Volume 21 Number 1
October 1981

A RECENT conflict at the Mohawk Reservation at Akwesasne (see Note 1), located near Massena, New York, and Cornwall, Ontario, brought about a clash of cultural values and perceptions. The conflict was triggered by the arrest of Loran Thompson, a traditional chief, in May, 1979, under orders of the reservation’s elective trustees.

The traditional chiefs are part of a Mohawk form of government which originated in early times. There are nine chiefs, three from each clan. They are appointed by the clan mothers (elder women in positions of leadership), subject to recall. The Chief’s Council is expected to follow the will of the people in making decisions. The Mohawk chiefs represent the Mohawk Nation in the Grand Council of the Haudenoshonni (People of the Longhouse), or Iroquois, Confederacy.

In the 19th century, the Canadian and American governments created separate elective systems on either side of the Canadian-American border, which had been drawn through the reservation. The institution of these systems was (see Note 2) bitterly resisted. A traditional government has continued to operate, alongside the two elective councils (see Note 3). Voter turnout has been low, with traditionalists generally boycotting elections.

Chief Thompson’s arrest was due to his confiscation of some equipment belonging to a construction crew found clearing land on his family’s property. The project involved the building of a fence around the reservation, which the traditionalists had opposed. The arrest led to a sit-in, during which the Akwesasne police were disarmed. Felony indictments relating to the sit-in were issued against 21 traditionalists, some of them chiefs. The traditional council advised those indicted not to submit to arrest, and an encampment was formed near Chief Thompson’s home. The camp lasted until February, 1981, when the indictments were finally dropped. In June, 1980, a shoot-out was barely avoided when vigilantes and New York State police came to the edge of the camp (see Note 4).

In the springs of 1980 and 1981, two of the three trustees comprising the elective council on the "American" portion of the reservation came up for re-election and were defeated by candidates committed to cooperation with the traditional government. The outcome appears to point to renewed unity on the reservation.

During the conflict, the gap between the perceptions of the traditional Mohawks and those of many outsiders became strikingly clear. The concerns of the traditionalists involve the continuity of the spiritual values represented by their government. The following article focuses on some of these values, which have deep roots in Mohawk culture. It is based on interviews conducted a Akwesasne in August and November, 1980.

A CORNER of the basket maker’s living room is filled with ash splints. They look fresh. She sits in the middle of them, starting a basket over a wooden base. She’ll weave one or two baskets in a day. Interwoven with the ash splints are large amounts of sweet grass. In some places, the inside of the bark is used to provide a brown accent against the light color of the splints.

Later her daughter and I go out shopping.

Back in the house, we are sitting quietly, absorbed in thought. Suddenly her three year old son says to me,

THE Mohawk Reservation at Akwesasne lies on both sides of the CanadianAmerican border, on the St. Lawrence Seaway. Jake Swamp is a chief in the traditional Mohawk Nation government. I’m speaking with him inside an encampment which was formed when indictments were issued against traditionalists who had come into conflict with state supported officials.

"The way we look at things, our people," he says, "even though we’re under immense pressures, even though we have this pressure on us and so when we’re born and our kids are born, right away the pressure is on them too. So they grow up with this pressure. And we have to keep defending ourselves against this pressure not to overtake us.

"But at the same time, underneath in our hearts and minds it’s still within us, our teachings. It’s hard to practice this the way things are today. When we look at the earth and everything that’s born on the earth, we have a respect for that and we have a relationship with all natural things. We look at a tree and it’s life; it’s another form of life and we respect it like we respect another living being. And everything--the waters too.

"And so we have ceremonies that pertain to each and every one of these creations, and we give thanks to them. We give thanks for helping us out. And so it’s pretty simple; our religion is pretty simple. It’s just to acknowledge and be thankful for all the things the Creator put here for us, and to respect and protect them . . ."

