Pages: new books
An argument for the revival of Indigenous wisdom in U.S. politics
Original Politics: Making America Sacred Again By Glenn Aparicio Parry Select Books (2020, 331 pp.)
HOW DID THE United States move so far away from the Native American values that were seminal to its founding?
A sense of social harmony based on personal liberty, an egalitarian society with no concept of personal property, a system of checks and balances to central control — the chief’s power was derived from the consent of the council.
And key was the role of women in comprising the oversight body that controlled the actions of the men.
From Rhode Island Colony founder Roger Williams to Ben Franklin and firebrand Thomas Paine, the early colonists observed the societies of the early Narragansett, Wampanoag and Haudenosaunee tribes, among others, and admired their essential adherence to “natural rights” — later enshrined as “inalienable” in the U.S. Constitution.
Author of “Original Thinking” (2015), educator and political philosopher Parry, who lives in Northern New Mexico, delves into the mindset of Founding Fathers like Franklin, the printer and early Indian Commissioner of Pennsylvania, to see how they were deeply imbued by the Indigenous sense of building a confederacy.
For example, Franklin’s early ties with Chief Canassatego, sachem of the Onondaga, and peacemaker of Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, became “a friendship that turned the tide of history,” writes Parry, as illustrated
in the chief’s legendary lesson to Franklin that one arrow alone would break, but a sheaf of 13 bundled arrows were joined as one.
Canassatego himself addressed a colonial assembly in Pennsylvania in 1744 with the somber words: “We are a powerful Confederacy; and by your observing the same methods our wise forefathers have taken, you will acquire such strength and power.”
Moreover, Parry notes, there were 21 Iroquois leaders invited to witness the monthlong debate over potential independence that took place in Philadelphia at the Continental Congress in 1776 — whom chairman John Hancock addressed as “Brothers,” declaring that the alliance between their nations would last as long as “waters run.”
Even the word “caucus” comes from Algonquin—meaning “listening to each other not to necessarily reach a conclusion but to promote understanding of diverse points of view” — a quintessential American practice (at least in theory).
Parry looks at these “original” concepts, like being rooted in the land, and embracing a cyclical rather than linear sense of time, cherished by the Native Americans, as well as the “missing pieces” that the Founders conveniently left out of their nation-building – such as the inclusion of women and people of color and Natives themselves from participating in the democratic process.
Yet Parry shows how the early 19thcentury women’s movement leaders (Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Matilda Gage) were largely influenced by Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) women living near them in the Northeast — women who were responsible for the community’s agriculture as well as home life. Women who were not subservient to men, as taught by Christian Bible studies. The Clan Mother nominated the male chief, and she had the right to remove him if he committed “malfeasance.”
The Native women had to approve declarations of war and treaties; in short, notes Parry, these women were the “wisdom council” for the whole tribe.
Parry’s work moves from these original contact points to a larger scheme of the U.S. in conflict, from slavery, Indian Removal Act, polarization in politics, inequality, the 2016 election — the familiar sins of American society.
How can America move back to that sacred original sense of wholeness?
Parry believes that a Turtle Island renaissance is in order, and that Native Americans have an important role to play in its emergence.
Parry is currently the director of a grassroots think tank, the Circle for Original Thinking. He will be holding a free SOMOS virtual reading on Friday (July 17), from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Join and ask him questions on his intriguing new work. Go to somostaos.org/ calendar/#event=39426982.