John Kane Will Be On "The Capitol Pressroom"

I will be a guest on "The Capitol Pressroom with Susan Arbetter" on Wednesday, March 30th. The show airs live on WCNY and can also be heard live on http://thecapitolpressroom.org/. The show is also broadcast on WBFO in Western New York on 88.7FM weekdays at 1 pm. For insight on the show topic, see the email I sent to the show's host below.

First I am sending a link to an article on my blog that captures most of my issues with "Attea". http://letstalknativepride.blogspot.com/2009/04/attea-is-not-land-mark-case-against.html. If you have trouble with the link just go to my blog and search "Attea" to bring it up. The only thing not mentioned in this article was the emphasis the court had in Moe and Colville on the fact that the Native retailers were just selling a non-native product back to the non-native public with no value added to that product but simply the state tax bypassed. 80% of our sales are Native brands manufactured in one territory of the Haudenosaunee or another and distributed to all. These brands are available exclusively through Native retailers. While I may concede that the states, including NY, may have the authority to tax the purchases of their residents on products used or consumed in their states, I reject the claim that they have authority over Native sales made on Native lands. The reality is that the states may only have the right to impose a "Use Tax" on their resident when that use occurs within the state's jurisdiction. The states have no authority to regulate the commercial activity on our territories. I say this not as a treaty right but simply as a right that was never conceded, although the right to our "free use and enjoyment" of or territories is acknowledged in treaty after treaty. On this note let me list a few issues that are never addressed by those that promote the states' authority: As I said, while I may concede the state may have authority to impose "Use Tax" on its residents, it certainly doesn't in all instances. In fact according to NYS Form CG-15 (http://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/2010/altab/cg15i_710.pdf), everyone in the state is exempt from the cigarette use tax provided the cigarettes brought into the state for use do not exceed 400 cigarettes (2 cartons). With this in mind, the state is saying that all of its residents can leave the state's jurisdiction, purchase cigarettes without a NYS tax stamp and consume that product in the state. They just insist that those sales to their residents cannot be made from "Indians". The state does not consider their overreaching on the sales made on Native lands to non-native consumers that will not use the product in NYS. Many non-native consumers are from out of state. Prior to the passage of the PACT Act and losing 70% of our sale volume represented by remote sales, the vast majority of our sales were to out of state consumers (which, by the way, brought significant revenue into Western New York). Even still, with many of our communities close to the state borders, a notable percentage of our sales are to out-of-state residents. There is also no accounting for the consumption of cigarettes by non-native consumers on our lands. Since our territories are are among the last places on Earth that smoking is allowed in public places and between gaming facilities and other public events, it is fair to assume some of the cigarettes purchased by non-natives are not "used" in the state. There is simply no explanation how the state makes the leap from overturning "Attea" to claiming they have the right to stop Native retailers from selling cigarettes to non-native consumers without a NYS Tax stamp, especially when you consider that every other state and country can make those sales. Of course what I consider the white elephant in the room are Native brands. About a half dozen Native brands now represent over 80% of the sales of native retailers. The state's dirty little secret is that this is not about collecting taxes from Native sales but rather to end them. Several Native communities stamp their inventories and as such add a fee that results in a collective benefit to the community. Overnight, cigarettes will go from being discounted because of the Native regulatory advantage to being more expensive that off reservation prices. The state hopes that some of these lost sales will result in more sales of stamped product from off reservation sales. What is not talked about is to insure that all sales of untaxed product ends the state will essentially outlaw Native brands. Over the last few years the state and the ATF have collaborated in creating a circumstance that even Native brands are distributed by New York State wholesalers. Native brands were excluded from the Master Settlement Act (MSA) and as such cannot be stamped without the state forgoing the revenue they collect from MSA payments from Big Tobacco. Philip Morris has already challenged the making of MSA payments to NY because of the state's lack of enforcement of the MSA against Native brands sold on Native lands. Ironically, NYS had to defend our non-participation in the program citing that the MSA did not apply to us. This was obviously done to protect the state's revenue stream from the program that was borrowed against under the Pataki administration (a revenue that has already shrunk significantly since the PACT Act). So the end result is that once NYS wholesalers are required to sell only stamped products to Native retailers, Native brands will no longer be amongst them. Since NYS maintains that only state licensed wholesalers can ship unstamped cigarettes but not to Native wholesalers or retailers, Native wholesalers distributing Native brands to Native retailers will be subject to seizures and prosecution. The state would like everyone to believe that this is just about pre-collecting a tax that they are entitled to but much of the story is not spoken of. By attacking Native brands the state has moved well beyond interfering with commerce with "Indians" and clearly moves into interfering with the commerce of "Indians". the assumption that a Native wholesaler supplying a Native brand to a Native retailer will ultimately result in a sale to a non-native consumer does not give the state the right to impose itself on Native to Native trade. In fact the commerce clause of the US Constitution reserves the power to regulate commerce with "Indians" to Congress and makes no assumption about the delegation of authority to regulate the commerce of "Indian". It is interesting that Peter King is back in the news with his twisted views on terrorism. A few years back his office prepared a report entitled "Tobacco and Terror: How Cigarette Smuggling is Funding Our Enemies Abroad" ( http://chs-republicans.house.gov/list/press/homeland_rep/morenews/cigarettesmuggling.pdf ). In it he tries to make the public believe there is a direct link between Native sale of cigarettes and the funding of terrorists abroad. Patrick Fleenor with the Tax Foundation: http://www.taxfoundation.org/, suggested to me that the direct to consumer sales by Native retailers has done more to undo the illicit tobacco trade than all law enforcement combined. He argues that our sales cut out the middle men, particularly with the remote sales that have now been forced off shore. Our legal trade that used to bring millions of dollars of revenue into Western New York has already began to slip into the shadows by closing down Native remote sellers (mail-orders) via the PACT Act. Now those remote sales are conducted by who knows who from Russia, a few European countries and several in Africa. The state's attempt to end our face-to-face sales will push more business to organized crime and perhaps even to Mr. King's dreaded terrorists. With over 70% of our sales lost to the passage of the NYS supported PACT Act, one would assume that the state would have produced volumes of financial statements showing the sharp increase in tax revenue but to the contrary the state must be losing significant MSA revenue due to all the lost sales of premium brands sold to out-of-state consumers. NYS received a MSA payment for every carton of premium brand cigarettes sold by Native retailers. With Philip Morris and others joining in on the attack of Native businesses those sale are relegated to less than 10% of sales by Native retailers. Believe it or not I am holding back to try to keep this brief. There is much more about this issue from the protections of Native economies laid out in the U. N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to state and federal legislation continuing the assimilation programs of the past. I am not a smoker and I am neither in the business nor do I like the reliance on such an economy but if we can't defend our right to market our regulatory advantages in a legal product the way every other city, town, county, state and country does, no matter how un-PC that practice may be then what successful economic engine would be safe in our territories? Trust me, our fuel sales are next and gaming is always a battle.

