Post by blackcrowheart on Jul 5, 2007 8:30:32 GMT -5
Mohawks move forward; racist rhetoric sets us all back
by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's approval on Feb. 20 of an off-reservation
casino for the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe marked a rare occasion in Indian
gaming. Only three times before has a state supported a tribe in such an
endeavor. For the community of Akwesasne, the territory within which the
St. Regis Mohawk Tribe operates as the elective, federally recognized
government, the controversial issue of casino gaming in the Mohawk's
ancestral territory, New York's Catskills region, seemed to have reached
its long-awaited conclusion.
Immediately, de rigueur lawsuits were filed by casino opponents, including
anti-gaming organizations and environmental groups, to delay final
approvals of the proposed $600 million casino. The Mohawk tribal officials
have long been prepared to fight this initial backlash in the legal courts.
However, what the tribe seemed less prepared for was the obnoxious uproar
from the court of public opinion that has an entire community of Indian
people again defending itself against what amounts to a racist and
ethnocentric defamation of character by the media. There is outrage that
"news" organizations based in New York City purport to know anything true
about the life of Mohawk people. There is plenty of anger and emotion, and
rightly so, on both sides of the issue. But the editorials, opinions and
letters appearing since the February announcement have offered plenty of
vitriolic hate speech and libelous statements.
To provide an introduction for this particular display of ignorance is to
be transported back in time when the American rubric for discourse on the
"Indian problem" included references to lynching, sterilization and
extermination. It is misguided thinking to generalize a tribe "as
disreputable as the St. Regis Mohawks" as bad business partners. But to
then ask, "How can a man whose goal it is to clean up Albany invite
nefarious lawbreakers like the Mohawks to sit at his table?" is reminiscent
of signs barring "Indians and dogs" from public establishments. The
comments, by reader Tom Cahill of Manhattan in a letter to the New York
Post on Feb. 24, do not end there. "Let the leaders of the tribe perpetuate
their social corrosiveness if they wish; maybe it's the prerogative of
their tribal law," his disgusting conclusion begins. "Keep it away from we
honest, God-fearing and law-abiding citizens."
And so was the tone of several of these letters published by the Post,
referring collectively to the "Mohawks" (no further distinction was deemed
necessary by any respondent) as "Indian gangsters," "corrupt folks,"
"crooks" and the St. Regis Mohawk tribe as a troubled "organization" with
"a history of unacceptable behavior." What is worse is that these comments
were fueled by the paper's editorial, "The Gov's Gambling Goof," published
three days earlier, in which they roll out imagined statistics in an
embellished version of the "extended history" of the tribe. It is a
"travesty" to partner with the Mohawks, says the Post, because of its
connection with widespread drug and people smuggling operations along the
U.S./Canada border that cuts directly through the Akwesasne community.
Sure, these are the misguided and racist comments of a tabloid and a few of
its blowhard readers, but consider the reach of the New York Post.
According to its circulation department, the Post publishes more than
700,000 daily issues and has a readership of 2.3 million. That's just in
New York City, where, incidentally, many hundreds of Mohawk families live,
work and go to school. As part of News Corp, the massive media conglomerate
that is the world's leading publisher of English-language newspapers, the
Post is also distributed in Miami, Tucson, Los Angeles, and Chicago, with
its tabloid tentacles continually reaching other major cities. And, like
Indian Country Today, the Post participates in Newspapers in Education,
which is an international program to advance the use of newspapers in
schools. The main purpose of NIE is to improve reading, spelling and
writing abilities of school children. But also, it is a great tool for
spreading knowledge, or intolerance and hatred, about other peoples and
cultures.
It is unconscionable that media outlets like the Post do not find it
ethically and socially irresponsible to allow such discourse to occur in
their pages. Could we imagine opening a major newspaper tomorrow morning to
read editorial praise for the Holocaust, or letters to the editor
advocating for the return of slavery? Of course not, not in a "civilized"
society like the United States of America. But it happens every day and
Indian peoples, as communities, tribes and sovereign nations are the
targets.
We have examined the grotesque offense of these media reports, but where is
the defense? The lack of official response from the St. Regis Mohawk tribal
leaders, in this case, has been considered by community members and
supporters as collusion. The thinking is that if they have not disputed or
corrected with all the might of their office these attacks on the character
of not only the tribal government, but of Mohawk children and elders too,
it must be true. It is a dangerous slope for tribal leaders to push
mightily for an issue (and doubly so if that issue is large-scale gaming)
at the expense of the outer public's perception of their constituents.
The community of Akwesasne has a well-documented history of outstanding
service and contributions by Mohawks to society:
* The Akwesasne Freedom School, an independent elementary school founded in
1979 by Mohawk parents concerned about the educational and cultural
inequities in the state education system, is flourishing today with its
Mohawk-language immersion curriculum.
