ESF Co-Sponsors Onondaga Land Rights Series

02/04/2010

The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) will help lead the educational series "Onondaga Land Rights & Our Common Future II," which kicks off Monday, Feb. 8, with an event at Syracuse Stage.

This series, which will continue through December, aims to bring together the ESF community with the Central New York community, including Syracuse University, Le Moyne College, SUNY Empire State College and other organizations to talk about cultural and land rights issues. The Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation created the series two years ago to promote education and respect, dispel racism and improve relations between the United States and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

ESF faculty members Dr. Jack Manno and Dr. Robin Kimmerer, who are also members of Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation, helped organize the series to shed light on the Land Rights Action lawsuit the Onondaga Nation filed in federal court in 2005 in an effort to gain back its aboriginal rights to the land. The Onondaga Nation originally contained 2.6 million acres but comprises only 7,300 acres today.

Manno said the series presents an opportunity to learn about other parts of the state where Indian nations have filed lawsuits and to dispel fear, anger, and distrust through education. He called the series a "historic and unique action that promises environmental clean up."

"People don't need more data, but a change of heart," Kimmerer said.

The programs are free and open to the public. Each presentation will be followed by a reception and an opportunity for small-group discussion. The schedule follows:

• Monday, Feb. 8, 7 p.m. at Syracuse Stage - Opening Event: Brighten the Chain - Treaty Commitments; Jake Edwards, Joe Heath, Sid Hill, Audrey Shenandoah, Jeanne Shenandoah, and Stephanie Waterman
• Monday, March 1, 7 p.m. at Grewen Auditorium, LeMoyne College - From the "Doctrine of Discovery" to International Recognition of Rights; Tonya Gonella Frichner, Phil Arnold, and John Diefenbacker-Krall
• Monday, April 5, 7 p.m. at Syracuse Stage - Lacrosse: The Creator's Game: Oren Lyons, Roy Simmons II
• Monday, April 19, 7 p.m. at Syracuse Stage- Sacred Waters: Onondaga Lake and Creek; Jake Edwards, Henry Lickers, and a panel of community responders
• Monday, April 26, 7 p.m. at Syracuse Stage - Sacred Waters II: The Danger of Hydrofracking; Helen Slottje and Denise Waterman
• Monday, May 24, 7 p.m. at Syracuse Stage - The Influence of Haudenosaunee Women; Jeanne Shenandoah and Sally Roesch Wagner
• Monday, June 14, 7 p.m. at Syracuse Stage - The Ground Beneath Your Feet is Sacred: Haudenosaunee Cultural Resource Protection; Tony Gonyea and Jack Rossen
• Monday, July 12, 7 p.m. at Syracuse Stage - The Two Row Wampum and the Covenant Chain of Treaties; Irving Powless Jr. and Robert W. Venables

Future topics will include the Great Law of Peace, Native Peoples and Pop Culture, Legal Update, Traditional Environmental Knowledge, and Traditional Cosing with singing and dancing.