John Kane - Karhiio

Host of "Let's Talk Native...with John Kane" on WECK 1230AM in Buffalo, NY www.letstalknativepride.blogspot.com

"Let's Talk Native..." is an Opportunity for The Native Voice to be Heard

The show has been airing since August and since day 1 LTN has had an open mike for callers and guests to discuss Native issues. I tout the show as the only Native radio talk show in Western New York and a place for a full conversation on the issues that effect Native people, our lands and the people and regions around us. It takes a station like WECK 1230AM that is committed to local content to provide a forum for the expression of Native views. The show is paid programming and depends on support from the public to cover the airtime costs but for "Let's Talk Native..." airtime is only half the story. The shows are available not only on the AM dial but they stream live on the WECK web site: www.weck1230.com and can be heard after the broadcast on a surprising number of sites. The Coeur D'Alene home page actually features the latest show each week. A search of our show on Google gives 5 or 6 pages of links to various shows and sites. The point is that our words are getting out there. I encourage people to take me up on the invitation to participate in getting our message out there. Hopefully, more shows and opportunities to get honest exposure to the media will develop but for now this is it. As a show that airs in Buffalo, NY, I know most of the immediate listeners are non-native and likely an older demographic and that is a good thing. I say time and time again that our issues stand stronger in the court of public opinion than in a courthouse or a legislative chamber. We need venues like this, not to rant and rave about injustices but to educate and explain issues that can't be captured by a few quotes in the news. I know that with a format that includes an open mike that I will get the occasional haters and certainly those with opposing views but I look forward to those calls as well. Dispelling the myths and providing thoughtful and intelligent responses to those that question our integrity or intentions is the best way to demonstrate the legitimacy of our positions. My hope is that the conversations that are started on air will continue without my participation. On air, please be confident that I will treat callers and guests respectfully. I encourage listeners to offer comments and suggestions here or on air. Grade what you hear and if you don't like it offer your own wisdom. Look for the show on Tuesday from 11 till noon on WECK or online anytime.

Native Spark

By Matt Hill

Inside every Native person is a spark of who we once were. In some people it shines, some it glows, in most it flickers or is almost out. This spark was strong in our society of not too long ago. We carried it throughout our territory through a network of consensus decision making and mutual respect for the earth and each other. When we shared that spark through a decision based on what was right for now, and for the faces of the grandchildren we would never see. It grew in strength as more people recognized it as being the right thing to do. Our fire was strong.

Through our exposure to the elements of corruption, brought by the colonist after a devastating mass loss of people from disease, we were very vulnerable. Temptation of material things clouded the minds of some of our people. Our decision making was "not of a good mind". The core principal of our society was breached. The respect was fading.

The loss of that spark was further snuffed out by the influences of the boarding schools. There the children were punished, abused and on occasion killed, just for being Native. Out of love for their children, some of our Grandparents thought that if they didn't expose the children to who we once were, it would spare them from the pains. We were falling to assimilation. It was getting colder.

This assimilation has become so deep rooted that some don't even recognize the most basic elements of respect. This past week has shown me a lot. There is a major disconnect from what those elements are. We as a people need to recognize that our society is broken. It is a time to heal the wounds that have cut away at our world. It is hard even for a small room full of people to agree what kind of pizza to order! How are we supposed to win a fight against attacks on our peoples sovereignty if we only look out for our own personal interests and not the good of all? Learn who we are. Look out for each other. Talk to your elders. Read a book. Google it. Whatever it takes. Get your spark back. I did and I'm getting fired up!

