a little while.

That was in Attica.

He survived.

he covered himself.

He was an inmate.

He covered himself for, one of the bodies.

That's how he survived.

And, he came through.

He told us what happened.

You know, he told us some of the things were what he, he got, what he seen, you know, and what happened.

And it was like, yeah.

It was all scared, you know, because there were, there were I remember hearing, they were going to come in and take us out, you know, there were asking us to take the women and children and could you send them out?

and, you know, they were going to come in and, like, wipe us out.

That's the understanding that we had, you know, and it's like, that was the same troop that was in, Attica and, you know, so it was a little scary.

It only in so in your mind it was a possibility that that could be.

Yeah.

I was 13 at the time.

Yeah.

So I was just a kid, you know, and I had to carry a gun bigger than, bigger than me.

And only just, And I remember them saying, okay, use, there was a group of us, teenagers at the same age level, you know, and this is you guys are in charge of, protecting the women and children.

Well, and we we were children ourselves.

You know, I remember digging bunkers and, Wow.

Like, weeks on end in a bunker, you know, like, shifting, taking shifts, like sleeping a few hours, then shifting off with, setting up our own, routine and, you know, just like there was a bulb, maybe a bulb or 6 or 8 of us, like, at that age level that, we were doing that, taking care of women and children, you know?

Well, Tyler, explain a little bit about why, why you left the reservation in the first place.

We in the film, we hear about things like overcrowding of, you know, of non-Native people, drugs and alcohol.

How would you describe the reason for why Canyon Gate was formed?

it.

Yeah, basically all that.

It's like, You couldn't go anywhere.

There was nothing for us to do.

Our whole our whole lifestyle, our whole way of life was actually taken away from you, you know?

And you put on this little piece of land, were, were, you're used to going and, providing for your families, like, hunting and for what we knew how to do, you know, and all that was like, you can't do that on a small, plot of land that was given, you know, and it's like, how are you supposed to survive?

So we have to change our whole lifestyle, our whole culture, our whole everything has.

It's even our language.

All these things had to we had to adjust just to living on this little and then this little plot of land.

We're, that people aren't able to do what they're used to doing their whole lifestyle.

So, like you, you start getting, like, a lot of a lot a lot of alcoholism and, drug addiction and stuff like that.

It's like, what do you do?

You know, like, everywhere you turn, that's that's what they're, you know, like, and that's what it's what it becomes, you know?

So did you find that you were able to get that kind of a fresh start at a young age?

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Definitely.

Definitely.

I grew up there.

I grew up at that age that I was, that was the age that they start training the young men.

That's part of our traditions, you know, our our culture where they start training the young men to.

You're changing your voice.

You're becoming a man, you know, like, so they start raising you and putting you, up the and and we were able to do that.

I was able to be free going into the bush and staying there for days on end, you know, and, by yourself, you know, like, just being part of who we are, being part of your, the natural world, the natural world around you know, being part of being one or being becoming one and feeling that that that sense of freedom and and it was just really a good feeling to be able to do that.

You know, I never experienced that before, before that, you know, like, and so after that it was like a lot of these younger guys started doing that, but started being able to do that.

And and it really it's uplifting, you know, for to to know that there's, actually it's it's actually there, you know, to feel part of that.

Well, next to Tyler is, and I would say, who, your grandparents helped plan the move, I think, to Moss Lake in 1974.

And then, your mother and grandmother are featured in the film that we're talking about here.

You lived, you've lived at Union gave most of your life, is that right?

Yes.

my time in youngest started 1983 when I was born, so.

And I've been there ever since.

What was childhood like for you there?

Childhood.

Like, for the longest time.

I was practically the only child, there.

And Gonzaga.

so I grew up mostly around my elders.

I hung out with them.

So most of my life was spent around older adults.

And or if I wasn't hanging out with them, I was playing in the woods, playing in the water.

And that's pretty much my childhood.

So when Tyler talks about getting connected to the earth and getting a chance to really feel that connection differently than many people who are listening to this today would experience, what was that like for you when you were when you talk about being outside, getting connected, what does that mean?

well, speaking from that time, I wouldn't really be able to tell you what that was like because that was just normal for me.

It was every day.

It was just a normal, everyday thing, you know, hang out in the woods, hang out with the, the elders.

