The Forgotten Tribute: Acknowledging the Haudenosaunee

1. Problem Statement with French Fort It is indeed strange that here, in the territory of the Onondaga People, the capital of the Haudenosaunee (League of the Six Nation Confederacy of Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, and Tuscarora), That there should stand no tribute to these first people of liberty and freedom. At the time of European contact, the democracy of the Haudenosaunee was flourishing where everyone from the age of reason on up had a say in the4 governing process. It was one the most sophisticated political governing systems ever devised by humans. In fact, the American founding of the United States were so impressed that they incorporated many of the democratic principles into the constitution of the United States. In 1998, Congress and the Senate passed concurrent resolutions asserting that the confederation of the original 13 colonies was influenced by the political system of the Iroquois Confederacy. However, citizens of Syracuse and Onondaga County tend to forget this; indeed, if they ever even knew it. The Academic community is no better at remembering and reminding their students about the historical events of the first nation people. This is criminal in a historic sense that, after two hundred years, this community does not recognize the contributions of these first inhabitants.

2. Monumental Tribute The French However, in this community, there is a monumental tribute to a French-speaking people who were here a mere 20 months in 1656 and contributed nothing of any real value to history. Compare that to the contributions of the first people that lived on this land in the way of medicine, agriculture, architecture, science, philosophy, and spirituality. The question that begs to be asked is “Where is the tribute to the First Nation of this Land. On the shores of Onondaga Lake sits Sainte Marie Among the Iroquois. This site has a great potential to bring cultural understanding of those first nation people if it’s done in a manner that is more inclusive and receptive to the Native American perspective. Originally, the French Fort was built in the 1930s as a monument to the French for “civilizing” the savages. For almost sixty years thereafter, it has portrayed Native people as untrustworthy, cruel, drunkards, warlike, vicious savages and the cause of bad relationships between the two cultures. Racism at the fort has been blatant and crude. Now, with the opening of a new Interpretive Center, it has become cunning and insidious and very difficult to pin down with subliminal massages.

3. Voluntary Workers Message I would like to appreciate the efforts of Onondaga County Museum voluntary workers for including more Native American culture in the newly-built interpretive center, but they still have not responded to the problem of focus on the Jesuit perspective. The new name of the French Fort site, “Ste. Marie Among the Iroquois”, indicates the dominant and directive view of the whole project, even when compensation is made to depict Onondaga life in a “positive” or realistic view. Though the Center is designed to simulate a critical perspective by presenting a diversity of “voices” in the telling of history, it has inherited very biased view. With no Native American Indian involved in the presentations. The French military and the Jesuit missionaries had no love or compassion for those native people who resisted their conquest of land and souls. They are the ones who have written our history in blood. While we have our oral traditions from that period, they very rarely are heard outside the nation." Those impressions the French left on us are indelible, and so it is that we are “tattooed on our cradle” when it comes to handed down notions from the 17th century, People who visit the French Fort museum already have a one-sided view of history. Though the fort tries to present a multiple perspective, it does not have the strength that comes with taking a position that effectively works to counteract the bias already socialized into people’s minds. How can the public be expected to draw their own conclusions?

4. A Living History Site Ste. Marie Among the Iroquois is being presented as a living history site and for sixty years as a site museum. However, it is more a theater group or art center. Interpretations and presumptions presented are not challenged and do not bring forth new knowledge. The fallback criteria of selections for prevention is a 20-month window of time that leaves out aspects of Native American, French, English, and Dutch history that are as influential in the interpretations as in what is said and done. While museum officials use a 20-volume set of journals by Jesuits concerning their residence on the shores of Onondaga Lake, some official also admit that they have contributed nothing of historical value to the North America History Prospective. There is also considerable recognition to other European explorers that lay claim to six nation Indian lands. On the corner of Montgomery and Jefferson Streets in downtown Syracuse, surrounded by a Cathedral, county Court house and the old public library, stands the Columbus Monument, erected in the the1930 at same time as the fort

5. Symbolism Is Everywhere You Look Some of the symbolic statements on the monument are offensive to Native Americans. They have protested against and asked that one of the four murals, depicting Indians in a demeaning and subjective manner, be removed. It shows the Indians on their knees as they are presented to royalty in Europe and no Native person kneels or does this in their cultural. The viewer of the mural is left with the impression that the Indians are paying homage to Spanish royalty of their own free will. Christopher Columbus stands above nature, symbolized in the water and stone turtle at the base of the monument, and above the heads of Native Americans, elevating, Columbus to a higher position than Indians. The marker reads that he is the discoverer of the Americans and, once again, no mention of the Native American perspective or the fact that those Indians were enslaved and murdered because of the actions of this man and the European government that he represented.

6. Other Stone Markers Many other stone markers around the community also include statements that are half truths and lies about the native people inhabiting this territory. On Route 80 just south of the Seneca Turnpike, which was an old Indian trail from nation to naiton,up and across the street from Webster’s Pond, is a marker that honors John Sullivan and James Clinton who were under the command of George Washington in 1779 when they laid waste by burning and destroying village after village of the six nations. The marker depicts the routes of that invasion. It reads, in part, that it was an expedition against the hostile Indians. For Six Nation people, this event, more than any other in history, forced them into peace treaty agreements with the United States and New York State. Many of these agreements are being contested today.

8. Other War Monument Three other war monument markers celebrate that infamous day in August, 1696, when the French army under the command of Count Frontenac came to destroy the Onondaga Nation, the capital of the Iroquois Confederacy. It does not tell the story about the courageous Onondaga elder who stood up against the invading army and convinced his people not to fight on that day. Count Frontenac had the elder tortured and burned to deaths he cried out to the seventh generation to remember what has happened on this day. The first of the marker is located behind Ste. Marie Among Iroquois, which denotes that indeed Count Frontenac did established a French fort on Onondaga Lake, and also mentions the first Jesuits to visit to the area. This monument lead to another that is located just south of the Jamesville reservoir on Route91. It denotes the village that Frontenac came to attack which was burned, and where the Onondaga elder was Tortured to death. Ironically the remains of 120 of the people from that period of time were unearthed in about 1961. They were sold to private collections in museums along with thousands of their artifacts. As a result of a US 1990 Repatriation Act, 70 remains of those individuals have been found and returned to their resisting sites. The last marker is located on the corner of Salina Street and Darwin Avenue, near Green Hills Market, where they were forced to move after the destruction of the village. Presently, the Onondaga People reside a few miles south of the marker at the end of Saline Street, and route 11 on their land. There are literally dozens of these kinds of monuments that dot the landscape and they are all lacking the Native American perspective of history. The question again begs to be asked as we go into the new millennium. “Will we ever have a proper tribute to the Haudenosaunee or Native people who where the First nations of this land.