Once again, Indian tobacco taxes assumed

Posted on February 2, 2011 at 5:43 pm by Rick Karlin, Capitol bureau in General, Indian Taxation
This has come up before, but Cuomo’s budget plan assumes that the state will get $130 million from, finally, taxing cigarette sales on Indian reservations to non-Indians.
From the budget’s revenue projections: 2011-12 Projections All Funds receipts are projected to be $1,786 million, an increase of $165 million, or 10.2 percent above 2010-11. This increase reflects the full year impact of the legislation enacted in 2010-11, including $130 million in cigarette tax revenue from the implementation of laws requiring the collection of tax on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations to non-Native Americans.
News of the planned taxes was greeted warmly by an organization that has been pushing for that, the Enforce the Law, Collect the Tax Coalition “The Enforce the Law Collect the Tax Coalition applauds Governor Cuomo for projecting real and significant increases in cigarette tax revenue in his 2011-2012 Executive budget. By projecting excise tax collections from the implementation of laws requiring the collection of tax on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations to non-Native Americans, the Governor’s Executive budget proposal is yet another clear indication of the administration’s commitment to rectifying this long standing inequity. We remain confident that the courts will soon conclude that the state is correct on these issues and will clear the way to collect these much needed revenues.”
A reality check may be in order here, since the Indian tobacco tax has been on the books, unenforced, for years and it was supposed to happen last year as the current budget was being finalized as well.

21 Comments
1. MomOfThree
February 2, 2011, 7:18 PM
I thought that every Indian nation had its own separate laws and therefore are not subject to outside laws. So how can Cuomo even bring this up?

2. joe_from_france
February 2, 2011, 7:49 PM
Including revenues from cigarette sales on Indian reservations to non-Indians shouldn’t that be considered another Budget “sham” Mr. Megna?

3. Smith
February 2, 2011, 8:06 PM
Perhaps the Governor is going to finally get our money’s worth from the $100,000 per year Troopers by using them to enforce the tax collection.

4. ezpickinz
February 2, 2011, 8:35 PM
These native Americans are not going to pay NYS one single cent of tax money. They would rather owe NYS than screw us out of that tax money. I think that NYS should stop maintaining the State highways that pass through the reservations and lead to their casinos. Not too long ago, the Seneca Nation wanted to charge a buck a car for each vehicle passing through their reservation along the NYS Thruway. OK; but payback is a bitch, ain’t it?

5. thelawisclear
February 2, 2011, 9:13 PM
MomofThree, courts have said a number of times that the state would not be taxing native americans. The state would be taxing native american sales to non-native americans. Their laws/treaties have nothing to do with it. This absolutely is an issue of enforcement and each of the last three governors have basically not even tried, even though they all count the revenue.
Talk about a scam.

6. Parma Ham
February 2, 2011, 10:26 PM
Smith, good point about the troopers, how about starting them at $45k and letting them up to $60k after 10 years. i bet you’d get no shortage of quality applicants

7. Lwoodbluz
February 3, 2011, 3:37 AM
What the state really needs to do is set up checkpoints right outside the reservations to collect duties(taxes) from people leaving the Nation. Just a simple “Do you have anything to declare?” and a search if necessary should bring in the revenue.
And don’t worry about the Native Americans closing off the Thruway like they did in 1997. They want thier casino money, they won’t close thier lifeline to all that revenue.

8. ResidentX
February 3, 2011, 5:54 AM
its really not a big problem… if the taxes arent collected we can just layoff more state workers. I mean, thats what they are there for… right?

9. Walt
February 3, 2011, 7:20 AM
The state will lose on this as well as all the other bullying tactics they are attempting!

10. UnCivilServant
February 3, 2011, 7:41 AM
What I don’t get is why we continue this farce. The residents of these “nations” have Us Citizenship and the right to vote in US elections, and thus should be subject to all taxes imposed on the rest of us. We should stop pretending that they aren’t part of this country. The annexation was complete almost a century ago, sweep away the last vestages of deceit and bring our fellow citizens into the fold.

11. WHAT A JOKE
February 3, 2011, 8:02 AM
The tribes want New York services? The Tribes should then pay New York taxes. What’s complicated here? The Tribes can’t have it both ways.

12. Albany Resident
February 3, 2011, 8:50 AM
How about we cut the $130,000,000.00 out of the budget. If the blood-suckers at the capital don’t have it, maybe, just maybe, Cuomo won’t let them spend it. But thats probably as much a pipe dream as collecting the tax is in the first place. However I do like Lwoodbluz take on it. We have checkpoints at the entrances/exits to our other “Nation” neighbors, they want soveriegnty then treat them like it!

13. K2
February 3, 2011, 9:28 AM
@ mom of three, if they are a sovereign nation why do they receive state and federal funds.
They can accept our tax dollars but can’t collect taxes on non-natives? It is one or the other not both.

14. From Western New York
February 3, 2011, 10:41 AM
The new tax revenues will NOT be achieved. First off, there is the whole issue of elasticity. People will buy fewer cigarettes. Second there is whole substitution issue. People will seek other, cheap sources. Finally, part of the tax revenue will need to be diverted to pay for unemployment, welfare, WIC, etc. as New York Jobs are killed by the Governor.

15. Robin Hackett
February 3, 2011, 11:02 AM
@From Western New York…you’re right. I already buy my ciggarettes in the states I travel through. I haven’t bought a pack in NY since Patterson’s last luxury tax increase.