"You know, so much of what’s been written," I say, "has been on the level of the non-Indian society. It would be nice to try to tell people about what’s happening here from the viewpoint of the traditional people. Because I can feel it, but to try to get it across to everyone-"

"Well, it’s pretty hard to make people understand," he says. "People don’t really believe in-it’s hard to put into words but people have lost a lot of faith. They hold more faith in machinery or just having a good time all the time. There’s no responsibility left with people."

"I think they’re afraid to believe in anything, too," I say. "They think that they’re just fooling themselves if they believe in anything."

"Yes," he replies, "they think it’s all made up. And most of it is, I guess, through the years, you know. People study and they find out it’s just a myth. But when you talk about things that are real-I got a kick out of this. When we had a meeting with the vigilante group down here (see Note 5), one of the men said, ‘We don’t want to bother you if you want to worship the tree, but we don’t want you to bother us.’ And they think-well, since they call us pagans, they think we’re idol worshippers. But all we do is give thanks to everything.

"But what I was going to say back then was, ‘I thought the cross was made from a tree too, but that’s not living; the cross is not living any more. But the tree is alive; you’ve got to respect it.’ But it wouldn’t have made any sense to him anyway, so we just let it slide.

"We take a lot of harassment; they call us pagans. When I was small I was told that when you go in the Longhouse you have to roll over on the floor and jump over broornsticks and all this stuff. And that’s what the priest tells them. He says, ‘If you go into the Longhouse you become a pagan and you will die and will go to hell (see Note 6).

So I was raised that way. Then I went and met my wife;. she was a Longhouse person and this is how I made contact coming back to the Longhouse. During my younger days I started drinking, because I was missing something; I was searching for it. My father had gotten hurt in a car accident and couldn’t work, so I went to Syracuse City and tried to look for work. I was fifteen when I left. And over there I met some friends, some other Indian kids. We started drinking; I started drinking with them and got into all kinds of trouble. Not real trouble; it was just something to make me realize I was searching for something.

"And when I met my wife and we got married, I still refused to go to the Longhouse because of what I was told as a kid. She kept telling me, ‘Nobody’s going to bother you if you go in the Longhouse.’ And I said, ‘Well, you go; I won’t tell you not to go in there.’

"But when we had our first child she wanted him to go in there and get his name, and I really got mad then; I didn’t want my kid to go to hell! So we had a good fight. I just went out and drank that time; every time I’d get mad I’d go out for a few days and get drunk. By the time the second one came, it was a girl and I was away drinking again, and that’s when she took them. So they both got their names at that time. And she finally stood up to me and said:

" ‘If you follow some kind of religion, is this what they tell you to do? Is this the way your people are if you follow some religion?’

"And that stunned me. ‘Do all Christian people act this way? So I made the agreement with myself that I would go to the Longhouse and find out what it is.

"So when I went in there, I heard the old people talking, the old leaders that were in there, the old families. The things that they were saying were what I was missing in my life; I just felt that there was something I was searching for. It just spread all over my body like a warmth; it just went right through me. I just sat there and I was amazed at the kind of words that were coming out from the people there. And I just couldn’t speak. I felt this real strong, you know. And so I just kept going. And I guess I overdid it. I wanted to learn so much that I wanted to get into everything.

"It was about three years later, and I guess they were watching me, that the clan mother came to me and she asked me to become one of the leaders. And then I was ashamed of myself, you know, what I’d done in the past. I said, ‘Why me? Look what I’ve done.’ They said, ‘That’s in the past; you’ve made a better road for yourself now, and we see some qualities in you that people need.’

"So they asked me to sit in for another chief that couldn’t make the meetings any more because he was deaf. What I had to do was sit in for him at meetings, and after the meeting I’d have to go over to his house and report what happened. And usually I’d wind up staying over there, because he wouldn’t let me come home. He would sit me next to the table and he’d have one of his daughters put coffee and tea in front of us, and he’d start putting his finger right next to my nose and talking. ‘This is the way it’s going to be. This is what you’re going to learn; this is what you’re going to do. This is how you’re going to talk to the people.’ And all these things that he was drumming into my head.

"I’d say, ‘Well, I’m tired now; it’s around midnight. I’m tired; I want to go home and my wife’s waiting for me, and the kids. She might think I’m going out again.’ I kept worrying about that.

