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

“The Religious Origins of White Supremacy: Johnson v. M’lntosh and the Doctrine of Christian Discovery” will take place on the Syracuse University campus Dec. 8-10. Its main sponsor is the Henry Luce Foundation, which awarded the University a three-year grant to examine and challenge the theology and legal theory of the Doctrine of Christian Discovery.

National experts on racism, white supremacy and religious extremism will participate in the upcoming conference, highlighting the College of Arts and Sciences’ role amid important global conversations that challenge the ongoing impacts of fifteenth-century Vatican policies on Indigenous, Black and brown people.

Press Release

Interested authors should submit a 150-300 word abstract, a 150–300 word biography, your resume/cv (if available), and a sample of a previous published article no later than September 30, 2022. The goal of this partnership is to support and amplify Indigenous voices pertaining to the Doctrine of Discovery, so priority will be given to Indigenous Peoples working in this area.

Each essay should be geared towards an interested and engaged public and undergraduate audience. Our first high-priority interest is in the following core topics:

• 200 Years of Johnson v. M’Intosh (JvM): Indigenous Responses to the Religious Foundations of Racism
• The Doctrine of Discovery and Law
• The religious dimensions of the Doctrine of Discovery
• The Doctrine of Discovery as a global phenomenon (international)
• The environmental impact of the Doctrine of Discovery
• Doctrine of Discovery and Indian Boarding/Residential Schools
• And other Doctrine of Discovery related topics.

Authors will be notified whether their proposals are accepted by October 1, 2022. First drafts or full essays are due by December 1, 2022, and final versions are due January 15, 2022. All authors must note their educational and social background in their biographies. Only original previously unpublished works will be considered. Authors implicitly agree to the terms of our Creative Commons License. We seek to amplify and prioritize submissions from Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island/Abya Yala. We also interested in an international range of scholarly contributions.

About the Project

The Doctrine of Discovery Project (doctrineofdiscovery.org) is a collaborative interdisciplinary open educational resource designed for use in higher education. It is being funded by the Henry Luce Foundation Grant, “200 Years of Johnson v. McIntosh: Indigenous Responses to the Religious Foundations of Racism,” for 3 years (2022-24).

About the Principal Investigator

Prof. Philip P. Arnold (Religion, Syracuse University) has been writing and working on Indigenous issues for over 30 years. With Sandy Bigtree (Akwesasne Mohawk Nation), they founded the not-for-profit Indigenous Values Initiative where they launched the Doctrine of Discovery Project site in 2009-2010. To learn more see: “Examining the History and Consequences of the Doctrine of Christian Discovery.”

Submission form

if you have any issues with the form please email your materials to info@indigenousvalues.org instead.

Transcript of Jake Edwards portion of the talk 1:34:35-closing. Thank you to Andrea L. Smith for the transcript. (Download as PDF)

As we are now confronted with environmental devastation, global pandemics, an economic system that fosters chaos in the world, and an inability to think clearly or collectively toward a viable way to the future, perhaps it is time to pick up where the Founding Fathers left off and continue to learn from the Haudenosaunee. What better time than now to consider the ancient wisdom of our ancestors who, for thousands of years, sustained a more equitable way of living in proper relationship with the natural world? Who better to model a world where women reside at the center of deliberations and nature exists as our relative—not just a resource?

Sponsors:

• Syracuse University Humanities Center
• Syracuse University Department of Religion
• Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center
• Indigenous Values Initiative

Presenters:

• Philip P. Arnold (Syracuse University, Religion)
• Alyssa Mt. Pleasant (University of Buffalo, Transnational Studies)
• Jake Haiwhagai’i Edwards (Onondaga Nation)
• Andrea Smith (Lafayette College, Anthropology)
• Robert Venables (Cornell, emeritus).

Date of Event: Saturday 10 October 11-1:00pm

RSVP: Facebook

Virtual event platform:

• Streaming on Facebook: @SkaNonhCenter, @IndigenousValues
• Streaming on Twitter: @SkaNonhCenter, @IndigenousVI
• Streaming on YouTube: @IndigenousValuesInitiative

Download event flyer as a image or as a pdf.

