Mohawk activist, writer mourned

Page R1

He was a great teacher and patient with the young.

Simple words to describe Louis Karoniaktnjeh Hall, one of the greatest Mohawk activists of this century. But words that honor the man who prove for unity among his people, and all the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Karoniaktnjeh, 76, died suddenly of a heart attach at his home in Kahnawake on Dec. 120. The writer, artist and poet was a guiding force in the League of Indian

Sovereign Nations and the designer of the red and yellow unity flag. Karoniaktnjeh was instrumental in the establishment of Ganiekeh territory, in northern New York State, which he considered one of his major achievements.

Karoniaktnjeh had put the final touches on his autobiography Tale of One Mohawk the day before he died, said life-long friend Kahn-Tinenta Horn. He also had written the Warriors Handbook and Rebuilding the Iroquois Confederacy.

"He was very dedicated to the Nation. He spent his whole life enhancing the life of Indian people, she said. "He was a genius, one of those people that was sent to us with a gift and he dedicated his entire life to sharing it."

Karoniaktnjeh was an expert on the Great Law of Peace, the Constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy. He advocated Indians calling themselves nations rather than tribes, lands as territories instead of reservations.

Horn spent the previous day and evening in the Mohawk Nation Longhouse with other mourners celebrating Karoniaktnjeh's life.

":He believed in the importance of dancing and singing as a way to build the spirit. He liked watching the young people dance - he said it was rejuvenating," Horn added.

Karoniaktnjeh was buried with full honors at Kahnawake Dec. 13.