<
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/20/us/patawomeck-tribe-federal-recognition/>
"Brad Hatch takes pride in his work as a Patawomeck Indian Tribe master eel pot
maker. When Hatch works to weave split white oak into baskets used to capture
the slippery creatures, he’s helping preserve a craft that has been passed down
for generations.
The tribe, he told
CNN, is the only one in Virginia that still makes eel
pots.
“Eel pots represent the deep historical link that we have with the waterways of
our homeland and with the land,” Hatch said. “It’s a representation of our
community and culture and how we’ve been able to adapt and succeed and survive
over time.”
The Patawomeck Indian Tribe has been fighting to gain federal recognition from
the US government for more than a decade. Hatch said the designation is
critical to preserving the tribe’s cultural traditions, like eel pot making.
While the tribe received recognition from the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2010,
Hatch said federal recognition would give them authority over their ancestral
land and access to additional resources offered by the government to federally
recognized tribes.
But the tribe’s fight for recognition has been met with numerous challenges,
including a nearly century-old racist state law that experts say all but erased
many of Virginia’s Native Americans from historical records, and is now
hampering current-day efforts to meet criteria for federal recognition.
Hatch, who is a member of Patawomeck Tribal Council, said the tribe has more
than 2,500 enrolled members across Virginia’s Stafford and King George
counties.
“Nobody ‘discovered’ us because we were here already,” Hatch said.
But now, their challenge is to prove that to the federal government."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