And I didn't think anything of it.

It was just who I was, how I, how I lived my life.

And I knew nothing else.

And so as you moved into adulthood, what happens when you're thinking about where you want to be in your future, what you want to be doing?

Take tell me a little bit about that.

well, in my adult life, now that I'm, I'm looking to kind of pass on what what was instilled in us within, Gunny.

Okay, now, you mentioned that my my grandparents, my mother, they were some of the primary individuals that helped establish Kenya in 1973. and then so what they established laid the groundwork for, for people like myself and, and, other children as well as their grandchildren, my own children, and then the ones that are coming into the future.

So my primary goal is to keep that going.

I mean, you know, what they started, you know, the bravery that they had to, have in order to do that, to leave everything behind, to start going younger and they just knew it was going to work, laid the groundwork for us.

And that's kind of what I want to do as well.

How many people live there now?

well, that's something we always said as a military secret.

So you can't answer that in my job to ask.

but, how would you describe for people who have not lived in a setting like that, what it is like being in a place where everyone's needs are looked out for by the community?

food, shelter, that kind of thing.

The where the idea is no one is going to be going without.

Right?

Is that part of the idea in a community like this?

yes.

that's how we work.

we work together to support each other.

we provide things that we need.

And if somebody is in need, we we provide it to them to the best of our ability.

Okay.

so, yeah, it's it's more of a. Yeah, it's it's a it's a real community.

Tyler.

You want to add to that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No I forgot to call it.

It's, it's a big it's a big it's a big adjustment.

It's a big adjustment like coming from the Reds, the reserve, the reservation and moving back because it's, it's we have our own, government and our own, counseling and all, you know, all that goes along with it.

I and, it's not the same under, on the reservation.

It's like you have, set.

It's like.

It's like you're, money's pouring in and it's coming from, from a government that's, it's not you, you know, it's it's not our government.

It's like.

Or it's like, so when you come here, when you go to get younger, there's an adjustment.

You have to start, learning about the, our ways, the way we operate, the way our whole structure operates, you know, like, and it's all, I'm ocracy, you know, like, I remember talking to this man.

He was, it was a course he had going, and he and he talked about, democracy.

He says the only, true form of democracy that ever, existed was the.

I think that the Greeks or ancient Greeks or something like that.

And, I said to myself, no, they didn't.

They have slaves.

And then.

Oh, I'll get back to you on that one.

I said this, this is our, the the Iroquois Confederacy was the only, true form of democracy ever.

that ever existed.

And so later on the next week, he came back and he says, you know what?

You're right.

The professor, those teachers, he says, you're right.

And he says, I looked in a check that already says, you're right.

And I was like, yeah, I felt good about it.

All right.

What's up guys?

Again, young guy.

Yeah.

So it's like, adjusting to that, you know, like, it's it's it takes a little bit of an adjustment and, after a while, some people don't like it, you know, it's not for everybody.

No, it's not for everybody.

It's like when, like he says for me, he's like, I more or less grew up that way, you know, like, that's what I knew, like from 13 years old, like, before that, it's like, you know, you're just, you're just a kid, you know?

But after that, it's like, this is where you start, start to understand with, what's what, you know, and, Well, in a moment, I'm going to bring in, Darryl, who's on the line with us.

Before I do that here.

let me just ask our guests in studio.

You know, part of the.

There's a part in the film where I forget the exact language, but it was like we were negotiating with New York State for our own land.

You know, this idea that we're going to try to bargain for something that is ours.

And in light of that, and in light of what you've created, I assume, Tyler, you've seen now that there is a trend and it's a little less prevalent in 2025, but it's still around where you'll see organizations before an event starts.

They do what they call land acknowledgments, and they talk about, you know, we stand on the land that was historically belonged to, you know, different nations.

And then Houdini shown in and and I wonder, do you think those acknowledgments are helpful?

Do you think what do you make of that?

I like it.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think so.

I, I think there is, it's not enough, but I, I think it is helpful.

I, I actually like the one, where that, woman sang the Canadian national anthem and she goes, our home on native land.

And a lot of people did it, like, I know Canada, our home, my native land.

Yeah.

And it was like, oh, we see, like, you know, like, you know, like it was like on national television until, like, everybody, nobody missed it, you know?

And, so it was a big thing.

