Syracuse,
NY On Wednesday, November 18, 2015, the State University of
New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF)
announced today that they were incorporating three statements into
their regular communications and installing a stone monument that
acknowledges that SUNY-ESF is on the lands of the Onondaga Nation.
Tadodaho Sid Hill, and Clan Mothers Wendy Gonyea, Francine Lyons and
Frieda Jacques were there to receive the acknowledgement, which was
commemorated with a string of wampum beads presented to the Tadodaho
by the President of SUNY-ESF, Dr. Quentin Wheeler.
"We have come together this morning to address an important
question: where do we stand?" explained Dr. Robin Kimmerer, Director
of SUNY-ESF's Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. "SUNY
ESF has been here for over 100 years
but our tenure here is
just an eye blink in the history of these lands which have been
and continue to be the homelands of the Onondaga people from time
immemorial. Homelands which were rich in clean water, abundant forests,
teeming wetlands, fertile soils, and a landscape that provided true
wealththe wealth of biodiversity and landscape and cultural
integrity."
She
further stated, "The history which led to the displacement of the
Onondaga people and dispossession of their homelands is a painful
one which must be acknowledged and addressed
As an institution
of higher education, we are committed to telling the truth, even
when it comes with an uncomfortable history. It is necessary for
healing."
The three statements read:
- SUNY-ESF is located within the original territory of the
Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, Confederacy.
- The ESF main campus, its Heiberg Forest and its Lafayette
Road Experimental Station are all located within the Land Rights
Action of the Onondaga Nation.
- The Onondaga Nation maintains its own distinct government,
language, and customs on a smaller portion of its original land
base south of Syracuse.
"I am pleased to announce that beginning today, and every day
forward, we will share similar statements with the thousands of
visitors and students that we welcome to our campus each year,"
stated SUNY ESF President Quentin Wheeler. "This represents a commitment
to our intellectual inclusion, and our cultural pluralism on campus
and it honors the very significant contributions of the Onondaga
Nation to environmental leadership. These statements reflect too
our gratitude for our past and current collaborations with the Nation
and raise appropriate awareness of the Onondaga Nation's Land Rights
Action. These statements reinforce our responsibility to think about
where we stand in the context of history, geography, and environmental
understanding, so we are ever cognizant of the implications of our
work for the real world
we stand on the side of responsible
stewardship for the land. These simple statements are but a glimpse
of a very complex history of the land, of its people, of its flora
and fauna. It doesn't speak about broken treaties, environmental
degradation, important traditional knowledge, or the contributions
of the Haudenosaunee peoples to the environment. Rather, they are
intended to awaken curiosity. They are an invitation to inquiry
and understanding, a reminder that our actions today are merely
the latest in a continuum of actions."
Dr.
Wheeler also announced that the school intended to memorialize this
recognition of ancestral lands with a permanent stone monument to
be placed on the ESF campus in the near future.
"Shortly after my arrival in Syracuse in 2014 the Onondaga Nation
extended the great honor to me to visit the longhouse. I am honored
again today that you have joined me for this announcement of an
initiative to recognize our location on your ancestral homelands."
Tadodaho Sid Hill thanked President Wheeler and SUNY ESF for
their words and the gift of wampum. "It's very appropriate coming
from ESF the College of Environmental Science and Forestry
that you acknowledge publicly being on our traditional lands.
With all the environmental issues going on today, it's good that
we all try to educate our people, the young people. The young people
are the ones who will have to face climate change."
Many of the speakers reflected on the responsibilities of humans
with the environment.
"We recognize that we stand not only on Onondaga land but on
the shoulders of indigenous environmental knowledge and wisdom,"
observed Dr. Kimmerer. "We honor those contributions, in how we
might understand the natural world and the place of humans in it.
And in the spirit of reciprocity we offer the contributions of environmental
science as a partner in this vital work for our common future."
The Tadodaho noted, "We don't have to go too far look
at the condition of Onondaga Lake, and our small stream that goes
through the Nation, which our people don't use much any more because
of the salt mining. There's a lot of issues right here to study
about, to learn about. I was just recently in Sweden
they
turned things around in the 1970s. Now they can eat the fish, the
water is good in Stockholm. You have the technology, the spirit,
and I know you young people have the energy that's what you
have to use, positively, for the next generations."
"As students we often hear about the Onondaga Nation from our
professors or in a classroom," reflected Margaret Foley, President
of SUNY ESF's Undergraduate Student Association. "Now, in addition
to being taught about that connection in a classroom, we will be
reminded of our connection to the Haudenosaunee every time we hear
our President speak, or walk across our new quad."
She noted that earlier in November, the undergraduate student
association had also passed a resolution urging the ESF community,
Syracuse University, and the State of New York to recognize Indigenous
Peoples' Day as a holiday.
"It not only acknowledges our desire to recognize the indigenous
people in our community but to recognize our campus stands on lands
of the Onondaga Nation. Today, and from this day forward, we recognize
that that land still belongs to those people. On behalf of the undergraduate
student population, we hope that this is the first of many steps
to recognize the Haudenosaunee and the Onondaga Nation here on campus."
"Ten years ago the Chiefs and Clan Mothers directed us to include
the first paragraph in the Land Rights action that called for healing,"
reflected Joseph Heath, General Counsel for the Onondaga Nation,
in remarks after the press conference. "Healing of the environmental
destruction and devastation and disrespect for their lands and waters,
and the healing among the settlers who have come to live on their
land. And these steps by SUNY-ESF today are a clear reflection of
how well that message has been received in the Central New York
community."
The announcement was followed by an event hosted by the Center
for Native Peoples and the Environment in which the students brainstormed,
with some input from Onondaga Nation representatives in attendance,
how they can be good allies for the environment.
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