{"id":10691,"date":"2013-11-19T16:22:29","date_gmt":"2013-11-19T16:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:#clients.elainemichele.com\/SPC2022\/?p=10691"},"modified":"2022-11-12T16:26:18","modified_gmt":"2022-11-12T21:26:18","slug":"justice_delayed_us_supreme_court_refuses_to_hear_onondaga_nation_appeal_691","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/clients.elainemichele.com\/SPC2022\/articles\/justice_delayed_us_supreme_court_refuses_to_hear_onondaga_nation_appeal_691\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice Delayed: US Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Onondaga Nation Appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The news took me by surprise as I held out the hope that we would have our day in court; truly, and we would have the opportunity to tell our land rights history in a national forum in the highest court in the land. I had envisioned our case being a unifying struggle for all our relatives across the land who have felt the sting of racist courts, who have been let down by a system routinely stacked against them because they\u2014we\u2014represent the conscience of American society. We are the survivors of generations of indigenous peoples who were placed here, who were pushed aside-and worse- for the growth of a new Empire. We were going to have our own \u2018march on Washington\u2019 with our songs, our drums, our people seeking justice in the name of our small community, the Onondaga Nation. That was my optimistic outlook. But the hard reality exists. We were turned down by the Supreme Court. The question remains. Where can we go to find justice?<\/p>\n

Since the latest news, I\u2019ve searched for alternatives to regain momentum in this long struggle ahead, and found strands of what could be our land rights movement. Ideas of a \u2018truth commission\u2019 are not unrealistic. Our lawyers and leaders have followed the international case of the Dann sisters where the Western Shoshone found relief from an oppressive situation. It could be our path as well.<\/p>\n

In retrospect, if we did get to the Supreme Court we would be challenging the Marshall Trilogy of US Federal Indian Law. These laws, still on the books, are the direct result of the Christian Doctrine of Discovery that saw our people as \u2018less than\u2019 and too \u2018heathen and inferior as a race.\u2019 It\u2019s unbelievable to think this is the law of the \u2018highest court\u2019 and the foundation of so many cases to follow, including Haudenosaunee cases. How blatantly insulting to tell the Oneidas \u2018their embers have gone cold.\u2019 We know our existence is fraught with too many modern instances of lingering racism. When a New York Governor can limit state employees from talking freely with native peoples, when a NYC Mayor can call for a \u201ccowboy hat and a shotgun\u201d for the Governor to deal with Native tax issues, when the US Government can code name the most sought after terrorist of the present with a name undeserving of a terrorist identity\u2014Geronimo\u2014that\u2019s racism, alive and still affecting our well being today.<\/p>\n

One of our Haudenosaunee leaders said in Grand Council a few years back that we O\u00f1gweho\u00f1we unconsciously seek the \u201capproval of the oppressor.\u201d That\u2019s what colonizing can do, if you let it. It\u2019s mind-boggling to think how often we, as contemporary Haudenosaunee people must filter what we hear, learn, read, and put it into our perspective, into our way of living as we continue about our daily lives. We have become great jugglers and balancers. It doesn\u2019t change who we are.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
NOON supporters in New York City for the Onondaga
\nhearing of their Land Rights Action at the US Second
\nCircuit Court of Appeals on November 2, 2012. Photo:
\nAndrew Courtney<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Since the filing of our land rights case on March 11, 2005, we\u2019ve experienced ups and downs as our case moved through the courts and appeals system. We have lost people who have stood with us, while others have risen to stand with us now. We knew this US Court system is foreign to us, that it is riddled with antiquated laws, yet we held our heads high, stood proud and tried to reach for that plateau of truth, and we were rejected time and again. We were hopeful, bolstered by stacks of historical evidence in support of our case, by a thorough legal team, by our active Neighbors. We knew decisions from other Haudenosaunee cases would have implications on ours. Our cases went separately, which was not the original intent.<\/p>\n

In researching evidence I found an explosive expose, \u201cLike a Loaded Weapon \u2013 The Rehnquist Court, Indian Rights and the Legal History of Racism in America\u201d by Robert A. Williams, Jr. I also read Sonia Sotomayor\u2019s My Beloved America, hoping to gain insight into her life as a Puerto Rican woman and her rise to the bench in the highest court in the land. It was welcome news to me to learn Sotomayor had not participated in the decision to deny our land rights case.<\/p>\n

One of our friends from NOON sent a quote last week from the Abolitionist Frederick Douglass in response to the Dred Scott Decision more than a century ago. It reads \u201cThe Supreme Court of the United States is not the only power in this world. It is very great, but the Supreme Court of the Almighty is greater.\u201d Do gis<\/i>. Justice has been delayed, but as long as those who carry on the truth stand strong in the face of adversity, Justice cannot be denied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The news took me by surprise as I held out the hope that we would have our day in court; truly, and we would have the opportunity to tell our land rights history in a national forum in the highest court in the land. I had envisioned our case being a…<\/p>\n

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