EULOGY TO RONALD JONES

by his daughter, Karen Jones and his niece, Fran George

INTERVIEW ON THOMAS SULLIVAN’S RADIO TALK SHOW:

Karen Jones: Right now, what’s going on since my father’s passing is that we, the family, are actively pursuing to keep the APS involved in the investigation of my father’s murder. We are also looking into it ourselves because we know we have to. We know that if, from what we read in the media, that the county DA has it, we don’t think that it would be a fair investigation. We don’t know how much of it would be covered up, if they would cover up all of it and try to dismiss it as an accident, but we do know that it wasn’t an accident.

Tom Sullivan: We also have Fran George with us. Fran did a beautiful eulogy for Ron and we printed some of it in the Onondaga Progressive. I thought that Fran could share some of that with us. We didn’t get it all in there, but maybe she could add to it some of what we didn’t get to in the article. And, if we got some of it wrong, maybe we can get it corrected. Fran, could you share that?

Fran George: Yes, I have no problem speaking about my Uncle Ron. The past three years that I’ve gotten to know him, I’ve been so filled and I never tired or wearied of his conversations, debates, and discussions. He taught me so much. I’m just so glad to have shared the last few years with him that were so filled with quality. I had the opportunity to speak at his funeral. I was asked by his children to speak and, of course, I did.

Tom Sullivan: Just a reminder to our listeners, you know that on February 13th and 14th there were hundreds of mourners who joined the Jones family in memorializing the life of Ronald “Burning Sky” Jones, who died in a suspicious fire on the Onondaga Nation on February 11, 1999. According to sources, Ronald Jones was brutally murdered before the fire, which was allegedly set to cover up any evidence. The Jones family continues to demand a federal investigation of his murder because of their distrust that local authorities can conduct an impartial investigation.

For many years, Ron Jones, a grandson of a former Tadadaho of the Onondagas, had been an outspoken critic of the Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs and had consistently called for financial accountability by the Council. He alleged that only a small portion of the substantial sums of money collected by the Council of Chiefs form various individual and corporate interests actually went to benefit the majority of the people on the Nation. He had frequently accused the Chiefs of not being accountable to the people for their expenditures, which included domestic and international travel for several of the Chiefs and financial help to a small group of their relatives and supporters in setting up their own businesses.

Ron Jones and other opponents of the Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs had been very outspoken against the secret illegal tax compact that had been negotiated between New York State and the Chiefs. That tax compact would impose higher prices on the sale of cigarettes to protect non-Indian businesses. It also gave the right to the State to impose taxation on Indian land. The opposition to the tax compact led to the invasion , upon orders by the Chiefs, by the New York State Police onto the property of Ronald Jones’ son, Andrew Jones, on Onondaga Nation land. During that invasion, about 80 Native people were brutally beaten by the N.Y. State Police during a peaceful religious gathering and protest of the tax compact. And so, Ron was outspoken. Let’s just bring our listeners updated and I’ll turn it back over to Fran who wants to share her thoughts.

Fran George: Yeah, and again what I was trying to get across was that I grew up with him and he pretty much took part in my raising as well as my aunts and uncles. I’ve seen a lot of history as far as he was concerned and the part that he played, and my grandmother, his mother also. To witness that, it was so priceless. I recall so many times when he would stand up strong and speak when others were afraid to. As a young child, I filed that in the back of my mind and made sure that I would never forget it. To this day there are certain images, particularly the evictions. My grandmother marched her grandchildren, and I was one of them, down there to watch one of the people being evicted by this mob. What I saw is still on my mind.

“There comes a time when true friends gather around with a shoulder to lean on. You came to us on our day of sorrow. I got to know him in the past two years in a way I cannot share with anybody but him. Ron was so strong, filled with so much strength, joy, happiness, pain and sorrow for his people. He knew that there was a foundation for his culture, something given to him by his grandfather, grandmother, and mother, and given to his children, his wife, and me that whatever your road in life, there will always be the Great Law. Never wrong, never right, there is always truth. Ron said that even if you went the wrong way, it was all right because you would know never to go that way again. I respected him like a father. Ron was persecuted by his own people and others. However, he knew that his people were not the enemy. Everyone has something to give to the whole. He would never deny the smallest voice.