We should reclaim Onondaga as the center of American Democracy.  A stance of neutrality is no longer acceptable as we now stand witness to murders that happen before our eyes on the evening news. Today, being “non-racist” means to be passively complicit which allows for violence and injustice to continue. As anti-racists, we must now move to end racism.

Mayor Walsh’s statement regarding to appoint an advisory panel to again study the Columbus statue, unfortunately further delays the inevitable. The Talking Circles were conducted by InterFaith Works, in the hopes of finding the “Common Ground” between those who honor Columbus—the perpetrator who introduced genocide to the Americas, and those who still suffer the oppression from what Columbus initiated. Since the Age of Discovery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Indigenous Peoples have been forced under the domination of the Church as a means to silence their voices, destroy their cultures, and convert them to Christianity. These religious institutions continue to perpetuate oppression and are no longer acceptable in determining when and how Indigenous Peoples should speak. As was stated by Resilient Indigenous Action Collective at the 27 June protest, healing can only begin when the Columbus Statue is removed. Now is the time to take bold and decisive action. The people have spoken on this issue.

At the Skä·noñh—the  Great Law of Peace Center it was crucial that we present for the first time a clear Haudenosaunee voice, that was unhindered by the Jesuit narrative of conquest that for nearly 90 years had been communicated at the “French Fort.” We’ve all been inundated with colonial texts that served to control history by selectively omitting what actually happened, and by silencing the voices of those who survived. Indigenous Peoples need to reclaim their right to speak, and we need to listen. The Founding Fathers saw great potential in how borrowing from the Haudenosaunee’s Great Binding Peace could help form a more perfect union. We need to revisit these ancient teachings to once again help steer us toward a more equitable future for humankind and our relatives of the natural world.

The debate on whether to remove Columbus from downtown Syracuse reflects the struggle of finding the soul of Syracuse. The choice for us is clear, we either fully embrace equitable democratic principles for everyone or we will reinforce the ongoing undercurrent of fascism that has been slowly seeping into our government since the late 18^th century.  We are at that critical edge right now.

Italians have a strong presence in Syracuse, and their many contributions greatly enriched our American lives. Let’s celebrate that. But we mustn’t forget the discriminatory injustices held against Italian Americans just a few generations ago.  During the Great Migrations of the 19^th and 20^th centuries they were subjected to the same racial profiling and violence that many People of Color (POC) experience today.  In 1891 11 Italians were lynched in New Orleans, while in other parts of the country, they were aligning themselves to Columbus to legitimize their citizenship. Today, however, Italian Americans no longer experience these same threats of racism and oppression. We must now re-examine why Columbus, who has since been revealed as the iconic face of world domination, should remain celebrated a hero, especially when so many around the world still feel the oppression of what he represents:

1. Columbus never visited what is now the United States. All 4 of his voyages were confined to what is now known as the Caribbean Islands and Central America.
2. Columbus was arrested after his 3rd voyage for “tyranny and brutality” and was sent back to Spain in irons to serve his sentence. In 2006, a 48-page report was discovered of his crimes of brutality against Indigenous Peoples and other colonists. Following one slaughter of an Indigenous community, he paraded their dismembered bodies throughout the city streets.  Columbus was much more than a “flawed human being,” as was suggested by Governor Cuomo, but rather a mass-murderer—one not even tolerated by the standards of his time. Remember, the Spanish Crown was responsible for the bloody Spanish Inquisition!
3. In 1934, the Columbus statue was gifted to the Italian community by Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. He not only created the Fascist Movement, but also supported Adolph Hitler’s quickly rising Nazi party. Mussolini paid for shipping the statue, had the body enlarged and requested that the inscription “Columbo Cristobal Discoverer of America” be prominently displayed.
4. Columbus was sailing under the auspices of what is now known as the Doctrines of Christian Discovery (DoCD), which was an extension of the 12^th century Christian Crusades. In a series of 15^th century Papal declarations, Christian explorers were mandated to seize and enslave non-Christians, take their lands and property for the express purpose of expanding the Christian Empire (Christendom). Portuguese and Spanish sailors set out to invade West Africa and the Americas, looking for gold, slaves and colonial outposts. These trips funded the Church’s exploits in their quest for world domination. The DoCD persists today as a fundamental aspect of law that continues to oppress Indigenous Peoples throughout the world.

