ONONDAGA PEOPLE DON'T CAVE IN TO VIOLENCE - WILL REOPENBUSINESSES TOMORROW

The Onondaga People
egior@aol.com
Tuesday March 3, 1998

On March 2, 1998 at 11:00 AM a mob of people arrived at theOnondaga Nation People's businesses and demanded they close. Afterbeing refused, Chief Vincent Johnson signaled a bulldozer to proceedto destroy the buildings. People were still inside as this occurred,a few barely escaped as the structures collapsed. Outside thefrenzied mob severely beat some of the people who had been inside.The remains of the bulldozed businesses, as well as thousands ofdollars worth of tobacco products were set afire. The OnondagaPeople's monthly disbursements were stolen.

In the Haudenosaunee Gayanerekowa (The Great Law) the rights andduties of the chiefs are described as follows:

"The Chiefs of the Confederacy of the Five Nations shall bementors for the people for all time. Their hearts shall be full ofpeace and good will and their minds filled with the yearning for thewelfare of the people of the Confederacy. Neither anger nor furyshall find lodging in their minds, and all their words shall bemarked by calm deliberation." (Gayanerekowa, Article 24)

The actions displayed yesterday were in violation of our People'slaw as well as a violation of basic civil rights.

March 2nd was an encore performance of the event that took placein 1994 - the burning of businesses led by mob rule. This time theOnondaga County Sheriffs stood by as they witnessed maliciousdestruction of property, attempted homicide, theft and arson ofseveral Onondaga People's businesses. All this was done in the nameof recognizing internal sovereignty. In this particular instance ourright to settle our disputes required whatever means were necessary.As stated to the media by Sheriff Kevin Walsh on March 2, "TheChief's Council were merely taking care of business."

The fundamental question that any civilized people must askthemselves: in the heart of democracy, where can criminal acts ofarson, attempted homicide and sheer terror go unchallenged in fullview of state and local police agencies? Why are the countryofficials selectively enforcing who will and who will not beprotected and prosecuted?

The truth here is that the Onondaga People will never submit tothe acts of extortion and betrayal of the Great Law. There shall beno taxes or jurisdiction placed on the Haudenosaunee. Although thisact of violence was discouraging, it will not quell the spirit of theknowledge of our rights as Onondaga People.

Note: "They may have burnt our buildings and our merchandise, andbeat us up. But they have not dampened our spirits. We are openingour businesses again tomorrow, right next to the People's Fire offRoute 81 (near Syracuse New York), the scene of a vicious attack onthe People by the New York State Troopers on May 18th 1997.