It brought up, it brought up a lot of, issues, you know, that, that our people have to deal with every day.

You know, it was like it started coming up.

A lot of issues started being talked about and stuff like that.

So, yeah, I, I think it is helpful, you know, so the land acknowledgment at least get people thinking about that history.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think so.

Okay.

And let me ask and I would say what you think about that as well.

Have you seen the land acknowledgment that sometimes people do not so much.

Yeah.

I, I've, I might have heard about it, but I haven't.

So if I had started this program by saying, before we start the conversation, we want to acknowledge that this land has historically belonged to.

And I listed historical tribes and, you know, before colonization, etc., as a way of kind of, I don't know, trying to, respectfully acknowledge the history of this place.

I think there are some people who find that kind of, overly self-congratulatory and posturing.

And then there's some people who think that that is a respectful and helpful way to at least acknowledge what has happened over time.

you know, I but I, I if you haven't seen them, I don't want you to pin you down in the same.

I know it's that kind of a it may sound strange, I suppose it does help to acknowledge.

And it might bring attention to some people who haven't even thought of the idea.

But in terms of help, I'm not really sure how helpful that would be.

It's just an acknowledgment and you can acknowledge some and continue on your day without, helping in any way.

Yeah, I think that's that's fair, but.

And by the way, Tyler, can I ask you about the hat that you're wearing?

Oh, I was on the Florida, so was I picked that up.

the Seminoles, Florida State, some Florida State football team.

Yeah.

so we used to say I was in Florida.

Okay.

Do you like the mascot?

I you know, it's it's, I know there's a lot of talk about that about, but it was the only hat there that had this.

He just wanted to show that you're in Florida.

Yeah, yeah, they get a Seminole hat, and it says Florida State on the back.

Yeah, yeah.

do mascots like that, do they?

Do they bother you?

They offend you?

I mean, you said that you've had friends say that they talk to non-native kids, and they think that to be native means you're growing feathers out of your head, and it feels ridiculous and poorly informed, etc..

I wonder if you look at sports mascots in the same way or in a different way.

Yeah, well, it basically it's like, It's not saying much for or for who we are, you know, it's like, yeah, you're a mascot.

you know what I mean?

Like, who else does that?

You know, like, and we're, we're we're people.

We're actually like, nations of people that are actually, you know, from this, this, land for centuries and thousands of years is, you know, like, and and now you're being put on a like, a pet, you know, you consider, like a pet, more or less, you know?

So, yeah, it's, and it doesn't say much for, for this in give us, A good, feeling about it.

How about ourself?

You know, with, a lot of luck because a lot of, a lot of the people, that don't live on the reserves or, reservations or whatever, or are not in, contact with their own culture and language and it's like they don't have much to hang on to, you know, it's, as a native person or, you know, and so it's like, seeing something like that, it's like it's, like it's even it's even harder for for them.

I understand, you know, because, because I have something to hang on to, you know, I there's something that was put into me because of our, my parents and my grandparents and move and making a move to Canyon Gay and, this kind of stuff like I was given.

I was given a lot compared to what?

most people have, you know, like, most native people.

So it's like, for me, it's a, a, I, I don't know about my mom saying how I feel about myself, you know, because I it's like the normal thing for me is like, is that, you know, like, like they with they said he grew up and it was normal, like, he didn't know anything else, you know?

So for a long time, that's the way it was for me.

You know.

So if you told me that back then, it would be a different story.

It's like it wouldn't.

It wouldn't have really mattered to me, you know?

But, Yeah, but like today, like, like I went, I went off and I did, my iron work and this and that and got to know what the what the reservation life was for a while and this and that and, and it's like, I can understand why, people take offense to it, you know, like, so, yeah, I, I do think it's, offensive, you know.

Okay.

Yeah.

What do you think?

I personally don't think it's offensive.

It doesn't bother me at all.

I don't have time to, I guess think about those things.

And it is true, though, that, I agree with Tyler about, Indians who maybe live on, in the cities, or they've been detached from their culture to some degree, that that might be something that kind of helps them connect to who they are by getting the general public to kind of have a different opinion and a different view of of what mascots are.

But for for myself, that's it's not a thing because I got there's other there's other things that are bigger than bigger problems than a mascot.

Well let me bring in Darryl Martin, who's on the line with us.

