In Snitows and Kaufmans documentary some George Washington students and their parents argue that the images on the walls are a relic of the past and not history, that they instill a sense of trauma and shame and ought to be eradicated. The Mohawks saw the colonial settlements in violation of the Proclamation Line and trespassers in their territory. Conotocaurius (Town Destroyer, Seneca: Handaganyas) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois peoples in 1753. orA.I. Not all U.S. presidents are missed once they leave the White House. Hundreds perished of starvation, disease and exposure a Haudenosaunee Trail of Tears. I Didnt Seeis more philosophical than biographical, a meditation on an apart-ness the filmmaker grapples with on numerous levels (including I wonder if I feel more than other people). Separating the Red and Blue. They told us they must have the whole: That it was already ceded to them by the great King at the time of making peace with you, and was their own. Few visitors to the museum had ever heard of the Sullivan Campaign, or knew that most of New York state was our original homeland. How did we get here after 50 years, during which span a majority of Americans came to support abortion access? We have already said how we came to join against you. Paul Chaa, a curator at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C., calls romanticism a form of racism and observes that Americans have a secret obsession with Native Americans.One hundred years ago, D. H. Lawrence noted that white people aimed to extirpate Indians and then glorified them. To the Irouqois, General George Washington was Ha-no-da-ga-nears, which means Town Destroyer, and this remained the name they gave to all Presidents of the United States. Snitow and Kaufman try to walk a fine line and to offer a balanced perspective in their 58-minute documentary which includes on camera interviews with well known historians such as UCLA Professor Robin D. G. Kelley, plus famed San Francisco muralist Dewey Crumpler, along with community activists, local political figures, members of Indians tribes close to home and from far away. The Iroquois, whose tribes had lined up on both sides of the conflict, were too distracted by their own internal divisions to see the crisis coming. Thus he claimed the whole country North of Pensylvania and west of the Lands belonging to the Cayugas. Commissioned in the late 1960s to create a mural at George Washington High School titled Multi-Ethnic Heritage, Crumpler honors Blacks and Indians. 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Wed. Nov. 9thBenefit forCalifornia Institute for Community, Arts & Nature Q & A with filmmakers + speakers TBA. For GWs reply, see GW to the Seneca Chiefs, 29 Dec. 1790. JavaScript is disabled. Pennsylvania Archives. ERKURIES BEATTY, OF THE 4TH PENN LINE. . You told us say they, that the line drawn from Pensylvania, to lake Ontario, would mark it for ever on the East, and the line running from Beaver Creek, to Pensylvania, would mark it on the west; and we see that it is not so. It has also been translated as "Town Taker", "Burner of Towns", "Devourer of Villages", or "he destroys the town". with filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman"Town Destroyer the Art of Controversy". Well, OK, a few personalities here do seem driven by things other than (or in addition to) moral uprightness, such as the founder of an SF-based group who says Im perfectly aligned with mainstream feminism aside from the abortion issue. Still, she grew up in a religious cult and seems to have some, er, issueslike the kind of inordinate fondness for picking verbal fights with total strangers that can lead to fanaticism, and/or Fox News punditry. The current dispute over monuments in the US is not new. It involved members of both the Susquehannah and the Piscataway, an Algonquian tribe that lived across the Potomac River from Mount Vernon. "It was disastrous to the Iroquois," says Barbara Graymont, author of The Iroquois in the American Revolution. George Washington for sure had that nickname. America's love affair with mass murderers has a long history - whether it unfolds as empathizing with Ted Bundy or as the canonization of town destroyer George Washington as a founding father . Full schedule and info here. George "Town Destroyer" Washington Hulton Archive/Getty Images The first president holds the leftmost spot on the Mount Rushmore memorial carving, the center of the US one-dollar bill, and a controversial spot in the hearts of the indigenous people of America. The title by which Washington was known to Native nations, Handaga:yas or Town Destroyer, was one he inherited from his great-grandfather, John Washington, a slave-owning planter and colonel in the Virginia militia who, during Bacon's Rebellion of 1676, had the chiefs of several tribes killed. In his orders to campaign leader Major General John Sullivan (after whom Sullivan Street in Manhattan is named), he wrote: The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. At the time Cornplanter and the other Seneca presented their address to GW, Phelps was in Philadelphia negotiating with Robert Morris about selling the preemption rights to the residual four million acres of the Phelps-Gorham purchase. Crushed power. Others, like the Mohawk, fought with their longstanding allies, the British. They became our fathers, and took care of us. An Arab stallion with a light grey . And he said also that it did not belong to us for that the great King had ceded the whole of it when you made peace with him. In Town Destroyer, the filmmakers focus on the image of a dead Indian lying face down on the ground while settlers with guns stand close-by. TOWN DESTROYER less than 1 minute read To the Irouqois, General George Washington was Ha-no-da-ga-nears, which means Town Destroyer, and this remained the name they gave to all Presidents of the United States. It also illuminates a work of. (The Iroquois dubbed him Town Destroyer.) But some present-day