The Way Of The Ramapough 

If this production reached you at the level you described, that alone has made our efforts worthy of every frame.

My family also derives of Defreese and Mann on my father’s side ❤

We all do our best to walk the Earth and be thankful for the Garden we’re given to tend.

Is he related to Harlan Degroat?

Hopefully, national recognition never occurs. You're culturally appropriating oppressive racists.

They're not. They're LARPers. They used to identify as Tuscarora before then Unami Lenape, and now Munsee Lenape lmao.

I was born a human being, I didn’t have to be taught how to be one. I don’t have enough knowledge to prove it but I have faith that people are for the most part naturally good, and they must be taught to be hateful. An original instruction includes respecting those who don’t agree with you, so bless you brother

@davehughes53 : I am in my 70s and have seen some things.. I agree with you and believe that although born that way that people need to be taught what being a human ( humane ) is. Peace

I will ask Chief Mann to respond to the several questions in the channel directed to him. But in advance of that I can tell you that the Clan owns very little beyond individual homesites. But where and when you might hike across lands of which they have a particular connection, whether by their tradition or by a contemporary ownership stake, if you are respectful of any privacy concerns and of the natural and spiritual values of the landscape, you would be welcomed.

A failure because it whet your appetite for more information? I should fail that often! The lack of federal recognition is a problem, one that the Chief, with our and others' support, is a priority with action being taken. There should not be any implication here that NJ recognition alone is acceptable. In fact, there is such an inventory of abuse, genocide, marginalization, decimation, that to address them all over the course of the Tribe's history since first contact, it would easily overwhelm most viewers. This film is meant as an introduction to the majority of New Jerseyans who know nothing about its indigenous people.

@@njhighlandscoalition as a person who does videos, I suggest that this content was rambling and perhaps too long for what it accomplished. In any case, I am looking for other sources - similar to what is available for descendents of the Jews of Spain who converted to Catholicism but held on to some believes/practices that were leftovers from Judaism. So what stories, remnants etc were passed on. I also am curious about conceptually how a tribe is established under US law. Of course the Lenape were pushed out under colonial law..

They're of European (mainly Dutch) and Black descent. They have nothing to do with Lenapes. They preciously claimed to be Unami Lenape and Tuscarora before that. Now they're claiming to be Munsee Lenape cause they found out that Munsees are native to their land. Any traditions they celebrate were done cause of learning it via Google, not cause of any cultural continuity. Most self-identified "Native Americans" of the East Coast are LARPers (and this is especially true for those in the New York Metro area), the real ones mainly live in Oklahoma and Wisconsin nowadays. There's also some Munsee Lenape people who retained their language living in Ontario.

The archaeologist Ed Lenik, in his book, The Ramapo Mountain People, through his research was able to prove the direct link between those who identify today as the Ramapough Luunape , and live in the Ramapo Mountains between NJ and NY, are in fact, the descendant of the Munsee speaking Native Americans who inhabited the region prior to first contact. The hostility of the displaced Lenape living in Oklahoma and elsewhere is curious, unfortunate and self-serving.

@@elliottruga I think the group in OK e al have not made an issue about the NJ folks as having some Indian genes but rather that they did not retain a tribal structure. In any case the Federal govt does not recognize them so that creates a problem in terms of rights.