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495 Introduction Dawn Dove As a Narragansett Elder I am often disheartened by the history of our relationship with the newcomers to this land. We as the Indigenous people of this place have become marginalized in our own homeland; therefore I come to this project with a heavy heart. Why would one share one’s deepest feelings with those who have massacred , enslaved, indentured, and generally terrorized one’s people? I have a vision of this place before European colonization, before the theft of our lands. I read early European chronicles, which always speak of the handsome, tall, healthy Narragansett people. The histories speak of the bounty of the land and the waters. Then our people were massacred , enslaved, indentured, and terrorized. I have come to know that the European colonists came to take, that they have taken, and that they continue to take, as their greed is insatiable. It is a terrible history, a terrible genocide, and a terrible theft. My Grandmothers spoke to me of the beauty of our land and the waters, as pain was visible on their faces—the pain of remembering what has been destroyed and stolen. In this project we are compiling the written words of our people, yet there has been a terrible miscarriage of justice. The written words of our people of long ago have not been held in honor by the colonizers. There are only a few written words of the Narragansett that have been preserved, so they have been lost on the winds of time. Yet we carry in our hearts the oral traditions, which have been passed on to us from one generation to another. Just as my Grandmothers passed those truths on to me I continue to share with my grandchildren so that the truth will not be lost. We know that the colonizers’ histories, the words that the colonizers passed on, are lies and half-truths and a cover-up of the great injustice done to the Narragansett people. We the Indigenous people of this land have been decimated by disease, murder, and trickery. I think of Roger Williams, who is always called the friend of the Narragansett, yet that relationship was one of treachery once 496 narragansett the colonists gained more and more control of our lands. I was always told through our oral histories that we did not sell our land; we only let others share the space. Roger Williams himself wrote that “Caunownicus . . . was not I say to be stird with mony to sell his land to let in Foreignrs.¹ Tis true he recd presents and Gratuities many of me: but it was not thouhsands nor ten thoughsands of mony could have bought of him an English entrance into this Bay. Thousands Could not have bought Providence or Pawtuxit or Aquedenick or any other Land I had of him.” Keep in mind that 1675 was the year of the Great Swamp Massacre, a terrible conflagration—children and women burned alive, a terrible planned annihilation of a people. The Euro-American story was that it was a battle in which all the Narragansett were killed. Yet we survived. We, the Narragansett people, continue to exist on this land, the land the Creator set aside for us. Yet because the colonizers “won,” they felt there was no need to teach about the Narragansett. Even to this day the state of Rhode Island does not require that Narragansett history be taught in the public school system. The Lie continues by teaching the children to call the Narragansett and all other Indigenous nations “Native Americans,” so that students do not even realize that they are speaking about the Narragansett , the Indigenous people of this particular land. When I recall the oral histories that have been passed down in my family and I read the historical documents of the colonizers I can readily see why the colonizers want to keep the Lie. The truth would make one weep. The truth is so horrific that it would make one want to turn a blind eye rather than face the atrocities that were committed against our people. So the Lie continues from one generation to the next, so that the colonizers do not have to face the truth of their wrongdoings. They would rather live the Lie than face the great injustice that has been inflicted on the Narragansett and that, for that matter, continues to be inflicted on them. The pain and trauma are great. The historical trauma that my...

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