HAMPTON Va.
Powhatan Red Cloud-Owen occasionally runs into people
including other American Indians who are surprised to learn there are still
Indian tribes in Virginia.
The free American Indian Intertribal Cultural Festival this
weekend will be an opportunity to remind people that Indians have lived in what
is now Virginia since thousands of years before English colonists founded
Jamestown in 1607.
Indians from 15 tribes around the country will gather
Saturday and Sunday at the Hampton Coliseum to dance, demonstrate crafts,
connect with each other and share their history and culture with the public.
Virginia’s eight state-recognized tribes are hosting the
festival the first time in modern history they will come together for an event
like this, Red Cloud-Owen said while setting up at the coliseum. The festival
is one of 10 signature events that are part of the 18-month-long commemoration
of 400th anniversary of Jamestown, America’s first permanent English
settlement.
“We want people to know that our history began before
1607 and didn’t end in the late 1700s with the dissemination or just the annihilation
of almost all our people,” said Red Cloud-Owen, a Chickahominy tribal
council member and liaison between the Virginia tribes and Jamestown 2007,
which is coordinating the commemoration.
“We want people to know we’re here,” he said.
“We’ve been here all along, we’re still here, and we’re staying here. …
We’re still a thriving people that bring much to everyday, mainstream
America.”
