WALKING TOGETHER: The Great Law of Peace and American Democracy

Hatueyael José Barreiro is a novelist, essayist, journalist, and activist. He was born in Jayama, Camagüey Province, Cuba, and resides on the Akwesasne (St. Regis Mohawk) reservation located between (lands presently known as) the state of New York, USA, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Québec. He is a member of the Taíno Nation. His four-decade career is dedicated to sociocultural issues and the defense and well-being of Indigenous peoples of the American hemisphere. He was a editor-in-chief of Akwe:kon Press/Native Americas at Cornell University, served as director of historical and cultural research and director of the Office for Latin America at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and was senior editor of Indian Country Today. José has published hundreds of articles in magazines, newspapers, anthologies, newsletters, and specialized publications on the subject of American indigeneity.

Kiohawiton Beverly Cook (Mohawk, Wolf Clan) is a family nurse practitioner who served four consecutive terms as an elected tribal Chief for the Akwesasne Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe. Her work is focused on supporting community-oriented organizations. She advocates for trauma-informed practices and holistic mind-body-spirit approaches to restoring wellness, reproductive health, and environmental justice for the Akwesasne Mohawk people. A traditional and ceremonialist, Beverly ran for Chief of the elected council so she could make institutional and policy changes in the community’s healthcare system. She takes a communal approach to making decisions and believes in including all sectors of the community – youth, adults, and Elders – in both policy and practice.

Tekatsi:tsia’kwa Katsi Cook is an Ohnwehón:we traditional midwife, Elder, and executive director of Spirit Aligned Leadership Program. She is a Wolf Clan member of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation. Katsi is an advocate of Indigenous women’s health across the life cycle, drawing from a Longhouse traditionalist perspective the teaching of Woman Is the First Environment. Her groundbreaking environmental research of Mohawk mother’s milk revealed the harmful intergenerational impact of industrial chemicals on the health and well-being of the community.

Wakérakats:te Louise McDonald Herne (Bear Clan Mohawk) is a traditionalist leader and Elder. A condoled Bear Clan Mother for the Mohawk Nation Council, she advises families and youth by working with community members in homes and schools. She confers traditional names in the Longhouse and leads the Moon Lodge Society, which brings together girls and women every month on the full moon. Louise is the principal organizer and leader of Oheró:kon, a four-year-long rite of passage ceremony that grounds Mohawk youth in Haudenosaunee values.

Joagquisho Oren Lyons is a revered Faith Keeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation, a prominent Indigenous rights and environmental activist, and a leading voice for Native American culture and traditions on the global stage, known for his advocacy at the UN, his role as a National Lacrosse Hall of Famer, and as a professor and artist. As a Faith Keeper, his duty involves preserving and teaching the history, wisdom, and spiritual laws of his people, acting as a bridge between traditional Indigenous knowledge and the modern world, focusing on intergenerational responsibility and harmony with the Earth.

Kaluhyanu:wes Michelle Schenandoah is a member of the Onʌyota’:aka (Oneida) Nation Wolf Clan of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. She has worked for many years uplifting Indigenous women’s voices, advancing the rematriation movement, and incorporating Indigenous perspectives into environmental stewardship, governance, policy, and justice practices through public talks, hosting community gatherings, creating films and applying Haudenosaunee knowledge to her change-making work. Inspired by her grandmothers who led generations of Oneida Nation land claims, Michelle founded the non-profit organization Rematriation, which is dedicated to supporting rematriation across Turtle Island by promoting equitable, sustainable, and culturally grounded solutions as a praxis for living in balance with Mother Earth. Michelle hosted the Haudenosaunee & Indigenous Matrilineality Symposium at Syracuse University and launched a talkshow and podcast series, Rematriated Voices with Michelle Schenandoah. She created the award-nominated documentary, An Indigenous Response to #MeToo.

American Indigenous Democracy: A Call for Interdependence, (Guaní Press, 2026), serves as a welcoming volume for a much needed conversation about the origins of our founding documents and more importantly, about the wisdom of Native American ways of living and how they can be applied as an alternative to our present political dilemmas.

Through eighteen eloquent essays, we hear contemporary Haudenosaunee leaders and scholars speak about life in present-day reservations, and most importantly, about the Great Law of Peace, the unifying code of governance that united these once warring tribes into one of the most formidable, and truly democratic league of nations that the continent had ever witnessed.