Woman and contempt are synonymous on the reserves that I have been in touch with, which are many. And I have talked to the young people at pow wows over the years and all say it is the same for them. Gentleness and respect is not an experience that any of us could share. 

All of my peers are in gangs, on drugs and drink as much alcohol as they can get. As a female I did not know much other than the desperateness of what seemed an endless chain of abuse and hopelessness. My Mom’s Father continued even after she was an adult to sexually take her. She wanted more for me. So she took me to Ohio to Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha. She is an Elder of our people and saved my life as well as many women she could reach with her love and faith. She shows us the way of the Heart and the way of Beauty and Respect. 

Today I am nervous and scared to speak to you all like this. She gives me courage and tells me I am important and that I need to speak so my younger sisters and brothers can see and take hope from my experience and action. 

I saw many Grandfathers here speaking and I respect that in all our nations this is the way it is. Everyone is important and has value to offer. But who has made my life worth living is my Grandmother. I have watched all of nature respond to her voice and presence. I have delighted in her childlike play with us her children. Her endless patience and faith in each of us and her encouraging words of how sacred and valued I am as a Human, A Principle People. 

Her selfless example of all that she speaks and teaches. She trusts us until we can trust ourselves again. 

I have watched her gentleness become iron when we are in harms way. Never relenting her all loving ways for anyone Creator brings to her life, while all the same, being wise and alert to not allowing us children to fall into any misuse or foul play of others. I know she holds me as close as her own natural born children. 

There are times I think I want to leave the Village and go into the city. Then I watch her and my people of the Yunsai Society and know we are all needed to keep the Fire burning and a place of real life and hope available in this world. She takes us with her as she travels about the world and has made sure by putting everything she has to giving us a global education and perspective of all our relations. So I can speak today with some experience on what my concerns are. 

Richard has shared his feelings of how important it is that we young people have a part in this conference. That brought to mind an event some time back when Grandmother Pa'Ris'Ha and some Elders went to the United Nations. They did not want to allow her in the forum because of her not "looking much like an Indian" and that she does not look very old. So Grandfather Will said if she could not come in, then neither would he, so they allowed her in, and with her came us, the children. All the UN representatives spoke and stated the important things they felt were our "issues". After everyone had spoken, Grandfather asked Grandmother to speak for him because she could say what needed to be said better than he. 

She said to all gathered that what was really important to all of us as humans was recognition of the value of the women and children. She said to all the adults there that they are dying and have spent the better part of their time already. And that if we want to help this generation we must listen, truly listen to our young people. It is their future we are talking about. She concluded that death is certain, life is not. Let us live each moment fully alive and in touch with what is valuable and everlasting. 

We have asked ever since we have arrived to allow our Grandmother to speak to the general assembly here, only to be dismissed or handed to one person or another. My gift to you would be sharing this person who has changed my world from dark to light. 

I sat with the usual stories of what the white people have done to all the Indian people, and I saw the discomfort of many people around me as they heard it too. I watched a white woman cry out as she expressed her pain for the guilt she felt for what her ancestors were said to have done to these Natives. 
And I saw as usual that when the African Americans spoke of their past and their suffering my Native Relations give it a lighter dusting of attention. As soon as the gathering began, the separation and segregation within groups began and I was hearing things like, "Oh well that's the ARE we aren't part of that."  How can this be if we have come together for unity? 

I would like to say this is all real and in many ways still happening today. The key word here is "TODAY"! Help us please to know what the solutions are. Let us sit in the Circle as a Council and let the real truth be spoken. Let us trust ourselves to be transparent and not have any hidden agendas. In the Council Circle let us look at all that is happening now. 

What has been said in the information put out for this time was that we would come together to find ways to preserve the Earth and heal our human suffering. There has been a sharing of global happenings and updating of all that is happening and I have truly found that all valuable. What have we given anyone to go home with?  What have we united in as an action we are going to take?  I see my relations from many areas of My Mother Earth and wonder what they will truly have to offer from what we have done with our time here? Grandfather Corbin shared that the authorities are dumping toxic waste right here in Virginia Beach as we are talking! What did we do for that? Who made a difference and gave time to that? What is the plan of action? When if not now? 

I guess my message here in closing, would be that I wish that instead of so many personal agendas being presented, I would have loved to see our plan of action and how we are going to network and be there for each other. To really assist each situation with all our focus and intention. 

I say to all you who have come great distances, we are here and we have heard your cry for help. I am here and I offer you my life. Keep this in your heart and know I am not afraid to stand up to the ignorance and aggression of the system that thinks it has our power. I can say with all that my Grandmother has given to me and my generation, we will continue and we will make it happen. Call on me and I am there. Come to my Village and I have much to share, together we will bring a vision to life and give it breath, because we are the Real People. 

I say to my Grandfathers, Why do you not call for the Grandmothers to speak with you? Who of you did not begin in the warmth of woman, your Mothers?  Who is it that attends your needs of Spirit and Body?  The Grandmothers are here and they need to be there next to you so we can see the reality of what you say. 

What I am sure of, is that I cannot sit and wait for everyone to make up their minds and make it change, that we the young people must begin now to say to you, this is not enough. I am a young woman, but all the same, a woman, and I have to begin now to stand for my children, if there is a world left after the show. 

I appreciate all of you and what was envisioned for this gathering. There have been some very powerful experiences and we will hold to the wisdom and all the many ways it has unfolded. 

Autumn Sun