Re: Regarding Canadian St. Regis Band of Mohawk Indians, et. al, v. State of New York, et al., Case No. [5:82-CV-0783, 5.82-CV-114,5:89-CV-0829]
EDITORIAL NOTE: We are the original people placed in this part of the world as caretakers. We have always been here and we have covenant relations with everything living here. Everything belongs to our mother, the earth. We acknowledge, respect and give great thanks to her. This makes us all brothers and sisters. This bond never ends. We are the land and the people of the land. Every onkwehonweh knows this. The basis of the kaianerekowa Great Peace is to find the truth.
Presented Feb 26, 2024 in Syracuse NY:
“We are Kanienkehaka and are here to make a public record of our duty to tell you that whatever happens in that court today is invalid. We are telling you that it is invalid because we object and they do not represent us, the Kanienkehaka.
The US forms agreements with parties within our nations that support its’ interests, and then they suppress everyone else’s voice. This is why they will not allow us into the court room and we are silenced.
We are in Syracuse today with other Onkwehonwe people.
We are all wearing T-shirts that say, “relevant decision maker”. The federal court today is meeting with a group called the ‘Tricouncil’ of Akwessasne’, who have identified themselves as representing the Kanienkehaka.
The Tricouncil do not represent the Kanienkehaka people because their legitimacy comes from outside of our Tekantiokwenhakstah, which is the circle of families that make up the RotInosaunee Confederacy, described in our Great Peace, the Kaienerekowa. You know us as the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy.
Legitimacy only comes from decisions that are made within our Clans following the consensual decision making protocol. Decisions that come out of this process are transparent and fully vetted, and understood by the people. This has not been followed.
Also, the events taking place in the court today which we think concern a land settlement, uses the 1796 Seven Nations Treaty as its foundation for legitimacy. This treaty was signed between individuals and the United States, and attempted to remove inherent ownership of over 9 million acres of the original Kanienkehaka territory which includes but is not limited to the Adirondacks, the Catskills, and the Mohawk Valley.
The Seven Nations Treaty was illegitimate because it was signed by individuals who did not have the authority to do so. Specifically, Colonel Louis Cook, whose name O’tia:to karonkwen, which means “what identifies him is hung around the neck” , indicates his status as a newcomer to the Confederacy. These newcomers sit against the wall, watch and learn, and make a commitment to the Confederacy, and can never themselves be given full responsibilities. In this understanding, Louis Cook would have never been given the responsibility to negotiate and sign such an agreement. William Gray and Thomas Williams (Teharagwanegen) were also signatories to the Seven Nations Treaty.
The Seven Nations were a confederacy of trading partners consisting of separate villages along the St. Lawrence river valley. They were given the name nations by the English, who had no other frame of reference to understand the economic relationship of these communities. Their Wampum Belt was made by the Catholic Church, identifying them as adherents to their religion. They had no authority to sign away Kanienkehaka lands.
Despite trying to make it known through traditional and legal processes that the Tricouncil does not have the authority to sign away our lands, we have been ignored, and most of our people have been deliberately excluded from the discussions going on right now.
Whatever decision or deal that is made between the United States government, the State of New York, and any other entity and the Tricouncil is invalid. This is for public record”.
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BACKGROUND
THE HAUDENOSAUNEE – MOHAWK -ONEIDA, ONONDAGA, CAYUGA – SENECA – TUSCARORA -TITLEHOLDERS OF THE KANIEN’KEHAKA NATION MADE THE FOLLOWING DECLARATION CONCERNING AKWESASANE LAND CLAIM SETTLEMENT Declaration of Kanien’ke’keha:ka Titleholders concerning Akwesasne Land Claim Settlement. – U.S. District Court – N.D. of N.Y. Filed Feb. 26, 2024, At !0. O’clock 00, John M. Domurad, Clerk. -Syracuse.
This declaration is being stated before the court on behalf of several condoled Rotiiane [chiefs] of the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs {MNCC}.
This hearing today has been called by the Magistrate in order to settle any outstanding issues related to the ongoing settlement negotiation. We wish to tell you, the Mohawk Nation council has numerous outstanding issues and concerns regarding the draft settlement, ranging from the Nations implication with the 1796 treaty to the use and occupancy provisions contained in the internal agreement. These concerns have yet to be addressed or seen as relevant to present Mohawk Nation legal council, Alexlandra Page [esq.]. Legal counsel was asked several times to include all condoled leadership as attendees to this hearing, but Alexandra Page [esq] outright denied our request to be present.
Since 2005, the Wolf, Bear and Turtle clan families have not been in agreement regarding Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs participation in the litigation and settlement. MNCC cannot and should have not proceeded due to our lack of Ska’nikon:ra [our ability to come to one mind]. However, despite this impasse, certain individuals of the Mohawk Nation Council, along with its representative lawyer, have decided to move forward with settlement negotiations, without the full consensus of the condoled council and “the People of the Longhouse.” We believe this has wrongly given the impression to the court and the rest of the settlement legal council that the Mohawk Nation is a willing party and active participant before this. court.
The Kanien’keha:ka are not American citizens nor are we a “Dependent Domestic Nation”. We are people who continue to adhere to principles and philosophies entrenched within our very own existence, that. of which is the Kaianere’ko:wa or the constitution of the Rotinonshon:ni. We will forever continue to uphold our responsibility of protecting the land and water for the use and enjoyment of our future generations – as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the water flows. Our law preempts any and all paternal orders/law imposed, imagined or written.