16. jimbo
February 3, 2011, 12:55 PM
If the Tribes have to tax non-residents, their cigarette sales will drop like a rock anyway, so the revenue the budget is projecting in new taxes is just an excuse to spend more money they won’t have.
The border patrol checkpoints on the tribal territory boundaries is an interesting idea. I wonder how many state workers they would have to hire to man those stations? They could easily suck up all that extra revenue and create new state worker jobs at the same time. The additional funds would never make it out of the administrative funds necessary to implement it, the unions would look good and a few western state lawmakers would look good come next election……

17. WNYTaxpayer
February 3, 2011, 1:10 PM
All DTF has to do is to subpoena the Merchant Account Processors for the Indian retailors and compare the list of who made purchases with visa, mastercrad, etc. that did not report it on their state income taxes and issue notice of deficiencies to them.

18. can't uc
February 3, 2011, 3:16 PM
If the plan is imposed on the natives to collect taxes on sales to non-natives , it will only create a huge black market making more natives very wealthy.

19. pragmatic
February 3, 2011, 7:26 PM
It is time for Andy to stand up and shut down the indian casinos. Spitzer had the chance but lacked the courage. Lets see if Andy has the guts to stand up to this special interest group

20. John Kane
February 4, 2011, 10:10 AM
We should be clear that the state knows this new law will not generate revenue from Native sales. The intent of the law is to shut off supply to Native retailers of unstamped product. If Native retailers lose their regulatory advantage, Native sales will end. The question is will those sales be made elsewhere and where? The numbers that are being used in this budget are a sham. They are based on past sales and assume that as Native sales are lost that a significant portion of them will become taxed sales. Over the past year Native sales in Western New York have fallen by 80% due to shutting down the US Post Office from delivering remote sales of tobacco. Even without Native sales, the state loses far more than $130 million in revenue leakage to out-of-state sales; this would obviously increase with the loss of Native sales, which by the way still contribute to the NYS economy. Of couse a fair amount of people will just not be able to afford to smoke and while that maybe a good thing from a health standpoint, it certainly does nothing for the state’s budget. The other thing, only lightly touched on by other comments is the price of enforcement. The last time the state did battle with the Indians it cost $23 million per month and that was before troopers were making $100,000 per year. The final point overlooked is the resiliency of Native retailers. They will still find product to sell, with or without New York State wholesalers.

21. John Kane
February 4, 2011, 10:19 AM
Another point that the media refuses to point out is that the state allows everyone in the state to purchase and consume in the state cigarettes without NYS tax applied up to two cartons per consumer. NYS Form CG-15 for Cigarette Use Tax clearly lays out the exemption (http://www.tax.state.ny.us/pdf/2010/altab/cg15i_710.pdf). Apparently, the state’s position is that these untaxed sales can be made anywhere outside New York's jurisdiction except on Native lands.

