The Good Mind

Description
Reviews
Citation
Cataloging
Transcript

The Indigenous and sovereign Onondaga Nation – the Central Fire of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy – follows the Great Law of Peace, never accepted U.S. citizenship, has its own passport, and still maintains a traditional government led by Clanmothers and Chiefs, one of the world’s first true democracies that inspired the Founding Fathers of the United States and the women's suffrage movement. THE GOOD MIND spotlights the Onondaga Nation’s tireless environmental advocacy and their legal battle with the U.S. over ancestral land taken by New York State in violation of a 1794 treaty with George Washington. Motivated by ancient prophecies, the Nation seeks environmental stewardship of their sacred land and waters, which have suffered vast degradation by industrial resource extraction and pollution.

Citation

Select a citation style:

Main credits

Cates, Gwendolen (director of photography)
Cates, Gwendolen (editor of moving image work)
Cates, Gwendolen (film producer)
Cates, Gwendolen (film director)

Other credits

Cinematographer, editor, Gwendolen Cates.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

Indigenous Democracies,Indigenous Worldviews,Traditional Models,Gender Equality,Models of Government,Environmental Stewardship,Treaty Violations,Onondaga,Haudenosaunee,Iroquois,Great Law of Peace,Clanmothers,ancestral land,New York State,George Washington,resource extraction; "The Good Mind"; GOOD DOCS

00:00:01.703 --> 00:00:04.370
(woman singing)

00:00:21.118 --> 00:00:24.618
(woman singing continues)

00:00:36.825 --> 00:00:40.325
(woman singing continues)

00:00:44.532 --> 00:00:48.199
(mellow instrumental music)

00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:54.330
- When the Peacemaker was
talking to our nations

00:00:54.330 --> 00:00:55.920
down at Onondaga Lake,

00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:00.680
where they formed the first
really democratic government,

00:01:01.980 --> 00:01:06.980
they placed the women in charge
of the earth and the water,

00:01:06.990 --> 00:01:09.210
and the men in charge of fire,

00:01:09.210 --> 00:01:11.943
and the said work together
for the common good.

00:01:16.770 --> 00:01:18.014
They said,

00:01:18.014 --> 00:01:22.083
your nation will be built
on the principles of peace,

00:01:23.820 --> 00:01:26.340
equity, and unity,

00:01:26.340 --> 00:01:27.813
power of the good minds.

00:01:29.430 --> 00:01:32.717
And if the good minds
prevail, peace prevails.

00:01:32.717 --> 00:01:37.217
(mellow instrumental music continues)

00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:02.523
This is a small nation here,

00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:04.673
not very large,

00:02:04.673 --> 00:02:06.513
but it is free land right here.

00:02:07.470 --> 00:02:08.940
There was no Bureau of Indian Affairs.

00:02:08.940 --> 00:02:10.593
There was no Federal government.

00:02:11.580 --> 00:02:13.140
There was only the Chiefs,

00:02:13.140 --> 00:02:13.973
and the people,

00:02:15.450 --> 00:02:17.403
and what we were given so long ago.

00:02:18.290 --> 00:02:22.790
(mellow instrumental music continues)

00:02:36.344 --> 00:02:37.500
The good mind begins here,

00:02:37.500 --> 00:02:38.600
begins with the woods.

00:02:41.778 --> 00:02:43.255
Our system of governance

00:02:43.255 --> 00:02:48.093
and our society based on a plant system.

00:02:49.620 --> 00:02:53.190
Long ago, our leaders saw the bear,

00:02:53.190 --> 00:02:55.976
saw the eagle, the deer,

00:02:55.976 --> 00:02:56.809
the hawk,

00:02:56.809 --> 00:02:58.650
and the beaver,

00:02:58.650 --> 00:03:00.510
the snipe, the wolf,

00:03:00.510 --> 00:03:01.343
the turtle,

00:03:01.343 --> 00:03:02.373
and the heron.

00:03:04.110 --> 00:03:06.123
All of those became our families.

00:03:06.990 --> 00:03:08.223
We worry about them.

00:03:09.060 --> 00:03:12.540
We mention them all the
time in our ceremonies

00:03:12.540 --> 00:03:14.790
and our thanksgiving.

00:03:14.790 --> 00:03:19.790
That relationship is what's
given us the strength

00:03:20.310 --> 00:03:22.173
and the knowledge to survive.

00:03:24.270 --> 00:03:25.103
It's symbiotic.

00:03:25.103 --> 00:03:27.513
We work together, we live together.

00:03:29.670 --> 00:03:32.846
We prosper, we suffer
together, however it may be.

00:03:32.846 --> 00:03:33.679
But for family.

00:03:36.687 --> 00:03:41.187
(mellow instrumental music continues)

00:03:43.156 --> 00:03:45.823
(woman singing)

00:03:46.940 --> 00:03:49.260
- At the beginning of time,

00:03:49.260 --> 00:03:51.993
all peoples were given those instructions.

00:03:52.980 --> 00:03:54.660
Here in North America,

00:03:54.660 --> 00:03:57.543
there were thousands of years
that everything went fine.

00:03:58.380 --> 00:04:00.210
We started to forget,

00:04:00.210 --> 00:04:03.720
and it got to be so the
men who were the most cruel

00:04:03.720 --> 00:04:05.073
became the leaders.

00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:08.580
- [Woman] There was so much violence.

00:04:08.580 --> 00:04:11.520
That was the time when the Peacemaker

00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:14.523
was sent by creator to
bring us a message of peace.

00:04:19.133 --> 00:04:22.800
(mellow instrumental music)

00:04:32.520 --> 00:04:36.030
- Where we are today, this
land is not United States.

00:04:36.030 --> 00:04:38.010
It's still Onondaga Nation.

00:04:38.010 --> 00:04:40.830
It's still Haudenosaunee territory.

00:04:40.830 --> 00:04:43.350
We maintained that with
our traditional teachings

00:04:43.350 --> 00:04:45.153
and our traditional governance.

00:04:46.350 --> 00:04:47.490
We have our own laws,

00:04:47.490 --> 00:04:50.940
which is the great law of
peace that we still go by.

00:04:50.940 --> 00:04:53.340
We have our Chiefs, our clan mothers,

00:04:53.340 --> 00:04:55.683
and our culture is still alive and well.

00:04:57.090 --> 00:04:59.850
The only strings attached to
the United States government

00:04:59.850 --> 00:05:03.453
is the strings that bead
the treaty belts together.

00:05:07.327 --> 00:05:10.561
(mellow instrumental music continues)

00:05:10.561 --> 00:05:13.394
(radio squawking)

00:05:19.170 --> 00:05:23.460
- This is a letter dated
December 30th, 1924

00:05:23.460 --> 00:05:26.310
that the Council of Chief at Onondaga

00:05:26.310 --> 00:05:30.780
sent to then President Calvin Coolidge.

00:05:30.780 --> 00:05:31.613
In it,

00:05:31.613 --> 00:05:34.860
they informed the President
that they are rejecting

00:05:34.860 --> 00:05:38.343
the Citizenship Act that had
been passed earlier that year.

00:05:39.690 --> 00:05:43.615
And so this is the official
notice by the Onondagas

00:05:43.615 --> 00:05:46.803
that they do not accept
the Citizenship Act.

00:05:53.730 --> 00:05:55.650
- What are you texting?

00:05:55.650 --> 00:05:57.483
- I'm texting my Indian name.

00:05:58.460 --> 00:05:59.710
G-A-A

00:06:01.745 --> 00:06:04.230
- You know how to spell it in Onondagan?

00:06:04.230 --> 00:06:05.063
Oh, that's cool.

00:06:05.063 --> 00:06:06.240
- I know how to spell my Indian name.

00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:08.103
- Who, did they tell you in school?

00:06:09.419 --> 00:06:12.120
- Aehonyea is my language teacher

00:06:12.120 --> 00:06:13.860
and she writes my name like that.

00:06:15.343 --> 00:06:16.860
Gaa'whew.

00:06:16.860 --> 00:06:18.270
That's how you say it.

00:06:18.270 --> 00:06:20.370
Gaa'whew is my Indian name

00:06:20.370 --> 00:06:24.573
and that means I lead the sun and moon.

00:06:27.930 --> 00:06:29.643
Thanks for being my grandpa.

00:06:32.280 --> 00:06:33.113
- Sure thing.

00:06:35.512 --> 00:06:37.710
It's been a struggle for our people.

00:06:37.710 --> 00:06:40.530
We've been beat because of who we are.

00:06:40.530 --> 00:06:45.510
It was just easier for
us to keep to ourselves.

00:06:45.510 --> 00:06:47.790
When the 1970s,

00:06:47.790 --> 00:06:50.100
that's when the nation decided

00:06:50.100 --> 00:06:52.470
that they would start educating

00:06:52.470 --> 00:06:55.410
the non-Native American
people as to who we are

00:06:55.410 --> 00:06:57.810
and what our rights are.

00:06:57.810 --> 00:06:59.523
We felt it's time to open up.

00:07:00.870 --> 00:07:03.000
Some of our goals as a nation

00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:07.080
is to educate the world
that we're still here

00:07:07.080 --> 00:07:11.020
because the education system
teaches us as ancient history.

00:07:18.863 --> 00:07:21.530
(horns honking)

00:07:23.007 --> 00:07:26.130
- We're now headed for the Huffington Post

00:07:26.130 --> 00:07:30.880
for a discussion on what our
mission is here in New York,

00:07:32.143 --> 00:07:36.893
and apparently what it's like
to be an Indian in America.

00:07:40.239 --> 00:07:43.455
(background chatter)

00:07:43.455 --> 00:07:46.470
- Just pop that in your pocket for now.

00:07:46.470 --> 00:07:48.510
- The American public is not taught about

00:07:48.510 --> 00:07:49.887
the native people here.

00:07:49.887 --> 00:07:51.860
'Cause I've been a professor
of American History

00:07:51.860 --> 00:07:53.970
at the University of Buffalo for 38 years,

00:07:53.970 --> 00:07:56.100
and I had to teach your children,

00:07:56.100 --> 00:07:58.560
and I had to teach 'em fundamentally.

00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:00.360
They have no information.

00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:01.890
- Now when it comes to
United States history,

00:08:01.890 --> 00:08:05.460
so many treaties that were
broken with different tribes

00:08:05.460 --> 00:08:08.010
and different Native American
tribes in this country.

00:08:08.010 --> 00:08:09.570
And yet a lot of people feel like,

00:08:09.570 --> 00:08:11.850
well, so much time has gone by.

00:08:11.850 --> 00:08:12.750
Things have changed,

00:08:12.750 --> 00:08:13.650
and so you have to move on.

00:08:13.650 --> 00:08:17.103
- You have to apply that
response to your constitution.

00:08:18.150 --> 00:08:22.260
Your constitution is old
and yet you abide by it.

00:08:22.260 --> 00:08:23.880
- You're not trying to
seize back the land.

00:08:23.880 --> 00:08:25.140
You're not saying that the people

00:08:25.140 --> 00:08:27.120
that already live there now,

00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:29.430
that have set up their houses need to go.

00:08:29.430 --> 00:08:32.250
I mean, in many ways you
wanna be stewards of this land

00:08:32.250 --> 00:08:33.540
for environmental concerns.

00:08:33.540 --> 00:08:34.410
Is that right?

00:08:34.410 --> 00:08:35.370
- That's right.

00:08:35.370 --> 00:08:36.210
In our land rights,

00:08:36.210 --> 00:08:39.630
we said we would never evict
people from their lands,

00:08:39.630 --> 00:08:40.463
you know?

00:08:40.463 --> 00:08:41.850
'Cause we said, well,
we know how that feels,

00:08:41.850 --> 00:08:44.047
so why would we do that to another people?

