The Clan of The Hawk Evansville Vermont

Thought's About The Clan Of The Hawk

One must understand that there are many brothers and sisters out there who are now discovering their Abenaki Heritage. When you discover your Heritage it is an exiting thing and you want to belong to something related to your Heritage such as A Band or Tribe. I must tell you DO NOT JOIN The Clan Of The Hawk. This so called Band has been around for 18 plus years yet not one person from the original forming is left. Each year new people come in and after a short time LEAVE. For the people that are still members GET OUT....You are being led to believe that your Chief is Native. You pay your dues only to work on up keep of his property. Don't be fooled you are being used by this man. He is very good with his words and convincing you otherwise as he did myself and many others.. DON'T BELIEVE IT. I ask that you not just take my word for it contact some other members that have left and ask them why? If that doesn't do it for you then at least silently watch for a year and witness what is going on. figure in your head how much The Pow-Wow brings in with Vendor Fee's Donations etc..Also watch the advertisements that go into this with Clan's money. In 2007 an ad was put on Television promoting The Pow-Wow as being sponsored by The Evansville Trading Post... WITH CLAN'S MONEY. Listen to what the chief says to you about other people then wonder. What is he saying about me? Realize that although he makes it out to be such a small deal The Pow-Wow and Craft fair both help his Trading Post Tremendously. Don't think so? How many people attend the Pow-Wow? Last year I believe it was around 5000. Well if half of them stop at The Evansville Trading Post then that is 2500 customers. 2500 customers that tell other people and so on and so on. Now look at another thing that might interest you. He wants Native Made Items Only at The Pow-Wow correct? However it is okay for him to display tables and tables full of junk right in front of The museum??? Oh yes add the junk money to the money taken in. Okay it is for the native Thrift shop right?? Let's talk about the Thrift Shop.. People come and donate items to the Clan of the Hawk thrift Store. Many of these items are nice items like furniture. Do these items get sold in the Thrift store or do they get put aside? Can't say for sure but I can tell you that at least 2 tractor trailer loads of furniture left the location of the thrift store and the items were loaded out of the same garage. I am told that a similar instance occurs quite often but at this time I have nothing to back that up except for hear say.

Below is a letter that was written and sent out to many people. The person who wrote this letter is NOT Indian. His ex wife was Abenaki but he is not. However he likes to make people think he is. He must be he is A chief right? Wrong?

Respect and Dishonor

These two words used in the native manner mean several things and can be used in many ways. Several years ago, we had a man come to the clan, as he said, “to help us.” Well, he used the word dishonor many times in a way that was definitely not native. He would say, “You dishonor me,” in such a way to control people and to make them do what he wanted them to do. He used this term to win complete control over people, and some still respect him for this, but most of the natives have seen through him and know that he was just using people for his own gain.

Over the years I have seen many others doing this in other ways. Certainly, you have seen that a lot of true Native People and other non-native people who are trying to learn the ‘native way’ often try too hard to learn everything overnight. Living the native way is a continual learning process that has to be absorbed a bit at a time and can not be forced down your throat either by reading books or immersing yourself in an environment that would mean you would live with this 24 hrs a day. A lot of times you are going to have to distance yourself from the white man’s world and go off by yourself and meditate and say to yourself “How can I improve on my life and show respect for my fellow brother and sisters in my group and other groups?”

Respect is a very special thing to those who think in the native way and it has been taught and handed down through the generations. Many who join a group, such as the Clan of The Hawk, do not understand what respect means in the native way. They may talk or hear about it, but they may find it hard to understand because they are still living in a white man’s world in order to keep the standards of living that they were brought up in. No one can fault them for this, but is a slow way to learn the ways of the native peoples. You always need to keep this in the back of your mind: “How would my native brothers and sisters go about changing their ways in order to conform to the native way of behavior?”

You must show respect to your Elders and to your Chief. You should remember; one thing your Chief does is to act as a peace maker to his best ability. You should not bring your problems into a group and call your chief a liar. This is certainly not solving problems in the native way.

Natives do not jump all over other members just because something did not go the way one thought it should. Perhaps, before it would come to this, a person should go by him or her self into the woods and ask the creator to give them some help and advice.

Your chief at times feels that he is all alone trying to hold the clan together and keep the different factions working together. I do know that I am not getting the help that I deserve in the clan and if anyone out there feels that he can do a better job, perhaps he or she should come forward and speak of this to the clan. However before one would do this, he or she would be wise enough to realize that if they were to find themselves in a ‘Chief’s” position, they should be prepared to work for the good of their clan seven days a week!

I do know that my life would go on without the burden that I have to carry. Think about it.

Ralph Swett

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