My uncle never gave up. He is lying there, not by his will, but by the will of others. I will know that for the rest of my life. I told him that I loved him, and he told me that he loved me. He was a good friend. He met people at the United Nations, in Washington or on the street and he respected each and every one in the same way. He deserves more than the title of a dissident; he deserves the title of an honorable man. A man who stood for truth and that the truth would never fail him. Today I hope you will walk away with a testimony of a man who had pride and love for his people which will never die, and will never go up in smoke…and which will be in the hearts of his children and grandchildren.

Ron would go to the United Nations and he never heard any promises he had not heard before. But he was proud of the people who were there raising questions about what is going to happen to our people. No matter how far our land is, we have the same struggle. This man did not die of his own will. He was stronger. This man is not lying there because of his failure. He will never fail because you are here. This, to him, is a success, the biggest he will probably have. As long as I can talk and walk, his life will live on. You must stand up. If you can’t stand up, at least pray for those who do stand up and are about to stand up. We pray for those who are lying down now in peace. I love you uncle. You are my friend.”

That was such an emotional day. As I was speaking, it was almost like he was there and he was speaking through me. There were so many people there. They were of different colors, different ages, and I knew in my heart that each and every one had shared some kind of moment with him. I know he is with the Creator and that he had shared so much with his people and they have given him so much. He was never afraid to argue with me and I grew to not be afraid to argue with him. We would come out laughing and knowing each other better than we ever knew each other before. It was all something he loved. He said I always debate and never say yes to everything. That’s how he was and that’s what I’ve learned from him. That’s what I’ll continue to do. Not only have I lost somebody and his family has lost somebody who’s precious and filled with pride for his own people, but also our own people have lost somebody.

Karen Jones: My father was never afraid to take on anybody’s cause. People would always come over to our home and let our dad know what’s going on because they couldn’t stand up. He would do it for them. He would never say no to anybody. He never ever discriminated against anybody and always pointed out the truth. That’s what I was trying to get out there. He tried to make sure that the quality of life of his people was a top priority. The only ones that are there now would see this and take it into consideration. It doesn’t matter who opposes him or where the opposition is coming from. My father didn’t care if someone he had a dispute with came back and said I need your help. If they said they found something out that was going to affect us all, and if my father had a dispute with them, they would learn from that and come back to him.

Now that my father’s gone, they may have called off the police force, but they haven’t quieted out his voice and I thank him for what he has given my brothers and my sisters and the people that loved him. I thank all the people that came out to give thanks to my father and my family. A lot of them came from long distances. We even had some friends that called from Europe to share in his life and in his passing, to acknowledge that he didn’t put value in physical things, he put value in people and in friendships. There were so many people there that, on such short notice, came that day.

That made us feel so good that we weren’t alone. They let us know that we will never be alone, that our father was never alone and we are here because of him and because of the things he gave to us. He didn’t just fight for the people of the Confederacy of Onondaga; he fought for causes off of the Nation that affected the people of the Nation, of the Confederacy. He would never say no, he would look at the issues and consider them. He always told us, remember that everything that you do affects the children to come. And think about what your actions are today because what you do today will affect tomorrow.

Also, remember what we were taught. I thank him for all that he taught my brothers and sisters and I and anyone that he talked to. He said to respect all life and to give thanks for that life, and to always remember that even though we live in the present, what we do affects the future. We have to be able to look into the eyes of all our children to come and say, “I stood up for you; I did this for you.” And if you don’t stand up, at least support those who do. Let them know that you are behind them. My father may be gone now, but what he did for us and what he taught us will never be gone, will never be forgotten.

He taught us through example, he taught us our ceremonies, he taught us tradition, he taught us our law, he taught us the true meaning of what the Great Law is. That it is the voice of all the people. The people of the Confederacy, we are all one and we have to stand as one. No matter where you go, whose territory you’re on, be respectful and mindful of that. But remember, that what you do will affect your brother and your sister, and that you have to keep thinking of those generations to come to make sure that we have something to give them. All he gave us and taught us, I thank him for that.

Tom Sullivan: Well, he did. He taught us a lot of lessons, and you know I hope that people who feel strongly about Ron’s death, or about any of the issues or concerns, that they will write to the Onondaga Progressive. In the newspaper and the radio program, we’ve made a call to the women of the Six Nations. We are a society born of matriarchal line. Yet in today’s world, despite constant reference to the traditional, the viewpoints of our women have been lost in the roar of men’s voices. This paper would like to give the women back their rightful voice. We ask any and all women from any of the Six Nations to share their thoughts about the state of the Confederacy as it is today. Please send your comments, thoughts and ideas, clearly written or typed, to the Onondaga Progressive.