students, parents, and observers found those depictions racially offensive, calling for the work to be removed or destroyed. He told the council of the murder of the husband of his wifes sister by a white man four years earlier, the robbery of his company at Cat Fish (Washington, Pa.) while returning from the treaty at Fort Harmar in early 1789, and the murder of his nephew by a white man in the winter of 178990 (Pa. Archives, description begins Samuel Hazard et al., eds. Privacy Policy Contact. Plus: 'I Didn't See You There' on disability, 'Battleground' on abortion, and 'Good Night Oppy' on cute little Mars rovers. Do this and so long2 as the Land shall remain that beloved name shall live in the heart of every Senecca. fort Stanwix, commissioners from Pensylvania, told our chiefs, that they had come there to purchase from us, all the Lands belonging to us within the lines of their State, and they told us that their line would strike the river Susquehanna below Tioga branch. Bay Guardian Archives January 31, 2023. "When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you Hanadagyas (Town Destroyer): and to this day when that name is heard our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the necks of their mothers. His great-grandson lived up to the name of Town Destroyer in his treatment of Indigenous nations both during and after the Revolutionary War (177583). The Presidency of George Washington spanned the period in United States history that encompasses the events of the New Nation. UCLA Professor Kelley adds that its not about choosing sides and that no one person or group can tell the story.. George Washington is a polarizing character in American Indian history. Just an hour long, Snitow and Kaufman's documentary offers a fascinating overview of a case that encapsulates many of the bitterest divisions of our era. This is an analysis of a controversy that was all over the local and national news not so long ago even if it seems very long ago, as it was just-pre-COVID. By the standards of the era, the work was indeed pretty progressive in content, mixing a standard, celebratory depiction of early US history with images that clearly indicted treatment of Native Americans, the institution of slavery, and so forth. In August and September, the Sullivan campaign resumed with multiple attacks against the Cayuga and Seneca Nations with the army again killing Haudenosaunee people and destroying their villages. Gil Herkimer Roads to Niagara Year 2000 Categories: facts, texts Updated:May 29, 2004 Share on TwitterFacebookLinkedInPreviousNext What they agreed to has bound our nation. 5.Samuel Street, reportedly born in New England, kept a store at Niagara. The elder Washington's reputation was remembered and when they met his great-grandson in 1753 they called George Washington by the same name, Conotocarious.[2][3]. He paid us two thousand & five hundred dollars in hand part of the Ten thousand, and he sent for us last Spring to come and receive our money; but instead of paying us the remainder of the Ten Thousand dollars, and the one thousand dollars due for the first year, he offered us no more than five hundred dollars, and insisted he had agreed with us for that sum only to be paid yearly. Speak plainly to us concerning this great business. And god knows he doesnt care about anyone elses rights. 48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submithere. When a circus tent gets erected in his Oakland neighborhood, it causes him to muse on the legacy of the freak show, and how his own status as a differently-abled person echoes both the conspicuousness and invisibility of those whose physicality makes them societal outliers. The exploration vehicle/device dubbed Opportunity was sent into space in 2003, landed on the Red Planet six months later, and sent a steady stream of photos and intel back to NASA long after. After fighting with the Haudenosaunee in the French and Indian War, the colonists called upon the Haudenosaunee to a meeting at Ft. Pitt in 1775 to ask in their aide in the upcoming revolution against the British. START or Stop: Do Nuclear Weapons Treaties Matter? But your anger against us must by this time be cooled, and altho our Strength has not encreased nor your power become less we ask you to consider calmly were the terms dictated to us reasonable and just? 3.By the terms of the Second Treaty of Fort Stanwix, completed in October 1784, the Six Nations agreed to relinquish a small tract of land in western New York and all that part of Pennsylvania north and west of the Indian boundary established by the First Treaty of Fort Stanwix of 1768, an area including all of the land in Pennsylvania west of the Allegheny River. Hear us once more. In Wolf Nation, my 2019 exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, I marked the 240th anniversary of Washingtons ruthless invasion with an augmented reality version of this work. Filmmaker Alan Snitow stands in front of an audience after a screening of the film Town Destroyer at the Little Roxie Theater in San Francisco Calif., on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. A Living New Deal Webinar. The French came among us and built Niagara. In his general perspective and frequent logistical frustrations, his movie provides a challenge to the complacency of the able-bodied, and a chance to experience a very different relationship towards the external world. Yet to this day, the Iroquois (more properly, the Haudenosaunee) call Washington Conotocaurius, or "Town Destroyer." His army razed their well-constructed, permanent villages and laid waste to huge quantities of their food. One commentary points out that by excluding the face of the Indian, the artist has respected the identity and the spirit of the dead person. This devastating history has been papered over with myth, in a familiar national narrative established by writers such as James Fenimore Cooper, whose father, like Washington, was a successful speculator in Native land. You must log in