Purchase of Manhattan is featured in two great articles today, one in Epoch Times ("Debunking the Myth of the Manhattan Purchase" by Arleen Richards) and another in the Our Time Press ("Lenape's Griot Voices: Of Truth They Sing" by Bernice Elizabeth Green). Check out these two great features, that give part of the back story on the formation of Lenape Center and how the new concert opera came about!
"...The concert opera is the first step in the Lenape Center’s goal toward 'creating a better world for generations to come.' A common understanding for Native Americans is to take actions that will benefit their people for seven generations to come, emphasizing long-term goals that will ultimately benefit their grandchildren..." (Epoch Times).
"...In a sense, 'Purchase of Manhattan' is responding to Lenape ancestral calls for justice echoing through time–from the Marble congregation’s reaction to the price of the ticket at $24, which benefits the establishment of the 'bricks and mortar' Lenape Cultural Center in Manhattan where, Mr. [Joe] Baker says, 'young Lenape people can come to their ancestral homeland. Such a point of reference does not exist now. Now, these many years later, we are back in contact again. As Lenape people, we look beyond boundaries as a way to envision and secure our relevance in a changing world. I have always felt we can best understand our present realities if we understand our history.' So from this production, a new Lenape village center will grow on Manhattan island. 'And that return to our ancestral island takes shape in the form of this platform, this center, for the Lenape today,' Baker said..." (Our Time Press, p6).
"...The concert opera is the first step in the Lenape Center’s goal toward 'creating a better world for generations to come.' A common understanding for Native Americans is to take actions that will benefit their people for seven generations to come, emphasizing long-term goals that will ultimately benefit their grandchildren..." (Epoch Times).
"...In a sense, 'Purchase of Manhattan' is responding to Lenape ancestral calls for justice echoing through time–from the Marble congregation’s reaction to the price of the ticket at $24, which benefits the establishment of the 'bricks and mortar' Lenape Cultural Center in Manhattan where, Mr. [Joe] Baker says, 'young Lenape people can come to their ancestral homeland. Such a point of reference does not exist now. Now, these many years later, we are back in contact again. As Lenape people, we look beyond boundaries as a way to envision and secure our relevance in a changing world. I have always felt we can best understand our present realities if we understand our history.' So from this production, a new Lenape village center will grow on Manhattan island. 'And that return to our ancestral island takes shape in the form of this platform, this center, for the Lenape today,' Baker said..." (Our Time Press, p6).
RSS Feed
