Onondaga Indian Nation Essay
The Onondaga Indian Nation is reaching out to the Human Rights Watch in the hopes that our cause will be supported and heard. The Onondaga Indian Nation feels that the human rights of Native Americans have been violated when a treaty regarding land was nullified by the United States government. Since the migrations, our people have been forced out of our lands. We’ve always complied under agreement that some of these lands shall remain rightfully to Native American tribes. In order to avoid greater conflict, treaties have been drafted. However, the treaties haven’t been honored on part of the United States. The treaty that we are referring to today is the Canadaigua Treaty of 1794. We would like to draw attention to this article of the aforementioned
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treaty, “Article II. The United States acknowledge the lands reserved to the Oneida, Onondaga and Cayuga Nations, in their respective treaties with the state of New York, and called their reservations, to be their property; and the United States will never claim the same, nor disturb them or either of the Six Nations, nor their Indian friends residing thereon and united with them, in the free use and enjoyment thereof: but the said reservations shall remain theirs, until they choose to sell the same to the people of the United States who have right to purchase” (Onondaga Nation).
Moreover, the treaty was set in place to ensure that the land remained the land of our tribes. We agreed to share the land amongst our new brothers, so long as the land was to be taken care of. It has recently come to our attention that the treaty has been violated. The upkeep of the land and waters has been neglected. Due to the lack of respect towards the lands and waters of our people, we have sought a reinstatement of our rights over the land. We ask for these rights to be restored so that we may take the actions necessary to restore the land and prevent the damages from posing larger environmental threats down the line. It should be noted that our land rights have been recognized within 3 prior treaties during 1784, 1789, and 1794. We have asked the state of New York to hear our case and have been denied our right to take actions to court. Therefore, we feel that we have been denied justice under bogus terms
declared by the court.
We aren’t asking for unreasonable terms. We aren’t seeking monetary compensations or evictions of the folks already living amongst the land. We are asking for our rights over the land to be restored and for aid in an environmental restoration effort of the lands that have been neglected. We are seeking out the help of the Human Rights Watch to gain the attention of the courts. We are looking to be heard.
treaty, “Article II. The United States acknowledge the lands reserved to the Oneida, Onondaga and Cayuga Nations, in their respective treaties with the state of New York, and called their reservations, to be their property; and the United States will never claim the same, nor disturb them or either of the Six Nations, nor their Indian friends residing thereon and united with them, in the free use and enjoyment thereof: but the said reservations shall remain theirs, until they choose to sell the same to the people of the United States who have right to purchase” (Onondaga Nation).
Moreover, the treaty was set in place to ensure that the land remained the land of our tribes. We agreed to share the land amongst our new brothers, so long as the land was to be taken care of. It has recently come to our attention that the treaty has been violated. The upkeep of the land and waters has been neglected. Due to the lack of respect towards the lands and waters of our people, we have sought a reinstatement of our rights over the land. We ask for these rights to be restored so that we may take the actions necessary to restore the land and prevent the damages from posing larger environmental threats down the line. It should be noted that our land rights have been recognized within 3 prior treaties during 1784, 1789, and 1794. We have asked the state of New York to hear our case and have been denied our right to take actions to court. Therefore, we feel that we have been denied justice under bogus terms
declared by the court.
We aren’t asking for unreasonable terms. We aren’t seeking monetary compensations or evictions of the folks already living amongst the land. We are asking for our rights over the land to be restored and for aid in an environmental restoration effort of the lands that have been neglected. We are seeking out the help of the Human Rights Watch to gain the attention of the courts. We are looking to be heard.