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Event highlights indigenous people

WBFO News by Mike Desmond

With the pounding of drums, a small group which had marched completely around Lake Ontario protesting nuclear plants arrived near Hoyt Lake,  part of the U.N.'s Indigenous People's Day.

The event in the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society concluded with storytelling of a better world and of the Peacemaker forming the Iroquois Confederacy 1,000 years ago.

The ceremony included Seneca drumming and a song honoring women of peace.

Agnes Williams, coordinator of the Indigenous Women's Initiatives, says Senecas preach peace and an end to nuclear efforts so the world will remain a great place for the next generations.
        
"We've got water to drink. We've got a beautiful day outside. The sun comes up and the rays put their arms around us and give us a nice big hug every day," Williams said. 

"All of these things are stories that we tell and we talk about and that we teach our children and that we learn in our longhouses and in our communities about how to accept and respect everything that was put here."

Radiation from the former Nuclear Fuel Services plant in West Valley flows through the Seneca Cattaraugus Territory in Cattaraugus Creek.
 

Mike Desmond is one of Western New York’s most experienced reporters, having spent nearly a half-century covering the region for newspapers, television stations and public radio. He has been with WBFO and its predecessor, WNED-AM, since 1988. As a reporter for WBFO, he has covered literally thousands of stories involving education, science, business, the environment and many other issues. Mike has been a long-time theater reviewer for a variety of publications and was formerly a part-time reporter for The New York Times.