By Stewart Huntington, ICT News
Stewart Huntington:
Janiyakuha Webster is a counselor ushering Stockbridge-Munsee students from their reservation in what is now Wisconsin to visit for the first time their ancestral homelands in what is now New York and Massachusetts. She wants to share with the youth something she experienced on the land.
Janiyakuha Webster:
Yeah, my first experience here was definitely like a wave that hit me. It was something that I couldn’t really explain, but it was definitely like it feels really good to be here. And I know the kids here too also feel that way.
Stewart Huntington:
In July, Webster made the 17-hour drive from Bowler, Wisconsin, with nine youths, to visit territory their ancestors were driven from nearly two centuries ago. It was the third year for the Youth Visitation Project, founded by Shawn Stephens through his organization, Red Road Reclamation.
Shawn Stephens:
Bringing them back to get in touch with our ancestral lands. We all grew up in Wisconsin, most of us never setting foot out here, especially in my generation. When I was younger, 99% of our people have never been out here. We are trying hard to help reclaim that identity, reclaim our culture, reclaim our languages, reclaim our children who are lost in the system.
Stewart Huntington:
Stephens too wanted to share something profound he experienced on his first visit to the homelands many years ago.
Shawn Stephens:
It just seemed very magical. When I came, it just felt like the ancestors were — you could feel them all around. Almost like, driving down the road, it’s almost like you could see them kind of peeking around the trees or something, watching us and happy that we were here. I couldn’t really…
The exhibit tells the story of Lunáapeew/Lenape “knowledge-keepers and culture bearers about their relationships to their ancestral homelands.”Photo courtesy of Prospect Park Alliance 
