71.) It is a Haudenosaunee teaching, that we are not to join groups, or divide ourselves into groups. And what the late Haudenosaunee Chief Jake Thomas had to say about it. (7 min. read)

 This is one of the Haudenosaunee teachings that the old people would always say. Along with "NO CHANGE".

It is a warning, that we are not supposed to break up into groups within the Haudenosaunee circle, or join groups outside the Haudenosaunee circle.

I've been talking to various Haudenosaunee people and we always seem to be coming to the same conclusion when we are viewing a situation. The current situation, is when our people are breaking up into groups or joining groups.

These groups can be something as benign as joining the Rotery Club or something as bad as joining the "warriors", "men's fire", "indian act- band councils" of Canada or the Bureau of Indian Affairs "Tribal governments" in the United States. 

Anytime a Haudenosaunee joins these groups, they are immediately removing themselves from the Circle of the Haudenosaunee. They are violating the Two Row Treaty, by taking themselves out of the Indian canoe and putting themselves into the white man's boat. They are no longer Haudenosaunee by their own choosing, they take themselves out. Immediately, they can no longer speak or act on behalf of the Haudenosaunee. They have left Our Circle and leave all rights, identity and protections of the Haudenosunee behind.

One of the dangers that can happen in these groups, is first- the people in the group start to think things, that would be harmful to the people. They would never have had these thoughts, if they never separated into this group, away from the People. Then secondly, that negitive thinking can continue, causing the people in this group, to start saying things and talking about things that are harmful to the people. And again, they never would have talked about these things that are harmful to the people, if they had never formed or joined this group. And then thirdly, the uncontrollable final step of these groups, is they actually start doing things that are harmful to the people. And they would never have started to do these harms to the people, children and coming generations, if they had never joined that group or formed that group to begin with.

And once people separate into these groups and start doing harmful things to the people, it can be so hard for them to stop this harmful behavior. And this can cause long term anger, fear and resentment for all, once it becomes known and the people start telling them to stop doing their harmful behavior.

Many times, the formation of these type of groups are well-meaning. But we have come to learn that eventually, they no longer have control over themselves. They have lost direction, as they are no longer connected to, or in the Haudenosaunee Circle

Next, I want to talk about something that the late Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chief Jake Thomas told me about how we are not supposed to break up into groups or join groups. His example centers on the instructions that there should only be one Singing Society on each of the Haudenosaunee Territories. I'm not making that judgment here. I'm simply relating the words of the late Chief Jake Thomas, as he expressed them to me, on the subject of Singing Societies and his example to show why we are not to break up into groups or join groups.

Jake related to me the following that happened on one of our territories. Two young girls grew up near each other, playing together as children and started going to school together. Walking with each other to school, and in class together. Going through the years of schooling and getting into teenagers years. These two girls were close like this, their whole lives. Best of friends. In this territory, there were two women Singing Society groups. Somewhere in their young adult life, one of the young women joined one of those Singing Societies in that territory. Her friend did not join that group, for no apparent reason. But a little later on, the other friend joined the other women's Singing Society in the same territory. And Jake said that for no reason, other than they had joined different singing societies, these two best friends started to grow apart and eventually stopped speaking to each other. Eventually, for no apparent reason, other than being in different singing societies, these two women became mad at each other and never spoke to each other again, for the rest of their lives.

As Haudenosaunee people, we know that once we grab a hold of something, we can never let it go completely. I heard this from Jake Thomas, from the Navajo, the Hopi, the people of the Pueblos and other indigenous people across the americas.

I believe that I am not saying anything that we don't already know. I'm relating this information as always, for your consideration and discussion within your circle.