TRR photo by Tom Kane Xinkw Taxkway, pictured above playing a wooden flute on the shore of the Delaware River, is a descendent of the original inhabitants of the Upper Delaware Region: the Lenni Lenape. Taxkway and others, with the signing of an historic treaty in Pennsylvania, have begun the long road to reclaiming their heritage and sacred lands. (Click for larger image)

Lenni Lenape sign treaty with descendants of white settlers

By TOM KANE

PENNSBURY MANOR — The healing process was begun last Sunday between descendants of a Native American tribe and the descendants of white settlers in America on the lawn of Pennsbury Manor, the site of William Penn’s estate on the Delaware River.

A four-year treaty was ceremoniously signed between the Lenni Lenape tribe and the members of the Delaware River Greenway Partnership, both sides swearing to heal the old wounds inflicted over 300 years ago.

Greenway is a public/private cooperative partnership of more than 100 non-profit organizations, government agencies as well as individual members dedicated to promoting the stewardship of the Delaware River.

	TRR photo by Tom Kane A member of the Delaware River Greenway Partnership signs the treaty with Lenape officials in the background. (Click for larger image)

“This is going to be forever,” said Richard McNutt, president of Greenway.

“Mistakes were made on both sides,” said Jim Beer, a member of the Lenape Tribal Council. “It’s time to move on.”

“This is a historic moment,” said Suzanne Forbes, project director of the Greenway project. “The Lenape are important to us because they have a long tradition of respecting the earth and the environment.”

“We walk as one,” said Danawa Buchanan, a descendant of a Cherokee tribe who was in attendance. “The Lenape are the grandfathers and grandmother of all tribes.”

“This is a new rising for the Lenni tribe,” said tribal chief Bob Red Hawk. “We are calling ourselves ‘The Rising Nation.’”

	TRR photo by Tom Kane A Lenape descendant spreads healing fumes from a ceremonial smudge pot. (Click for larger image)

In 1683, Chief Tammamend, the saintly leader of the Lenape, signed the treaty between the tribe and William Penn, the Quaker founder of the Pennsylvania Colony. This was the first treaty in America to be signed between Native Americans and the settlers.

The Sullivan County chapter of the Eastern Star and an island on the Delaware opposite the Grover Hermann Hospital are named after the chief, locally called St. Tammany. Tammany Hall, the home of the Democratic Party in New York City, was also named after him.

While Penn and the tribe trusted each other, that trust was destroyed by later settlers as the young nation began to spread. The tribe was pushed out of the area by the settlers and were often deceived by the machinations of whites. One infamous event was the infamous “walking purchase” in which the Lenape agreed to sell as much land as a man could walk over during a 24-hour period, beginning at Wrightstown, PA and Mauch Chunk, PA, now called Jim Thorpe. While the Lenape walked as the agreement stipulated, the settlers ran, thereby unfairly grasping more land than was intended.

	TRR photo by Tom Kane A Lenape descendant dances a tribal dance. (Click for larger image)

Over 400 descendants of the existing 200 Lenape families that still live in the Commonwealth gathered on the spacious lawn of Penn’s restored mansion on the river 50 miles north of Philadelphia.

The treaty read in part, “We will support the Lenape people in one or more of the following ways: hosting cultural/educational programs, creating support for the Lenape cultural center, assisting in Lenape language revival projects, assisting in displays/exhibits of Lenape culture, helping the Lenape people to obtain and/or protect sacred land sites, encourage updated curriculum in public school, and financial assistance.”

The Lenape were the tribe that acted as guides for the Colonial Army at Valley Forge and other Revolutionary War sites.

“Our elders are dying off and our young people are in danger of losing our heritage,” Red Hawk said. “It is critical that we act now to preserve our great traditions before it is too late.”

In order to mark the event, a group of Lenape people began a 330-mile canoe trip from the head of the Delaware in Hancock, NY to Cape May, NJ, stopping along the way and being feted by groups of historical-minded people.

The group stopped locally in Hankins, Narrowsburg and thence at Pennsbury Manor and finally at Cape May, NJ where the trip will end on September 1, 2002.

“This is the first time in years that the Lenape has opened its doors to outsiders,” Red Hawk said. “We’ve been in seclusion too long.”