And by the way, we've been talking, with members of the young gay community who are featured in an upcoming film that you can see later this week.

Mike Bradley is a documentary filmmaker and director, producer and editor of the film that's called This Land.

And, is it technically in the short category?

Is it a short?

It is a short, yes.

It's 90 minutes long.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, the festival set their own sort of definition of what qualifies as a short.

The academy says it's 40 minutes.

Is the cutoff okay.

And that is is a short.

Yeah.

So it's part of the Rochester International Film Festival.

And you can see it Thursday at 730 at the Dryden.

They would love to see you there.

And it's a it is a story that has, really all kinds of interesting historical footage.

News footage takes you back to the 1970s, when the members of this community that we're talking about here, talking with here, decided that they wanted to live on the land that really was their land.

But in, in more traditional ways, New York State ends up in kind of a, a standoff reading through the history troopers were called in as a result of this land dispute.

They police the area for three years until the, really an armed occupation of the camp ended in 1977 after negotiations.

So, and you've heard from our guests about how tense that time was, not knowing if that was going to be the site of, frankly, the next Attica or something like that.

So it was a really tense time, but most, the most but the better part of 50 years later, they're telling their story.

And Mike Bradley's here talking about the film.

Darryl Martin is on the line with us, who's a member of, a community member of Union Gay.

Daryl.

Daryl, welcome.

tell us a little bit about your own life in Yankee.

well, I went to a good job there when it moved.

Well, what, 17 years, 18 years old at the time, I stuck with, there, and I went to a stay at the, what they call a single guys house.

but it was an ideal place to be for, you know, somebody of my age.

I didn't realize at the time, but I went to a fair, and there was actually, you know, native people together trying to build a community, building houses, you know, the gardens of rock.

you know, horse-drawn equipment.

They were using the tractors and trying to really struggle to make a go of the, making the community work and try to make, you know, a community work that you have to provide for everybody, for everything.

As a government, I'll have to be provided with food, shelter, native people working together.

was probably like my biggest, fundraiser.

But I think, people, they talked to the people there and, and got to know the people that were there.

they don't know me that, you know, there was a lot of, the same strife that was happening on the reserve that kind of like, brought it all a dollar through to an incident that happened then.

It was on a war where it was the evictions that happened.

and the people that were doing the evictions kind of figured, you know, after all the strife within their reservation, they realized that, you know, there they are fighting on the reserve for a little postage sized piece of land when they have all this territory.

And, in New York State and Vermont, it could impact.

Why are we fighting among several, in this territory when we have all this other land?

And that's when it is time to move.

And so that's what they did.

Well, I think that's what it was really touch, you know.

Yeah.

So, Darryl, and we'll work on trying to get a little tighter connection there.

But Daryl's telling the story of why Yankee as a community was, appealing and why it was formed more than 50 years ago.

let me grab a phone call from Terry in Manchester who's been listening to the story.

Hey, Terry.

Go ahead.

Thank you so much for taking my call.

Sure.

Want to, So welcome.

And I know who you are.

Gentlemen, in the studio.

I work, the travel, plaza, 98, route 90.

And last night, a young man came in, and, he bought something, and he took his wallet out, and it was very much beaded, and I'm interested in that sort of thing.

And it caught my attention immediately.

And then he walked around a little bit and a woman, came up and I could tell that they were connected, mother and son.

And she took out her keys and she had beadwork on her keys.

And I asked her if, if she did beadwork.

And she said if she had that.

She is now too old to do beadwork.

But we had a nice conversation, and, the young man took out his wallet again.

I got to look at that again.

Beautiful beadwork.

And, they told me a little bit, where I said, where are you headed?

And they said, they're headed back to, your neck of the woods.

the Saint by the Saint Lawrence River up north by Ottawa.

And I said, oh, I have a friend in canton.

And she said, yes, that's getting that close.

And it was just so nice.

And as they left, I remembered my greeting that I've learned.

And I said, whole.

And, she turned and she said to me, we say Uno.

And so I called out, I know, I know, and off she went.

And it's my it is my privilege and pleasure to have that sort of interaction.

So thank you for coming down and, telling us your story.

Yeah.

Terry, thank you again.

For a lot of listeners, this is a new story.

I don't know if that's a greeting that you use.

