The Iroquois: Part 4 Keepers of the Eastern Door

Production of the Iroquois has been made possible by the WMATA endowment fund invested to generate income for production in programming and by W. W. S. S. N. W. Y LR for almost half a century making history in Warren Washington and Saratoga counties located in the Adirondack mountain region of New York State. So tell us. I'd

like to see the Iroquois Confederacy was initially formed by five Indian nations long before the white man settled in upstate New York. The Iroquois call themselves the heart of the Shawnee or people of the longhouse. They visualized their territory as an immense longhouse with the Senecas as the keepers of the western door and the Mohawks as the keepers of the eastern door. The Confederacy survived for centuries of white domination. But recently the longhouse has become divided as a result of a militant movement called the Warrior Society. This program examines how the Warriors have affected to Mohawk reservations. I was just now on the New York Canadian border and got to walk there which is right across from Montreal on the St. Lawrence River.

The Royal Society goes back to the very foundation of the Confederacy. The men of the community are warriors defending the land. If arms are taken up against our people and threaten the rights of our people threaten the survivability of our people then we have to defend them. My job is to protect my people and if I have to that's what I'll do. I want to know is usually a male. No even female person. Those who defend the nation haven't been imprisoned was eliminated in total invasion. On September 18th 1990 100 Canadian Army troops aided by the kopeck provincial police invaded the Gonna get reservation by

helicopter. They went to an island on the St. Lawrence River to search for hidden weapons. But some mosques claimed that the army was there to plant weapons. Residents reacted angrily to this invasion of their sovereign land. Thought min try in the peaceful way for the last 200 years. Nothing could be more peaceful than the way they're doing it but it doesn't

work. It's peaceful way doesn't work. Louis Hall has been described as the philosopher of the warrior society. Paul is 73 years old and lives in Ghana waggy the Mohawk reservation directly across from the island of Montreal. Gonna walk encompasses an area of over 13000 acres and has a population of about 60 600. Canada's Department of Indian Affairs provides gonna walk it with over 20 million dollars annually for Health and Community Services. Three elementary schools and one high school. Even with all that aid Mohawks here believe that they are part of an independent sovereign nation the nation of the Iroquois Confederacy. They base their sovereign status on treaties that were established with the white man hundreds of years ago. Louis Hall lives in a trailer a gun a wealthy surrounded by his paintings which idealized the warrior movement. Hall has written what some call a

manifesto. In it he exhorts Indians throughout America to form a confederacy and fight to reclaim stolen territory. Hall thinks that all of the Indian nations should organize powerful warrior societies to act as an armed defensive force. You've got to define your thought no matter which way the peace for you or where we've gone from but you've got to define yourself and one way we don't. If you do one thing a bad thing. Well Louis how in his teachings he put together a manifesto and and therefore people follow that menace manifesto to the letter. It would be a disaster for our people. It would be leading them into who was slaughtered. Some people some of the chiefs in the Confederacy have broken away from the Great Law. It's a shame you know they have put the Great Law aside

and they put another one in place. I had somebody call on Hanson Lake was a spiritual leader who died in 1815 and was buried at the Onondaga reservation near Syracuse. Louis Hall believes that Hansen Lake corrupted the Indian way of life and was strongly influenced by the Quakers. Some of the Iroquois Indians are still followers of the handsome tradition at the bottom of it. We asked Jakes want a traditional sub chief that was us today to describe and simulates beliefs. Well really it's a moral code you know how to be a family man a person how to keep your family together not to give in to the vices. He was against gambling. He was against alcohol and. And the federal music it was only represented representing that

when you dance to somebody else's home you're going to tend to forget your own. So his beliefs healthier corn a way of life to survive. Oh yeah if it wasn't for that we wouldn't we wouldn't be here anymore. I mean we would have been gone long time ago by 18:00 we were up and gone. Chiefly on Shenandoah of the Onondaga Nation agrees with Jake swamp about the importance of hands on the lake Shenandoah has the title of Ta da da ho which makes him the president of the Iroquois Confederacy. There is no such word as warriors in our language so there's not supposed to be on your side and the reason why it was formed was to have leaders that it would have a good mind. But these are warriors. I don't know where you got that idea but and they're following what we create. I'm pretty sick of it.