For some, Columbus might stand as a symbol of Italian-American liberation, but for others he stands as the bearer of Christian domination, loss of cultural identity, destruction and commodification of the land, and representative of brutal fascism, white supremacy and tyranny. He has no connection to the American Democratic ideals that are now under threat.  In opposition to Claudia Tenney’s comments, this is precisely WHY Columbus needs to come down. His life, legacy and what he represents, inhibits our ability to function as an inclusive democratic society. The fact that Columbus is coming down all over the United States is a message of hope for all those whose lives were lost so others could live their American dream.

The opinions of Betty Lyons and Milton Norman Franson suggest a more inclusive vision that returns to those Indigenous roots to American Democracy which would make us unique in the world, and stand as a monument to the Great Peacemaker in our city center.  When we built the Skä·noñh—Great Law of Peace Center it was to finally celebrate the Haudenosaunee and the contributions they have made.  Our cherished form of participatory Democracy, is the message that was delivered at the shore of Onondaga Lake over 1,000 years ago by the Peacemaker. We need to return to the Indigenous Values that inspired American Democracy, the early Suffragists, new sustainable ways of agriculture, lacrosse, & the values needed to truly know peace. Which legacy do you wish to leave your children?

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(1238 words)

Philip P. Arnold | Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Religion, Syracuse University

Skä·noñh—Great Law of Peace Center | Founding Director

Indigenous Values Initiative

Sandy Bigtree | Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne

Skä·noñh—Great Law of Peace Center | Collaborative

Indigenous Values Initiative

Deyhontsigwa’ehs: The Creator’s Game,
Lacrosse Weekend 2020

Saturday September 12-Sunday September 13, 2020
Onondaga Lake Park, Liverpool, New York
in the heart of Onondaga Nation Territory

5th Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival

The festival features wooden lacrosse stick makers and other Haudenosaunee crafters. The festival takes place on the sports fields on the south of Onondaga Lake Park. There will be traditional singing and dancing with traditional Haudenosaunee foods and speakers. This event will be educational and entertaining for the whole family.

There are several exciting events taking place at the same time:

• Wooden Stick Festival (9:00am-5:00pm)

• Rand Hall Masters Wooden Stick Lacrosse Tournament (9:00am-4:00pm)

The Haudenosaunee (Called “Iroquois” by colonists) are the originators and keepers of the game known today as “lacrosse.” Deyhontsigwa’ehs (“They Bump Hips,” in the Onondaga Language) goes back millennia and is also known as “The Creator’s Game” and the “Medicine Game” The Onondaga Nation is the “Central Fire” of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy of six nations (Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora). The Haudenosaunee Confederacy was founded on the shore of Onondaga Lake––now called Syracuse, NY. Over 1000 years ago. Deyhontsigwa’ehs played an integral role in establishing “The Great Law of Peace.” Today throughout Haudenosaunee territory the “Medicine Game” is still played in ceremony. We are dedicated to re-establishing a Haudenosaunee presence back at Onondaga Lake where this game was originally played.

Our Sponsors.

Contact info@indigenousvalues.org to be a sponsor of this event.

Our Collaborative Spirit.

The Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival is a collaboration between the American Indian Law Alliance and the Indigenous Values Initiative. We are proud to collaborate with one another on such an important event. One of the many lessons we can all learn from Deyhontsigwa’ehs (lacrosse) is the importance of collaboration and working together.

