Two Counties Attempt to Crush the Cayugas While the State Sits Back

On a previous post I wrote of what we learned supporting the Cayugas. For those of us that went to the support rally, on October 4th, we saw the anger and blatant racism that the Cayuga people were up against. I wrote that the 60 or 70% of the non-native population that support our position will not fight for us but the 30 or 40% that oppose us will do what ever they can to put us in our place. In the case of the Cayugas it is out of their homeland. Yesterday morning at approximately 10 oclock sheriff's deputies from Cayuga and Seneca Counties seized property from the Cayuga people. Cigarettes, computers and other equipment essential to the operation of the only revenue generating vehicle the Cayuga have was taken from their recently acquired lands. It appears the State refused to participate or prevent in the incident and that it was primarily a local action specifically carrying out the wishes of UCE members and those of a similar racist background. I wrote last time that the minority that oppose us represent the segment of American society that typically dictates to the majority of their people. They are the prominent businessmen, the school board members, the church deacons, the county officials, the judges; those pillars of the community that will say what is appropriate and what is not. So when D.A.'s Swinehart and Budelmann made their overatures to Albany about what the citizens who elected them expected of them you can be assured that they were not referring to the customers that support and patronize the Cayuga enterprises or those that generally feel that the small parcels of reclaimed land and the tiny market share of a local economy carved out by the Cayuga people is the least they deserve. It is unfortunate that the predjudices of the few have the effect of polarizing people along racial lines, but it will. Native people are pissed, not just the Cayuga people. I called for action after the rally out of my concern for this very thing. We need to become more informed and more willing to support each other. Educating ourselves and those around us is critical. The lies and propaganda spread by hate groups must be challenged with truth and honesty. This is not a legal issue. It is a political issue. Criminalizing our autonomy serves no long term pupose. We are here. We have always been here. We will always be here. We were not Americans 1000 years ago. We were not Americans 200 years ago. We are not now and we won't be tomorrow.

(See the side bar for news coverage of the incident)