What those teams did was treason. They they took aside the US Constitution. They put them on some acorn in its place. You do that anyway. You're being executed I said it was troops would be executed the faith than anyplace else. The rhetoric of the Warrior Society has sent ripples throughout the Iroquois Confederacy. But a gun of the Warriors had been sanctioned by the longhouse Council which is the traditional form of government. Some people have split with the traditional council because they were opposed to the Warriors. Proponents justify the militant society by pointing to the Great Law of the Iroquois. One version of the law states that there shall be one war chief for each nation and their duties shall be to carry messages for their chiefs and to take up arms in case of an emergency. Louis all believes that the Warriors are needed to protect Mohawk

sovereignty. Everybody in the world and every nation in the world has a right to have sovereignty. The Indians don't have it. That's that's one of the things they can working towards is to have sovereignty. The national independence. The issue of Indian sovereignty crystallized for Canada in 1990 when the town of Oka made plans to expand a golf course on the land that was considered sacred by the Mohawks. Oka is about 18 miles west of Montreal and directly adjacent to a Mohawk reservation called a gun as a target. In reaction to the planned expansion Mohawk warriors and their families set up an armed road block at the entrance to the golf course. Four months later on July 11th 1990 the provincial police of Quebec moved in on the encampment as a result of the raid.

One police officer from the soon attained ticket back was fatally wounded. The Eskew claims that their man never fired any weapon only tear gas. Indians claimed that they were fired upon and that they never returned fire. Suggesting that the officer was killed by one of his own men. After the Eskew retreated Warriors vented their anger on captured police vehicles. Immediately after the July 11th raid Mohawks at nearby gonna walk they put up roadblocks on the highways leading to the Mersey Gate Bridge one of the major routes leading to Montreal. The roadblocks went up in support of the struggle at Oka. Once those barriers went up our barriers internally disappeared. Our mental barriers disappeared. Joseph Norton is the chief of the elected council a form of government which was imposed on the Mohawks by Canada in the past. The elected council has butted heads with the traditional longhouse Council following the raid at Ocado

Norton claims that most of the community was united for a common cause during or prior to July 11th. War with society was a handful of people. I don't know how many but from all from my observations there weren't that many. When this issue came about when there was a need to defend a territory everybody became part of the defense of this community. The road blocks leading to the Mersey a bridge were effective for 70 days. Some commuters were forced to drive an average of six hours each day. Angry white mobs burnt effigies of Indians and battled with provincial police. Fearing that the provincial police had lost control of the situation the province of Quebec asked for assistance from the Canadian army. The army moved troops on to the reservation at gun oh ok and also at Oka

take a short walk up to the first sound a little harsh I want to work with. Some residents are gonna want a feared of violent showdown with the army and began to evacuate on one occasion a caravan of Indians leaving the reservation was stoned by white residents from surrounding communities with Solidarity shouting he and also another group which sprung up during the summer with Solidarity LaSalle were very active in anti-mosque demonstrations outside of the Americans. We feel that together with other members of one other groups incited the violence against the mosque people and any of the Mohawk supporters.

In that time there was a rock throwing incident when some of our people decided to evacuate the immediate area. A number of cars traveling over an RCA bridge where they were allowed access to leave the area. Rocks were thrown at the vehicles windows were broken. Children were hurt indirectly a person died of a heart attack an elderly man after not long after that situation the activity of these groups where I feel instrumental in inciting the people out there against the Mohawk people. I also put some of the responsibility on the Cuban government. Andrew delivered as a spokesperson for the traditional longhouse government any time he was involved in negotiations with the Army to end the conflict it gonna walk at the barricades leading to the Mersey a bridge were removed after the army promised not to attack the people but OK the barricades at Oka were also removed but at least 15 men women and children held their ground at a

