I also attended the Delaware Nation powwow this Memorial Day weekend. I saw your fans, your signs and your T-shirts. After the grand ceremony, you were introduced in dramatic fashion for someone who has been absent from this powwow in years previous. I would like to extend the same honor to Chief John Red Eagle of the Osage, who sat through the powwow during the heat of the day to show his support for the Delaware people. There was a brief introduction for him earlier in the day, but nothing like the showboating that occurred for your introduction. If I have omitted someone else who deserves this honor, please correct me. 

Since you seem to have forgotten your manners by campaigning in a non-political arena. I would like to remind you that the powwow is a largely social event – not a means to a political end. My good friend and his family are Delaware and have attended this powwow for years and years. According to them, this was your first visit.

My friend and the rest of the Lenape people would like their rights back. We (the Cherokee) signed a treaty with the Lenape. Usurping another tribe’s resources while holding them in a patronizing, patriarchal and colonial bond is sickly ironic. Why perpetuate and re-inscribe these colonial attitudes? Political gain, land, votes?  Just curious. 

Cicely Fanning
Tulsa, Okla.