By Joanne Shenandoah

Se: ko ska: ne: go: wa (may a great peace be within you) to all graduates, family, friends, and faculty of Wells College. As a citizen of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, I am honored to be with you at this special event—a day that marks a major milestone in your lives.

You have devoted important years of your lives toward the acquisition of knowledge. Now it is your responsibility to apply that wisdom toward securing a world that is defined by peace and harmony among human beings and the natural world.

Long ago, our prophet Skennenrehowl walked among the Iroquois in this very region, bringing a message of hope that there is an alternative to strife and a way to live in balance with Mother Earth, that peace is the highest of human endeavors and may be achieved through governments that have as their basis a constitutional respect for all living things as well as a lawful obligation to preserve our world for those yet unborn.

It was our Peacemaker who taught us that our grandchildren unto the seventh generation in the future had a right to clean air, pure waters, and fertile soils. Our leaders were prohibited from enacting any law that might adversely effect those unborn. We live together on this living being we call our mother, and it is good and proper we treat her with utmost respect.

We were also taught to honor those whom we call the Lifegivers, the women of the earth, for they have been given the greatest of gifts.

It is also the responsibility of the men to ensure that Lifegivers have physical security and to work with women in partnership so they, under natural law, will have their voices heard.

Among all peoples of the world it was here, in Iroquois territory, that women enjoyed the highest degree of liberty; and it was our female ancestors who had a profound influence on the women’s suffrage movement in America.

It is with this spirit of freedom and mutual respect that I stand before you today. I ask you, in the name of our respective nations, to work together to forge a new understanding that will enable our peoples to live in peace. I appeal to your sense of reason to create a new day and place where our children can live together in harmony as our Peacemaker foretold.

Our traditional leaders are defined by their humility, generosity, and kindness. These values I ask you to adopt as you move about your life’s journey. By acting in a thankful manner, all you seek will be revealed to you. Be patient. Be sensitive. Be truthful and respect the counsel of your elders.

We are taught all living things have a right to exist in their natural state and that each one of us has a particular gift or talent that, if applied, makes for a stable community.

When I was a child I was given the name Tekaliwha: kwa (She Sings) and have been fortunate to come from a family that encouraged me to pursue my love of music. It is the gift I have been given to communicate across cultural, national, and ethnic lines. I would like to begin this new era in your lives by honoring you with a song. The words translate to this:

Awaken, stand up and be counted. We are being recognized in the spirit world. We are responsible for ourselves, our families, and our nation.

As a woman of the 21st century, you can reflect on the women who came before you; and you can influence those who will come after you. I wish you peace, love, and continued success as you experience your celebration of life. Congratulations!

Delivered on Saturday, May 26, 2001, on the Wells College campus