I attended the Louis Eagle Warrior
presentation. This presentation was given by Louis Eagle Warrior who is a
Native American performer specializing in the Native American flute. The tribe
that he is associated with is the Eastern Lenape Indian Nation. Eagle Warrior’s "Spirit Tracker,"
was nominated for three different Native American music awards. His music is
said to accurately represent the tradition of music that has been played for
thousands of years by his people.
The Native American flute that he
plays with produces such a unique, captivating, and haunting sound all
together. I had truly never heard anything like it in my lifetime. The flute is
said to be one of the oldest non-percussion instrument in the Americas dating
back so many centuries. Louis Eagle Warrior is also well known for creating and
producing “Spirit of American Indian Music and Dance.” This is an awesome
lively production, which includes Native American singers, dancers, and
drummers.
He also talked a good amount about
the history and culture of Native Americans. He cleared up some of the
stereotypes that people have made up over the years. One example is that Native
Americans do not speak English this is not true. He said that almost all of
them today speak English to one another. Another one he cleared up was that
Indians have always been savage people. In fact though they have suffered and
been abused for so many centuries by our ancestors from the start of the
colonization of North America. The Native Americans have lost most of their
lands. Even a large number of them have been killed for trying to protect their
land. He even spoke about how The holocaust of Native Americans has been the
largest number of deaths in history. When you really take the time to think
about how many people have lost their lives men, women, even children it is
most depressing and sickening.
This presentation actually relates
to the Novel Shane by Jack Schaefer. In
the novel the main character is seen trying to defended his friends farmland
from being taken by a cruel man named Fletcher. Shane actually doesn’t try to
use violence to make the man stop just as the Native Americans did in the
beginning with the Europeans. Though Shane does later stand up to the bullying.
I think this shows you that both of
these types of people have great strength because they resisted temptation and
only fought when they knew there was no other option to solve the problem
peacefully. This also shows great courage between the two because it takes a
lot of guts to just sit back and be tormented by someone when you don’t even
deserve it.
Another thing is you see how both of
these types of people don’t take what they have for granted. They truly cherish
the land that they possess and want to do anything possible to not let anyone
take it away from them. This is such a respectable quality for one person to
have. The Native Americans just like Shane stand up for injustice that is being
done right in front of them. Though it is sad that there was not much the
Native Americans could have done to defeat it as Shane did.
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