Federal courts are an unfit negotiation forum for the Kanien’keha:ka Longhouse People and we are not to be subjects of the US court system – as the Kanienkeha:ka Longhouse People the nation-to-nation framework laid out by the Teiohate Kaswentha [Two Row Wampum]. Two Row Wampum, a treaty of non-interference between two sovereigns, the Rotinononhsion:ni and the federal government. The sovereignty of the United States government came from the Original People of the land, they did not declare independence from the original people of this land. We did not sign a doctrine with Europeans, they signed them with us.
Additionally, we carry the Sewatokhwatshera [One Dish, One Spoon]as our understanding of our relations to and with the land held in collective with all Onkwehon:we. This treaty bars us or any others from exclusively claiming the lands along the Great St. Lawrence River. These Onkwehon:we lands and its resources are to be held in common.
The Kanien’keha:kia are able to choose to emancipate from the United States government, tribal government or any entity. We are the host nation. The Kanien’keha:ka, as a nation, has never surrendered jurisdiction through a treaty of surrender agreeable by law in 1948 under Statutes 28 USC 232 and 233 to the State of New York or United States of America. Subsequently, the United States is motherless and cannot exert authority over a mother nation.
The Kaianere’ko:wa, the constitution of the Rotinonsion:ni Confederacy, clearly identifies the women of each clanship within our nations to be the progenitors of the soil and sole titleholders of Kanonhsionni:keh – Country of the Rotinonhsionh:ni. Only the Clanmothers and women of the Rotinonshion:ni have the authority to make important decisions relating to Rotinoshonni lands, whereas the Rotiia:ne and warriors of the Rotinonhsion:ni have the mandate from the women to act in the protection of our territory and to assert our sovereignty.
As One Mind, in consideration of the facts, history, and the welfare of A:se Tahitikonhsontankie, The Faces Yet to Come, of which we are bound by duty to act in their best interest – we cannot agree to any agreement, settlement or treaty that threaten our claim to the land in Kanien:ke, the Mohawk Valley, or to Atirontaksne, our nine million acres in the Adirondacks, of which the Kanien’keha:Lka Nation has never ceded, quitclaimed, extinguished nor relinquished and of which we will maintain the absolute aboriginal title.
The Kanien’keha:ka, as a Nation, reaffirms its position against any and all proposed settlement of our ancestral lands. Having absolute aboriginal title, we shall maintain and exercise our inherent Right to the Land and Right upon it, including but not limited to, travel and sustenance by hunting, fishing, planting and gathering food or medicine and we shall maintain and exercise our Right to live in Peace where we wish upon our land, free from taxation. Furthermore, we shall maintain and exercise our Duty to Keep and take care of the Earth and strive to be in harmony and balance with her. We shall maintain and exercise our Law of Peace, to exist in peace with creation and people.
Tho
Sharenho:wane
Condoled Wolf Clan Roia:ne”
New York State looks at this trial as a prize fight but they don’t know we have Tiger Man McCool on our side. He’s had a lot of fights. Bobby Bare sings about being a winner:
The hulk of a man with a beer in his hand He looked like a drunk old fool
And I knew if I hit him rightWell, I could knock him off of that stoolBut everybody, they said, “Watch outHey, that’s Tiger Man McCoolHe’s had the whole lotta fightsAnd he’s always come out the winner”Yeah, he’s a winner
But I had myself about five too manyAnd I walked up tall and proudI faced his back and I faced the factThat he had never stooped or bowedI said, “Tiger Man, you’re a pussycat”And a hush fell on the crowdI said, “Let’s you and me go outside and see who’s a winner”
Well he gripped the bar with one big hairy handThen he braced against the wallHe slowly looked up from his beerAnd, my God, that man was tallHe said, “Boy, I see you’re a scrapperSo just before you fallI’m gonna tell you just a little‘Bout what it means to be a winner”
He said, “Now you see these bright white smilin’ teethYou know they ain’t my ownMine rolled away like ChicletsDown the street in San AntoneBut I left that person cursin’, nursin’ seven broken bonesAnd, uh, he only broke, uh, three of mine andThat makes me the winner”
He said, “Now behind this grin I got a steel pinThat holds my jaw in placeA trophy of my most successful motorcycle raceAnd each morning when I wake and touchThis scar across my faceIt reminds me of all I got by bein’ a winner
Now this broken back was a dyin’ actOf a handsome Harry ClayThat sticky Cincinnati night, I stole his wife away (beat it)But that woman, she gets uglierAnd she gets meaner every dayBut I got her, boyAnd that’s what makes me a winner”
He said, “You gotta speak loud when you challenge me, son‘Cause it’s hard for me to hearWith this twisted neck and these migraine painsAnd this big ole cauliflower earAnd if it wasn’t for this glass eye of mineWhy, I’d shed a happy tearTo think of all that you gonna get by bein’ a winner
I got arthritic elbows, boyI got dislocated kneesFrom pickin’ fights with thunderstormsAnd chargin’ into treesAnd my nose been broke so oftenI might lose if I sneezeAnd, son, you say you still wanna be a winner?
Now, you remind me a lot of my younger daysWith your knuckles a-clenchin’ whiteBut, boy, I’m gonna sit right here and sip this beer all nightAnd if there’s somethin’ that you gotta gain or proveBy winnin’ some silly fightWell, okay, I quit; I loseYou’re the winner”
So I stumbled from that barroomNot so tall and not so proudAnd behind me, I still hear the hoots of laughter of the crowdBut my eyes still see and my nose still worksAnd my teeth are still in my mouthAnd you know, I guess that makes meThe winner
Box 991 kahnawake que. canada J0L 1B0