That ring any bells, gentlemen?

the word that the, the Indian woman said was probably.

Oh, no.

Meaning like, was goodbye.

Essentially.

Okay.

Yeah.

and, Terry, I appreciate that.

But, you know, I was asking, Tyler earlier this hour why so many people don't know these stories.

and and let me also ask, and I would tell you why.

Why do you think so many kids are growing up in this state with so little knowledge of native history?

history of tribes in this state of holding the Shawnee people?

treaties, you know, the evolution of territorial, expansion and treaty breaking.

Why do you think that people don't really have that education?

Why do you think the state is not teaching that very holistically?

I'm not really sure.

I can't really speak on that because, I'm not sure, but maybe maybe it's it's just not that important.

Maybe it's just not that important to to share and educate the public about who Indian people are, especially, Haudenosaunee or as we say, Mohawk notion even more.

Because, you know, for the longest time, we, we kind of just fell, fell to the wayside.

And the rest of the world kind of picked up and moved on.

Well, the rest of our people, you know, due to our situations, kind of got left behind a little bit.

And that's one of the things that's one of the reasons why Canada was established was to to kind of reverse that or, create a starting point to, to rebuild.

And that's where we are.

But in terms of that, I'm, I'm not really sure.

Yeah.

I mean, I do agree that it's just an indication that maybe it's not that important to the people putting the curriculums together.

well, if you look at residential schools, the, the whole intent to residential schools was to, to get rid of us.

What we are a belief system or a whole culture language lingo, age, everything.

Everything that that we had was stripped from my my father.

My grandfather was taken away when he was six years old.

They came to his house, police and the priest and says were taking them, him and his brother.

And they took them away.

They took them to Carlisle.

Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

And, they never came home till they were 18.

And, everything was stripped from them.

They in they didn't know anything, you know, they they didn't know what their people were about and holder or and anything else.

So this is what this is what was going on.

Thousands and hundreds of thousands of kids, you know, were taken away.

And also it's like, why would I want you to know about what he's got?

You know, I don't want you to know what you have.

I don't want you.

I don't want anybody to know what's rightfully yours.

Because I'm on it.

I'm on it and it's mine.

I'm.

I'm saying it's mine.

It's a form of control.

All right?

It's like, it's mine.

It's not yours.

Well, the history that, the is in the film, this land is at the core of what we're talking about.

And I want to take our only break of the hour.

We're going to come back, and I'll make sure Mike Bradley let you know how you can see this film.

We'll talk a little more about, you know, maybe, maybe some of what Mike has learned as a filmmaker.

You can't get everything into a 19 minute film that you learn.

But, that's why we have these conversations, and we'll come right back and continue in on connections.

I'm Evan Dawson Wednesday on the next connections, we talked about homelessness with the author Josephine Insigne, whose book is called Way Home Journeys Through Homelessness.

She'll be in Rochester.

She joins us in the first hour.

In our second hour, a kind of cannabis success story, talking about dispensaries locally, what's going on there?

We'll talk about it on connections.

Support for your public radio station comes from our members and from Bob Johnson, Auto Group.

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This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson Michael says thank you for airing this amazing conversation.

I'm glad that I finally got to hear this story.

It seems to me that the two most marginalized groups in our country are Native Americans and seniors.

Our elected representatives don't seem to pay much attention to people living in horrible conditions on the reservations, or in nursing homes.

The interesting parallel.

Michael, thank you for that note, I appreciate it.

and we are glad to try to bring these conversations, parts of our history to you.

Mary Howell says, is this community financially viable?

What does it do to generate income?

She says this is not intended to be disrespectful.

Every business or farm or community has to bring in enough income to pay the bills and be able to do physical improvements.

What products does this community sell?

Thank you.

That's from Mary Howell.

Tyler.

You want to hit that one first sirup.

We make sirup.

Sirup.

It's wonderful.

it's something that, you sell.

We just finished off.

Yeah, we sell some of it, but we we keep for ourself what we need, and then we will sell the rest.

And, good sirup.

Good sirup.

Yeah.

We just finished.

We just finished, cleaning up a little bit and they can taps out of trees and all that.

She's asking in general, is the community kind of self-sustaining?

Is it financially viable?

Sure.

It's like, our agricultural, program is, is geared to, provide the community, on the plant where we can, you know, everybody's everybody's involved in it.

and, we, we've built up other stuff.

