In her letter dated May 20, Jennifer Healy begins: “A Penobscot elder in the early 1600s stated ‘through education comes understanding, and from understanding comes respect.’”

Ms. Healy concludes: “You do not destroy what you respect and inspires you.”

Ms. Healy is well known to support saving Montgomery Dam, so I assume what she respects and is inspired by is the dam. Choosing to call upon Penobscot Elders to teach us about respect and understanding is the definition of cultural appropriation. They should care to teach us how to honor and preserve what, exactly? Our colonial and industrial history?

Should we, the beneficiaries of a colonized land, learn anything from the people who have been here since time immemorial, it will require learning and understanding Penobscot culture.

Let’s do that first and be inspired by who and what was here before we were.

For those interested in understanding more about how the Penobscot Nation feels about free-flowing rivers and waterfalls, they are invited to read the letter from Penobscot Nation, dated May 6, 2025, available in the Camden Public Library, or view it here at the library's website.

Natalie Travia lives in Camden