Deskaheh

Radio Moment

Click here to play.
^Credits

Radio Script

(sound)radio dial scanning till it hits the speech

Deskaheh: “You young people... may not believe what I am saying. Do not take my word, but read your history... We have a little territory left -- just enough to live and die on. ”

“You europeans got half of your territory here by warfare upon redmen, usually unprovoked, and you got about a quarter of it by bribing their chiefs, and not over a quarter of it did you get openly and fairly. You might have gotten a good share of it by fair means if you had tried.”

“We want justice from now on.”

(fades) “remember our people. If it had not been for them, you would not be here.....”

Narrator: Deskaheh's words, like this his last speach, challenged attempts by the Canadian Government to undermine the the treaty rights of the Six Nations Iroquois Confedaracy. He overcame RCMP harassment and traveled to Geneva to seek an audience with the League of Nations. After being largely ignored, he returned In 1925 isolated, but a hero to many Six Nations people. He would not be the last to challenge this injustice. Deskaheh, a part of our heritages.

Learn from untold stories of oppression and resistance and challenge dominant narratives today at heritagemoments.ca

Script formulated by excerpts of Deskaheh's Last Speech. Read his entire speech at http://hometown.aol.com/miketben/miktben3.htm