00:08:44.047 --> 00:08:45.990
- [Female Newscaster] The
Onondaga Nation is claiming

00:08:45.990 --> 00:08:49.650
that the 4,000 square miles
in 11 New York counties

00:08:49.650 --> 00:08:50.733
was illegally taken.

00:08:52.380 --> 00:08:55.770
- The United States
promised that the Onondagas

00:08:55.770 --> 00:08:57.720
and the other Six Nations

00:08:57.720 --> 00:09:01.500
would have certain lands
preserved to them forever

00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:03.393
for their free use and enjoyment.

00:09:04.260 --> 00:09:06.330
The Onondaga people are now confined

00:09:06.330 --> 00:09:08.040
to a very, very small territory

00:09:08.040 --> 00:09:09.540
compared to the millions of acres

00:09:09.540 --> 00:09:12.030
that they used to be stewards for.

00:09:12.030 --> 00:09:15.060
And that land and water has
been ruined in the meantime,

00:09:15.060 --> 00:09:16.620
particularly around Onondaga Lake,

00:09:16.620 --> 00:09:17.970
which was taken from them

00:09:17.970 --> 00:09:19.530
and turned from the Sacred lake

00:09:19.530 --> 00:09:22.020
into the most polluted
lake in the country.

00:09:22.020 --> 00:09:23.550
It would be logical

00:09:23.550 --> 00:09:26.160
that you could then come
into a federal court

00:09:26.160 --> 00:09:27.900
and get some remedy for that.

00:09:27.900 --> 00:09:30.030
Not that we want to land back,

00:09:30.030 --> 00:09:31.260
which you would be entitled to.

00:09:31.260 --> 00:09:32.370
You stolen my car,

00:09:32.370 --> 00:09:33.663
I oughta get my car back.

00:09:34.710 --> 00:09:36.420
Only a declaration.

00:09:36.420 --> 00:09:37.680
That's all we asked for.

00:09:37.680 --> 00:09:40.473
That New York knowingly
took the land illegally.

00:09:41.400 --> 00:09:42.930
And really what it's about

00:09:42.930 --> 00:09:44.970
is how can they have more of a say

00:09:44.970 --> 00:09:47.643
in what was going on
throughout their homeland?

00:09:48.570 --> 00:09:50.400
Essentially what the US courts have said

00:09:50.400 --> 00:09:54.600
is that it doesn't matter
how illegally the land

00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:56.250
was taken from you.

00:09:56.250 --> 00:09:59.280
It doesn't matter that that
was a violation of US law,

00:09:59.280 --> 00:10:00.113
treaties,

00:10:00.113 --> 00:10:02.670
the Constitution, none of that matters.

00:10:02.670 --> 00:10:05.733
It's just not fair for you
to bring that up anymore.

00:10:11.910 --> 00:10:14.013
- The eagle come over not too long ago,

00:10:15.570 --> 00:10:17.343
just above the treetops.

00:10:18.630 --> 00:10:19.683
Going in a circle.

00:10:21.030 --> 00:10:21.863
Going that way.

00:10:25.380 --> 00:10:27.360
As stewards of the land,

00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:30.273
it's up to us to walk softly on earth.

00:10:32.130 --> 00:10:34.920
In our language, there's
no word for environment.

00:10:34.920 --> 00:10:36.930
We're related to all life.

00:10:36.930 --> 00:10:38.460
All the animals, all the trees,

00:10:38.460 --> 00:10:41.460
the waters are our relatives.

00:10:41.460 --> 00:10:42.993
So we protect our woods.

00:10:44.100 --> 00:10:45.671
As far as development,

00:10:45.671 --> 00:10:47.733
clear cutting is not allowed.

00:10:48.780 --> 00:10:51.150
We have to look out for
the animals as well.

00:10:51.150 --> 00:10:52.410
They need a place.

00:10:52.410 --> 00:10:54.300
We share this land.

00:10:54.300 --> 00:10:56.193
We live in a balance with nature.

00:10:58.020 --> 00:10:59.170
We're here at Onondaga.

00:11:00.300 --> 00:11:04.440
We're not too far
upstream of Onondaga Lake

00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:07.170
and the Feeder Creek
runs right through here,

00:11:07.170 --> 00:11:09.240
right through our village.

00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:11.550
Water's unusable anymore.

00:11:11.550 --> 00:11:13.920
We can't swim there no more.

00:11:13.920 --> 00:11:15.780
We don't know what's in it.

00:11:15.780 --> 00:11:19.110
Our sacred sites have been developed over

00:11:19.110 --> 00:11:21.390
by private developers, state government,

00:11:21.390 --> 00:11:22.473
federal government.

00:11:23.520 --> 00:11:25.590
There isn't much wilderness left,

00:11:25.590 --> 00:11:26.520
so what we have,

00:11:26.520 --> 00:11:30.450
we have to preserve and
protect for future generations.

00:11:30.450 --> 00:11:34.260
And we want our voice to be
heard on just how to do that,

00:11:34.260 --> 00:11:37.140
and working relationships
on future projects

00:11:37.140 --> 00:11:38.370
and progress,

00:11:38.370 --> 00:11:41.193
what the American people call progress.

00:11:46.500 --> 00:11:47.910
And this is who we are.

00:11:47.910 --> 00:11:49.083
The Haudenosaunee.

00:11:50.117 --> 00:11:52.770
And each symbol here on this belt,

00:11:52.770 --> 00:11:53.790
the Hiawatha belt,

00:11:53.790 --> 00:11:55.140
represents a nation.

00:11:55.140 --> 00:11:56.820
Starting from the east,

00:11:56.820 --> 00:11:58.920
the Mohawk Nation.

00:11:58.920 --> 00:12:01.980
And right next to them
is the United Nation.

00:12:01.980 --> 00:12:04.260
Canandaigua Onondaga,

00:12:04.260 --> 00:12:07.470
in the center where the
tree of peace is planted,

00:12:07.470 --> 00:12:10.895
couple hills over to the west is Kaiyuga,

00:12:10.895 --> 00:12:14.130
and then the Seneca,
keepers of the western door.

00:12:14.130 --> 00:12:16.527
This signifies the Five Nations

00:12:16.527 --> 00:12:18.930
of what is known by the French,

00:12:18.930 --> 00:12:21.478
they call us the Iroquois.

00:12:21.478 --> 00:12:24.480
We call ourselves the Haudenosaunee.

00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:26.820
And later the Tuscarora joined our nation.

00:12:26.820 --> 00:12:29.100
They were accepted in,

00:12:29.100 --> 00:12:32.013
and became the sixth nation
of the Haudenosaunee.

00:12:34.565 --> 00:12:39.565
In 1794, George Washington
summoned us to a treaty of peace.

00:12:42.090 --> 00:12:46.890
In its treaty of Canandaigua,
we retained all of our lands.

00:12:46.890 --> 00:12:49.440
We agreed nation to nation

00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:51.300
that we wouldn't take sides

00:12:51.300 --> 00:12:54.213
against the new, forming
government of America.

00:12:56.730 --> 00:12:58.380
- Okay, let's form up our parade.

00:12:59.548 --> 00:13:00.480
We got the Chiefs here.

00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:02.780
We're gonna move the
Chiefs up this direction.

00:13:04.170 --> 00:13:05.882
- [Jake] When they made this agreement,

00:13:05.882 --> 00:13:07.983
they said that this would be forever.

00:13:08.910 --> 00:13:12.450
As long as this treaty is still intact,

00:13:12.450 --> 00:13:14.313
we still have rights to our land.

00:13:17.100 --> 00:13:19.620
- Most people don't remember

00:13:19.620 --> 00:13:21.810
or have never really learned the history

00:13:21.810 --> 00:13:25.320
of the early United States in the 1790s.

00:13:25.320 --> 00:13:27.330
The United States was very weak.

00:13:27.330 --> 00:13:30.620
It had barely won the Revolutionary War.

00:13:30.620 --> 00:13:31.860
It had no money.

00:13:31.860 --> 00:13:34.380
They were on a collision
course with the England,

00:13:34.380 --> 00:13:37.710
and they said in order to
succeed in a war with England,

00:13:37.710 --> 00:13:40.380
we have to make peace
with the Six Nations.

00:13:40.380 --> 00:13:43.053
That's how critical the Six
Nations were to history.

00:13:46.317 --> 00:13:47.880
- And so Timothy Pickering was sent here

00:13:47.880 --> 00:13:49.770
by George Washington,

00:13:49.770 --> 00:13:51.150
This Wampum belt,

00:13:51.150 --> 00:13:55.470
which George Washington had
two Oneida women create,

00:13:55.470 --> 00:13:57.990
was presented to the Six Nations here

00:13:57.990 --> 00:13:59.690
on November the 11th, 1794.

00:14:10.074 --> 00:14:10.907
- [Woman] Put it on that table.

00:14:10.907 --> 00:14:11.740
- [Older Woman] Okay.
- So you have to

00:14:11.740 --> 00:14:13.380
veer left.

00:14:13.380 --> 00:14:14.463
There.
- My left.

00:14:15.900 --> 00:14:16.733
- Perfect.

00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:26.813
Treaty with the Six Nations
dated 11 November, 1794,

00:14:28.170 --> 00:14:32.100
ratified 21 January, 1795.

00:14:32.100 --> 00:14:37.100
We have roughly 374
ratified Indian treaties.

00:14:38.040 --> 00:14:40.980
This being the 21st one.

00:14:40.980 --> 00:14:43.740
So this is Pickering's
signature on the treaty.

00:14:43.740 --> 00:14:48.030
He was appointed by the President
to be the main negotiator.

00:14:48.030 --> 00:14:49.740
And with ratification,

00:14:49.740 --> 00:14:52.380
George Washington would sign his name

00:14:52.380 --> 00:14:54.197
as President of the United States.

00:14:56.667 --> 00:14:59.640
The first article is probably
the most important one:

00:14:59.640 --> 00:15:03.007
the peace and friendship
section of the treaty.

00:15:03.007 --> 00:15:07.020
"Peace and friendship are
thereby firmly established

00:15:07.020 --> 00:15:10.020
and shall be perpetual
between the United States

00:15:10.020 --> 00:15:12.120
and the Six Nations."

00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:17.120
It also says that the lands
that they're on now in New York

00:15:17.340 --> 00:15:19.110
cannot be taken away from them.

00:15:19.110 --> 00:15:21.840
Those are sovereign lands,

00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:24.123
and the United States respects that.

00:15:25.800 --> 00:15:28.470
- Our founding fathers
understood tribes as governments

00:15:28.470 --> 00:15:29.910
and dealt with tribes as governments.

00:15:29.910 --> 00:15:32.970
And they also put in the
Constitution in Article Six

00:15:32.970 --> 00:15:36.033
that treaties are the
supreme law of the land.

00:15:36.941 --> 00:15:40.920
So the United States should
comply with these treaties

00:15:40.920 --> 00:15:43.500
even more than any other federal law

00:15:43.500 --> 00:15:47.193
because the Constitution says
the treaty is the supreme law.

00:15:48.150 --> 00:15:49.710
- The importance of Canandaigua

00:15:49.710 --> 00:15:53.760
is that it says United
States is one treaty partner.

00:15:53.760 --> 00:15:56.850
The Six Nations as a unit,

00:15:56.850 --> 00:16:00.840
as a Confederacy, are
the other treaty partner.

00:16:00.840 --> 00:16:02.160
United States today says,

00:16:02.160 --> 00:16:04.770
Well we don't recognize the
Six Nations as an entity.

00:16:04.770 --> 00:16:08.400
Now how can they do that when
they have a treaty with them?

00:16:08.400 --> 00:16:12.090
The courts of New York state in 2010

00:16:12.090 --> 00:16:15.333
categorically ruled that
Canandaigua Treaty is still valid.