Fran, there was a particularly well-written article in the paper by, I believe he was a Palestinian. Palestinians often relate. Their situation is very similar to American Indians. This particular Palestinian knew Ron and I thought he made a very strong statement. I wonder if we could share that with our listeners out there.

Fran George: Yes, this particular statement in honor of Ron, my uncle, was entitled “TO RON IN THE NEXT DIMENSION, FROM A FRIEND IN THIS DIMENSION.” It is with sadness that we take this occasion to express our view that your untimely death is one which not only is a deep and profoundly personal loss to your family, but also to the seemingly endless struggle of those stalwarts of the Onondaga Nation, whose passion for the cause of freedom of expression has lost one of its most passionate defenders. You, Ron, were not only a defender of the right of your people to pursue the manners, mores and rites of the New World’s most ancient culture, but also the ever evasive goal of a rapprochement between the culture of the Haudenosaunee and the descendants of their Euro-American invaders.

The circumstances surrounding your death, raise more questions than the on-going investigation will probably resolve. For it is more likely than not, that the predictable collusion between the Nation’s corrupt Chiefs and the even more corrupt investigative cadres of Syracuse and Onondaga County, will attempt to “white wash” and “Indian wash” the very investigative process in a manner which will ignore the more likelihood that your death may have been attributable to Indian-Chief malfeasance.

All those who knew you as well as we did , have for decades been aware that the Haudenosaunee original architects of the very democratic form of government which the Euro-American invaders inherited and eventually emulated, had long since been abandoned by the Onondaga Nation Chiefs. In fact, it was your championing of the cause of Individual Rights and accountability which once so evoked the wrath of the Chiefs, that they mercilessly evicted you and your wife from your ancestral family home on the Onondaga Nation, leaving your children fatherless, motherless, hungry and uncared for.

Given such a malevolent history of discord between the Chiefs and your good self; given the highly profitable exercise of the not-so-strange financial bedfellows relationship between certain members of the Chiefdom and certain political and business cadres in the County, it appears to us that it will be most unlikely that the current investigation of your death will reveal the actual identity of your real killers, if indeed you were murdered and not solely the tragic victim of an accidental fire.

Accordingly, it is “devoutly to be wished” that your legacy will be metaphorically enshrined with the final realization by both the Chiefs and their Haudenosaunee tribesmen and tribeswomen, that the “Truth” about the circumstances which caused your death, will be of more value to the Haudenosaunee and their “foreign” Onondaga County neighbors, than either a “White-wash” or an “Indian-wash” could possibly provide.

For the ultimate and seemingly elusive goal of Peace between the Chiefs and the Haudenosaunee people and the tribesmen and tribeswomen of the Onondaga Nation and the authorities and business community of Syracuse and Onondaga County, can only be achieved under those mutually respecting political, economic and cultural conditions which have never existed between the two foreign and sovereign communities, but towards which you had born witness throughout your entire adult life. To your family, we extend our most heartfelt expression of condolences. To you, Ron, we have the honor to pray, “May you finally rest in Peace.” Azubahaga Kakalabah.

And that, Tom, was from the Palestinian. We were present at a forum with the Palestinians as well as New York State Human Rights in which Ron expressed his concerns about the judicial system of America and how it does not apply specifically to us as Ungahoweh. It was evident to the Palestinians with New York State present and the Human Rights commission that their laws and procedures didn’t fit us. Ron made that clear that day. The Palestinians were amazed by his stoicism, which is exactly how it is put here in his eulogy. I sat there and I listened to him. Every time I listened to him it was always filled with new strength.

That particular day he started talking about how his grandfather had to go out and find out who was the oldest in his clan. That was the first time that he really got choked up for words and he couldn’t speak. I watched him with amazement and the whole room got quiet. It was the Palestinian who said perhaps somebody else could speak for you at this moment, and it was a New York State representative that said, “give him time.” For that moment there was some communication in a small room between Palestinians, N.Y.State officials, and Ongahoweh people. They were discussing the problems with judicial systems. With the Palestinians, it’s the Islamic laws that are giving them problems and with us it’s the American laws. We don’t fit, but we fit that day. I’d like to thank this Palestinian who wrote these words because I was there that day, and I know that they were felt. They felt such tribesmanship with my uncle.

