Gilbert finds, "that they (Onyota`a:ka) are not an Indian nation or legitimate tribe within the Indian nations that have been recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs... therefore, the Onyota`a:ka cannot take title to lands within the State through a bargain and sale deed."

The State and Federal Governments' claim that the Onyota`a:ka or Oneida Nation has been reduced to tribal organizations subordinate to the B.I.A. violates the Declaration of Human Rights which states that "no nation" has the right to denationalize another. The United States in formal nation to nation treaties recognizes the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy (Mohawk, Oneida, Tuscarora, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca) independently and as a Confederacy. Recognition by the U.S. department of Interior, which is responsible for determining those plants and animals to be classified as endangered species, is not only unnecessary, since the Executive branch, from its begining, recognized the Oneidas, but is also ironic as it is the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs has placed the Iroquois' Tree of Peace on the endangered species list.

It should be noted that the Oneida Indian Nation of New York and the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin are tribal organizations which are, at best, considered domestic dependent nations of the United States. While the members of these organizations may consider themselves as citizens of the Oneida Nation, according to the B.I.A., they are citizens of the United States. On the other hand, the people of the Onyota`a:ka or Oneida Nation have never accepted or asked for United States citizenship or Bureau of Indian Affairs recognition.

The Onyota`a:ka have not attempted to forcibly occupy their homeland but rather chose to peaceably acquire a small parcel exactly as anyone else would acquire land. The deed was recorded with the Jefferson County clerk in Watertown, N.Y. in a legal title transfer. On August 16th the State Attorney General, Dennis Vacco, petitioned Judge Gilbert for a restraining order to halt the construction of a Convention Centre/Bingo hall on this land, citing that the Onyota`a:ka possessed no legal right to hold title to property in New York State, condemning the principals involved and raising questions over the cooperation of Jefferson County and the Town of Alexandria with the development of the land in question. Judge Gilbert chose to concur with Vacco over the possessory rights of the Onyota`a:ka and decreed that all other matters are deemed moot by his decision.

This may be the first time in recent history that a state court has ruled with such prejudice on the possessory rights of a group of people. Were this ruling made against anyone, it would fly in the face of justice, but for it to be made against the people who originally held to not only 18 acres in question, but six million acres within New York State(and arguably still do), is an absolute outrage.

                                                    "Yoweh"

Return to The People's Paths

Return to The People's Home Page