00:16:16.388 --> 00:16:18.810
And yet when we try to exercise it,

00:16:18.810 --> 00:16:22.020
and say, well, do we have
a say in what goes on

00:16:22.020 --> 00:16:22.853
in that land?

00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:27.123
Do we have those rights you promised us?

00:16:28.560 --> 00:16:29.393
And they turn around and say,

00:16:29.393 --> 00:16:31.267
"No, that's not fair."

00:16:31.267 --> 00:16:34.197
"We've made up something
that denies that to you."

00:16:35.430 --> 00:16:37.260
We sort of joke among ourselves

00:16:37.260 --> 00:16:39.520
that New York defines the Indian problem

00:16:40.560 --> 00:16:42.360
as the fact that they're still here.

00:16:51.823 --> 00:16:53.100
- This is some of the cloth that we get

00:16:53.100 --> 00:16:58.100
from President of the United
States to honor this treaty.

00:16:58.500 --> 00:17:01.260
Our clothing began to
change around that time.

00:17:01.260 --> 00:17:02.760
So they offered us some material

00:17:02.760 --> 00:17:04.473
which was valuable to our people.

00:17:09.660 --> 00:17:12.993
- So this is the bolt of cloth,

00:17:15.540 --> 00:17:18.513
and this is what's
delivered to us every year.

00:17:19.800 --> 00:17:23.070
And it's dropped off by UPS.

00:17:23.070 --> 00:17:25.650
I don't know how it gets there.

00:17:25.650 --> 00:17:26.483
FedEx.

00:17:27.990 --> 00:17:31.773
And this is just one of
the bolts that comes in.

00:17:32.863 --> 00:17:36.566
And I remember my people
talking about how it used to be

00:17:36.566 --> 00:17:38.433
a nice pattern,

00:17:39.434 --> 00:17:41.580
and there was different colors.

00:17:41.580 --> 00:17:42.600
I've never seen that.

00:17:42.600 --> 00:17:44.610
This was the only color
that I've ever seen.

00:17:44.610 --> 00:17:47.310
Matter of fact, it was a
little bit thicker than this.

00:17:50.040 --> 00:17:51.210
My mother used to get some,

00:17:51.210 --> 00:17:55.470
and I mean, she would maybe
make curtains out of it,

00:17:55.470 --> 00:17:58.950
but now it seems to be real thin

00:17:58.950 --> 00:18:01.800
and I don't know what
you would use this for.

00:18:01.800 --> 00:18:03.750
So now it's come to this.

00:18:03.750 --> 00:18:04.980
We've lost the land

00:18:04.980 --> 00:18:07.770
that they said they were going to protect.

00:18:07.770 --> 00:18:09.300
They call us savages.

00:18:09.300 --> 00:18:10.890
To me, that's a savage act

00:18:10.890 --> 00:18:12.420
to go into a country and just say,

00:18:12.420 --> 00:18:14.910
well, we want everything

00:18:14.910 --> 00:18:17.763
and you need to move.

00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:19.553
Back a few years,

00:18:19.553 --> 00:18:21.150
they wanted to say,

00:18:21.150 --> 00:18:24.210
okay, instead of giving
this to you every year,

00:18:24.210 --> 00:18:26.910
let's just give you a big lump sum,

00:18:26.910 --> 00:18:29.820
and then we'll be done
with doing this every year.

00:18:29.820 --> 00:18:31.053
The leader says no.

00:18:32.310 --> 00:18:35.073
At least it's a
verification of that treaty.

00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:38.922
But we don't depend on it.

00:18:38.922 --> 00:18:40.490
(man chuckling)

00:18:40.490 --> 00:18:42.180
It's not something that we depend on

00:18:42.180 --> 00:18:44.043
that'll get us through the winter.

00:18:50.670 --> 00:18:52.860
- I love maps,

00:18:52.860 --> 00:18:55.060
partially because it
helps tell the history.

00:18:55.980 --> 00:18:57.930
It's important to
remember that the nations

00:18:57.930 --> 00:19:01.380
did not have boundaries prior
to the settlers getting here.

00:19:01.380 --> 00:19:04.680
But generally the Onondaga
has used this stretch of land

00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:06.630
in the middle of central New York,

00:19:06.630 --> 00:19:08.070
coming from the Thousand Islands,

00:19:08.070 --> 00:19:11.010
down the eastern shore of Lake Ontario,

00:19:11.010 --> 00:19:12.690
is where I grew up,

00:19:12.690 --> 00:19:14.430
all the way down through center New York,

00:19:14.430 --> 00:19:16.623
and actually down into Pennsylvania.

00:19:17.760 --> 00:19:21.150
This is in 1776.

00:19:21.150 --> 00:19:23.850
Just a little bit to the west of Albany

00:19:23.850 --> 00:19:25.530
is the beginning of Indian country.

00:19:25.530 --> 00:19:28.650
There are no settlements from there West

00:19:28.650 --> 00:19:31.350
at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

00:19:31.350 --> 00:19:35.127
And it's marked as "Country
of the Six Nations."

00:19:36.540 --> 00:19:39.780
That shows you that at the
end of the Revolutionary War,

00:19:39.780 --> 00:19:42.453
New York ended about its connectivity,

00:19:43.590 --> 00:19:45.630
and that's when the land grab began

00:19:45.630 --> 00:19:47.580
right after the war.

00:19:47.580 --> 00:19:50.280
After the Revolutionary
War, New York was broke.

00:19:50.280 --> 00:19:51.750
It had no money.

00:19:51.750 --> 00:19:55.440
Kept looking to the
west for room to expand.

00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:59.103
Indian land was wealth in the 1780s.

00:20:00.090 --> 00:20:01.050
And what New York did,

00:20:01.050 --> 00:20:03.780
was took the land illegally

00:20:03.780 --> 00:20:05.010
and then quickly sold it

00:20:05.010 --> 00:20:07.443
for five times what they had paid for.

00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:10.170
Washington was a land speculator.

00:20:10.170 --> 00:20:11.880
Marshall was a land speculator,

00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:13.860
Jefferson was a land speculator.

00:20:13.860 --> 00:20:16.470
Every one of these people made money,

00:20:16.470 --> 00:20:18.268
often taken Indian land

00:20:18.268 --> 00:20:20.613
and then selling it to others for profit.

00:20:23.130 --> 00:20:25.380
The wealth and the New Republic

00:20:25.380 --> 00:20:30.380
was formed by slavery
and flipping Indian land.

00:20:30.510 --> 00:20:32.370
Those are historical realities

00:20:32.370 --> 00:20:33.633
we're supposed to forget.

00:20:35.580 --> 00:20:38.320
The Onondagans began with
two and a half million acres

00:20:39.390 --> 00:20:41.040
and the result of all these takings

00:20:41.040 --> 00:20:44.220
is that they're reduced to 7,500 acres,

00:20:44.220 --> 00:20:46.833
a postage stamp in
comparison to what they had.

00:20:48.570 --> 00:20:50.580
And the problem with
this for the US courts

00:20:50.580 --> 00:20:53.490
is that all the land stolen.

00:20:53.490 --> 00:20:56.283
It's in violation of
any principles of law.

00:20:57.295 --> 00:21:00.962
(mellow instrumental music)

00:21:02.370 --> 00:21:04.773
- Here we are in the city of Washington.

00:21:05.925 --> 00:21:06.758
(man speaking native language)

00:21:06.758 --> 00:21:07.591
we call it.

00:21:10.200 --> 00:21:11.913
George Washington has a name,

00:21:13.018 --> 00:21:14.398
(man speaking native language)

00:21:14.398 --> 00:21:15.498
We gave him that name.

00:21:17.100 --> 00:21:18.780
Enemies,

00:21:18.780 --> 00:21:20.040
the town destroyers,

00:21:20.040 --> 00:21:21.183
he burns villages.

00:21:23.712 --> 00:21:27.658
And so every president
thereafter carries the same name,

00:21:27.658 --> 00:21:32.658
so
(man speaking native language)

00:21:36.455 --> 00:21:39.038
(men chatting)

00:21:40.535 --> 00:21:41.961
This is my first time.

00:21:41.961 --> 00:21:45.745
(audience cheering)

00:21:45.745 --> 00:21:47.583
- Thank you, everybody.

00:21:47.583 --> 00:21:51.570
I know we've got members of the
Iroquois Nations here today,

00:21:51.570 --> 00:21:55.530
and I think we could learn
from the Iroquois Confederacy

00:21:55.530 --> 00:21:57.030
just as our founding fathers did

00:21:57.030 --> 00:21:59.370
when they laid the
groundwork for our democracy.

00:21:59.370 --> 00:22:02.010
The Iroquois called their
network of alliances

00:22:02.010 --> 00:22:03.870
with other tribes and European nations

00:22:03.870 --> 00:22:04.863
a covenant chain.

00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:09.240
Each link represented a bond
of peace and friendship.

00:22:09.240 --> 00:22:12.030
But that covenant chain
didn't sustain itself.

00:22:12.030 --> 00:22:14.880
It needed constant care so
that it would stay strong.

00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:17.130
And that's what we're called to do,

00:22:17.130 --> 00:22:19.800
to keep the covenant between us

00:22:19.800 --> 00:22:21.840
for this generation and
for future generators.

00:22:21.840 --> 00:22:25.205
(audience applauding)

00:22:25.205 --> 00:22:28.288
(mellow piano music)

00:22:30.030 --> 00:22:34.050
- The Europeans who came
here to our countries

00:22:34.050 --> 00:22:38.550
really were intrigued by Native nations

00:22:38.550 --> 00:22:41.880
because we had the only
models for confederation

00:22:41.880 --> 00:22:43.200
and democracy,

00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:47.970
and nations united for common
good and common purpose

00:22:47.970 --> 00:22:49.170
that they had ever seen.

00:22:50.130 --> 00:22:52.170
The Romans dreamt about it,

00:22:52.170 --> 00:22:54.090
the Greeks dreamt about it,

00:22:54.090 --> 00:22:55.950
the French idealized it,

00:22:55.950 --> 00:22:58.590
the British said maybe one time,

00:22:58.590 --> 00:23:02.400
but they had colonization down.

00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:04.290
They had conquer down,

00:23:04.290 --> 00:23:08.970
but they didn't have
nations united together.

00:23:08.970 --> 00:23:13.200
They didn't have the model
for the United States.

00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:14.433
They learned that here.

00:23:15.525 --> 00:23:19.108
(mellow electronica music)

00:23:23.550 --> 00:23:25.080
- We're standing here in the Wampum lot.

00:23:25.080 --> 00:23:28.110
This is a location that
was specifically set aside

00:23:28.110 --> 00:23:31.473
for Haudenosaunee diplomacy in 1754.

00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:35.550
The Haudenosaunee were
so key to diplomacy.

00:23:35.550 --> 00:23:37.650
They came to Philadelphia so frequently

00:23:37.650 --> 00:23:39.450
to meet with the Continental Congress

00:23:39.450 --> 00:23:42.600
that they needed a specific
location to gather.

00:23:42.600 --> 00:23:44.520
Think of hundreds of people,

00:23:44.520 --> 00:23:47.760
two to 300 people gathering here.

00:23:47.760 --> 00:23:50.520
Benjamin Franklin is
publishing Indian treaties

00:23:50.520 --> 00:23:52.140
because there is so much interest

00:23:52.140 --> 00:23:53.640
and so much awareness of these.

00:23:53.640 --> 00:23:55.470
And Franklin is following these treaties.

00:23:55.470 --> 00:23:56.920
He's studying these treaties.

00:23:58.688 --> 00:24:03.210
- 1775, the speaker for the
Continental Congress said,

00:24:03.210 --> 00:24:06.360
You instructed us to
make a union like yours.