Second Annual Randy Hall Masters
Wooden Stick Lacrosse Tournament

There will be referees, a tent for changing, a box sized field marked out on the grass with 4×4 nets by Onondaga Lake. Players will be responsible for helmets and gloves, and wooden sticks. Teams will be responsible for their jerseys. Wooden sticks are preferred but not required.

• Prizes
  • First Prize: Leather Game Ball, trophy, $700 cash
  • Second Prize: Plaque, and $300 cash.
  • Third Prize: Plaque and $300 cash.
• The tournament registration fee:
  • $300 Early Bird registration per team until 3/31/2020
  • $400 Regular registration per team until 8/31/2020
  • $500 Walk-up per team until 9/28/19
• Individual registration for house team(s) (includes jersey and lunch)
  • Early Bird registration $75 per person until 3/31/2020
  • Regular registration $100 per person until 8/31/2020
  • Walk-up registration $125 per person until 9/28/2020

Get Involved

About Randy Hall

Thomas Randall “Randy” Hall, Akwesasne Mohawk Wolf Clan, passed away January 18, 2018. He served in Vietnam with US Army (1965-68) and participated in the 1972 AIM take-over of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington D.C. He loved sports and was deeply involved with the Onondaga Athletic Club where he played and coached lacrosse and basketball. One of his favorite things to do was to travel and play in tournaments. In his memory, the Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival honors Randy by naming the wooden sticks tournament after him.

The inaugural Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival was held at Onondaga Lake in 2013. Previously the game had been played exclusively on Haudenosaunee Nation territories, but in 2013, Randy Hall asked Philip P. Arnold and Sandy Bigtree for help in bringing the game back to Onondaga Lake––its place of origin. It was here the Peacemaker arrived well over 1,000 years ago to bring peace to five warring nations. Few realize that Deyhontsigwa’ehs, the Creator’s Game, was an integral part of this peacemaking process. This ancient game is still played ceremonially among the Haudenosaunee. It is played hard, but always played to foster good relationships between human beings and the natural world.

#laxweekend20

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It is with great regret that we have decided to cancel this year’s Doctrine of Christian Discovery (DoCD) conference “Christian Domination and the Failure of ‘Truth and Reconciliation.’” It has been rescheduled for 22-23 August 2020. Of course we will fully refund everyone who has registered for the conference.

As all of you know, our sponsoring organizations—the Indigenous Values Initiative (IVI) and the American Indian Law Alliance (AILA)—are deeply involved with the work of revealing and dismantling the DoCD and we do not want this cancelation to slow any of the momentum that has been built around this issue over the last few years. However, our small volunteer organizations have been involved in some new and exciting directions that require our undivided attention over the next few months. This week we all decided that missing one year of the DoCD conference was unavoidable and that this postponement would not be too disruptive.

In recognition of the 100 year anniversary of the Women’s right to vote, one of our initiatives for 2020 is to focus on the Haudenosaunee influence on the Women’s Suffrage Movement (following Sally Roesch Wagner’s work and new book on the topic). Our 2020 DoCD conference will likely focus on Women and their roles in traditional matrilineal societies and how that has been systematically disrupted by religion. If you have other ideas on this topic or others we would like to hear them.

We will be refunding you the ticket amount here shortly. Unfortuantely we are unable to refund the eventbrite.com fee.

Instead we would like to offer you the following options to covery the eventbrite processing fee:

A coupon to the Indigenous Values store.
A check for the processing fee amount mailed to you. if you would like us to do that please email info@indigenousvalues.org and give us your mailing address

Thank you for your patience with us and, again, we are sorry to miss seeing you all again this year.

Phil, Betty, Sandy, Gail, Joe and Adam

A conference in Onondaga Nation Territory, at Syracuse University and Skä·noñh—Great Law of Peace Center

Saturday and Sunday, 17-18 August 2019.