* Akwesasne is home to several renowned makers of fine ash splint and sweet
grass baskets, most notably Mary Adams, Mae Bigtree and Henry Arquette.
They have been honored as masters of traditional arts in upstate New York.
Adams has baskets at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Vatican.
* Hundreds of Mohawk ironworkers built much of the New York skyline,
including the World Trade Center's twin towers, the Empire State Building,
the United Nations building, Madison Square Garden and the George
Washington Bridge.
* The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe collaborates with state and local
universities, including Cornell University and Clarkson University, on a
variety of health, education and environmental projects. It is now
developing a biodiesel plant to convert used vegetable oil from its gaming
facilities into clean fuel for tribal vehicles.
* A long tradition of athletic excellence continues as the girl's high
school hockey team, comprised mainly of Mohawks, won the New York state
championship for the fourth consecutive year. Several Mohawks are in the
Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame; their legacy is a vast minor lacrosse
system that is maintained by community volunteers. Many of those young boys
grew to play professionally in the National Lacrosse League and continue to
do so.
* The community has disproportionately high numbers of U.S. military
veterans and college-enrolled students.
The Mohawks of Akwesasne, like all Indian peoples, are no strangers to bad
press. They are the proud survivors of generations of U.S. and Canadian
policies aimed at separating Indian people from their inherent sovereign
right to wander, trade, travel, work and marry freely on the back of
A'nowara'ko:A'nowara'ko:<WBR>wa, the Great Turtle that Haudenosaunee peopl
base of the North American continent. The international border that many
Indian and non-Indian activist often describe as an imaginary line, a
construct of oppression, is a very real and ominous presence in the lives
of Mohawks.
A conundrum the mainstream media rarely examines in their regular attempts
to examine the roots of the border problem at Akwesasne is how such a
visible and heavily-policed piece of land - after all, the border is
"protected" by at least half a dozen federal, state and tribal law
enforcement agencies - could breed such terrible consequences. The waters
of the St. Lawrence River were once an abundant sacrament of spiritual and
cultural wealth and physical health for the Akwesasne Mohawk people. Today
it is both battleground and weapon, consistently used by bureaucrats to
destroy the very fabric of what it means to be Mohawk. Just as the
community did not choose to be exposed to widespread public persecution
over casino gaming, it did not choose to host an international, a state or
a provincial border and all their implications. Having endless strength to
face these challenges is now a defining characteristic of Mohawk people.
That is the story to tell.
by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's approval on Feb. 20 of an off-reservation
casino for the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe marked a rare occasion in Indian
gaming. Only three times before has a state supported a tribe in such an
endeavor. For the community of Akwesasne, the territory within which the
St. Regis Mohawk Tribe operates as the elective, federally recognized
government, the controversial issue of casino gaming in the Mohawk's
ancestral territory, New York's Catskills region, seemed to have reached
its long-awaited conclusion.
Immediately, de rigueur lawsuits were filed by casino opponents, including
anti-gaming organizations and environmental groups, to delay final
approvals of the proposed $600 million casino. The Mohawk tribal officials
have long been prepared to fight this initial backlash in the legal courts.
However, what the tribe seemed less prepared for was the obnoxious uproar
from the court of public opinion that has an entire community of Indian
people again defending itself against what amounts to a racist and
ethnocentric defamation of character by the media. There is outrage that
"news" organizations based in New York City purport to know anything true
about the life of Mohawk people. There is plenty of anger and emotion, and
rightly so, on both sides of the issue. But the editorials, opinions and
letters appearing since the February announcement have offered plenty of
vitriolic hate speech and libelous statements.
To provide an introduction for this particular display of ignorance is to
be transported back in time when the American rubric for discourse on the
"Indian problem" included references to lynching, sterilization and
extermination. It is misguided thinking to generalize a tribe "as
disreputable as the St. Regis Mohawks" as bad business partners. But to
then ask, "How can a man whose goal it is to clean up Albany invite
nefarious lawbreakers like the Mohawks to sit at his table?" is reminiscent
of signs barring "Indians and dogs" from public establishments. The
comments, by reader Tom Cahill of Manhattan in a letter to the New York
Post on Feb. 24, do not end there. "Let the leaders of the tribe perpetuate
their social corrosiveness if they wish; maybe it's the prerogative of
their tribal law," his disgusting conclusion begins. "Keep it away from we
honest, God-fearing and law-abiding citizens."
And so was the tone of several of these letters published by the Post,
referring collectively to the "Mohawks" (no further distinction was deemed
necessary by any respondent) as "Indian gangsters," "corrupt folks,"
"crooks" and the St. Regis Mohawk tribe as a troubled "organization" with
"a history of unacceptable behavior." What is worse is that these comments
were fueled by the paper's editorial, "The Gov's Gambling Goof," published
three days earlier, in which they roll out imagined statistics in an
embellished version of the "extended history" of the tribe. It is a
"travesty" to partner with the Mohawks, says the Post, because of its
connection with widespread drug and people smuggling operations along the
U.S./Canada border that cuts directly through the Akwesasne community.