00:24:06.360 --> 00:24:09.270
We are now taking your advice.

00:24:09.270 --> 00:24:11.073
We're making a union like yours.

00:24:15.540 --> 00:24:18.870
- We do balance our government
between the elder brothers,

00:24:18.870 --> 00:24:22.020
the younger brothers,
and the fire keepers,

00:24:22.020 --> 00:24:23.583
which is here at Onondaga.

00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:28.470
Onondaga is the capital,

00:24:28.470 --> 00:24:30.090
the main seat,

00:24:30.090 --> 00:24:33.783
just like Washington DC
is for the United States.

00:24:36.576 --> 00:24:38.360
- When the Peacemaker gathered us together

00:24:38.360 --> 00:24:40.650
on the shores of Onondaga Lake,

00:24:40.650 --> 00:24:43.830
he said that it will be
the clan mother's duty

00:24:43.830 --> 00:24:46.350
to choose all of the leaders.

00:24:46.350 --> 00:24:50.400
The last word is by the people.

00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:51.930
If they don't agree with her choice,

00:24:51.930 --> 00:24:54.130
then she must find one
that they agree with.

00:24:55.339 --> 00:24:57.123
A democracy is an inclusive term.

00:24:58.500 --> 00:25:01.800
So I don't think that the
United States could say

00:25:01.800 --> 00:25:06.800
it was a democracy until they
included the women to vote

00:25:06.810 --> 00:25:08.880
in 1920?

00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:10.980
That that culminated in 1924.

00:25:10.980 --> 00:25:12.330
But that's when it started.

00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:14.337
Prior to that,

00:25:14.337 --> 00:25:17.610
would you say it was a half a democracy,

00:25:17.610 --> 00:25:21.019
or what would you call it?

00:25:21.019 --> 00:25:22.710
You know, it wasn't a democracy.

00:25:22.710 --> 00:25:24.183
Everybody wasn't included.

00:25:26.272 --> 00:25:28.110
(mellow instrumental music)

00:25:28.110 --> 00:25:30.030
- Women in the United States

00:25:30.030 --> 00:25:33.660
and under the laws of each of the states

00:25:33.660 --> 00:25:36.480
had no legal existence.

00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:39.990
They were essentially the
property of their husbands.

00:25:39.990 --> 00:25:43.050
They couldn't own their own property.

00:25:43.050 --> 00:25:46.230
They couldn't have any
rights to their children.

00:25:46.230 --> 00:25:49.410
So these 19th century suffragists,

00:25:49.410 --> 00:25:50.820
Matilda Joslyn Gage,

00:25:50.820 --> 00:25:51.990
Lucretia Maude,

00:25:51.990 --> 00:25:53.910
Elizabeth Cady Stanton,

00:25:53.910 --> 00:25:56.610
they knew Haudenosaunee women

00:25:56.610 --> 00:25:59.400
and they saw these women,

00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:01.770
contrary to what their lives were,

00:26:01.770 --> 00:26:03.903
having political voice.

00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:07.620
- We've always had a voice.

00:26:07.620 --> 00:26:10.110
We're accustomed to being able to speak up

00:26:10.110 --> 00:26:12.120
and being listened to.

00:26:12.120 --> 00:26:16.110
The women and the men both
have equal responsibility

00:26:16.110 --> 00:26:18.150
amongst the Haudenosaunee.

00:26:18.150 --> 00:26:19.230
It's balanced.

00:26:19.230 --> 00:26:22.950
We all have our duties
and responsibilities

00:26:22.950 --> 00:26:25.320
and that is a good thing.

00:26:25.320 --> 00:26:29.640
That's something that the
Americans did not accept

00:26:29.640 --> 00:26:32.520
when they first set up their government.

00:26:32.520 --> 00:26:33.990
Many other things they did,

00:26:33.990 --> 00:26:36.543
but that is something they did not do.

00:26:40.830 --> 00:26:43.920
- We've not evolved with our
views towards Indian peoples.

00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:47.340
We still view Indian people as minors,

00:26:47.340 --> 00:26:50.280
as incompetent people that
can't manage their own affairs,

00:26:50.280 --> 00:26:53.280
and the same way our
founding fathers viewed them

00:26:53.280 --> 00:26:54.663
in the 1700s.

00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:58.050
The original federal Indian policy

00:26:58.050 --> 00:27:02.040
was stated by General
George Washington in 1783.

00:27:02.040 --> 00:27:03.810
He was requested by the Congress

00:27:03.810 --> 00:27:07.383
to advise how the United States
should deal with the tribes.

00:27:08.220 --> 00:27:11.430
And George Washington writes
a very important letter.

00:27:11.430 --> 00:27:15.270
He compared Indians to animals.

00:27:15.270 --> 00:27:16.382
He says,

00:27:16.382 --> 00:27:17.550
"What happens to the animals of the forest

00:27:17.550 --> 00:27:19.440
as we advance our frontiers?"

00:27:19.440 --> 00:27:20.997
He said, "Why, they disappear."

00:27:22.470 --> 00:27:25.740
He had this vision for native
peoples and native societies

00:27:25.740 --> 00:27:27.540
that they were gonna go away

00:27:27.540 --> 00:27:29.070
and all their lands and assets

00:27:29.070 --> 00:27:31.170
would belong to the United States someday.

00:27:33.510 --> 00:27:35.580
- Clinton and Sullivan were sent

00:27:35.580 --> 00:27:38.010
by General George Washington

00:27:38.010 --> 00:27:40.203
to come and wipe us out.

00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:43.620
There were orders of George Washington

00:27:43.620 --> 00:27:48.397
to General John Sullivan at
headquarters May 31st, 1779.

00:27:48.397 --> 00:27:50.880
"The exhibition you are
appointed to command

00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:53.210
is to be directed against
the hostile tribes

00:27:53.210 --> 00:27:55.080
of the Six Nations of Indians.

00:27:55.080 --> 00:27:57.660
The immediate objects
are the total destruction

00:27:57.660 --> 00:27:59.400
and devastation of their settlements

00:27:59.400 --> 00:28:02.130
and that the country may
not be merely overrun

00:28:02.130 --> 00:28:03.207
but destroyed."

00:28:04.350 --> 00:28:09.350
So it was totally preconceived
to wipe the native people out

00:28:09.810 --> 00:28:11.310
and take their land.

00:28:11.310 --> 00:28:13.233
A real, African genocide.

00:28:16.650 --> 00:28:18.030
We've gone through a great deal,

00:28:18.030 --> 00:28:20.160
but as we go, we get stronger,

00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:21.990
and we're pretty stubborn,

00:28:21.990 --> 00:28:23.691
so we're still here here.

00:28:23.691 --> 00:28:25.567
(woman chuckling)
Yeah, we are.

00:28:32.100 --> 00:28:36.093
- We've been fighting for our
human rights for a long time.

00:28:37.290 --> 00:28:39.180
The Bureau of Indian Affairs

00:28:39.180 --> 00:28:41.700
is under the Interior Department.

00:28:41.700 --> 00:28:46.700
They have control of land
use and wildlife management,

00:28:48.450 --> 00:28:52.110
and that's where the
category of Native Americans

00:28:52.110 --> 00:28:55.230
is under land use and wildlife management,

00:28:55.230 --> 00:28:58.563
as if we're still flora
and fauna of the land.

00:29:01.530 --> 00:29:04.770
The hardships that they
committed onto our people,

00:29:04.770 --> 00:29:06.843
we still feel the effects of it today.

00:29:08.730 --> 00:29:10.980
Back in the days of the boarding schools

00:29:10.980 --> 00:29:15.980
and the actual physical
beatings for using our language,

00:29:16.410 --> 00:29:18.810
had slowed us down a bit.

00:29:18.810 --> 00:29:21.810
And so once we realized that
intent of the government

00:29:21.810 --> 00:29:23.730
to assimilate us,

00:29:23.730 --> 00:29:26.763
our elders stood up
and taught us our ways.

00:29:37.590 --> 00:29:40.470
- When people ask me
what's natives all about,

00:29:40.470 --> 00:29:42.120
what do you guys believe in?

00:29:42.120 --> 00:29:45.630
I think the easiest thing
that I could say is gratitude,

00:29:45.630 --> 00:29:46.743
giving thanks.

00:29:47.790 --> 00:29:50.850
Our creation stories mean
that we come from the earth.

00:29:50.850 --> 00:29:51.683
Other religions,

00:29:51.683 --> 00:29:54.810
they have a place of worship
where they have to pilgrimage,

00:29:54.810 --> 00:29:57.300
you know, far away to
get to these holy places.

00:29:57.300 --> 00:29:58.380
That's not so for us.

00:29:58.380 --> 00:30:00.300
Our sacred places are right here.

00:30:00.300 --> 00:30:02.310
We're standing on our sacred place.

00:30:02.310 --> 00:30:03.900
That's an ingrained part of who we are.

00:30:03.900 --> 00:30:05.490
To worry about the climate,

00:30:05.490 --> 00:30:07.940
to worry about how people
are treating the Earth.

00:30:10.260 --> 00:30:12.660
Colonialism also affected our environment,

00:30:12.660 --> 00:30:16.260
and that's a conversation that
people are beginning to have.

00:30:16.260 --> 00:30:18.900
And so I think that's gonna
be where we come together

00:30:18.900 --> 00:30:21.510
and work with each other.

00:30:21.510 --> 00:30:23.220
Science is starting to realize

00:30:23.220 --> 00:30:28.220
that traditional ecological
knowledge does matter.

00:30:28.230 --> 00:30:30.060
If you think about Mother
Earth as an entity,

00:30:30.060 --> 00:30:31.860
the water is a bloodline.

00:30:31.860 --> 00:30:33.690
If I have an artery that I block,

00:30:33.690 --> 00:30:34.980
I might have a heart attack.

00:30:34.980 --> 00:30:36.090
So in the same way,

00:30:36.090 --> 00:30:40.770
recognizing the world as a live thing,

00:30:40.770 --> 00:30:41.700
then you know

00:30:41.700 --> 00:30:45.750
that you can't poison
the blood or the water.

00:30:45.750 --> 00:30:48.000
You can't block the veins

00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:50.823
because then the whole
thing is gonna fall apart.

00:30:53.250 --> 00:30:55.710
If I wanna think about a good mind,

00:30:55.710 --> 00:30:59.070
you have a consciousness of a community,

00:30:59.070 --> 00:31:00.779
like a world community.

00:31:00.779 --> 00:31:02.700
It's not what is good for me,

00:31:02.700 --> 00:31:05.760
it's what is good for
all of us to get along.

00:31:05.760 --> 00:31:08.973
We need to treat everything with respect.

00:31:17.760 --> 00:31:21.243
His name is Hadoat and it means he hunts.

00:31:22.603 --> 00:31:23.553
Hadoat.

00:31:24.420 --> 00:31:25.739
Hmm?

00:31:25.739 --> 00:31:29.822
(woman speaking native language)

00:31:30.750 --> 00:31:32.730
I definitely want to bring
him up in the long house.

00:31:32.730 --> 00:31:33.990
He goes, he sings.

00:31:33.990 --> 00:31:36.300
He already knows dancing.

00:31:36.300 --> 00:31:39.570
It's actually funny 'cause
his daycare over in Syracuse,

00:31:39.570 --> 00:31:40.680
they said whenever we play music,

00:31:40.680 --> 00:31:41.880
he kind of walks in a circle.

00:31:41.880 --> 00:31:42.990
He only goes in one way.

00:31:42.990 --> 00:31:43.830
What is that about?

00:31:43.830 --> 00:31:44.663
It's so odd.

00:31:44.663 --> 00:31:46.740
I'm like, well, we only
dance in that one way.