Senecas' long, tragic history

Thomas Indian School

Effort to protect sovereignty must be viewed against backdrop of injustices

By Keith R. Burich

The Seneca Nation of Indians has embarked on a campaign to tell its side of the story over taxation, casinos, sovereignty and treaty rights and obligations. The nation’s new president, Rob Porter, has even set out on a goodwill tour of local and state political and business leaders.
The Senecas are trying to explain that the rights they claim are guaranteed in treaties and that those treaties are inviolate and protected by the “supremacy” clause of the U. S. Constitution. They could also point out how their exemption from state taxes came in exchange for millions of acres of land—an exemption that was really no different than the tax breaks and subsidies grant- ed developers for building condos on the waterfront, rehabilitating buildings, keeping businesses downtown or luring businesses from one town to another.
However, there is far more to their story than broken treaties and promises—a story that the government and the American public would like to dismiss or forget. The determination of the Senecas to jealously and zealously protect their sovereignty and independence must be understood against the backdrop of the injustices they and all Indians have endured for 400 years. The story unfolding in Western New York is merely the latest chapter in the long, often sordid, and always tragic history of Indian and white relations.
Indians have been driven off their lands, herded onto reservations, deprived of their ability to sustain themselves and their way of life, stripped of their languages and cultures, denied their right to practice their religions and, when they resisted, subjected to warfare that in any other instance would be considered genocide.
The numbers don’t lie. The North American indigenous population in 1492 was between 15 million and 18 million. It was less than 250,000 by 1900. The first peoples of this country were on the verge of extinction by the early 20th century. The removal of Indians from their ancestral territories to reservations resulted in the loss of land and the disintegration of social, political, economic and family structures that left tribes in a perpetual state of dependency and vulnerable to the whiskey and wiles of the white man.
Although the days of warfare, removal and epidemics sweeping through their populations ended long ago, the trauma of the past was transmitted along generational lines in the form of new and just as deadly epidemics: alcohol and meth, teenage pregnancy and suicide, diabetes and heart disease. The statistics are startling and disheartening. Indians have a higher mortality rate, including among infants, have a shorter life expectancy and are more likely to die from cancer, heart disease and alcohol abuse than the general population. On some of the more isolated, Western reservations, unemployment can reach 50 percent to 60 percent, and The Buffalo News has recently reported that Indians are the poorest people in America.
Government policies have made matters worse. Shipping children off to boarding schools to be Christianized and civilized, or relocating families to cities far from reservations, created generations of children who, to borrow a popular Indian metaphor, were neither wolf nor dog, neither white nor Indian. Alone and lonely, desperate and despairing, they all too often succumbed to the self-destructive behaviors that have ravaged Indian communities for generations.
In Western New York, the Senecas have enjoyed a revival due largely to casino revenues and their tax-free cigarette and gasoline enterprises, but that prosperity is only recent and came only after they were robbed of millions of acres of land and, thus, their ability to sustain themselves and their language, culture and independence. A few decades ago, they suffered from the same poverty and its attendant afflictions as tribes on other reservations, and from the same heavy-handed and clumsy efforts at forced assimilation.
For example, the Thomas Indian School on the Cattaraugus Reservation was not closed until 1957, long after most other Indian boarding schools were shuttered, and only after thousands of Indian children from across the state were taken from their homes, sometimes as infants, placed in the care of strangers and alienated from their language, culture and families. When they were released, often at the age of 21, they were cast adrift in a world they were not prepared to enter and that was unprepared to accept them. The end results of this education for assimilation were broken homes, broken families and broken lives.
The Thomas Indian School was a product of the destructive forces of removal that created generations of orphaned, abandoned and neglected children. The Seneca and other Iroquois tribes are generally not associated with removal since they retained some of their ancestral lands. Unfortunately, that did not save them from the trauma associated with removal, including poverty, disease, starvation, population loss, alcohol abuse and suicide.
The removal of the Seneca and other Iroquois tribes began in earnest with Gen. John Sullivan’s campaign in 1779 that destroyed villages, crops and food stores along the Genesee River and drove the Senecas west to the Buffalo Creek territory. When Sullivan’s troops were done, they left behind an invisible and deadly present: smallpox. The combination of warfare, starvation and disease decimated the native population of New York. The Seneca tribe alone would lose nearly 50 percent of its population. So bad were conditions on the New York reservations that throughout the 19th and into the 20th century, the Senecas would suffer from a higher mortality rate than the rest of the population. The loss of land and population undermined their social, economic and political institutions, and left them in a self-perpetuating state of dependency.
The Senecas eventually lost nearly all of the 4 million acres guaranteed by the Canandaigua Treaty of 1794. The loss of lands culminated in 1842 with the Buffalo Creek Treaty, one of the most fraudulent treaties in the long history of fraudulent treaties, that forced the Senecas off the more than 80,000 acres that encompassed most of downtown Buffalo. To be sure, the Seneca and other tribes were not forced to sign the treaties at gunpoint, but starvation can be just as compelling as a soldier with a gun.
The trauma of removal did not end with the treaties that defrauded them of their lands in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 1950s, Senecas on the Allegany Reservation were forced out of their homes as their land, although guaranteed by treaty, was inundated with the waters of the reservoir created by the Kinzua Dam, while at the same time the Tuscarora Indians in Lewiston lost a good portion of their reservation to the New York Power Authority.
The losses suffered by the Seneca and other New York tribes are often forgotten or obscured by economic and constitutional issues. There are other facts that get lost, including the fact that Indians pay taxes like the rest of us. They pay federal income taxes, Social Security and Medicare taxes, and if they work and live or shop off the reservation, they pay state income tax, local property taxes and even sales taxes. Furthermore, the state takes 25 percent off the top of their casino revenues, which amounts to more than $100 million per year, and that brings us back to the question of taxation.
The Senecas claim that the same Buffalo Creek Treaty of 1842 that defrauded them of 80,000 acres of prime real estate exempted them “from all taxes, and assessments for roads, highways or any other purpose.” Their opponents cry foul, claiming that it gives them an unfair advantage in the cigarette and gasoline trade. However, the fact remains that the tax exemption Indians claim by treaty is nothing more, and in fact certainly far less, than the billions of dollars of tax exemptions and subsidies routinely granted to businesses like Bass Pro in exchange for dubious promises of economic stimulation and for which the taxpayers of New York are on the hook. However, there is one difference: the Seneca and other Indians have paid dearly and tragically for their rights.
There is more than just a little irony to all of this. For 400 years, Indians have been told to learn the white man’s language, live in the white man’s houses, worship the white man’s God and adopt the white man’s values. However, when they finally do act like white men by asking for rights that are guaranteed them by treaty and that white businessmen take for granted, they are somehow un-American.
Businessmen are always quick to invoke the American traditions of fair play and competition even though, as Carl Paladino pointed out in opposing the Statler bailout, such tax breaks and subsidies are inherently unfair. Of course, the Senecas could cut a deal or compromise with the state rather than risk a lengthy, expensive and possibly losing court battle. But if they do, they would not only be compromising their sovereignty, they would also be compromising their identity as Seneca, or Iroquois, or indeed, Indians.
Keith R. Burich, Ph. D., is a professor of history at Canisius College specializing in Native Studies. He has just completed a book on the Thomas Indian School on the Cattaraugus Reservation.

Apology Offered by Partner in a Prominent Law Firm that Specializes in "Indian Law"

A partner in the prominent "Indian Country" law firm, Dewey, Cheatum and Howe(sorry Car Talk guys), offered his apology after posting an offensive commentary of a Traditional Opening that was offered at a memorial service to the American people in Tucson last week. Paul N. Admiredjackoff, who writes on www.whitepowerlineblog.com, apologized for biting the hand that feeds him. Mr. Admiredjackoff said, "I had no idea that telling people how I really feel about pagan rituals would offend anyone. How could I know? I come from a city that has a professional football team called the Redskins and I'll have you know I support these Redskins faithfully". He went on to express his sincere regret for causing any problems for his partners and offered his hope that any clients who would be considering dropping his firm would "grow a pair and face the facts that you are better off with us on your side than against you". A statement from Dewey, Cheatum and Howe also expressed regret for Mr. Admiredjackoff's comments. The statement reads; "It has never been the policy of this firm to say the type of things, Mr. Admiredjackoff has taken responsibility for, in public". The firm also expressed their sincere hope that, "Everyone can just forget about all this nonsense and get back to restoring Indians back to their rightful place as tools for the gaming industry".