or register to reply here. Would You Pay to Live in Facebooks Metaverse? It might also illuminate Arnautoffs murals that roiled The City and the nation. In recent times, probably no San Francisco news story has traveled as far or as wide as the story about Victor Arnautoffs murals which subvert the myths and depict the life of George Washington as a foe of the Iroquois and an owner of Black slaves. History first: in 1779, three years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and in the thick of a violent revolution, Washington ordered the total destruction and devastation of Iroquois villages allied with King George. Innocent men of our nation are killed one after another, and of our best families: But none of your people who have committed the murders have been punished. The National Historical Publications and To him we gave four miles round Niagara, as a place of Trade. The voice of the Senecca Nation speaks to you the great Councillor, in whose heart, the wise men of the thirteen fires, have placed their wisdom. The film highlights the debate about controversial murals at George Washington High School. In 2019, he had a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA. On the one hand, things were said like If you support this mural, you have a colonized mentality and (on a signboard) Stop Protecting White Supremacy. On the other, the whole situation was termed identity politics gone off the rails, and the suggestion that the murals were traumatizing an easy way to justify the erasure of things you dont like.. Streets mission to New York probably contributed to GWs decision to send Timothy Pickering on a special mission to pacify the Seneca a few weeks later. It may be very small in your ears, & we therefore entreat you to hearken with attention. On this edition of Your Call, we rebroadcast our discussion about Town Destroyer, a documentary that focuses on murals at San Francisco's George Washington High School, which praise Washington and critically depict him overseeing his slaves and directing the bloody seizure of Native lands. Wanting to remain neutral but forced to choose sides, some Haudenosaunee nations fought alongside the colonists during the war. We told you we would open our hearts to you. Several of the latter have a Bay Area slant, notably two opening this Fri/4 at SFs Roxie Theater. After Phelps departure the Seneca made another speech to GW accusing Phelps of fraud and of defaulting on the terms of the 1788 agreement (see Seneca Chiefs to GW, 10 Jan. 1791). We know that you are strong and we have heard that you are wise; and we wait to hear your answer to what we have said that we may know that you are just. Conotocaurius (Town Destroyer) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois Native Americans in 1753. But the conflict revealed particularly ugly ideological divides, as amply shown inTown Destroyer. Our chiefs were unable to contend at that time, & therefore they sold the Lands up to the line which was then shewn to them as the line of that State. The chiefs remained in Philadelphia until GW arrived in Philadelphia and Congress reconvened. Few people are more revered in the U.S. American lexicon than George Washington. Town Destroyer will shed new light on our first president. According to its production company: "TOWN DESTROYER explores how to look at art and history at a time of polarized national debate over the power of images, racism, trauma, and what . The founder of the San Francisco Jewish Festival and its director for 13 years, Kaufman teamed up with Alan Snitow, the former news director at KPFA, to make Blacks and Jews in 1997, Secrets of Silicon Valley in 2001, and this year Town Destroyer which premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival. Town Destroyer opens Fri/4 at the Roxie, with the filmmakers and special guests present at all shows. The 77-minute film is entirely shot from his POV as a person navigating everyday life from a motorized wheelchair. Roxie Theater: Town Destroyer - Mission Local Gunman robs taco truck at 14th & Harrison at lunch hour Wind splits giant sequoia that may date to 1884 90-unit Irving St. housing OKed despite toxin fears Local news needs you! Now Arnautoffs Works Progress Administration murals were being decried for depicting slavery and tribal genocide at all, something now criticized as triggering. Our Chiefs had felt your power & were unable to contend against you and they therefore gave up that Country. description ends Colonial ser., 16:5078). The story focuses on a dispute over historic murals depicting the life of George Washington: slaveowner, general, land speculator, President, and a man Seneca leaders called "Town Destroyer" after he ordered their villages destroyed during the Revolutionary War. should Doyle be convicted, there was little doubt of his being capitally punished (Pa. Archives, description begins Samuel Hazard et al., eds. Degrowth or Debunk: Do Degrowth proponents have a strategy? Town Destroyer; George Washington/Nicknames. As one observer puts it, Nuance is sort of a quaint notion now.The Life of Washingtonwas intended as a teaching toolbut are only positive lessons allowed now, even when history itself was cruel and unfair? Chief Cornplanter, who headed the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois, stressed "And to this day when that name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, For my 2018 video installation Handaga:yas (Town Destroyer), I projected video referencing this scorched-earth campaign onto a replica portrait bust of Washington. Alan Michelson, Handaga:yas (Town Destroyer), 2019, video, bonded stone Houdon replica bust, antique surveyor's tripod, artificial turf, sound, 190 183 cm. In sentence 4 Cornplanter's reference to Washington as "the Town-destroyer" recalls a time during the American Revolution (1779) when he ordered the burning of Seneca villages. When you gave us peace we called you father, because you promised to secure us in the possession of our Land.