Upstate New York Oneida Nation member Danielle Shenandoah Patterson and her three children face around-the-clock surveillance and the immediate threat of eviction and demolition of their home at the hands of the tribe's illegitimate leader, Ray Halbritter.
Under the guise of health and safety violations, says Patterson, Halbritter has forcibly inspected, condemned and demolished the homes of 11 Oneida families since 2001. He continues to hone in on traditionalist dissidents, such as Patterson, who oppose his rule.
Since 1993, Halbritter has incorporated the nation as the Oneida Indian Nation of New York, Inc., established himself as its CEO, and built the profitable Turning Stone Casino, which many Oneidas say violate their spiritual tradition. He has also instituted a Men's Council to supersede the traditional matrilineal government and the Iroquois Grand Council of Chiefs, locked the traditional longhouse and closed down the community food bank.
Last Friday afternoon, Sept. 20, about 50 people gathered outside Gov. Pataki's mansion in Albany to voice support and raise awareness about the plight of the eight remaining traditionalist native families on the 32-acre territory, the only undisputed Oneida land which remains of the original 6 million acres occupied by the nation before the influx of white settlers.
Diane Shenandoah, Danielle's sister and faith keeper of the Wolf Clan of the Oneida, delivered a letter to Pataki from the families at the territory. She also spoke of their struggle to resist the incursions of Halbritter's self-instituted government and protect the traditional culture established on the territory by two Oneida women in 1961.
Since 1993, Halbritter, 52, has incorporated the nation as the Oneida Indian Nation of New York, Inc. He established himself as its CEO, and built the highly profitable Turning Stone Casino -- the largest in the state -- as the cornerstone of an expansive business enterprise that includes a chain of gas stations, a textile factory and a luxury hotel.
Many Oneidas, including Diane Shenandoah, say Halbritter has violated the Great Law of the Haudenosaunee (Confederacy of the Iroquois) by embracing gambling. "Our spiritual tradition does not condone gaming," she has said.
Halbritter has also locked the traditional longhouse and closed down the community food bank that had formerly served 280 native families, according to Patterson.
In 2001, Halbritter stepped up his assaults on Oneida traditions and territory, honing in on traditionalist dissidents such as Patterson (who is, incidentally, also Halbritter's first cousin). Under the guise of health and safety violations, says Patterson, he has forcibly inspected, condemned and demolished the homes of 11 traditional Oneida families on the territory. Already, half of the territory's residents (estimated at 160) had been forced to leave their homes in 1999, she said, when Halbritter installed an industrial size water and sewer line on the territory.
Halbritter, a Harvard-trained businessman, was originally selected in the mid-1980s by the Wolf Clan mother to be one of three male spokespersons to represent the 1,100-member Oneida nation -- which consists of at least 250,000 acres of disputed land -- to the Grand Council of Chiefs, which oversees the Six Nation Confederacy of the Iroquois. When two of the spokespersons passed away in the early 1990s, Halbritter attempted to assume official leadership of the tribe, and instituted a Men's Council to supersede the traditional matrilineal government as well as the Iroquois Grand Council of Chiefs.
The Grand Council of Chiefs then removed Halbritter as the Oneida representative and notified the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The decision was accepted by the BIA, only to be reversed 24 hours later, reportedly under pressure from local Congressperson and Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), who leveraged his vote in support of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) for BIA recognition of Halbritter as Oneida spokesperson for life.
Patterson argued in a recent phone interview that the BIA's refusal to acknowledge the Iroquois' rejection of Halbritter violated the Two Row Wampum Treaty, which has existed since the 17th century and "clearly states that both parties, the U.S. and the Iroquois Confederacy will not interfere in each others' affairs."
"What the BIA has done is unbearably unmentionable. This American agency is supporting and enabling Halbritter," she said.
Activist groups working with the traditional Oneidas, including anti-corporate globalization activists and the Ironweed Collective, view Halbritter's dictatorial corporate governance in the context of corporate globalization extending beyond Boehlert's controversial NAFTA vote. They suspect that Halbritter's corporation wants the 32-acre territory for an "offshore" bank or as a new location for the Turning Stone casino, if environmental and accounting irregularities challenges force Halbritter to relocate. Local Christian Peacekeeping Team (CPT) observers have cited the industrial pipeline as possible evidence of Halbritter's intention to build a large-scale facility.