00:31:46.740 --> 00:31:48.060
It was really nice for me

00:31:48.060 --> 00:31:49.170
because he's two

00:31:49.170 --> 00:31:51.300
and you never know how
much they're absorbing.

00:31:51.300 --> 00:31:52.680
And I was like, he's getting it.

00:31:52.680 --> 00:31:54.213
It's a part of who he is.

00:31:57.251 --> 00:31:58.084
- Mm.

00:31:59.250 --> 00:32:00.570
- It's important to me,

00:32:00.570 --> 00:32:03.450
for him especially
having an Onondagan name

00:32:03.450 --> 00:32:04.283
to learn the language.

00:32:04.283 --> 00:32:06.450
So I'm taking language classes.

00:32:06.450 --> 00:32:09.843
I encourage people to
speak to him in Onondaga.

00:32:10.906 --> 00:32:13.410
(woman speaking native language)

00:32:13.410 --> 00:32:15.472
(child speaking native language)

00:32:15.472 --> 00:32:19.139
(mellow instrumental music)

00:32:25.350 --> 00:32:26.460
- Today's generation,

00:32:26.460 --> 00:32:28.260
the children are understanding more.

00:32:28.260 --> 00:32:31.080
They're seeing more of the
wrongs that are happening

00:32:31.080 --> 00:32:32.970
to the environment,

00:32:32.970 --> 00:32:36.123
so they're paying more
attention to their culture.

00:32:41.070 --> 00:32:43.050
You can tell when spring has sprung,

00:32:43.050 --> 00:32:45.443
when the wood pile is all gone.

00:32:45.443 --> 00:32:48.723
Now we're outta wood, so
spring's gotta be here real soon.

00:32:52.500 --> 00:32:54.300
That's what's left of the wood pile.

00:32:55.872 --> 00:32:56.996
- I'm gonna cut wood!

00:32:56.996 --> 00:32:58.737
(girl giggling)

00:32:58.737 --> 00:33:00.440
Cut wood with my grandpa.

00:33:02.464 --> 00:33:05.381
(chainsaw cutting)

00:33:08.371 --> 00:33:09.704
Come here, girl.

00:33:12.564 --> 00:33:14.214
(girl giggling)

00:33:14.214 --> 00:33:17.547
When shes licks me, she gives me kisses.

00:33:19.952 --> 00:33:21.286
We call this water

00:33:21.286 --> 00:33:22.566
(child speaking native language)

00:33:22.566 --> 00:33:23.400
We call it (child
speaking native language)

00:33:23.400 --> 00:33:26.523
'cause it's our language and we call it

00:33:26.523 --> 00:33:27.371
(child speaking native language)

00:33:27.371 --> 00:33:28.563
'cause we're Onondaga.

00:33:31.152 --> 00:33:33.735
(girl singing)

00:33:43.454 --> 00:33:48.454
♪ It's a nice day outside ♪

00:33:49.074 --> 00:33:52.656
♪ It's a nice day outside ♪

00:33:52.656 --> 00:33:55.239
(girl singing)

00:34:07.500 --> 00:34:09.660
- This is our Onondaga Nation school.

00:34:09.660 --> 00:34:11.610
It's kindergarten through eighth grade.

00:34:12.930 --> 00:34:15.900
There are a lot of our representations

00:34:15.900 --> 00:34:18.600
in the building of the school.

00:34:18.600 --> 00:34:20.253
Here you see the tree of peace.

00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:24.420
We have a language program.

00:34:24.420 --> 00:34:26.310
Culture is taught.

00:34:26.310 --> 00:34:29.010
Our students are released for ceremonies

00:34:29.010 --> 00:34:33.240
if they choose to go to
longhouse ceremonies.

00:34:33.240 --> 00:34:38.240
What our teachers do is find
creative ways to teach both.

00:34:38.460 --> 00:34:42.360
To teach New York state
standard curriculum

00:34:42.360 --> 00:34:45.753
and infuse it with our teachings.

00:34:46.980 --> 00:34:50.370
We've had to adapt to outside influences.

00:34:50.370 --> 00:34:55.370
We do it every day when we
cross the border into the towns.

00:34:56.580 --> 00:34:59.340
We know what the laws are out there

00:34:59.340 --> 00:35:01.920
and we know what our laws are here,

00:35:01.920 --> 00:35:06.920
so we kind of have to
adjust to two worlds.

00:35:08.954 --> 00:35:13.740
(mellow instrumental music continues)

00:35:13.740 --> 00:35:16.380
- We had about five year
supply of corn here.

00:35:16.380 --> 00:35:17.970
- Holy.
- So we'll be

00:35:17.970 --> 00:35:19.618
doing this for a while.

00:35:19.618 --> 00:35:21.420
(women laughing)

00:35:21.420 --> 00:35:23.010
- So this from the garden
you've been working on?

00:35:23.010 --> 00:35:23.843
- Yeah.

00:35:25.170 --> 00:35:26.448
- [Young Woman] You guys have any problems

00:35:26.448 --> 00:35:29.520
with groundhogs out there?

00:35:29.520 --> 00:35:30.353
- No,

00:35:30.353 --> 00:35:33.303
there was enough for the
birds, and the animals, and us.

00:35:34.560 --> 00:35:37.830
- I went away to school when I was 14.

00:35:37.830 --> 00:35:39.690
I came back for ceremonies,

00:35:39.690 --> 00:35:44.690
but I chose to live the normal,
American high school dream.

00:35:45.180 --> 00:35:47.880
You always hear about people
balancing the two worlds.

00:35:48.870 --> 00:35:49.893
It's really hard.

00:35:51.390 --> 00:35:52.223
So here I am.

00:35:52.223 --> 00:35:53.056
Now that I have a son,

00:35:53.056 --> 00:35:57.870
I've kind of slowed down and
I take the time to do stuff.

00:35:57.870 --> 00:36:00.630
I feel like it's like
a lifetime that I lost

00:36:00.630 --> 00:36:03.060
of all this knowledge that
I could have been learning

00:36:03.060 --> 00:36:04.470
and I have to seek out help

00:36:04.470 --> 00:36:06.750
from other people in the community

00:36:06.750 --> 00:36:08.073
to kind of fill the gaps.

00:36:09.750 --> 00:36:12.840
I'm kind of reintroducing
myself as a young woman

00:36:12.840 --> 00:36:14.440
to these people I knew as a kid.

00:36:15.660 --> 00:36:16.510
- Railroad truck.

00:36:17.661 --> 00:36:21.899
(mellow instrumental music)

00:36:21.899 --> 00:36:24.649
(snow crunching)

00:36:33.207 --> 00:36:34.800
- And we give our thanksgiving,

00:36:34.800 --> 00:36:36.540
and we acknowledge all the trees.

00:36:36.540 --> 00:36:38.940
We acknowledge the leader of the forest,

00:36:38.940 --> 00:36:40.713
which is the maple tree right here.

00:36:41.910 --> 00:36:43.620
This is my brother, Dale.

00:36:43.620 --> 00:36:45.450
He's the one in charge of tapping trees

00:36:45.450 --> 00:36:48.150
and boiling the sap down to make syrup

00:36:48.150 --> 00:36:50.734
so that the school children
can walk through the village

00:36:50.734 --> 00:36:53.040
and share with the elders

00:36:53.040 --> 00:36:55.770
some of the maple syrup
that's made right here.

00:36:55.770 --> 00:36:57.083
- [Dale] So you come along.

00:36:59.490 --> 00:37:00.323
Drink there.

00:37:01.500 --> 00:37:03.843
- The sap becomes medicine for us.

00:37:06.815 --> 00:37:07.815
That's good.

00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:10.650
Comes out that hole.

00:37:10.650 --> 00:37:11.550
It heals us.

00:37:11.550 --> 00:37:14.310
It brings us into the new changing season.

00:37:14.310 --> 00:37:15.180
Gives us strength.

00:37:15.180 --> 00:37:16.233
Good medicine.

00:37:17.430 --> 00:37:18.263
A drink.

00:37:18.263 --> 00:37:19.500
Here you go.

00:37:19.500 --> 00:37:23.040
We tap our veins and make our sugar,

00:37:23.040 --> 00:37:24.093
natural sugar.

00:37:25.560 --> 00:37:27.492
- Tastes like water.

00:37:27.492 --> 00:37:28.629
- Yeah, sweet water,

00:37:28.629 --> 00:37:29.462
medicine.

00:37:29.462 --> 00:37:30.462
Sweet water.

00:37:31.478 --> 00:37:32.311
Now we're thriving

00:37:32.311 --> 00:37:35.160
and our people are coming
back into who they are

00:37:35.160 --> 00:37:36.710
and understanding who they are.

00:37:39.851 --> 00:37:42.601
(birds chirping)

00:37:48.312 --> 00:37:49.398
(man speaking native language)

00:37:49.398 --> 00:37:51.357
- we call it, a game.

00:37:51.357 --> 00:37:55.330
The game was played on
the other side of creation

00:37:56.580 --> 00:37:59.220
when this earth was
still covered with water.

00:37:59.220 --> 00:38:02.610
We were playing lacrosse

00:38:02.610 --> 00:38:05.460
as far as the Haudenosaunee's concerned

00:38:05.460 --> 00:38:09.453
is a foundation of our nation.

00:38:12.180 --> 00:38:14.429
The medicine game for the creators.

00:38:14.429 --> 00:38:16.350
(man speaking native language)

00:38:16.350 --> 00:38:18.030
I played this year,

00:38:18.030 --> 00:38:19.443
my 84th year.

00:38:21.504 --> 00:38:24.033
When we pass on as players,

00:38:27.330 --> 00:38:29.460
we'll be the captain of the game,

00:38:29.460 --> 00:38:32.810
the very day that we pass
on on the other side.

00:38:38.279 --> 00:38:43.279
(mellow instrumental music)
(tool scraping)

00:38:50.173 --> 00:38:52.200
- I make these little wooden sticks.

00:38:52.200 --> 00:38:54.903
I make them just like
I make the big sticks.

00:38:55.770 --> 00:38:57.480
When a young boy is born,

00:38:57.480 --> 00:38:59.640
they put it in a crib with the boy,

00:38:59.640 --> 00:39:01.170
with the baby boy,

00:39:01.170 --> 00:39:03.867
and they make sure he
gets his hand around it

00:39:03.867 --> 00:39:05.493
and he holds that stick.

00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:09.780
So in effect,

00:39:09.780 --> 00:39:14.780
what you have is lacrosse
from cradle to grave.

00:39:18.630 --> 00:39:21.300
Lately, I've been making
quite a few of these.

00:39:21.300 --> 00:39:22.770
A lot of baby boys being born,

00:39:22.770 --> 00:39:27.136
so the future looks pretty
good for Onondaga lacrosse.

00:39:27.136 --> 00:39:32.136
(crowd cheering)
(man singing)

00:39:33.430 --> 00:39:36.073
(men chanting)

00:39:36.073 --> 00:39:41.073
(man singing)
(men chanting)

00:39:41.701 --> 00:39:46.701
(man singing)
(men chanting)

00:39:46.731 --> 00:39:51.731
(man singing)
(men chanting)

00:39:51.958 --> 00:39:54.708
(crowd cheering)

00:40:02.280 --> 00:40:04.130
- This is the World Games.

00:40:04.130 --> 00:40:08.160
The Haudenosaunee is
one of the five teams.

00:40:08.160 --> 00:40:12.003
Today, we see at least 40, 42 teams here.

00:40:13.057 --> 00:40:15.807
(crowd cheering)

00:40:21.930 --> 00:40:23.232
- Come on, let's play a game.

00:40:23.232 --> 00:40:24.508
Play the game, play the game.

00:40:24.508 --> 00:40:27.844
(crowd cheering)
- Watch the ball!

00:40:27.844 --> 00:40:31.080
(crowd cheering)

00:40:31.080 --> 00:40:32.520
- I'm from the Onondaga Nation.

