THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 23, 1994 TAG: 9410210311
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GREG GOLDFARB, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
It's simply called, ``the circle of life.''
And to most American Indians, if the spirit of their lost loved ones is disturbed, that sacred circle is broken - that is, until the circle is rejoined.
That's why I. Michael Cloud-Butler, an Oceana Gardens resident and full-blooded American Indian, appeared before the Virginia Beach Human Rights Commission Wednesday night. He informed members of his plans to reinter the remains of dozens of indigenous Native Americans who lived in what is now Great Neck, thousands of years ago.
``There is, indeed, a movement today to regain the remains,'' Cloud-Butler told the commissioners. ``We have acted in the best interest of people who lived here so long ago.''
Cloud-Butler, a general contractor and member of northern Wisconsin's Lac Court Oreilles band of Ojibwe Indians, told the group that the bones are being stored in Richmond, until the question of who has legal rights to them is resolved. He would like to return them to the Great Neck area.
Discovered about 10 years ago behind John B. Dey Elementary School on Great Neck Road, near Long Creek and what is now residential development, the remains are those of men, women and children who may have inhabited the area by the hundreds, or thousands, as recently as the 1500s and 1600s, and as long ago as 11,500 years.
Now, however, even with an American Indian population in Virginia Beach which may be in the thousands, including those serving here in the military, most people in the community pay little attention to the local American Indian culture.
``A lot of people are not even aware of its existence,'' Cloud-Butler said.
After the meeting, Commissioner Beatriz Amberman said even though November has officially been designated nationwide as ``Native American Month,'' very few people even know it, much less observe it. And that includes local public schools.
``The Native Americans have been forgotten,'' she said. ``You don't see much about their culture at all. And I know that the focus of all the studies (in public schools) is about the dwellings and what type of life they led. There's no mention of a particular site in a city.''
Amberman suggested that in the years ahead, city tourism officials consider producing some activities during November to honor Native Americans.
The remains in question belong to members of the ``Chesapeake'' tribe, Cloud-Butler said. It was part of Virginia's Powhatan Confederacy until the confederacy attacked and killed most, if not all, of the Chesapeake tribe members as they fled for their lives. The Chesapeake tribe - the only tribe ever known to inhabit Virginia Beach - settled in a village near Great Neck. Neighboring tribes were no closer than 40 to 60 miles away.
Cloud-Butler, who said he'll continue to offer the commission updates on his efforts, asked the advisory body not for funds, but for support for his work to establish a permanent marker at the site, which would be the first of its kind in Hampton Roads, he said. by CNB