A Review of "Toward The Setting Sun" by Brian Hicks

Last month I received an email from Grove/Atlantic Inc., a publishing company. The representative expressed an interest in getting a new book they were releasing out to bloggers. GA sent me a copy and I promised to read it and give a review.

Brian Hicks pulls off telling a detailed history, most know little about, without writing a history book. The story of John Ross, the Cherokee people, a ruthless state and a country with no respect for their own laws is laid out more like a novel than a lesson. Hicks gives a fair and compelling account of the divisions that developed within the Cherokee Nation as the pressure from Georgia and Washington became unbearable. The Andrew Jackson portrayed here creates a circumstance where a reader will have a difficult time gazing on the face on a twenty dollar bill without feeling a certain level of contempt. The story leads up to one of the most tragic events in the history of Native interaction with the United States, the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee story is more than just an account of bad US policies that include extermination, assimilation, removal and termination. It is a story of outright theft, breach of contract and lies from those that children, to this day, are taught to idolize. Mr. Hicks paints the Cherokee principal chief, John Ross, as an uncompromising hero of the highest character who has traitors undermining his authority at the most critical time for the Cherokee Nation.

I recommend the book highly. This story was by no means unique to the Cherokees. It played out over and over again through the entire 19th century and in many ways continues today. This is precisely why "Toward The Setting Sun" is important. I do find that Mr. Hicks seemed to rush the ending of the book and in his loyalty to the honor of John Ross neglected to address the Chief's dream of Cherokee statehood in the controversial light it was truly received. Mr. Hicks also seemed to gloss over John Ross' support of slavery and in particular how it was that while an entire third of the Cherokee population perished on the forced march to Oklahoma that he managed to have the resources to get his 50 slaves moved with little trouble. In spite of a few short comings, "Toward The Setting Sun" should be read to provide, not only historical context for Native life at the time, but context for the lives, positions and views that Native people still have. Read this book.

