FORKSVILLE, Pa. — Matthew White Eagle has been a dancer his whole life.
"It's a part of who I am. It's in my blood. as soon as I hear the music playing in the background, my feet are tapping to the beat," White Eagle said.
Making the Sullivan County Fair Grounds his stage at the 31st Annual Forksville Powwow.
But dance is more than just an artform, it's his favorite way of teaching others about his culture.
"Our Powwow is to break the stereotypical things that people see, So people have a better understanding on native people, we're exactly like everybody else," White Eagle said.
Educating others about Native American culture is something White Eagle and other members of the dance circle have now dedicated their lives to.
"We went to school with a bunch of nonnatives, and I was picked on and bullied, and I feel like if people knew more, they wouldn't be so hostile," said Wesley Halsey, Oneida Tribe.
"The question, 'Do you still live in a teepee?' It broke my heart. It really broke my heart because she still believed that we lived that way. And I'm like, no, 'I live in a real house like everybody else,'" White Eagle added.
"There's so many different people, you can't compare the traditions of someone who lives in Spain to someone who lives in Czech or Poland, it's the same here," said Barry Lee, Powwow emcee.
After opening up about their stories, the men opened their dance circle to everyone in the crowd.
"I just want people to understand that we're still here, that we're just not animated or illustrated in history books. And the history that is taught about our people isn't right. It's a one-sided story," Halsey said.
Adding what brings different communities together is dancing to the beat of the same drum.
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