TERRORISM IN OUR BACKYARD
Meanwhile, Patterson, her children and the other remaining traditionalist families have been harassed by Halbritter's 80-man non-native police force, which Patterson says, "has no deputation in New York State" and is "heavily armed."
"We are a community of women, elders and children, and a few older men. And they [the police] are heavily armed. It's ridiculous," she noted.
Patterson herself was physically assaulted in a confrontation with 22 of Halbritter's non-native tribal police trying to enter her home last November. The incident was caught on videotape, prompting Halbritter to ban all media from the territory. In response, Patterson and others launched a request for legal observers, and together with the observers, set up a Peace Camp outside of Patterson's trailer where resisters and supporters have held prayer circles and drumming vigils.
Jason Jette, of the Ironweed Collective in Albany, participated in the Peace Camp as well as last Friday's protest at the Governor's mansion. Shining a positive light on the difficult situation, he focused on the strength cross-cultural communication has lent to the resistance efforts. "The one thing I thought was really wonderful," he said, "was that natives and non-natives were working together."
Members of area CPTs have also worked with the Oneidas in strategies of non-violent resistance.
Shortly after the assault, Patterson's brother, Jerry, enlisted the aid of an independent contractor, who said he saw nothing to merit condemnation and made minor repairs to Patterson's trailer, according to a report on news site syracuse.com.
Nonetheless, Halbritter's inspectors had condemned Patterson's mobile home and slated it for demolition on Sept.15th. However, the presence of 100 observers and activists -- as well as Patterson and her family's continued resistance -- prevented the destruction.
Patterson says as many as 200 activists have participated in the Peace Camp since her home has been targeted for demolition.
"This is a severe violation of federal and international laws. All indigenous people have a right to be free of cruel and inhumane treatment," she said, citing not only international law, but also the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, which prohibits Indian tribal governments from enacting or enforcing laws that violate certain individual rights.
Patterson is, moreover, outraged that, given the national and media focus on the so-called "War on Terrorism," most New Yorkers and media continue to neglect the "War on Terrorism" in their own backyard. She charges that this is a case of "racial discrimination against the Native-American people" adding that the many criminal reports that the Oneidas have filed against the tribal police to the local Madison County District Attorney's office have "all been ignored."
"My children have been threatened, my life has been threatened," added Patterson. "We are facing genocide here - the destruction of an entire native community."
THE PATAKI CONNECTION
Native tribes and local observers strongly suspect that state officials' support of Halbritter -- including Governor George Pataki -- is driven by a scheme in which Native-American land claims settlements, desired especially by the state, are traded for casino contracts.
Pataki's office issued an underreported memorandum to all State University of New York college presidents on Nov. 30, 2001, also shortly after the assault on Patterson, stating that all "contacts with Indian people" were to be reported to University Counsel. According to Northeast American Indian Movement, the memorandum stipulated that all campus personnel were then to "await further instructions before engaging in any further contact," an attempt the organization sees as ultimately linked with 'no less than forcible cultural genocide.'
Then, in February of this year, Pataki and Halbritter announced a tentative agreement to settle a 27-year-old Upstate New York land claim - without the consent of tribes of Wisconsin Oneidas also involved in the claim.
According to a March report in the Rochester, NY Democrat and Chronicle, the Wisconsin tribe and legal observers say "Halbritter wants to run two of the three casinos in the Catskills that Pataki has agreed to consider" in a deal that would give "a 25 percent cut off the top to the state."
RESISTANCE CONTINUES
Patterson, however, still faces trial in Halbritter's unsanctioned tribal court, and is scheduled to appear before it tomrrow, Tuesday, Sept. 24. "They are trying to incarcerate me for one year for my vocal refusal to let them [Halbritter's police force] enter my home," she explained.
But Patterson is steadfast in her resistance to Halbritter, and refuses to appear. Instead, she and supporters will hold a Peace and Freedom Party outside her home, where she will issue a public statement calling for an investigation of the courts.
Tuesday's event is meant "to celebrate our rights as a free people," said Western Massachusetts activist Dan Gulko, who has been helping Patterson and her family defend her home for three and a half weeks.
Supporters are needed and encouraged to attend the event, he said, so that Patterson and other resisters are able to send a party from the house to the BIA office in Syracuse.
Thus far, NYC Indymedia has been unable to obtain a verbal statement regarding the Patterson case from Halbritter's office.
For more information on Tuesday's Peace and Freedom Party and directions, visit http://www.angelfire.com/indie/oneidas/