Execution 150 Years Ago Spurs Calls for Pardon

By ROBERT K. ELDER
Published: December 13, 2010, New York Times

MANKATO, Minn. — On Dec. 26, 1862, thirty-eight doomed Dakota Indians wailed and danced atop the gallows, waiting for the trapdoors to drop beneath them. The square scaffold, built here to accommodate the largest mass execution in United States history, swayed under their weight.
“It seemed that the purpose of the singing and dancing was only to sustain each other in their last ordeal,” a witness observed. “As the last moment rapidly approached, they each called out their name and shouted in their native language: ‘I’m here! I’m here!’ ”
Thirty-seven of the men were among the “most ferocious” followers of the Dakota leader Little Crow, according to the federal government. They stood accused of killing approximately 490 settlers, including women and children, in raids along the Minnesota frontier.
But one man, historians say, did not belong there. A captured Dakota named We-Chank-Wash-ta-don-pee, often called Chaska, had had his sentence commuted by President Abraham Lincoln days earlier. Yet on the day after Christmas 1862, Chaska died with the others.
It was a case of wrongful execution, Gary C. Anderson, a history professor at the University of Oklahoma and Little Crow biographer, said last week in an interview. “These soldiers just grabbed the wrong guy,” he said.
Although the story of the mass execution in Mankato is well-known locally, scholars say the case of Chaska — spared by Lincoln, then wrongfully executed — has been long overlooked by the federal government and all but forgotten even by the Dakota.
Now, an effort to keep the story alive is taking root on campuses and even on Capitol Hill as the 150th anniversary of the execution, in 2012, approaches. Commemorative events will include symposiums, museum exhibits, monument re-dedications, book publications and an original symphony and choral production.
“It’s time to talk about it and time for people to know about it,” said Gwen Westerman, a professor of English at Minnesota State University at Mankato and a member of the Dakota who is planning to investigate Chaska’s case and the cultural context of the conflict with a class. She says she is hoping her students can “put together some more pieces of the puzzle.”
“Because there is a historical record” for Chaska’s commutation, Ms. Westerman said, “that’s a good place to start.”
A move to award Chaska (pronounced chas-KAY) a posthumous pardon has drawn some initial support. Before his defeat in November, Representative James L. Oberstar, Democrat of Minnesota, said a federal pardon would be “a grand gesture and one I think our Congressional delegation should support.”
“A wrong should be righted,” he added.
Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat who sits on the Committee on Indian Affairs, issued a statement last week signaling that he might move the issue forward.
“Senator Franken recognizes that this is a tragic period in history,” said his press secretary, Ed Shelleby. “The senator will continue to look into this incident in the next Congress.”
Tension between the Dakota, historically called the Sioux, and the influx of settlers had been mounting for years before the Civil War, which further strained United States resources, disrupting food and supplies promised to the Dakota in a series of broken peace treaties. One local trader, Andrew Myrick, said of the Indians’ plight, “If they are hungry, let them eat grass.”
Enraged and starving, the tribe attacked and plundered the new state’s settlements. Of the 400-plus Dakota and “mixed blood” men detained by Brig. Gen. Henry Hastings Sibley, 303 were sentenced by a military court to death. But Lincoln found a lack of evidence at most of the tribunals, and he reduced the number of the condemned to 38.
We-Chank-Wash-ta-don-pee’s case was No. 3 and not listed in the execution order handwritten by Lincoln, but his fate may have been the result of mistaken identity. The man he died for was No. 121, identified by Lincoln as Chaskey-don or Chaskey-etay, who had been condemned for murdering a pregnant woman.
But historians say something far more complex may have been responsible for Chaska’s death: rumor. During the raids, Chaska took a white woman, Sarah Wakefield, and her children prisoner — not an uncommon occurrence during the Dakota War.
What was uncommon, however, was Wakefield’s defense of her captor at his military tribunal. Chaska defended her and her children, she said, and kept them from certain death and abuse at the hands of his fellow tribesmen. “If it had not been for Chaska,” Wakefield said, “my bones would now be bleaching on the prairie, and my children with Little Crow.”
One prison chaplain wrote to her after the hanging: “Dear Madam: In regard to the mistake by which Chaska was hung instead of another, I doubt whether I can satisfactorily explain it.”
Wakefield firmly believed that Chaska was executed on purpose, in retaliation for her testimony and in reaction to rumors that she and Chaska were lovers. General Sibley, who appointed the tribunal that convicted Chaska, privately referred to him as Wakefield’s “dusky paramour.”
Wakefield denied any sexual relationship in the booklet she wrote the year after his death, titled “Six Weeks in the Sioux Teepees.” She wrote, “I loved not the man, but his kindly acts."
Some details of the conflict have been willfully buried or forgotten, by both sides of the war. The Dakota conflict came in 1862, which historians have described as Lincoln’s “darkest year” during the Civil War. It was the year the president lost his 11-year-old son, Willie, to typhoid fever. Thousands died on the battlefields at the Battle of Bull Run and at Fredericksburg, as Lincoln fought with his own generals. In large part, the narrative of mass execution in Mankato was lost in the United States’ struggle to preserve the union.
Lincoln himself was distressed at the speed of the military tribunals that condemned 303 men, and his decision to commute most of the sentences was politically dangerous. But he said, “I could not afford to hang men for votes.” The 265 Dakota Indians Lincoln spared from the gallows were either fully pardoned or died in prison.
Modern Mankato, once a prairie outpost, is now a city of 37,000, where a modest downtown struggles for survival, competing against outlying strip malls and chain stores.
The only reminders that 38 Indians died here is a Dakota warrior statue and plaque outside the local library. The location of the actual scaffold is now called Reconciliation Park.
Glenn Wasicunna, a Dakota language teacher and husband of Ms. Westerman, said that for decades, his people would not even drive through Mankato during the day. The place carried too many memories, too much cultural trauma, he said.
“These were our family,” Ms. Westerman added. “These were people my great-grandparents knew. They have a direct effect on who we are.”
Each year on Dec. 26, the annual Mankato memorial run acknowledges those who died in the mass execution. But Wayne Wells, a Dakota language teacher on the nearby Prairie Island reservation, said there would be a range of response to a pardon just for Chaska. Many Dakota, he said, “consider all of them to be innocent martyrs — people who stood up and died for us.”
However, Leonard Wabasha, a local Dakota leader, said a federal pardon for Chaska would “shine a light.”
“It would cause people to read and research into it a little deeper,” Mr. Wabasha said. “It would be a step in the right direction.”

The Kanienkehaka Kanonhsesne Condemns the Saint Regis Tribal Council

The following is a letter from the Men's Council of the Longhouse addressing the treasonous actions of the Saint Regis trustees toward the community of Ganienkeh.

Based upon the recent agenda of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council, the topic of the Kanienkehaka Territory of Ganienkeh remains as pressing as ever to the state-recognized trustee “Chiefs”.
To be clear, there is nothing new about tribal discomfort with the free-thinking of the variety that gave birth to the Ganienkieh settlement(s).
In October of 2010, two letters were sent by the Tribal Council to the state of New York. The first letter was coyly written and only hinted at the Ganienkeh Territory. The second letter was more telling. An impressive dossier of testimony accompanies this letter, citing Big Apple articles and the investigative findings of the Tribal Gaming Commission, which serve to justify the immediate goal of tarring Ganienkeh.
At the November 2010 Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal meeting, a woman asked the meeting Chairman, Tribal Chief Mark Garrow, if he was jealous of the people of Ganienkeh, since what he did by signing the letter with fellow Tribal Chief Randy Hart (Chief Monica Jacobs abstained from signing either letter) showed his true feelings towards that group of the People of the Flint. Chief Garrow made a point to remark during the meeting that he represented the people who elected him.
It has been stated by the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council that the action taken was not against Ganienkeh, but rather on behalf of the tribal membership, specifically to stem the flow of Tribal gaming revenue to the state of New York for failure to protect gaming compact exclusivity that was agreed upon as a stipulation by the state to allow the Tribe to operate the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino under a gaming compact.
Yet many in attendance at the November 2010 Tribal monthly meeting clearly stated that the Tribal Council did not consult with Tribal members before electing to take this deliberate action of notifying the state of Ganienkeh Territory gaming activities, that the action was both treasonous and “an act of war”, and that many People of the Flint were packed and ready to move out to defend Ganienkeh from state (and tribal) oppression.
Nothing is new here to those with memories of past Tribal Council actions pertaining to Ganienkeh. When Moss Lake, located near Utica, was settled as the “first” Ganienkeh, and this former Girl Scout campground was the point of negotiations between Ganienkeh spokespeople and representatives from the New York Governor’s office, a letter dated November 25, 1974 arrived in Albany from the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council. Signed by Chiefs Leonard Garrow (father of present trustee Mark Garrow), Rudolph Hart (father of present trustee Randy Hart) and Charlie Terrance, the letter objected to the reclamation of the state-owned property and called for the assertion of state jurisdiction to remove the Ganienkeh settlement. There seems to be no hesitation to Tribal Councils of any era to call in their pay-masters when the sledding gets tough. Nor is anyone riding a white horse in that posse.
To many, Ganienkeh represents freedom. To others, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council represents an attempt to assert control. It may just be that the trustee eyes are bigger than their stomachs allow.