Other, other, we'll put up a gas station and a bingo and, different stuff like that to generate some funding for stuff that we could use, you know, like, and get people, working, and it's even helping out, like, outside of the community, you know, people in the surrounding communities, will come in, they're given jobs.

And, you know, it's helping them out, too.

You know, it's not just our our community that's benefiting from all the things that were, developed there, you know, to, so, yeah, there's, there's quite a, quite a few projects going on right now.

Okay.

You feel like it's a self-sustaining place to be?

yeah.

So far, it has been, I mean, with some of the smaller businesses that we've we have, well, we used to have, like, a holistic center, but we were having issues with that, so we don't have that anymore.

But we also have a golf course, a nine hole golf course.

And that's, that's doing pretty well so far.

So, you know, with all these little businesses and gas station and, and, bingo hall and things like that, then it's it's sustaining us.

Okay.

And I think we've got Darryl Martin still on the line with us.

Daryl, anything you want to add about how the community sustains itself?

Well, I think it's, it's raising funds because to live in a modern day society, just to be able to buy things that, that you can't produce.

And I think they're doing a really good job at, keeping the whole community alive if it's allowing them to acquire more land.

So that need to be really, efficient.

But living there, I don't live there anymore.

But when I was living there, we used to, like, cut firewood.

Pretty much, 10 or 16, five days a year, just to keep the homes for the whole community.

And then we would never water and do a lot of the currents.

Now, you know, with some with some income coming in the community and, or to the extent or their, their labor a lot more.

And it also an education for some of the people that live there.

So it's nice, you know, the hardships are gone, but, you know, like, they pretty much you to be a success so far.

Yeah.

Pat says, that he notes Pat notes that, this is a community that, has talked about democracy and, that kind of a style of government.

Do they participate in American democracy?

Are they voting in American elections?

What do they make of American elections?

Oh, boy.

Tyler, you want to get to that?

No, no.

no, I actually, no, we don't we don't vote in the American or Canadian elections.

And, and the traditional people don't.

There's, there's other, people, like that, do you know, but, but traditional people don't vote.

No, you choose not to.

Yeah.

How come?

Because that's not my government.

that's not who I am.

I, I got to take part in another go.

Me.

You know, it's it takes a lot of work, you know, like, so I don't have time for.

I just don't have time anyway, you know, it's like.

And it's not who I am, okay?

And I would say, what about you?

Yeah.

for myself and the younger people, we we don't participate in any foreign, anything foreign, like, American government, the Canadian government.

We just that, well, we established Canada to do just that is to rebuild who we are.

We have our own law.

The guy, a guy in Oregon or great laws of peace that we adhere to and we follow that.

We have our own governmental structure.

We have our, council system that has, is broken up by clans and it's through consensus and then unanimous decision by all the community.

So we have like all of these things are own things that we, we have, for our own government so we don't participate.

And, we're never going to because we have to push on.

We have to build, we have to create a space for ourselves in this world, as we continue to grow and by by participating in that, whether it's a community on a community level or individual, that jeopardizes who we are, that's that's our view.

Like, we just stay away from that altogether.

I'm going to ask Mike Bradley, who is the the filmmaker behind this land.

You know, we've been going in a lot of different directions that your film didn't necessarily have time to do in 19 minutes.

What's on the cutting room floor that you wished you had kept in this film that you think the public would really benefit from hearing?

a lot is on the cutting room floor.

Yeah.

yeah.

The film is, like you said, just under 20 minutes.

I think I have maybe 12 or 14 hours of interview alone.

gosh, there's a whole lot more about the history of, the evictions that Tyler mentioned, in the 70s and kind of more backstory as to why people felt the need to leave in the first place.

that, you know, could turn into its own feature length film at some point, maybe.

But, it's just, a whole fascinating history going back hundreds of years.

And do you feel like you have yourself been able to really learn the full picture of the story of getting younger now?

Yeah, I like I said before, I didn't know anything about it before.

So that sort of was the initial inspiration to make a film was just that.

I had been to Moss Lake many times.

I grew up in Western New York and I didn't know anything about this.

and yeah, so everything I learned was new information.

I did a great deal of research before I filmed anything.

and, you know, yeah, I learned a ton about about just the Mohawk history and the the relationship between the Mohawk and the state of New York and many other things.

