Onondaga Nation

Last week, I went to Syracuse, NY to visit my sister ET, who is fighting the good fight against a very aggressive form of cancer - carcinomatous menengitis, or cancer of the nervous system (spine, brain). She had fought and beaten pancreatic cancer, only to have this come out of nowhere. For more on ET, see www.etjourney.blogspot.com.

ET actually lives in Baldwinsville, NY, just north of Syracuse. Its a beautiful town, simply lovely. Driving along interstate 81, just south of Syracuse, you pass through "Onondaga Nation", which is a reservation for the native American Indians who are indigenous to the area. ET's fiance, Michael, is part Onondaga. Entering Onondaga Nation, along Hwy. 81, you see the following billboards:




The sign has a great deal of bad history behind it. Apparently it all started with bad blood over land rights and sovereignty - the Onondaga people believe that a large part of their territory (including what is now Syracuse, NY) was taken illegally, through a series of treaties that were never officially ratified or accepted. Then more recently, the state of NY attempted to tax sales of certain items (gasoline, tobacco, etc) within the Onondage Nation territory. Tribal chiefs made deals with the NYS government (then Gov. George Pataki) that the people claim are invalid because they were not accepted by the people. And since the original "treaties" were with the U.S. government, the people of the Nation do not want to deal with the state of NY. The bottom line is, it appears that a handful of tribal leaders are getting rich off these deals, while the rest of the Nation lives at poverty level.

In 1997 members of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy (Onondaga, Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora Nations) staged a protest under the sign and were attacked by NYS troopers. Shortly thereafter, the man who owned the property that the sign occupies was murdered in his home - he died of blunt trauma to the head, and his hands were cut off. His son maintains the sign today.

I took a detour on my way back and drove through Onondaga Nation. The poverty in some places was stunning. I guess those bumper stickers are correct - Freedom Ain't Free.