"‘No, no, no; you stay right here. You sit right here. We’ve got a lot to talk about.’ Sometimes it would be just getting dawn, and I’m on my way home."

It’s LATE in the evening. I’m talking to Tom Porter, another of the chiefs. We’re in his room on the second floor of an improvised building where a number of people in the camp are staying. We’re tired and decide to do the interview in the morning. He asks his wife to find a place for me to sleep next door. One of his little girls climbs into bed with her sister, leaving a bed for me.

The next morning after breakfast we sit down to talk. The children come into the room to listen; the littlest one stays.

"This present problem here is only a very little problem," he says, "considering the huge problem that we’re concerned with actually. And that’s the whole world, the world that we live in. And the instructions that we were given long ago by our ancestors, which came from the Creator at the time of the beginning. And if those aren’t prescribed to then the destruction of the world will come, with no doubt. And so a lot of the struggle here has to do with those original instructions. That is why we fight so hard; that is why we take the chances we do with our lives.

"It has been said about us that we must be insane. They have said to us that the odds that we’re up against is the whole force of the State of New York and possibly even the whole United States-and Canada’s ready to help the United States-and there’s only a few hundred of us. And they say, ‘You people must be insane to even attempt such a thing with such tremendous odds.’ And they said, ‘You go against logic; you go against practical things. That’s not practical what you’re doing; it’s not logical. You’re going to get wiped out.’ And they’re amazed that we would dare such a thing.

"But it isn’t amazing to us at all. It isn’t surprising in the least. Because it’s our belief. It’s a thing that’s in ourselves that grows. And it’s because we have a picture from the beginning of the world: the evolution, the progress, the history of what we are today. And we look at that from the beginning of the world almost like looking at a map and seeing. Then we understand where we are today. And that’s why the odds don’t make any difference to us when it involves our children’s lives, our children. Will we be everlasting? Will our children have a chance?

"Either we do the slow, assimilated death or we do one that’s going to be just shot, point blank by an M-16, by either the vigilantes or the state police. It doesn’t make any difference. In fact it’s better to get it over with quickly if that’s what’s going to happen, if that’s going to be the fate, you see.

"But at least they’re going to know if that doesn’t happen-we don’t want it to happen-but at least they’re going to know that they’re not going to change us and they’re not going to get their way. They’re not going to change these instructions which we call the Creator’s instructions. They’re not going to use lies; they’re not going to stack history against us any longer.

"The truth has to be faced, and we believe that we are following and we are being motivated by the truth. And we understand that truth is the greatest enemy to a people who-to almost any people, because truth is a hard thing to deal with. Truth means you have to look at yourself in the mirror. Truth means you have to deal with yourself as an individual. And in the United States, truth is always suppressed. Truth is always camouflaged; truth is always doctored up or whatever. But when you match the world you live in with the things that are truth, it’s not a reality where we live in this country. Do you follow what I’m trying to say? This is not a truth. This society is not a truthful society is what I’m trying to get at."

WALK down to the Seaway. There are two dead fish floating on the edge of the water. Across the Seaway is Cornwall Island, a part of the reservation, and across from the Island, Cornwall, Ontario. In Cornwall a huge paper mill towers over the landscape. The stench is overpowering on the bridge.’

"This is one of the reasons why we’re coming right back out in the open and we dare to challenge the society as it is today," Jake had said, "because the prophecies that were given to us tell us, and we see it coming true, that we would reach a point in time where certain things would occur. And so it’s at hand that a lot of these things have already fulfilled themselves. And what we have to do is bring this awareness back to the earth, the world, different peoples. They’re the ones that are making it possible for all the pollution to happen.

"You know, when we have the opening ritual, there are things in there that remind us of our prophecies. Like the strawberry. We come to the part where we give thanks to the strawberry, and then it continues where it says, ‘Well, remind your people that someday you will see that the strawberry will no longer grow on the plant.’ And they said not to give up at that point, but to continue to give thanks, and use the red leaf. And so we’re still thankful that this hasn’t happened yet. But as time goes on, we can see it coming; the berries are getting smaller and fewer. But they said there will come a time when no berries will come out. And also the trees will start dying. And that’s happening today. And the fish would come to the top of the water and they would roll over and die. And every time we go down to the river here, we find a lot of fish floating down the river. And these things are taking place.

"What we’re working on now, if we survive this, is that we would like to see the religious leaders of all faiths in the world have a gathering someplace, and then just talk about the earth, the Creation, and how it came about. They have different types of prophecies. Come together and talk about these things, and then from there look at the world as it is today, and who is doing all this wrong. And try to correct it and try to stop them from destroying it. Because I don’t think people have the right to destroy the earth because they’re not the ones that created it. It’s a higher force that created the earth. I don’t think He meant for us to destroy ourselves. He only placed us here to be in harmony."

1. Akwesasne means "Where the Partridge Drums." The reservation is also called "St. Regis," after a mission settlement established there in the 18th century.

2. In the late 19th century, protests and refusals to hold elections for the Canadian Band Council were forcibly put down, resulting in the death of Jake Ice, a Mohawk (Jerry Gambill, How Democracy Came to St. Regis [Rooseveltown, NY: Akwesasne Notes, 19741, p. 9; Jack Frisch, "Revitalization, Nativism and Tribalism Among the St. Regis Mohawks," [unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Anthroplogy, Indiana University, 1970], pp. 91-92, 102-108). On the "American" side, the Mohawks rejected the organization of their government according to the Indian Reorganization Act in a referendum in 1935. In 1948, they voted by referendum to abolish the elective system. The elective trustees resigned, referring any correspondences to the traditional council. In 1949, however, an election for new trustees was held under police guard (Howard R. Berman and Robert T. Coulter, Report of the Presentation of Human Rights Complaints by Indian Nations to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights [Washington, D.C.: Indian Law Resource Center, 1980], pp. 96-101. See also, the Syracuse Post Standard [August 2, 19541).

3. On the "American" side, the elective council consists of three trustees or "chiefs." Their powers, as defined by New York law, are extremely limited (see the New York Indian Code, Article 8). They have been given recognition by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and state agencies, however, as a reservation government. In the 1970s, the Akwesasne Police force was created and placed under their supervision on the reservation (Indian Law Resource Center, Report on the Akwesasne Police [Washington, D.C.: Indian Law Resource Center, 1980]).

4. According to traditional Chief Jake Swamp, tensions had been building up as a result of reported beatings of community members by Akwesasne Police officers (Interview of August 14, 1980). The Akwesasne Police force has since been disbanded, following the election of new trustees.

5. Most of the vigilantes were Indian. For details on the crisis, see Peter Matthiessen, "The Siege of the Mohawks," The Washington Post (September 14, 1980), pp. I ff. A similar near confrontation with state police had occurred in August, 1979 (Akwesasne Notes [Autumn, 1979], pp. 4-6).

6. Traditional spiritual practices of the Haudenoshonni (People of the Longhouse) are often referred to as Longhouse practices or beliefs. The Longhouse also refers to a traditional meeting place. Pressures against traditional religious practices had begun with early missionary influences, and have continued into modem times. Mike Mitchell, a traditional Faithkeeper, recalls being told by a teacher, "There’s no such thing as Longhouse; if you’re not Catholic, you’re Protestant" (Interview of November 25, 1980).

7. Health effects of mercury and fluoride contamination from nearby industrial plants have been of serious concern on the reservation.

Edna J. Garte is Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Minnesota/Duluth (Duluth, MN 55812). She holds a Ph.D. degree from Texas Tech University. She was curator for the Ojibwe Art Expo-1980 at the Tweed Museum of Art, UMD; participated in the Anishinabe Days at UMD, 1980-8 1, and was docent for the Michigan Indian Arts Exhibition by the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, in 1979. She is a member of the UMD American Indian Advisory Board. Parts of this article will be used in an educational booklet by the Native Center for the Living Arts, Niagara Falls, New York.