Sure, these are the misguided and racist comments of a tabloid and a few of
its blowhard readers, but consider the reach of the New York Post.
According to its circulation department, the Post publishes more than
700,000 daily issues and has a readership of 2.3 million. That's just in
New York City, where, incidentally, many hundreds of Mohawk families live,
work and go to school. As part of News Corp, the massive media conglomerate
that is the world's leading publisher of English-language newspapers, the
Post is also distributed in Miami, Tucson, Los Angeles, and Chicago, with
its tabloid tentacles continually reaching other major cities. And, like
Indian Country Today, the Post participates in Newspapers in Education,
which is an international program to advance the use of newspapers in
schools. The main purpose of NIE is to improve reading, spelling and
writing abilities of school children. But also, it is a great tool for
spreading knowledge, or intolerance and hatred, about other peoples and
cultures.
It is unconscionable that media outlets like the Post do not find it
ethically and socially irresponsible to allow such discourse to occur in
their pages. Could we imagine opening a major newspaper tomorrow morning to
read editorial praise for the Holocaust, or letters to the editor
advocating for the return of slavery? Of course not, not in a "civilized"
society like the United States of America. But it happens every day and
Indian peoples, as communities, tribes and sovereign nations are the
targets.
We have examined the grotesque offense of these media reports, but where is
the defense? The lack of official response from the St. Regis Mohawk tribal
leaders, in this case, has been considered by community members and
supporters as collusion. The thinking is that if they have not disputed or
corrected with all the might of their office these attacks on the character
of not only the tribal government, but of Mohawk children and elders too,
it must be true. It is a dangerous slope for tribal leaders to push
mightily for an issue (and doubly so if that issue is large-scale gaming)
at the expense of the outer public's perception of their constituents.
The community of Akwesasne has a well-documented history of outstanding
service and contributions by Mohawks to society:
* The Akwesasne Freedom School, an independent elementary school founded in
1979 by Mohawk parents concerned about the educational and cultural
inequities in the state education system, is flourishing today with its
Mohawk-language immersion curriculum.
* Akwesasne is home to several renowned makers of fine ash splint and sweet
grass baskets, most notably Mary Adams, Mae Bigtree and Henry Arquette.
They have been honored as masters of traditional arts in upstate New York.
Adams has baskets at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Vatican.
* Hundreds of Mohawk ironworkers built much of the New York skyline,
including the World Trade Center's twin towers, the Empire State Building,
the United Nations building, Madison Square Garden and the George
Washington Bridge.
* The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe collaborates with state and local
universities, including Cornell University and Clarkson University, on a
variety of health, education and environmental projects. It is now
developing a biodiesel plant to convert used vegetable oil from its gaming
facilities into clean fuel for tribal vehicles.
* A long tradition of athletic excellence continues as the girl's high
school hockey team, comprised mainly of Mohawks, won the New York state
championship for the fourth consecutive year. Several Mohawks are in the
Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame; their legacy is a vast minor lacrosse
system that is maintained by community volunteers. Many of those young boys
grew to play professionally in the National Lacrosse League and continue to
do so.
* The community has disproportionately high numbers of U.S. military
veterans and college-enrolled students.
The Mohawks of Akwesasne, like all Indian peoples, are no strangers to bad
press. They are the proud survivors of generations of U.S. and Canadian
policies aimed at separating Indian people from their inherent sovereign
right to wander, trade, travel, work and marry freely on the back of
A'nowara'ko:A'nowara'ko:<WBR>wa, the Great Turtle that Haudenosaunee peopl
base of the North American continent. The international border that many
Indian and non-Indian activist often describe as an imaginary line, a
construct of oppression, is a very real and ominous presence in the lives
of Mohawks.
A conundrum the mainstream media rarely examines in their regular attempts
to examine the roots of the border problem at Akwesasne is how such a
visible and heavily-policed piece of land - after all, the border is
"protected" by at least half a dozen federal, state and tribal law
enforcement agencies - could breed such terrible consequences. The waters
of the St. Lawrence River were once an abundant sacrament of spiritual and
cultural wealth and physical health for the Akwesasne Mohawk people. Today
it is both battleground and weapon, consistently used by bureaucrats to
destroy the very fabric of what it means to be Mohawk. Just as the
community did not choose to be exposed to widespread public persecution
over casino gaming, it did not choose to host an international, a state or
a provincial border and all their implications. Having endless strength to
face these challenges is now a defining characteristic of Mohawk people.
That is the story to tell.