Governor Pataki hails it as a major breakthrough in Indian-state relations,
but the recent compact that resulted in the shutting down of the Indian
trade in oil and tobacco products has unleashed the most severe conflict New
York Indian communities have experienced in modern times.
The immediate impact of the compact has been the most massive layoff of
workers in New York State Indian history. Two weeks after the announcement,
the loss of jobs in these small communities is at around one thousand and
the Indian anger is growing. In the Mohawk community of Akwesasne alone,
371 jobs were terminated - 238 occupied by Indians and 133 by non-Indians.
The fact that the agreement was signed after secret negotiations and
verification that virtually no one in any of the communities who stood to
be affected was consulted in formal processes or even informed as to its
ultimate terms has put the Indian leadership in a boiling cauldron. Several
of the Indian representatives who signed with Pataki are keeping low
profiles and a growing opposition movement is gaining ground. If Pataki's
aides had planned the disruption of the Indians' democratic processes and
decimation of their financial markets, they could not have played a more
significant role or hoped for a better outcome.
What the State may not have known is that for all the complexity and
volatility of Iroquois politics, more Indians than not understand the
motivations of the state and can yet recall the bitter sequence of
historical events in which the state and federal governments either
confirmed or themselves moved unilaterally to dispossess Indians of their
lands, resources, and rights. They recall the Power Authority Reservoir
built on Tuscarora land and the Kinzua Dam that flooded Seneca land in the
late 1950s. And they recall the Buffalo Creek Swindle of 1838 in which some
of the chiefs and others, who were either bribed, confused, or drunk, signed
away to unscrupulous agents of the Ogden Land Company 125,000 acres of
Seneca land comprising four reservations - Buffalo Creek, Tonawanda,
Cattaraugus and Allegany - which had been confirmed by the Pickering Treaty
of 1794. The difference is this: Back then is was about Indian land. Today
it is about Indian markets. These events and even the most obvious state-to-
Indian land and economic comparisons lend perspective to the current taxation
issue.
Prior to the state's incorporation the Iroquois reigned over the territory
of what is now called New York State and well beyond. Of the state's 49,576
square miles, Indians retain only 161 square miles - less than one-third of
one percent. The annual cash flow of one modern, privately-owned mega-
supermarket in Buffalo or Rochester exceeds $50 million, more than that of
several Indian national economies - even prior to the state's intervention.
The business generated by one business-zoned avenue like Niagara Falls
Boulevard in Western New York exceeds by several times the income of all the
Indian Nations in New York State combined. The state's annual budget of $65
billion makes infinitesimal any perceived financial impact due to the
presence of sovereign Indian economies.
By supporting a secret agreement that allowed neither Indian nor state
community discussions and resulted in the virtual paralysis of all economic
activity on reservations, Pataki's team has introduced an additional element
of chaos in these communities that will be difficult, if not impossible, to
predict or control. Whether driven by naivete or cynicism, the result of the
pact in Indian Country is already devastating-economically, socially and
politically.
None of the traditional practitioners surveyed for this article can point
with confidence to legitimate, open, fully inclusive, functional democratic
processes implemented to incorporate the interests of the broad and diverse
sectors of their communities. They privately admit that the play with the
state was one for control and power to gain leverage over the unwieldy
business sector. But, in the absence of open forums and community
consultations questions not just linger, but burn like stoked embers in the
hearts of thousands of Indian people across the state who have been impacted
by the agreement.
The circumvention of democracy in several Iroquois communities is compounded
by the fact that anyone raising criticism stands to be banished or outlawed
by the established family powers. Indian businesses operating under the
assumption of sovereignty have been branded as criminals and the specter of
organized crime has been promoted without any Indian rights consensus on the
allegations. And it would seem the agreement affords those Indian signatories
the force of New York State and Federal laws to criminalize their own people.
Should Indian Nations regulate their own commerce for the benefit of
community and nation? Certainly. Did Indian entrepreneurs move quickly and
powerfully into the void left vacant by the absence of Indian regulatory
structures? Most assuredly. But the resolutions were for the Indians to
determine within democratic forums, Indian-to-Indian negotiations and
through the activation of independent processes to achieve a verifiable
degree of community consensus and across-the-board accountability - before
negotiations ever commenced with the state.
In this regard the state has either cleverly manipulated or stumbled
beneficially into the internal divisions of the Iroquois in particular. In
Tuscarora, the business owners were not informed that some of their people
were about to agree with the state to destroy their gas businesses outright.
Even more remarkable, the state informs the public that the Cayuga Nation
also signed the agreement. The Cayuga Nation owns not a single square inch
of territory within the state at this time and, therefore, not a single gas
station or tobacco store is operated by a Cayuga within its national realm.
Frank Bonamie, a traditional Cayuga Chief who is highly respected, even in
state circles, first learned his nation had signed the agreement when
reading the newspaper. The Cayuga agreement appears to be wholly illegitimate.
Additionally, on the American side of the affair both state and federal
legislators are now questioning Pataki's undemocratic tactics. Rep. John
LaFalce writes, "I have been amazed to find that New York State has chosen
to make the document completely unavailable to state legislators, the media,
or anyone else." He also states that the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the
Tribal Justice Division of the Department of Justice have been unable to
obtain a copy of the agreement. Assemblyman Sam Hoyt goes further by
stating: "Governor Pataki is handling this situation poorly. His policy
seems based on the notion that New York is hemorrhaging potential tax
dollars to Native American businesses. This is simply not the case."
Dealing directly with the state as a way to circumvent this much-needed
consensus-building process may have only ensured that great trauma and even
more complete hostility would follow for the Indians. Ire, greed and the
drive to control their own communities without open consultations will now
all appear part of the Indian signatories' decision - placing them in the
precise position they had accused their detractors of occupying. Given the
recent New York history of intra-tribal virulence, the signatories'
objectives can perhaps be understood. Pataki's negotiators, however, should
have known better.
It was a poor decision and the game is now erupting into a slow-motion
brawl. While the negotiating parties anticipate initial protests to be
followed by resignation and compliance, they may instead realize a
protracted conflict. The two largest Indian nations, the Seneca and the
Mohawk, representing nearly 20,000 citizens, have yet to capitulate. The
teams are falling out of the dugout and even the spectators are joining the
fray. Pataki has not yet seen an Indian war. But his much-heralded ill-gotten
compact threatens to give him the experience.
Tim Johnson is executive manager of the award-winning Native Americas
Journal, published by the American Indian Program at Cornell University.
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NATIVE AMERICAS
Akwe:kon's Journal of Indigenous Issues
Brendan White
Editorial Assistant
Native Americas Magazine
Akwe:kon Press
Cornell University
300 Caldwell Hall
Ithaca, New York 14853
Tel. 607.255.4308
800.9.NATIVE
Fax. 607.255.0185
E-mail. bfw2@cornell.edu
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Internet http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu