BY MARK POWLESS, OUR WAYS DIRECTOR, INDIAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL
Being a member of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy, I have come to understand that the United States’ founding fathers looked to our form of democracy as a model to draw from for the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. The Iroquois Confederacy continues to operate on the foundational principles of diplomacy and consensus.
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Of course, the operation of diplomacy and democracy can look different than the idea of it. And not all democracies choose to look to the strengths of the women and the children when making decisions, to seek a collective wellness that incorporates our natural world along with the people on it.
These ideals play out at Indian Community School. Because language and culture revitalization are the heart of our school, we have a dedicated Our Ways room and staff who ensure that Native languages and cultures are a part of everything we do.