Signed, 12-09-2010
Men’s Council of the Kanienkehaka Kaianerehkowa Kanonhsesne (People of the Longhouse)
Turtle Clan Representative – Sakoieta
Wolf Clan Representative - Rarahkwisere
Bear Clan Representative – Kanaretiio

"Somehow, We end up with the bible and they end up with the land!"

Cartoon by Jack Ahasteen

Not Another Post About The "Real" Meaning Of Thanksgiving

This is the time of the year when a litany of opinions, lectures and down right scoldings will be offered up about "Thanksgiving". If the Western civilization had to appropriate one of our festivals and rewrite history to kick off their holiday shopping season so be it. I am more concerned about what we do. I am not talking about turkey or spending a quarter of our salary the day after gorging ourselves. I am thinking more about our direction and commitment to securing our cultural and political distinction.

The last time our people came together after a period of conflict between us was when five regions of our people brought their 49 families together committing their titles with that of Tadadaho to create the Kaianerehkowa. The great peace enjoyed by the Great Path of Goodness was to be recited every year to all of our people in all our territories and would be recited at a great convention for all of our people every five years. We need to once again come to a unified understanding of what bound us together before the clash of the European culture would disrupt our people so. Religion, disease, war and the growth of the capitalist empire have left many of our people struggling with their sense of identity. Even "Indian" religions have clouded the waters to such an extent that we only look back to what a handful of generations have offered up as a definition of what it means to be Ohnkwe Ohnwe or Haudenosaunee.

It is time to look at the path worn by the millions of feet that walked this land before us. The Kaianerehkowa has not been properly examined or certainly followed in over 200 years. Generations of egotistical men, many of them carrying some of those 50 titles, have moved so far off that path that the generations that followed lost their way back. I have no use for examining the paths followed by generations of oppressed people, a path of survival. I would rather return to the path that advanced our people rather than the one used to desperately hang on to shadows of who we were. We need to relearn the Kainerehkowa and let it be a priority.

If our people can brandish the Hiawentha Belt on everything from flags to body art, if we can treat our Longhouses like churches, if we can gather to celebrate "treaty commemorations", if we can wear our "Indianess" on our sleeves; then why can't we learn the one thing that separated us and distinguished us from all other men. The Kaianerehkowa is not a gift from the "Creator". It is the path that honors Creation. It is not "like" anything that man has created. It is not a supernatural phenomenon but rather a natural one. In a world where power, authority and wealth was wrestled from the weak or ignorant to be placed with the privileged few, the Kaianerehkowa was the only model that proved liberty was not chaos and that authority and dominion over others was not required for order and peace. If we can adopt all of these false "traditions" that we claim to be a part of our "culture" then how about reclaiming the lost tradition of a yearly recital. Perhaps then the festivals our people celebrated will begin to have real meaning and a genuine return to a higher quality of life can begin.

Governor Cuomo? It has a familiar ring to it.

For many of us that have been putting up the resistance to New York State as they encroach on Native lands and liberties of Native people, we always look at these new governors with more questions than expectations. Will Andrew take advice from his dad on Native issues? And will his advice come from the Mario that showed skill and integrity in the handling of the Ganienkeh stand off or from the State's Chief Executive that was responsible for "Gallant Piper"? The senior Cuomo was the first governor to tackle the "problem" of Native retailers marketing their regulatory advantages. He took a State licensed wholesaler all the way to the Supreme Court to prove he had authority over him and laid the groundwork as he and future administrations who would attempt to choke off our supply or tax our wholesale purchases.

It turns out that our resistance convinced the tough talking Republican that replaced him to do a complete about-face on the subject. As it would turn out, George Pataki would prove to be the most diplomatic State executive we have faced and properly addressed the issue politically rather than through force or courts. It is worth noting that Governor Pataki paid no political cost for respecting Native sovereignty.

So now a second generation Governor takes the helm. This one faces challenges the others couldn't have dreamed of; anemic revenue from Wall Street and a billion dollars a week going out to Medicaid. Even the conservative estimates have New York facing a $10 billion deficit next year. The question is: will Cuomo the younger do as others have and use us as a distraction from his real issues or will he ignore the racist clamor from morons like US Congressman, Peter King and his new found Republican majority which will now put him as a chairman of the Homeland Security Committee? How close will this one push us to the brink of an all out conflict before he becomes another humbled governor.

Wouldn't it be a pleasant surprise to start out with one of these guys as a human being instead of so much of our energy going into forcing him to be one?