Yeah.

So as we get ready to close this program, I want to ask our guests in studio how they want non-native kids to to be learning, one of the first memories I have from my childhood was going to a summer camp down at Chautauqua Lake, western New York.

And the camp is called on.

Yeah.

So it's a YMCA camp.

If listeners are familiar with Camp Korean, Keuka Lake to sister camp, very similar.

And when I was growing up, there were the young boys, the middle boys and the older boys, the campers and the young girls, the middle girls, the older girls, the young boys were the underdog us the middle boys were the cougars.

And the older boys were the Senecas.

The young girls the Oneida.

The middle girls were the Tuscaroras.

And the older girls were the Mohawks.

And that's the first time I heard, growing up in Ohio and parts of New York.

The first time I really even learned about, you know, the Six Nations and, it was clunky.

The director of the camp would, on Sunday nights, tell the story of kind of some of the story of the people who lived on that land years before.

For years, he would paint himself up, wear a headdress, come on land carrying a torch, tell the story.

And then he stopped doing that out of trying to be respectful.

He is a teacher, but he said he is imperfect and he wants to help kids learn these stories.

So the camp still exists.

It's an important piece of my own family's past, and I don't know how I feel about all of that.

You know, Tyler, I saw you winced a little when I read through the list of the camp, the boys camps.

You know, the every year I'd go back to camp in the summer.

They say, are you a Cayuga or are you still an Onondaga like I not, I moved up, I'm a Cayuga.

No, I'm a Seneca now.

I mean, that's like the hierarchy of the age of the boys.

And it was like a big deal.

And I'll never forget that, that we were known as the different villages.

So it may seem crass.

It may seem like a way of characterizing your people.

Or is it a way of at least introducing ideas to kids and teaching?

I'm curious about that.

It's a big inhale.

Yeah.

I'm.

I'm not too sure.

There's not enough.

There's there's not enough time, like, on the planet, you know, to, to start, to, to be able to inform people about, like, who we are.

Yeah.

I'm like, oh, it's like.

And things like that.

Or a.

It has nothing to do with us, you know.

It has nothing to do with us.

It's like, we're just being labeled, you know, like, kind of like with the the sports.

Yeah, the sports kind of like that.

And it's, It really has nothing to do with us.

And I, I don't know, I know I, I take the point.

let me ask Robert.

What do you think in terms of getting people to maybe better understand who we are?

maybe it's just as simply as, passing on what?

You know, even if it's a little bit of information.

That's that's true.

And by word, it could spread slowly, from one person to the next.

And as individuals learn about it.

And I would just encourage that.

You just go learn about who we actually are, you know, instead of, maybe hearing about us, occasionally, like, you study who we are.

And if you're in the area, maybe stop in and visit and.

Maybe ask some questions in person.

Yeah.

You know, say hello.

how do you feel about summer camps using those?

The names, the Mohawks, the Senecas, and, I guess it's similar to, like, mascots.

It doesn't bother me.

It doesn't bother me that anybody.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I understand there's going to be varied opinions, you know, in, in different communities and, just like anything else, there's no one's going to agree on everything.

What I do hope is that, you know, for myself and for anybody who's if you're going to camp and that's how you're learning that, you go beyond that and you actually take time to try to read and study and maybe visit and get to know the real people who don't.

Actually, as Tyler said, have feathers growing out of their heads.

and are with us today.

It's amazing how many young kids say, oh yeah, and native peoples lived a long time ago.

You, you know, so this film is a really good way to bring important history to us.

Mike Bradley, congratulations on this land.

It's important work.

Thank you.

Mike's the filmmaker.

You can see the film as part of the Rochester International Film Festival this Thursday, 730 at the Dryden Theater, George Eastman Museum.

They would love to see you there as part of the festival.

and I want to thank both the other Iowa today and Tyler for being with us.

Darryl on the line.

Darryl, really appreciate your time.

It's been kind of a rough connection.

That's our fault.

But we really appreciate the wisdom that you bring to us here and to both the gentlemen studio.

Thank you for making time for our program today.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, thank you.

And from all of us at connections.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you for being with us.

the YouTube channel, if you are wherever you're joining us, have a wonderful afternoon.

We're back with you tomorrow on member supported public media.

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