00:40:32.520 --> 00:40:34.283
I am Hot Clan.

00:40:34.283 --> 00:40:35.116
- Go, go, go, go, go.

00:40:36.080 --> 00:40:37.290
- We play this game for the creator,

00:40:37.290 --> 00:40:39.330
and that's something that I'm thankful for

00:40:39.330 --> 00:40:40.830
for every game that I play in.

00:40:44.480 --> 00:40:47.970
- I grew up on the Akwesasne,
Mohawk reservation.

00:40:47.970 --> 00:40:50.010
I've started playing lacrosse since I was,

00:40:50.010 --> 00:40:53.850
you know, old enough to walk
and grab a stick in my hand.

00:40:53.850 --> 00:40:55.320
My dad played,

00:40:55.320 --> 00:40:56.820
and so now I'm playing.

00:40:56.820 --> 00:40:58.680
Our team represents so much,

00:40:58.680 --> 00:41:00.420
represents all the nations,

00:41:00.420 --> 00:41:01.743
all over North America.

00:41:02.635 --> 00:41:05.777
(team cheering)

00:41:05.777 --> 00:41:08.527
(crowd cheering)

00:41:12.090 --> 00:41:13.683
- World team and third place.

00:41:15.360 --> 00:41:17.310
- We got our medal finally.

00:41:17.310 --> 00:41:18.840
History.

00:41:18.840 --> 00:41:20.910
Okay, so it's bronze.

00:41:20.910 --> 00:41:22.360
Next time it's gonna be gold.

00:41:23.280 --> 00:41:24.787
Yeah!

00:41:24.787 --> 00:41:27.537
(crowd cheering)

00:41:34.979 --> 00:41:36.750
- But we've been traveling
on our own passport

00:41:36.750 --> 00:41:38.223
for quite some time now.

00:41:39.210 --> 00:41:41.040
A lot of the nations around the world,

00:41:41.040 --> 00:41:42.630
a lot of the countries accept this,

00:41:42.630 --> 00:41:45.753
and we can travel freely
through their territories.

00:41:46.800 --> 00:41:48.810
It was issued by the grand council,

00:41:48.810 --> 00:41:52.530
the Six Nation Grand Council
of Chiefs here at Onondaga.

00:41:52.530 --> 00:41:54.400
The seal of the Haudenosaunee

00:41:55.350 --> 00:41:56.820
is the seal of the Chiefs,

00:41:56.820 --> 00:42:00.690
of 50 Chiefs locking arms
to protect all the clans,

00:42:00.690 --> 00:42:03.420
all the families in the circle,

00:42:03.420 --> 00:42:04.890
and also the tree of peace,

00:42:04.890 --> 00:42:07.740
which represents the great law of peace.

00:42:07.740 --> 00:42:11.817
Since 9-11, we've had trouble
with different nations.

00:42:11.817 --> 00:42:13.650
The United States is actually the one

00:42:13.650 --> 00:42:15.494
that's given most trouble.

00:42:15.494 --> 00:42:19.161
(mellow instrumental music)

00:42:35.403 --> 00:42:38.966
(group speaking native language)

00:42:38.966 --> 00:42:40.883
- 1977 delegates first!

00:42:42.583 --> 00:42:45.333
(group chatting)

00:42:50.790 --> 00:42:52.650
- The advantages that we have created

00:42:52.650 --> 00:42:55.350
over these past 36 years,

00:42:55.350 --> 00:42:57.393
we have managed to do quite a bit.

00:43:02.070 --> 00:43:03.543
The mission remains the same.

00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:12.660
Those laws that the indigenous
people have been adhering to,

00:43:12.660 --> 00:43:14.190
which is the laws of nature,

00:43:14.190 --> 00:43:17.520
are the survival laws for our species.

00:43:17.520 --> 00:43:19.110
The air belongs to everybody,

00:43:19.110 --> 00:43:20.520
the water belongs to everybody,

00:43:20.520 --> 00:43:21.990
and that includes all the animals,

00:43:21.990 --> 00:43:23.160
that includes the plants,

00:43:23.160 --> 00:43:25.088
that includes everything.

00:43:25.088 --> 00:43:30.088
(group singing)
(tribal drumming music)

00:43:45.004 --> 00:43:46.710
(woman speaking native language)

00:43:46.710 --> 00:43:48.300
- That's American Indian.

00:43:48.300 --> 00:43:49.629
USA.
- Yes,

00:43:49.629 --> 00:43:51.450
it doesn't work on the machine over there.

00:43:51.450 --> 00:43:53.400
- No, it wouldn't work on there.

00:43:53.400 --> 00:43:56.013
- Oh, I haven't never
seen a passport like this.

00:43:59.327 --> 00:44:00.160
- Ooh!

00:44:03.264 --> 00:44:04.431
- So, America.

00:44:05.282 --> 00:44:07.800
(woman speaking native language)

00:44:07.800 --> 00:44:10.798
So, you go to New York, or?

00:44:10.798 --> 00:44:12.113
- Yeah, New York.
- New York.

00:44:12.113 --> 00:44:14.127
- Yeah, Kennedy.

00:44:14.127 --> 00:44:16.380
- You don't have a green card.

00:44:16.380 --> 00:44:17.313
It's just this.

00:44:21.690 --> 00:44:24.450
- Hello, is this Joe?

00:44:24.450 --> 00:44:26.640
I'm just alerting you to the fact

00:44:26.640 --> 00:44:31.430
that they didn't accept
my passport for return.

00:44:33.810 --> 00:44:37.140
We had passed through all
of the passport controls

00:44:37.140 --> 00:44:40.140
right up to getting on a plane,

00:44:40.140 --> 00:44:44.100
and one of the clerks at
the last minute got shaky

00:44:45.960 --> 00:44:48.900
and pulled all the alarms.

00:44:48.900 --> 00:44:51.450
The last time was in London,

00:44:51.450 --> 00:44:52.810
they asked me if I would

00:44:53.700 --> 00:44:55.980
just fill out a US passport and I said no,

00:44:55.980 --> 00:44:57.600
I couldn't do that.

00:44:57.600 --> 00:45:00.600
And finally they did issue.

00:45:00.600 --> 00:45:03.510
They do have a travel document,

00:45:03.510 --> 00:45:08.510
but my instruction was to pay
a fine for an illegal document

00:45:10.290 --> 00:45:12.033
when I returned to the US.

00:45:13.140 --> 00:45:16.440
So anyway, that,

00:45:16.440 --> 00:45:18.933
we'll see what happens this time around.

00:45:19.887 --> 00:45:22.970
(train announcement)

00:45:26.190 --> 00:45:27.813
Here we are, train to Zurich.

00:45:29.815 --> 00:45:30.648
Next step,

00:45:33.364 --> 00:45:34.197
who knows.

00:45:35.959 --> 00:45:36.792
We'll see.

00:45:37.847 --> 00:45:40.514
(train rolling)

00:45:48.877 --> 00:45:51.112
It's American Indian passport.

00:45:51.112 --> 00:45:52.612
- Very, very good.

00:45:56.333 --> 00:45:57.697
What a coincidence.

00:45:57.697 --> 00:46:01.340
I am a son of the last Indian tribe

00:46:01.340 --> 00:46:04.290
who defeated the Spaniards.

00:46:04.290 --> 00:46:05.403
I am a son of Mapuche.

00:46:06.960 --> 00:46:11.960
Yes, it is a big, big honor
to meet you here today.

00:46:12.752 --> 00:46:14.843
(man chuckling)
- Oh my goodness.

00:46:14.843 --> 00:46:16.650
Well, I didn't get your name.

00:46:16.650 --> 00:46:17.677
- My name is Marcello.

00:46:17.677 --> 00:46:19.110
- Marcello.
- Marcello,

00:46:19.110 --> 00:46:19.943
I will write it.

00:46:19.943 --> 00:46:20.776
- Okay, good.

00:46:22.440 --> 00:46:23.700
- It's very a emotive moment.

00:46:23.700 --> 00:46:24.533
I'm sorry.

00:46:29.040 --> 00:46:32.763
The system is asking me one
part for the citizenship.

00:46:35.970 --> 00:46:38.610
Now what do you usually put?

00:46:38.610 --> 00:46:40.039
- The English one.

00:46:40.039 --> 00:46:43.740
The one that's on the cover,

00:46:43.740 --> 00:46:45.183
and Onondaga.

00:46:46.230 --> 00:46:48.120
Onondaga is my nation,

00:46:48.120 --> 00:46:50.580
but Haudenosaunee is our confederacy.

00:46:50.580 --> 00:46:53.280
- And tell me one thing,

00:46:53.280 --> 00:46:56.403
do you still speak your
language among each other?

00:46:57.260 --> 00:46:59.272
- Yeah.

00:46:59.272 --> 00:47:01.891
Our council operates with the language.

00:47:01.891 --> 00:47:05.163
- And do you give the values
to the younger people?

00:47:06.240 --> 00:47:07.110
Our old values.

00:47:07.110 --> 00:47:08.073
- Over ceremony.

00:47:08.940 --> 00:47:10.593
We have many, many ceremonies.

00:47:13.710 --> 00:47:15.243
- The north meets the south.

00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:19.950
- They call it the eagle and the condor.

00:47:19.950 --> 00:47:21.713
- Yes, the eagle and the condor.

00:47:21.713 --> 00:47:22.546
- Yeah, yeah.

00:47:22.546 --> 00:47:25.020
Can get a picture of you with my hat on.

00:47:25.020 --> 00:47:26.310
- Very good.

00:47:26.310 --> 00:47:28.893
(man laughing)

00:47:30.240 --> 00:47:31.353
It is my honor.

00:47:33.270 --> 00:47:34.503
A Mapuche

00:47:34.503 --> 00:47:35.460
(man laughing)

00:47:35.460 --> 00:47:36.573
with an eagle.

00:47:40.316 --> 00:47:44.066
- You become very famous
in Iroquois country.

00:47:45.687 --> 00:47:49.244
(airport chatter)
- But there are many others.

00:47:49.244 --> 00:47:51.450
Can you show me one USA stamp?

00:47:51.450 --> 00:47:52.785
Which one?

00:47:52.785 --> 00:47:54.001
- Any.

00:47:54.001 --> 00:47:55.251
They're all US.

00:47:56.728 --> 00:47:59.065
- So, which state is that?

00:47:59.065 --> 00:48:02.732
(mellow instrumental music)

00:48:20.556 --> 00:48:24.377
- This is the marker for Sganyodaiyo,

00:48:24.377 --> 00:48:27.573
now we call him Handsome Lake.

00:48:28.530 --> 00:48:29.730
He was our Chief,

00:48:29.730 --> 00:48:32.550
and in 1799 he had a vision.

00:48:32.550 --> 00:48:35.133
He was given a look into the future.

00:48:37.110 --> 00:48:39.300
We're now experiencing some of the events

00:48:39.300 --> 00:48:41.520
that he predicted.

00:48:41.520 --> 00:48:44.280
We see today the pollution
of all the streams,

00:48:44.280 --> 00:48:46.722
and all the lakes, and all the waters.

00:48:46.722 --> 00:48:49.863
And so here it is now.

00:48:52.063 --> 00:48:54.123
The message that he brought,

00:48:55.445 --> 00:48:58.023
(man speaking native
language) is the good word.

00:48:59.280 --> 00:49:01.560
As he was told by the four protectors

00:49:01.560 --> 00:49:04.297
who were speaking to him at that time,

00:49:04.297 --> 00:49:05.610
"Tell all your relatives,

00:49:05.610 --> 00:49:07.110
your family, your people,

00:49:07.110 --> 00:49:08.073
the leaders,

00:49:09.420 --> 00:49:12.480
that the generation that
allows this to happen

00:49:12.480 --> 00:49:15.477
is gonna suffer beyond all comprehension."

