2022-04-22 Sustainability Symposium Keynote

Hereditary Chief of Schaghticoke People, Advocate for rights of Indigenous peoples, Focused on issues surrounding cultural heritage, education, and tribal sovereignty 

HawkStorm has worked in absolving issues surrounding economic and social development along with human rights and environmental justice through participating in the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Along with leading People’s Climate marches in 2014 and 2017, he also works to strengthen unity among East Coast indigenous tribes such as the United Confederation of Taino People and the Ramapough Lenape Tribal Nation of New Jersey amongst others. 

“Schaghticoke,” meaning the “mingling of waters,” signifies the joining of rivers. The ancestral homelands of the Schaghticoke people are present in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and throughout the Harlem and Hudson valley regions of New York State. Although not federally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the tribe has been recognized by the state of Connecticut for the past 300 years. Schaghticoke First Nations is governed by a Tribal Constitution and has established a separate  501c3 non-profit entity called Schaghticoke First Nations Inc.