eNewsChannels COLUMN: The following are my personal observations after 12 years of in-depth study of the Mayflower Pilgrims, a 20-year extensive involvement with visionary Native Americans throughout the United States and Mexico and the Bushmen of the Kalahari in Africa.
The origin story of the first 50 years of the Plymouth Colony has been out of balance since people first starting telling it. It has been out of balance because it has lacked an understanding of the American Indian who first inhabited these lands and who the Mayflower Pilgrims met upon their arrival here.
The pendulum has now swung the other way.
First the story glorified the Pilgrims and left out the Indian. Now it is “politically correct” to debunk the Pilgrims and subsequent founders of the United States and demonize them as villains in an effort to honor the Indian. I believe that this swing of the pendulum in both directions is a result of misunderstanding and misinformation:
The idea that it was solely the Anglo-Saxon who gave birth to the “American Mind” and the “American Spirit” is in my observance inappropriate and inaccurate. That Anglo-Saxon ideals were a leading driving force in forming a new nation based on self-governance is undeniable. The Pilgrims arrived with these ideals as articulated in The Mayflower Compact, which they drafted in the cabin of the Mayflower before their first landing in Provincetown. What is missing from the equation is:
a. The relationship of the Mayflower Pilgrims with the Wampanoags for the first 50 years of Plymouth Plantation’s existence – driven by the inspired vision of the Pilgrim leaders and the Wampanoag chief, Massasoit.
b. The role that Native American thought has played in the evolution of the ideals which became the Constitution of the United States.
c. The importance to the future of what the Native Americans are carrying in their understanding of the nature of the universe.
d. The role played by the many diverse cultures who subsequently came to the New World.
Article is Copr. © 2010, 2011 by Connie Baxter Marlow. eNewsChannels.com. All rights reserved.
Connie Baxter Marlow, filmmaker, photographer, writer and speaker is a futurist who feels she has discovered missing pieces to the prevailing paradigm. For 15 years she has been creating forums for dissemination of this missing information primarily through the voices of visionary indigenous elders. She has been speaking at colleges, universities, high schools and independent events around the country on a variety of inspirational topics. Her unique worldview gives her a positive, uplifting approach to history, current events and possible solutions that is inspiring. More: http://www.theamericanevolution.com .
