Pete Seeger Passes: Longtime Musician, Activist and Two Row Supporter

The world and all people of goodwill lost a true champion of justice and peace with the passing of legendary folksinger, activist and truly decent human being Pete Seeger. Pete passed away yesterday, January 27, 2014, at the age of 94. He will be missed by all of us at the Two Row Campaign, and we send our condolences to his family and friends around the world.

Pete was one of the first people to respond to our request to join the Two Row Honorary Advisory Committee (see note he sent to us). He deeply admired the courage and tenacity of the Haudenosaunee for maintaining their traditional ways and structures despite centuries of colonization and efforts to destroy their ways. A good friend of Oren Lyons, Pete welcomed us at the Beacon Sloop Club and also spoke eloquently at the Two Row Festival held in Beacon on August 3, 2013 during our trek down the river. He wanted to assist our efforts in any way he could.

Had Pete been just a little younger, he certainly would have paddled with us at least part of the way. Despite his fame, he remained a deeply humble person who liked to get his hands dirty and help in whatever ways he could.

Pete appeared on Democracy Now with Oren Lyons and Andy Mager on August 9, 2013, the morning the Two Row flotilla landed in New York City and marched to the United Nations to mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Check out the video.

Pete also spoke at the New York City Two Row Campaign kickoff event on March 12, 2013 as part of a panel with Tonya Gonnella Frichner, Oren Lyons, Andy Mager and Phil Arnold. The event was held at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City. Check out the 12 minute video of Pete singing and teaching the crowd a Seneca paddling song. Pete was the founder of the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, an environmental project focused on encouraging education and and activism to clean up the Hudson River.

Pete would surely want all of us to continue our work for social justice, for peace and for environmental protection. Let us carry on the work that he did so much to support in his long and full life.

Pete Seeger teaches the crowd a Seneca paddling song as part of the New York City kickoff event for the Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign held March 12, 2013 at the National Museum of the American Indian in NYC. Photo: Eric Weiss