Onondaga Land Rights and Our Common Future:  The Quest for Justice

Monday, March 10, 6:30 pm

Syracuse Stage, 820 E Genesee St, Syracuse

Come commemorate the 20th anniversary of the historic filing of the Onondaga Land Rights Action. Onondaga leaders and educators Jeanne Shenandoah (Onondaga Nation, Eel Clan), Onondaga elder and Traditional Medicine Keeper and Haiwhagai’i Jake Edwards (Onondaga Nation, Eel Clan) will share important history and reflect on progress made. Onondaga Nation General Counsel Joe Heath will review the legal history, including the case currently before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Despite the fact that the US courts rejected the Onondaga Nation’s call for justice and healing, important progress has been made, including the recent return of 1,000 acres of land in the Tully Valley. The treaties upon which the Onondaga Land Right Action is based remain in effect and all people have a responsibility to uphold them.

On March 11, 2005, the Onondaga petitioned the federal court in Syracuse to declare that New York violated Treaties, the Constitution, and federal laws when it took some 4,000 square miles of Onondaga Land (an area that stretches south past Binghamton and north past Watertown). The State of New York, the City of Syracuse, Onondaga County, and five corporations for illegal land takings and damage were sued by Onondaga Nation for inflicting harm on the environment. Learn more here: https://www.onondaganation.org/land-rights/

Syracuse Stage is wheelchair accessible and CART will be available for program accessibility. Following the program there will be a reception with light refreshments. There will be tables from different organizations for getting involved.

The program is organized by the American Indian Law Alliance, the Indigenous Values Initiative, Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation, and Syracuse Peace Council.

For more information contact.

American Indian Law Alliance

aila@aila.ngo

www.aila.ngo

And then the panel discussions began! Everyone present was there to grapple with what action is needed to effect real change. I heard many wise voices new to me: Freida Jean Jacques (Onondaga) Turtle Clan Mother, speaking against racism and about the Good Mind. Steven Newcomb (Shawnee/Lenape), who has analyzed the cognitive and Biblical underpinnings of conquest and domination carried out in North America to subjugate originally free and independent Indigenous Nations. His book Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery is eye-opening and a must-read. Tupac Enrique Acosta (Aztec), who asked “When did light divide into white and less-than-white?” Joe Heath (Onondaga) Legal Counsel, who documented examples of how the Doctrine of Christian Discovery has become encoded in U.S. law over the centuries, differentiating between Native “occupancy” (a lesser claim) and the “absolute title” conferred by so-called discovery. Jake Edwards (Onondaga) who said: “Colonizers are in deep trouble because they don’t recognize their broken heart…we have to put our minds together if we want change to happen.”

A water ceremony was held on the shore of the terminally polluted Lake Onondaga – I’d brought a little jar of water from the Passagassawakeag River to mingle with other waters from many sources, joining in a healing prayer.

 

For more see Oltarzewski’s article: “Taking on the Doctrine of Discovery: What are our next steps?”.

Saturday
24 May 2014
Skä·noñh—Great Law of Peace Center (formerly St. Marie Among the Iroquois), Onondaga Lake Park

6680 Onondaga Lake Parkway, Liverpool, NY 13088

Conference description:

From initial contact over 520 years ago, Indigenous leaders have brought into discussion the insidious role that Christianity has played in colonization and environmental destruction. Over the last several decades the Doctrine of Christian Discovery has been seen not only in historical and contemporary subjugation of indigenous human rights and land rights, but also in the ongoing devastation of the environment we all share.

We seek to bring together people who have worked on addressing and repudiating this doctrine so that we might learn from each other and develop strategies for moving forward with this work. How can we use the momentum from repudiation to change the colonial paradigms that drive decisions in our settler society? What are core issues that will benefit from alliances between Indigenous Peoples and Faith-Based Communities? What have we learned about people and what impacts our understanding?

Co-sponsors include: Onondaga Nation, Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation, Religion Department @ Syracuse University, Onondaga Historical Association, Loretto Community (Denver, CO), New York Yearly Meeting (Quaker) Indian Affairs Committee, NYS Committee on Native American Ministries of the United Methodist Church, Zen Center of Syracuse, All Saints Catholic Parish.

$30 REGISTRATION INCLUDES MEALS DURING THE CONFERENCE