From the time that Skywoman fell
North America was on a turtle shell
Native people were free to roam
Turtle Island, our natural home.
Since 1492 we see and saw
Treaties that are still the law
The list is long and tattered too
So this is if you never knew,
The first ones were legal deeds
Two separate lines in wampum beads
Distinct ways, words, and ceremony
Governance and territory.
John Jay’s Treaty (article 3) of 1794*
Was also known as so much more
Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation
Recognized a sovereign nation
The border we called the ‘medicine line’
A margin of colonial design
The 1812 Washington treaty
Guaranteed our right to cross freely
1814 (article 9) Treaty of Ghent*
Reaffirmed what sovereignty meant
Three treaties that still recognize
Native people did not colonize
Again a treaty in 1842
Re-reaffirmed what we always knew
Another Washington treaty that would enforce
Our inherent right to cross of course
July 14, 1928
IDLA made no debate
Inherent rights to cross their line
Confirmed in Article 3* and Article 9*
In mid-July every year
There’s a crossing, you may hear
Autonomous homelands, our steps display
Within Canada and the USA
Inherent first, and treaty right
To cross their border, day and night
At the Whirlpool Bridge near the Falls you’ll see
Our people practice Sovereignty
