Teyotsihstokwathe Dakota Brant: Native Knowledge 360° — Transcript

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1. 0:06Greetings everyone. My name is DJ Just
2. 0:08Dakota Brandt. My Mohawk name means uh
3. 0:10she makes the stars shine. I'm a member
4. 0:13of the Mohawk Nation Turtle Clan from
5. 0:14Six Nations of the Grand River
6. 0:15Territory. I am the four times great
7. 0:18granddaughter of Kindenega Captain
8. 0:20Joseph Brandt who is the brother of
9. 0:23Molly Brandt Guji Jayeni uh making me a
10. 0:26four times great niece of Guji Jayeni.
11. 0:30So in Hudini society our land holdings
12. 0:33and our identities as individuals comes
13. 0:36from our mothers. So I'm a member of the
14. 0:38Mohawk Nation and the Turtle Clan
15. 0:40because my mother is a Mohawk Nation and
16. 0:42Turtle Clan woman. your clan and what
17. 0:45your clan was was central to your life,
18. 0:47who your relatives are, who your
19. 0:48brothers and sisters are, because
20. 0:50members of your clan are your brothers
21. 0:52and sisters.
22. 0:54Molly Brandt was a member of the Mohawk
23. 0:56Nation, Wolf Clan, um born and raised in
24. 0:58the Mohawk Valley, and her family was a
25. 1:00part of the um the the Gunnar community.
26. 1:04There's so little written about Molly
27. 1:06Brandt herself, but we do understand
28. 1:08about Molly, her influence in history by
29. 1:13way of association of her brother,
30. 1:14Joseph Brandt, who was a strong ally to
31. 1:16the British during the American
32. 1:18Revolution, and then also her husband,
33. 1:20Sir William Johnson, who was the
34. 1:21superintendent of Indian affairs for the
35. 1:23Northern Colonies. She's right there.
36. 1:24She's his confidant, you know, she's she
37. 1:28is his access to the Mohawk nation as
38. 1:30well, too. She's grew up among her
39. 1:32people. She's very much an asset to her
40. 1:34people in having the ear of Sir William
41. 1:36Johnson when it came to the needs and
42. 1:38the wants of the Mohawk people
43. 1:39themselves. So during the American
44. 1:41Revolution, um the Mohawks in the Mohawk
45. 1:44Valley at that period fought under
46. 1:46Joseph Brandt and Molly's brother and
47. 1:50they were allied to the British during
48. 1:52the American Revolution. And so at that
49. 1:55time we ended up having losses to our
50. 1:58property and our holdings within our own
51. 2:00ancestral territories because those
52. 2:02things were became taken over by the
53. 2:04Americans.
54. 2:06So after the American Revolution is
55. 2:07where my family found themselves
56. 2:09migrating to and living along the Grand
57. 2:11River in six nations of the Grand River
58. 2:13territory and were effectively refugees
59. 2:15of the American Revolution. We're war
60. 2:17refugees and that's how we ended up in
61. 2:18Canada today. The Mohawk Nation itself
62. 2:20is and will always be the Mohawk Nation.
63. 2:23Having a border separating Mohawks in
64. 2:25Canada from Mohawks in the United States
65. 2:27is not something that's ever broken up
66. 2:29our relationship with Mohawks that
67. 2:31continue to live down here. I think of
68. 2:33Molly a lot as somebody's powerful,
69. 2:36resilient, um political, somebody who
70. 2:38knew her mind and knew what she wanted
71. 2:40for herself, her family, and for her
72. 2:42people. Being able to have that kind of
73. 2:44200 plus year um history or
74. 2:46understanding of my of my family history
75. 2:48is just something I've always been very
76. 2:49proud of.