Our Community

Amongst many Indigenous people, Community is one of the most valued and protected aspects of life. It is vital for members of our communities to uplift and support each other and the work we do in order to bring life to ourselves, our people, and our neighbors. Prior to its establishment, the founders of M.I.C. have spent many years working with intertribal and international groups to find and secure avenues to sustain the growth and health of the communities they are a part of. Much of this work they continue to do on a volunteer basis but the importance of this work remains a key factor in establishing a sustainable means of living while fully engaged in bringing these goals to fruition.

M.I.C. was founded to bring support and amplification to the voices of those who continue to work on the preservation of the Indigenous culture, history and ways of life on Long Island, NY. Below is a list of some of the work that the founders have and continue to be a part of for many years and the work that M.I.C. will continue to support in its capacity.

• Workshops, classes, and programming involving traditional skills (such as language, arts, foodways, etc.).
• Ceremonies.
• Community gatherings and events.
• Research and archival work.
• Inter-tribal and international cultural and knowledge exchange.
• Curriculum development.
• Direct care and support for Elders, youth, and other members of the community.
• Stolen land and artifact repatriation efforts.
• Land and environmental restoration efforts.
• Advocacy and community organizing.
• Fundraising and professional development.
• Outreach and marketing (community building).
• Networking and relationship-building with allies.
• Renewing relationships between land and communities.

The Metoac people, also spelled Matouwack, Metahuock, Metouwacs, is the original name for the collective communities that resided on Long Island, NY. The word is derived from 2 words in the Algonquian language spoken on the Island. They are metah - heart and ohke - land or place, which when combined means Place of the Heart.

Though many of the communities across Long Island spoke different dialects, they all understood each other and could speak the various dialects that spanned the land.

Each community had a governing structure made up of the clan systems, societies, and hereditary roles. The communities were not seen as separate nations but different towns of the same country, if you will. They were not only related by language and culture, but by blood as well.

During the time of contact with Europeans on Long Island, many of the leaders of each community were brothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins of each other. This kinship not only included all of the tribes of Long Island, but also stretched into what is now Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and the Hudson Valley.

The chiefs of that era, known as Sachem, a male chief, and Sunq Squa, a woman chief, were not seen as kings and queens in the European sense. There was no concept of ownership of land or resources. There was no monetary system. Instead, there was an understanding that all of creation had a right to live and that we as human beings were just spiritual visitors in this world. For that reason it was the responsibility of the Chiefs to maintain balance within the bounds of the territory of their people.

The chiefs were responsible for making sure the people were fed, the lands, waters, animals and plants were protected, and the continued sustainability for generations to come.

Over time, and as a result of the application of colonization, the various communities were systematically divided, some extinguished through various methods of genocide, culturally, lawfully, forcefully and physically, as a means to acquire lands. Subsequently, they were recorded as being 13 separate tribes. This made it easier to acquire land by having many people to negotiate with as opposed to one that represented all.

Today, the Indigenous communities of Long Island continue to recognize the kinship across the land regardless of what governmental status they may hold. The Shinnecock Nation, being the only Federally recognized community, the Unkechaug Nation, a State recognized community, the Mattinecock Nation, Montaukett Nation, Setlcott Nation, and others are recognized across the Indigenous communities that have maintained residence on Long Island uninterrupted regardless of recognition by State or Country.

Though the relationships have been strained in an effort to maintain and survive, the understanding of that kinship has never been forgotten.

Cultural preservation comes in many forms. It comes through communities, individuals, historic records, ceremonies, celebrations, connection to nature and through spirit.

Indigenous culture was once outlawed within all of North America for a number of years. This act started on Long Island and in New York as early as the mid to late 1600s and continued until the aftermath of the American Indian Movement, A.I.M. in the 1970s. Due to this, many indigenous communities were forced to push their traditional and ancient teachings underground.

Long Island, is what is known as a "First Contact" area within North America. This means that it was one of the first places that were impacted by European settlement.

That impact resulted in the deterioration of Indigenous culture, language, and history at a noticeably faster rate than areas found in the western part of the continent.

Efforts of cultural preservation have been led by many of our people since this oppression began. Many like Peter John Cuffee, a Shinnecock born in the early 1700s during the "Great Awakening" (a time where Christianity and European society was forced on to indigenous people) who became the first reverend, hid our traditions within the church in an attempt to preserve them for our people. His grandson Paul Cuffee, continued that role in hiding culture in the church.

As time progressed people across Long Island did their best to preserve what they could. Hiding pieces of the puzzle here and there. It became even more difficult as the establishment of the residential schools, which institutionalized the concept found in the Great Awakening, swept the lands.

During that time many people, who are now elders now were taken to those schools. The trauma of those experiences led many to make the decision to withhold traditional teachings from their children and grandchildren in an attempt to protect them from what they had endured. These schools did not end until the 1950s and 60s in the United States, and well into the 1990s in Canada.

Those born after the 1970s are the first generation to be born into a free world where they can choose to be who they are as indigenous people. Each of the founders of M.I.C. fall into this category.

For each of them, cultural preservation is something that is in dire need of being protected, amplified and disseminated amongst the Indigenous communities. They have found ways to gain knowledge in a traditional way in order to pass it on and make it more accessible on Long Island.

Much of this work involves a tremendous amount of healing and reflection, a tremendous amount of forgiveness and understanding, and a willingness to put the work first.

In each of their stories, as well as many others who partake in this work, it required reading historic records, traveling to communities with parts of the puzzle, sitting down with elders over time, self reflection, healing, and engaging community.

This is a work that will go on for generations to come. It is a work that provokes the consideration of those generations that will come after us, just as our ancestors thought of us here today when they passed their teachings ahead.