treatment center. One month later the army forced the Indians to surrender. One reporter said that the Warriors had been starved out. Even though Mohawk warriors would face prosecution for obstructing justice and firearms violations they have won something of a victory. The Canadian government had decided to buy the disputed land and turn it over to the Indians. Still the confrontations were far from over. After the army left going to walk to the Sira tend to kick back and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police continued to patrol the highways that cut through the reservation. People from the community complained of being harus by police and set up checkpoints around the reservation to monitor traffic. Nancy wan chin is a Chippewa Indian from Northern Michigan. She supports the Mohawk cause and has worked at one of the checkpoints. At a press conference one Sion claimed that she was beaten by officers of the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I was taken into an Ask your station and beaten by the RCMP. I was hit with with a stick you know down and told to get back up and then hit with the stick down again. I mean my arms twisted behind my back. Sense that I've had two fainting spells that for no reason but that my main incident is now that uncommon people are beat being beaten here and for unprovoked reasons. And I think that people on the outside need to know about this. Everybody keeps hearing that it's all over but it's not over. This is nothing but an attempt by Quebec to reassert its jurisdiction over here. To use strong arm tactics as far as we're concerned to to enforce their

law order and force their will on us and to put the guy to put them or people down over the lines on this reservation are clearly drawn between the Mohawk people and the forces from the outside. Further upstream along the St. Lawrence River is the Mohawk Nation of God was a state where the lines are not so clear. I was asked in a encompasses an area of about 15000 acres and has about 8000 residents like gonna walk it. There is an elected form of government and the traditional longhouse Council where chiefs are chosen by the Clan Mothers. The reservation literally straddles the borders of New York State and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. We met with some warriors in a garage. They claimed that they didn't have enough funding to have a headquarters. Francis boots is one of the warrior leaders that I was arrested. You see America cannot buy the sacred Mother

you cannot pay offs in dollars and cents. The value that we put on the sacred Mother so we are going to reacquire it in different ways like the people have got to walk away. Francis boots makes a strong case for the sovereignty of Lower Clarence But unlike got to get the Warrior Society at Aguas SNH has been condemned by the traditional chiefs of the longhouse chief Jake swamp. I would argue that the Warriors are misguided individuals who have terrorized their own community. Oh yeah I experienced gunfire at my house myself. You know I have firsthand experience about violence against me and my family. I mean that when I feel what I went into the house and where it hit and my wife and daughter were were washing dishes at the time. And the officer that investigated said that if if they would have penetrated and kept the bullet kept on going

he would who was directly right from my wife's head. The conflict between the traditional chiefs and the Warrior Society came to a head over the issue of casino gambling. There have been allegations that casinos on the reservation had ties to organized crime and that the Warriors were being funded by casino owners. They're out together the workers and the gambling. The pro gambling people are one because they the to help one another. The Warriors do not support gambling the way it was done the way it started. We support the possibility of an economic development project that may include gambling just like the idea that Governor Palmer has in developing casinos around Niagara area. It is a viable industry if it's regulated and if it is

beneficial to the people of the Mohawk Nation. What about the casino gambling that was taking place here. There's allegations that there was connections with organized crime. There is a lot of there is a lot of effort to try to to tie the Warriors in with that. The media has really attempted to to criminalize us. There are reports that the Warriors have a large arsenal of weapons the guns in this photograph were confiscated from the Warriors by Mohawk police. It's true that the Warriors possess guns but it isn't. It isn't to any number or to any extent that they've been rumored to. And it's true that some of the warriors were on the payroll of casinos right. Individuals were gainfully employed in casinos. What kind of work were they doing for them. Well did you did you just there are employment there might

be involved within the casino operations itself or a security or whatever just like they are today is gainfully employed as security for the customs or the Carpenters. It's it was an opportunity to have an income at home. And it is not just the Warriors. It is a vast majority of them our community here are not with us and even a great number of the people who are now are really waving the banner of anti-war years. We're very involved with that. The lawyers are this bad news all the way around. They're into smuggling drugs running weapons you name it they're into it. In March of 1990 people who were opposed to the Warriors and the casinos took action by erecting roadblocks on the main highway that cut through the