Description:

This conference continues discussions between religious communities and Indigenous Peoples about the Doctrine of Christian Discovery (DOCD) so that real healing can occur. “Truth and Reconciliation” efforts in settler-colonial states have the appearance of resolving the history of conquest and domination but often do not result in a healing of Indigenous Peoples and their lands. Using words like reconciliation, repudiation, domination, discovery, conquest, missionization, colonialism and settler-colonialism, or referring to Indigenous Peoples in the singular or as populations, issues or groups, has consequences. Noam Chomsky, George Lakoff, and Steven Newcomb remind us that word choice matters and, although these concepts appear benign, they actually perpetuate and give cover to a violent past. The DOCD continues to be a matter of urgent concern for Indigenous Peoples around the world. It has emboldened trans-national corporations to further their extraction practices everywhere forcing standoffs and migration of Indigenous Peoples. Our lineup of speakers will address international migration issues and the connection between the DOCD and the destruction of Mother Earth.

• The event is co-sponsored by the American Indian Law Alliance and Indigenous Values Initiative.
• Religion News Service Press Release.

Confirmed speakers:

• Oren Lyons (Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs)
• Tadodaho Sid Hill (Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs)
• Beverly Jacobs (Law, University of Windsor)
• Betty Lyons (American Indian Law Alliance)
• Sandy Bigtree (Indigenous Values Initiative)
• Joe Heath (General Council for the Onondaga Nation)
• Phil Arnold (Religion, Syracuse University)

Conference fees:

• Early-bird registration $125 until 30 June 2019
• Regular registration $150 until 31 July 2019
• Late registration $175 until 15 August
• Walkup registration $200

Scholarships:

There are a limited number of scholarships available to cover the registration fee.

If you need a scholarship, please send an email to info@indigenousvalues.org and briefly tell us who you are, why you would like to attend and any work you do connected to dismantling the ‘doctrine of discovery’ and why you are applying for a scholarship. Please put ‘scholarship request’ in the subject of the email.

If you want to contribute a scholarship for others to attend the conference you can donate to the conference.

Hotels

Book your group rate for SU Religion.

Draft Schedule

(draft 26 June 19)

Saturday 17 August

• 8:00 AM — Onondaga Lake Water Ceremony – at Onondaga Lake
  • Meet at pier near Salt Museum
  • Opening address by Tadodaho Sidney Hill
  • Water Ceremony conducted by Betty Lyons and Eve Reyes-Aguirre
    • (Bring waters from your home territories for this event)
• 9:00 AM — Haudenosaunee breakfast — at the Skanonh Center
  • Orientation to the Skä·noñh—Great Law of Peace Center, Sandy Bigtree and Phil Arnold
• 11:09 AM — Registration — at Falk College, SU
• Noon-1:30 PM — Lunch — followed by the film “The Doctrine of Discovery” (1 hour) and a talk with Steven Newcomb.
• 1:30-3:30 PM —  International work panel — Grant Auditorium, SU
  • Panelists: Betty Lyons, Tupac Enrique Acosta, Eve Reyes-Aguirre, & Jake Edwards
• 4:00-6:00 PM — Law Panel — Grant Auditorium, SU
  • Panelists: Joe Heath, Steve Newcomb, Dana Lloyd
• 7:00-9:00 PM — dinner — Falk College, SU

Sunday 18 August

• 8:00 AM—light breakfast (Falk, SU catering)
• 9:00-11:00 AM—Religion panel  — Grant Auditorium, SU
  • Panelists: Philip P. Arnold, Adam DJ Brett, Eglute Trinkauskaite, Sandra Bigtree
• 11:30 AM-1:00 PM—Listening circle on what people are doing about the DoD — Falk College, SU
  • Facilitated by Gail Bundy
• 1:00-2:30 PM—lunch —Falk College, SU
  • During lunch the Onondaga youth will perform social songs
• 2:30-4:00 PM—Oren Lyons Keynote, “Truth and Reconciliation” — Grant Auditorium, SU
  • Followed by a discussion
• 4:30-5:30 PM—Final thoughts and concerns, “Value Change for Survival” — Grant Auditorium, SU