00:49:17.737 --> 00:49:19.020
"And tell your people,

00:49:19.020 --> 00:49:22.767
do not let it be your generation."

00:49:23.940 --> 00:49:25.530
The instruction is clear.

00:49:25.530 --> 00:49:27.180
Our fate is in our own hands.

00:49:27.180 --> 00:49:28.980
Nobody else.

00:49:28.980 --> 00:49:31.863
We will determine what will happen to us.

00:49:34.590 --> 00:49:35.910
That is the hope,

00:49:35.910 --> 00:49:38.163
because it still is in our hands.

00:49:40.620 --> 00:49:43.310
What I see today in the
councils of the world

00:49:43.310 --> 00:49:46.893
is they are not counseling
for the welfare of the future.

00:49:47.730 --> 00:49:50.310
They're counseling for their own good.

00:49:50.310 --> 00:49:53.583
They see no further
than their own lifetime.

00:49:56.778 --> 00:49:58.560
(eerie instrumental music)

00:49:58.560 --> 00:50:00.993
- These are the headwaters
up Onondaga Lake.

00:50:01.860 --> 00:50:04.980
Onondaga Lake's very
spiritual to our people.

00:50:04.980 --> 00:50:07.773
It's where the Peacemaker
shared his message with us.

00:50:09.300 --> 00:50:11.370
Our Thanksgivings are still going on there

00:50:11.370 --> 00:50:14.793
in a small way now 'cause of
the restriction to the land.

00:50:15.840 --> 00:50:18.180
The place that we used
to have our ceremony

00:50:18.180 --> 00:50:21.420
is now one of the most
contaminated places.

00:50:21.420 --> 00:50:23.850
You can't go there without a jumpsuit on

00:50:23.850 --> 00:50:26.133
to protect yourself from the toxins.

00:50:30.150 --> 00:50:33.783
- It's all industrial waste
as much as 80 feet deep.

00:50:37.560 --> 00:50:41.340
- Onondaga Lake is still one
of the most polluted sites

00:50:41.340 --> 00:50:42.183
in the country.

00:50:43.050 --> 00:50:46.080
I mean, just based on
the volume of chemicals

00:50:46.080 --> 00:50:47.043
that exist here.

00:50:50.430 --> 00:50:52.200
It's all silt sized material.

00:50:52.200 --> 00:50:54.450
And this is aggregated together.

00:50:54.450 --> 00:50:55.863
So it's like silly putty.

00:50:56.700 --> 00:50:59.310
For years it had a
tremendous impact on the lake

00:50:59.310 --> 00:51:01.983
because it was hostile to life forms.

00:51:02.910 --> 00:51:05.730
I worked in the hazardous
waste field for 20 years.

00:51:05.730 --> 00:51:08.490
Most of my career was about
what happens to a chemical

00:51:08.490 --> 00:51:11.190
when it's released in the environment.

00:51:11.190 --> 00:51:13.680
The unique thing about Onondaga Lake

00:51:13.680 --> 00:51:15.810
is the number of problems.

00:51:15.810 --> 00:51:19.950
This was a smorgasbord
of organic chemicals.

00:51:19.950 --> 00:51:23.250
Where other sites might
have a chromium problem,

00:51:23.250 --> 00:51:25.890
or a PCB problem;

00:51:25.890 --> 00:51:27.123
this site had it all.

00:51:31.590 --> 00:51:34.350
- Everywhere you go around this lake

00:51:34.350 --> 00:51:37.413
is heavily polluted with industrial waste.

00:51:38.250 --> 00:51:40.650
The major responsible parties;

00:51:40.650 --> 00:51:41.940
we have Crucible Steel,

00:51:41.940 --> 00:51:43.950
GM and their PCBs,

00:51:43.950 --> 00:51:46.590
the former GE picture tube factory.

00:51:46.590 --> 00:51:48.660
The worst polluter among all of the others

00:51:48.660 --> 00:51:50.580
is Allied Chemical.

00:51:50.580 --> 00:51:52.590
Allied bought Honeywell.

00:51:52.590 --> 00:51:54.900
Allied and Honeywell are responsible

00:51:54.900 --> 00:51:56.790
for the lake bottom itself,

00:51:56.790 --> 00:52:00.720
which is so polluted with
26 different chemicals.

00:52:00.720 --> 00:52:04.740
There's no goal of having it
be swimmable or drinkable.

00:52:04.740 --> 00:52:08.220
No goal of having the fish ever be edible.

00:52:08.220 --> 00:52:11.370
Instead, we're gonna
have sort of a half lake.

00:52:11.370 --> 00:52:14.580
There's water in it, that's
about as far as it goes.

00:52:14.580 --> 00:52:16.620
This lake will still be a super fun site

00:52:16.620 --> 00:52:17.970
when they get done with it.

00:52:17.970 --> 00:52:20.430
And the nation will have to keep working

00:52:20.430 --> 00:52:22.020
with all of the neighbors and friends

00:52:22.020 --> 00:52:23.220
that it has made,

00:52:23.220 --> 00:52:25.020
because people appreciate the fact

00:52:25.020 --> 00:52:28.554
that the nation stands up
for everybody's health.

00:52:28.554 --> 00:52:31.697
(upbeat percussion music)

00:52:31.697 --> 00:52:34.170
(woman singing)
(crowd cheering)

00:52:34.170 --> 00:52:37.020
Nobody thought we could
hold off the frack industry

00:52:37.020 --> 00:52:37.853
in New York,

00:52:37.853 --> 00:52:38.760
and we've done it.

00:52:38.760 --> 00:52:40.110
The Onondagas have been involved

00:52:40.110 --> 00:52:42.570
in the leadership of
that from the beginning.

00:52:42.570 --> 00:52:44.940
People have come to
understand that their vision

00:52:44.940 --> 00:52:46.680
for environmental struggle

00:52:46.680 --> 00:52:49.887
is very important to
how we approach things.

00:52:49.887 --> 00:52:53.445
(crowd cheering)

00:52:53.445 --> 00:52:57.420
- And we own, in our
section of this country,

00:52:57.420 --> 00:53:00.095
one quarter of the world's potable water

00:53:00.095 --> 00:53:01.605
right here, right now.

00:53:01.605 --> 00:53:04.355
(crowd cheering)

00:53:05.381 --> 00:53:07.440
That's a huge responsibility.

00:53:07.440 --> 00:53:09.750
We say seven generations,

00:53:09.750 --> 00:53:11.907
we're protecting their interest today,

00:53:11.907 --> 00:53:13.860
and that's what you're doing right now.

00:53:13.860 --> 00:53:14.693
- [Woman In Crowd] Yes!

00:53:14.693 --> 00:53:16.920
- All those leaders
that sitting over there

00:53:16.920 --> 00:53:18.228
should be here.

00:53:18.228 --> 00:53:22.590
- [Man In Crowd] Yep!
(crowd cheering)

00:53:22.590 --> 00:53:24.143
- And they should be talking to us.

00:53:25.014 --> 00:53:27.364
We'll always remember
that people is the power.

00:53:28.774 --> 00:53:29.987
You are the power.

00:53:29.987 --> 00:53:33.252
(crowd cheering)

00:53:33.252 --> 00:53:34.268
Let's give it up!

00:53:34.268 --> 00:53:37.018
(crowd cheering)

00:53:43.587 --> 00:53:45.840
- The first paragraph of
the Land Rights Action

00:53:45.840 --> 00:53:47.013
talks about healing.

00:53:48.090 --> 00:53:51.450
That the reason for taking
this action was a healing,

00:53:51.450 --> 00:53:53.760
not only of the natural
world and the waters,

00:53:53.760 --> 00:53:57.153
but also their relationship
with their settler neighbors.

00:53:58.350 --> 00:54:01.710
Well, this was March 11th, 2005.

00:54:01.710 --> 00:54:02.910
The building in the background

00:54:02.910 --> 00:54:05.310
is the federal court building,

00:54:05.310 --> 00:54:08.430
and we had just filed
the Land Rights Action.

00:54:08.430 --> 00:54:10.140
Three weeks later the Supreme Court

00:54:10.140 --> 00:54:11.880
handed down the Cheryl decision

00:54:11.880 --> 00:54:15.090
that turned all of Indian's law its head,

00:54:15.090 --> 00:54:18.210
and then eventually led to
the dismissal of that case.

00:54:18.210 --> 00:54:20.490
All of United States Indian law

00:54:20.490 --> 00:54:23.247
is founded upon the Doctrine of Discovery.

00:54:24.360 --> 00:54:25.530
- The Doctrine of Discovery

00:54:25.530 --> 00:54:28.020
is the original international law

00:54:28.020 --> 00:54:30.900
that was formed by
Europeans and by the church

00:54:30.900 --> 00:54:32.640
in the 15th century

00:54:32.640 --> 00:54:34.380
to divide up the rest of the world

00:54:34.380 --> 00:54:37.200
for European Christian ownership.

00:54:37.200 --> 00:54:39.360
If there were no human
beings there at all,

00:54:39.360 --> 00:54:40.950
of course they could claim that.

00:54:40.950 --> 00:54:43.186
Even if there were
indigenous peoples there,

00:54:43.186 --> 00:54:45.450
if you read some of these papal bills,

00:54:45.450 --> 00:54:47.280
they authorize the capture,

00:54:47.280 --> 00:54:48.360
the slaying,

00:54:48.360 --> 00:54:50.370
the taking of all property,

00:54:50.370 --> 00:54:52.623
and the enslavement of these peoples.

00:54:53.880 --> 00:54:57.480
This is not just some interesting,
old tidbit of history.

00:54:57.480 --> 00:55:00.360
The Doctrine of Discovery
is in the US Constitution.

00:55:00.360 --> 00:55:02.580
It still applies to Indian peoples today,

00:55:02.580 --> 00:55:04.260
and limits their authority,

00:55:04.260 --> 00:55:07.211
their sovereignty, and
their property rights.

00:55:07.211 --> 00:55:11.040
(mellow piano music)
- The Supreme Court

00:55:11.040 --> 00:55:13.680
denied them the right to be heard.

00:55:13.680 --> 00:55:18.243
They've never actually had
a day in court on this case.

00:55:21.510 --> 00:55:23.790
We're here to review the
draft of the petition

00:55:23.790 --> 00:55:25.710
that the nation will file

00:55:25.710 --> 00:55:27.210
and it will charge the United States

00:55:27.210 --> 00:55:28.710
with human rights violations

00:55:28.710 --> 00:55:33.710
for the way they dismissed
the Land Rights Action,

00:55:33.840 --> 00:55:37.083
and for not keeping their
promises in the treaties.

00:55:38.610 --> 00:55:41.940
The Onondagas certainly aren't gonna rest

00:55:41.940 --> 00:55:44.090
until they get some
justice for their land.

00:55:48.672 --> 00:55:51.339
(woman singing)

00:55:59.490 --> 00:56:02.990
(woman singing continues)

00:56:09.987 --> 00:56:11.067
Hey, Wendy.

00:56:11.067 --> 00:56:12.226
- Hey, you made it.

00:56:12.226 --> 00:56:13.631
That was a long ride.

00:56:13.631 --> 00:56:17.131
(woman singing continues)

00:56:20.819 --> 00:56:23.467
- We're filing today in the
Organization of America States

00:56:23.467 --> 00:56:27.480
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

00:56:27.480 --> 00:56:30.690
Because there is no
justice in the US courts,

00:56:30.690 --> 00:56:32.910
we are taking these
human rights violations

00:56:32.910 --> 00:56:35.130
to the International Forum.

00:56:35.130 --> 00:56:38.730
The US courts have denied
Justice to the Onondaga Nation

00:56:38.730 --> 00:56:40.350
and the Haudenosaunee.

