Stan Walker's "I AM" emerged as an anthem of Indigenous resilience, created for a film exploring shared human experiences of injustice across cultures. The song gained worldwide attention when the New Zealand government began rolling back Māori rights, even attempting to reinterpret the historic treaty guaranteeing Māori protections. In response, people globally posted videos performing haka over "I AM" on TikTok, expressing solidarity with Māori struggles that resonated with their own experiences of oppression and cultural marginalization.

In preparing this piece, we were honored to work directly with master musicians from Te Pā Tū, who guided us in proper pronunciation and shared the deeper meanings behind each Māori lyric. We also connected with Stan Walker himself, who shared his intentions for writing the song and graciously gave his blessing for the Capital Hearings to perform it.

Inspired by that viral campaign of global solidarity, we layered three additional songs into our arrangement—each speaking to the resilience of Indigenous and oppressed peoples. Most significantly, we connected with the Piscataway Indian Nation, the Indigenous people of the Washington, DC area, who generously shared one of their songs with their blessing and gratitude. This arrangement thus becomes a musical bridge, explicitly connecting Indigenous erasure and resilience across different contexts and histories, performed in the spirit of acknowledgment, solidarity, and respect.

- Micah Hendler, Tenor

We are the color, felt in the spring
You are the wind, breathe into me
You inherit me, I inherit you
I am the language you speak to me

As far as the eye can see, everything has changed
Tell me how can we stand by? I don′t wanna be the same!

He toiora ahau nōu (I am a living treasure for/of you)
Te toi nō Kurawaka (The essence of Kurawaka)
Taku rongomaiwhiti e (My message comes forth)
Tākiri ko te haeata (Dawn is breaking)
Anga atu ki te rā (Turn toward the sun)
Whiti, whiti ki te ora e (Shine, shine to life)

We are the waters, the rivers and streams
Flow through the armor of a dying breed
I am with you and you are with me
Baptized in fire, we're lions in the ring

Hou mai rā tō rongo e (Bring forth your message)
Hou mai rā tō karere (Bring forth your messenger)
Mau tonu e (Hold fast)

Tūturu whakamaua kia tina (Firmly establish so it is secure)
Tina! (Secure!)
Haumi e (Join together)
Hui e (Gather)
Tāiki e. (Unite.)

***

Additional Songs:

“We Will Not Forget” - by Randy Preston, Piscataway Emissary

On the shores of the Rappahanock,
By the mighty Patawomac,
On the banks of the Patuxent,
My people lived and loved, and laughed, and cried;
My people lived and loved, and learned, and thrived!

Oh, you are not forgotten
Oh, we will not forget
Oh, you are not forgotten
Oh, we will not forget

“Nassam Aleina el Hawa” - by the Rahbani Brothers, opb Fairuz

نسم علینا الهوا
من مفرق الوادي
یا هوا دخل الها
خذني على بلادي

The air breezed upon us
From the split of the valley
Oh breeze, for love's sake
Take me to my homeland.

“Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round” - from the African American Tradition

Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ‘round, 
Turn me ‘round, turn me ‘round
Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ‘round,
I’m gonna keep on walkin’
Keep on talkin’
Marchin’ up to freedom land.

The Piscataway Indian Nation is a confederacy of tribes loyal to a hereditary Emperor, or Tayac. The Piscataway Indian Nation has occupied its territory, which encompasses the entire state of Maryland, all of Washington, D.C., and parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia, for over 15,000 years. In the early 1600s, when the first discoverers and colonial settlers from England arrived on the Eastern shores of what is now Maryland, the Piscataway Indian Nation and the Tayac of the time greeted them with friendship, gave them land on which to live, and engaged with them in trade.

From their original tentative beginnings, the British colonies steadily grew, and after the United States gained its independence from Britain, the United States continued that growth exponentially. In the process, the Piscataway Indian Nation and its confederated tribes were displaced from their ancestral homelands and excluded from full participation in the United States’ social, economic and political spheres. This 400-year disenfranchisement had a devastating impact on the Piscataway Indian Nation’s culture, economy, and ability to govern.

Over the last 100 years, the Piscataway Indian Nation has regained a position of strength, due to the tireless efforts of the 27th Hereditary Chief Turkey Tayac, who was instrumental in the Indigenous Civil Rights Movement; the 28th Hereditary Chief Billy Redwing Tayac, who effected the consolidation of the Indigenous People of Maryland back under the banner of Piscataway Indian Nation; and the current 29th Hereditary Chief Mark Tayac, whose leadership stresses building bridges of friendship with organizations like yourselves. The Piscataway Indian Nation is now on the verge of blossoming into a robust new era of cultural, spiritual, and economic vitality. This resurgence offers the Piscataway Indian Nation the opportunity to once again make its immense ancestral wisdom and Indigenous Knowledge available for the benefit of all Americans.

Current Initiatives

The Piscataway Indian Nation is currently focused upon these interrelated, interdependent initiatives:

1) Repatriation of our ancestors
2) Land acquisition and return
3) Indigenous cultural centers
4) Economic sovereignty

To learn more about how you can participate in these initiatives, please contact:

Adam David Greene
Emissary of the Great Tayac of the Piscataway Indian Nation to the Indigenous European People in the Western Hemisphere
Email: Emissary_Greene@PiscatawayIndianNation.org
Cell: 845-943-0552 

Donations may also be sent directly to:

PISCATAWAY INDIAN NATION
P.O. Box 312
Port Tobacco, MD 20677