reservation. Tourists were not allowed past the roadblocks. In effect the gambling opponents shut the casinos down succeeding where the FBI and the state police had failed. Jake Swann claims that the traditional chiefs took a neutral stand although they visited the people who were manning the road blocks. I was there really who observe and also who to keep our people from becoming violent because of what has been done to them. They try very hard to follow that direction for nonviolence. And they managed to go all the way through without becoming violent. Mike Francis was one of the people who helped to mend the roadblocks he claims that warriors threw fire bombs at the anti-gambling forces and that when he tried to kick the firebombs away snipers shot at him and one of his brothers. I heard that night we got sniper me and my other brother. Very

good possibility that my younger brother was doing a sniper and got me and my other brother. How does that make you feel terrible knowing that he was out there. Ayers or hide in a kite. You know what his other buddies and I forgot his own people his own brother. One of my other brothers mentioned it to him and his words were I should have been there night after night there was a terror. There was shootings there was a lot of shootings. It was not just one way or the and the old. This video was taken by Mike Francis with his home video camera as pro gabbling forces fired on one of the blockades determined to drive the protesters out. He and another guy were the last one to leave.

We stopped because they started to flank and ice from the left flank on the right and we could see him torn or gas bombed out or blockade there we had and a burn and everything and I started putting a camera up the film as they were doing that. The Sun Ra thought it inside of my station wagon and we just jumped and we hauled ass out of there. It was a spontaneous community no movement to eventually take down to the barricades on Highway 37. And it wasn't a lot of gunfire. It was not a student you see on TV are very bizarre things. But it's very very short and they keep playing it over and over again. And the fact is that cannot be said that it that was a warrior's. A warrior's procedure or are we to do things now it wasn't that at all. It was community people who were very angered who

were hurt who whose cars had been damaged. And it it isn't. It isn't the Warriors It was the warrior people who weren't involved but it was not just what we were. There were community people who did that after the anti-gambling anti warrior forces had been forced to flee their bunkers were destroyed. The Mohawk police station was attacked and over twenty five hundred people were evacuated from the reservation. Some men that stayed behind to protect their homes were engaged in Mike Lee gun battles on May 1st after Warriors retreated from an area on the Canadian side of the reservation. Two Mohawk men were found dead near the river road. Some Mohawks blame the Warriors for both deaths were worriers involved in the deaths of Matthew pike and Harold Edwards. I would say they weren't but I wasn't there. And I'm hoping that there will be a comprehensive investigation to bring to justice those people who caused those deaths

following the deaths of the two men state police from New York and provincial police from Canada occupied the reservation to enforce order. One year after the violent conflict. This is how the situation stands. Nobody has been brought to justice for the killings. The police still maintain a presence to bingo halls continue to operate and the casinos remain closed. The writing on the wall is evidence that there are still deep divisions within the community. How do you think this can be resolved. Do you have any ideas about how this can be resolved. One Warriors have to go no doubt about it. They put their weapons away and let the community heal its wounds. Maybe we can have something to go on to the casino has got to stay you know stay close. I used to like to go to being go. I will not perform in it now because that's where it started. Bingo.

Smoke going to build up your money. Female I think I wear reaction to the problems that we face to very well is one of those times that I try our people we know how much our dig how much ofter believes in their culture are they going to abandon you know order to make a place for the new. For his part French's boots believes that the Warriors have a valid place in the Iroquois tradition. We are the tradition we are tomorrow. We are the bearers of that tradition into tomorrow. So you know

it's time to stop production of the Iroquois has been made possible by the WMATA endowment fund invested to generate income for production and programming and by W W S C N W Y L R for almost half a century making history in Warren Washington and Saratoga counties located in the Adirondack mountain region of New York.