00:56:40.350 --> 00:56:42.367
What they said to Onondagas is,

00:56:42.367 --> 00:56:43.977
"Your treaties are too old."

00:56:45.090 --> 00:56:46.413
It's time for truth,

00:56:47.310 --> 00:56:48.930
time for justice,

00:56:48.930 --> 00:56:49.803
time for healing.

00:56:51.600 --> 00:56:54.150
- The Nation brings this petition

00:56:54.150 --> 00:56:56.520
to bring about a healing
between themselves

00:56:56.520 --> 00:56:58.920
and all others who live in the region

00:56:58.920 --> 00:57:01.260
that has been the homeland of Onondaga

00:57:01.260 --> 00:57:02.793
since the dawn of time.

00:57:06.120 --> 00:57:11.120
Healing includes the peoples
who have caused that injury

00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:13.863
to admit it.

00:57:17.880 --> 00:57:18.983
- These are our people,

00:57:20.097 --> 00:57:22.770
and they represent the Haudenosaunee,

00:57:22.770 --> 00:57:24.843
the Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy.

00:57:26.430 --> 00:57:29.223
Regardless of how things transpired,

00:57:31.320 --> 00:57:32.170
we'll never quit.

00:57:34.800 --> 00:57:35.650
We'll never stop.

00:57:38.140 --> 00:57:41.057
You're gonna have to deal with us.

00:57:43.483 --> 00:57:45.000
- I have a bit of a
background in federal court

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:46.110
for the last 40 years,

00:57:46.110 --> 00:57:48.330
fighting civil rights cases for 30 years,

00:57:48.330 --> 00:57:49.860
things like that.

00:57:49.860 --> 00:57:52.650
This is the worst
injustice that I've seen,

00:57:52.650 --> 00:57:55.980
and it shocks me that they've been treated

00:57:55.980 --> 00:57:57.900
as badly as they have.

00:57:57.900 --> 00:57:58.733
Just like them,

00:57:58.733 --> 00:58:03.733
I'm committed to taking this
fight as far as we have to,

00:58:03.870 --> 00:58:04.923
as long as I can.

00:58:05.970 --> 00:58:07.500
And it's just such a privilege

00:58:07.500 --> 00:58:09.240
to be able to work with them

00:58:09.240 --> 00:58:13.083
and to try to address these injustices.

00:58:13.083 --> 00:58:17.583
(mellow instrumental music continues)

00:58:19.360 --> 00:58:23.443
(percussion instrument rattling)

00:58:24.596 --> 00:58:27.096
(man singing)

00:58:43.079 --> 00:58:43.912
- Okay.

00:58:43.912 --> 00:58:45.579
Can I have everyone's attention, please?

00:58:45.579 --> 00:58:46.581
A representative,

00:58:46.581 --> 00:58:48.043
he's a faith keeper of
the Onondaga Nation,

00:58:48.043 --> 00:58:48.960
Oren Lyons.

00:58:50.075 --> 00:58:52.405
- This is a very, very important event.

00:58:52.405 --> 00:58:55.688
And the consolidation
of the indigenous people

00:58:55.688 --> 00:59:00.125
is fundamental to, as you
know, survival of the Earth.

00:59:00.125 --> 00:59:04.958
It's our values that are going
to matter about everything.

00:59:06.140 --> 00:59:09.361
- Hi!
(woman giggling)

00:59:09.361 --> 00:59:11.172
- Hey, I didn't recognize you.

00:59:11.172 --> 00:59:13.194
I didn't write in.

00:59:13.194 --> 00:59:14.112
- It was, hi, how are you?

00:59:14.112 --> 00:59:15.865
- How are you?
- How you doing?

00:59:15.865 --> 00:59:17.378
Pleasure, pleasure.

00:59:17.378 --> 00:59:18.211
I gotta tell you,

00:59:18.211 --> 00:59:20.628
we went up to Lake Athabasca.

00:59:23.669 --> 00:59:25.365
- Oh, really?
- In the Canadian tar sands.

00:59:25.365 --> 00:59:26.871
- Yeah, yeah.
- And we went on

00:59:26.871 --> 00:59:28.646
two Indian reservations,

00:59:28.646 --> 00:59:31.479
and what they're doing to treaties

00:59:32.320 --> 00:59:36.303
that the Canadian tribes
have is abominable.

00:59:36.303 --> 00:59:38.075
- Really.
- They're basically,

00:59:38.075 --> 00:59:39.595
'cause indigenous tribes

00:59:39.595 --> 00:59:42.098
are the only people that have treaties

00:59:42.098 --> 00:59:46.431
that essentially can give
environmental restrictions

00:59:48.165 --> 00:59:50.019
on clean air and clean water.

00:59:50.019 --> 00:59:51.588
- Yeah.
- And they're trying

00:59:51.588 --> 00:59:53.789
to take back all their treaties.

00:59:53.789 --> 00:59:54.622
- Yeah!
- And there's-

00:59:54.622 --> 00:59:56.084
- For sure.

00:59:56.084 --> 01:00:01.084
(crowd cheering)
(horns honking)

01:00:01.283 --> 01:00:03.783
(man singing)

01:00:06.518 --> 01:00:07.556
- I'm honored to be here.

01:00:07.556 --> 01:00:09.014
- Yeah, let's hope everyone listens.

01:00:09.014 --> 01:00:10.821
- I think it's at a tipping point.

01:00:10.821 --> 01:00:12.107
- Yeah, I hope so.

01:00:12.107 --> 01:00:15.467
(crowd chanting)
- Pretty amazing.

01:00:15.467 --> 01:00:16.507
I love it.

01:00:16.507 --> 01:00:18.496
I love that the (woman
speaking native language)

01:00:18.496 --> 01:00:19.329
are in the front,

01:00:19.329 --> 01:00:20.162
and they show be,

01:00:20.162 --> 01:00:23.173
because they're the ones who
are gonna have to deal with

01:00:23.173 --> 01:00:25.889
what's left to them.

01:00:25.889 --> 01:00:27.232
- So good that the Onondaga

01:00:27.232 --> 01:00:29.264
are fighting for their rights,

01:00:29.264 --> 01:00:31.350
because that inspires people everywhere

01:00:31.350 --> 01:00:33.180
to fight for their rights,

01:00:33.180 --> 01:00:34.500
not just indigenous people.

01:00:34.500 --> 01:00:35.640
- Right.
- But people everywhere

01:00:35.640 --> 01:00:37.770
are inspired by your struggle.

01:00:37.770 --> 01:00:38.820
- Well, we fight on.

01:00:38.820 --> 01:00:39.653
- Keep it up.

01:00:39.653 --> 01:00:40.765
Fight on.

01:00:40.765 --> 01:00:43.515
(crowd chatting)

01:00:44.460 --> 01:00:46.098
- One step at a time.

01:00:46.098 --> 01:00:47.598
One day at a time.

01:00:49.803 --> 01:00:52.470
(horns honking)

01:00:55.953 --> 01:01:00.953
(mellow instrumental music)
(crowd chatting)

01:01:05.046 --> 01:01:08.229
- [Woman In Crowd] How are you?

01:01:08.229 --> 01:01:10.923
- I greet you with peace and friendship,

01:01:12.750 --> 01:01:13.683
and a question.

01:01:15.150 --> 01:01:18.780
How do you instruct 7 billion people

01:01:18.780 --> 01:01:21.093
as to the relationship to the Earth?

01:01:24.090 --> 01:01:25.290
Leaders of the world,

01:01:25.290 --> 01:01:28.050
despite all of our declarations

01:01:28.050 --> 01:01:30.213
and all of our proclamations,

01:01:31.710 --> 01:01:34.353
the ice is melting in the north.

01:01:35.460 --> 01:01:37.683
And we will now see the real power,

01:01:38.670 --> 01:01:40.383
the spiritual power of the Earth.

01:01:41.910 --> 01:01:44.550
There can be no peace

01:01:44.550 --> 01:01:48.363
as long as we wage war
against our mother, the Earth.

01:01:50.100 --> 01:01:53.583
I gave this speech 14 years
ago in this very hall.

01:01:54.480 --> 01:01:56.433
We've lost those precious years.

01:01:58.200 --> 01:01:59.370
So I urge you,

01:01:59.370 --> 01:02:02.280
I urge you to listen to our voice.

01:02:02.280 --> 01:02:05.313
We are the pulse of Mother Earth.

01:02:07.830 --> 01:02:09.093
We have experience,

01:02:11.370 --> 01:02:13.377
and we have a lot of knowledge.

01:02:14.250 --> 01:02:15.723
So keep our languages.

01:02:17.760 --> 01:02:19.650
You might have to call on us again.

01:02:19.650 --> 01:02:21.184
Thank you.

01:02:21.184 --> 01:02:24.351
(audience applauding)

01:02:26.720 --> 01:02:31.220
(mellow instrumental music continues)

01:02:42.405 --> 01:02:43.866
Long time ago,

01:02:43.866 --> 01:02:48.866
and I was just a small boy
hunting with my father,

01:02:50.490 --> 01:02:53.100
we were up in the woods on a
high hill, not far from here.

01:02:53.100 --> 01:02:55.347
There was always a
running stream up there.

01:02:55.347 --> 01:02:57.003
The water was always good,

01:02:58.080 --> 01:03:01.863
and I remember running
ahead of him to the stream,

01:03:02.910 --> 01:03:04.310
and we always carried a cup.

01:03:05.160 --> 01:03:06.390
Just reaching down

01:03:06.390 --> 01:03:10.893
and scooping that cup of
water up against the current.

01:03:11.790 --> 01:03:13.350
Splashed the water, splashed,

01:03:13.350 --> 01:03:14.523
and I drank the water,

01:03:15.413 --> 01:03:16.763
and my father was laughing.

01:03:17.610 --> 01:03:18.443
Shook his head.

01:03:21.030 --> 01:03:21.963
He said, you know,

01:03:23.190 --> 01:03:26.313
be a lot easier if you scoop
the water down with the flow.

01:03:27.900 --> 01:03:29.220
Scoop it with the current.

01:03:29.220 --> 01:03:31.173
He says, it won't splash all over.

01:03:33.390 --> 01:03:38.390
And that instruction prevails
almost on everything.

01:03:40.800 --> 01:03:42.600
You're gonna go against the current,

01:03:43.470 --> 01:03:44.850
good luck

01:03:44.850 --> 01:03:46.850
'cause you're going to need a lot of it.

01:03:49.710 --> 01:03:52.383
Our purpose is to protect
the coming generations,

01:03:53.220 --> 01:03:55.247
council for the welfare of the future.

01:03:57.540 --> 01:04:01.950
Our mission has multiplied,

01:04:01.950 --> 01:04:06.543
magnified many, many times
today because of the issues.

01:04:08.610 --> 01:04:11.523
But, it's not impossible.

01:04:13.760 --> 01:04:18.225
The power of the good
minds still prevails here.

01:04:18.225 --> 01:04:22.725
(mellow instrumental music continues)

01:04:47.450 --> 01:04:48.570
- When I grow up.

01:04:48.570 --> 01:04:50.340
I wanna work for peace,

01:04:50.340 --> 01:04:51.450
and Haudenosaunee,

01:04:51.450 --> 01:04:54.976
and I wanna work for my whole entire life.

01:04:54.976 --> 01:04:57.559
(girl singing)

01:05:16.533 --> 01:05:19.200
(group singing)

01:05:40.449 --> 01:05:42.949
(man singing)

01:06:06.832 --> 01:06:10.165
(man singing continues)

01:06:25.392 --> 01:06:28.059
(group singing)

Main content

The Good Mind

Citation

Main credits

Other credits

Docuseek subjects

Distributor subjects

Keywords