Karen Jones: Azubahaga Kakalabah who was present at the meeting with my father and the other organizations that were mentioned wrote the eulogy. Some people don’t know what was going on that day and I would like to give a little bit of history behind what he was talking about. On April of 1985, The Council tried to illegally banish my parents from the Nation. It was because of a deal gone sour with the Council. They wanted to bring in Bingo to the Nation.

In order to do this, they knew that they had to get rid of the opposition with my father. In order to do that, they tried to first work with him. They brought the proposal to him and he told them on the condition that it benefits all the people, that the money is accounted for one hundred percent. Also, that there would be programs to benefit the elderly, the young, and everybody. They told him they would, but it did not turn out that way. The person that was also involved in this found out that he was not dealing with a true Onondaga Council, so he pulled back. They had asked my father to build the building and he said on the condition that it benefits the people. When it was discovered that it wasn’t going to, they tried to use my father as a scapegoat. They tried to banish him illegally.

It went before New York State Supreme Court Justice John Lawton. The attorney for the Council threatened the outbreak of conditions of physical conflict. It was about April 14, of 1985 when my parents were out shopping at the grocery store. My two older brothers, the oldest being 18, were out with some friends. The Council brought a mob with them, including John Dillon, who was sheriff at the time, and a S.W.A.T. team to our home to remove us from our home. When they got there, one of the Council members yelled out “shoot Ron Jones, shoot his wife, and shoot their two older boys.” When they came to our home, they weren’t there. They had automatic weapons aimed at our house. They had a mob wandering around waiting to be given orders to attack, but the only ones that were home were us kids.

At the time, the youngest was my little brother and he was about 6 years old. The oldest was my sister, and she was about 15 at the time. When they came and they realized it was just us kids there, one of them came to the door and told us that we were evicted and that we were to leave. I spoke with him and I told him I’m Onondaga, you’re not, you’re of another Nation. Not only that, you removed yourself from the rolls of your Seneca Nation, so you have no right to speak at all. Because you removed yourself, you took not only yourself off the rolls, but you don’t have a voice now. They were outside of our home I would say from about 2 in the afternoon until about 8 o’clock at night. It began to rain, so they had to leave. They only do things in good weather.

When they did this, all the proceedings they did to remove my family from the Nation, which they didn’t because we stayed, they didn’t do it by our law, which was for the clans to come together, all of the clans, and discuss the situation. My father was a member of the Snipe clan, I’m a member of the Heron clan. When anyone, no matter what clan you’re from, commits a crime and does something wrong, the clan gets together and decide what the punishment is. The Snipe clan and the Heron clan did come together. They told these Council people they did nothing wrong defending their home and that they had every right.

When people come and threaten violence upon you, of course you’re going to defend yourself. We’re not going to stand there and be beaten. They told this Council that they did wrong, this family did not. They were told that banishment only applies if you commit treason or murder. They were told that we did none of this. After hearing that, they got their little gang together and decided, well, if the clans won’t do it, we’ll do it. So, they got outsiders again to come to our home and tried to evict us. But, we wouldn’t leave. I told them that the clans already discussed it and you, the Council, were found in error for the way you handle situations without letting the clans meet or the people speak.

When we did that, they backed off. My parents had no choice but to go to an outside court system because of the entrenchment that the Council has with the Sheriff’s Department. It existed then as it exists today. And our rights as clan and as a Nation have been given away. The people of the Nations, the people of the Confederacy, and our neighbors off of the Nation, have to ask about these agreements because not only does it affect us as a Confederacy, the Onondaga, Mohawk, Tuscarora, Cayuga, Oneida, but it affects our neighbors as well. They go to these outside agencies and they use them to oppress our people. How much of these agreements have been made on the other territories. These people that are not Onondagas are oppressing. Not only are they using our money that should be going to the Onondaga people, but they are also using the people who labor to oppress the Onondaga Nation. They are using their money that they pay in taxes to oppress the people of Onondaga, the Confederacy.

This is money that is being made from the smoke shops that should be going to the Onondaga people and we don’t see any of it. The taxpayers are paying for the oppression of the people of the Confederacy. These are questions that should be looked into. The contracts that are made and these agreements, they should be looked at very hard. It doesn’t just affect one race, it affects us all. You give permission to these people to oppress all the people by not speaking up and not saying I have to look at this.

We have a right to ask these questions. I would assume that people off of the Nation really care for their children and the environment that they exist in, that it is good, as it should be. It should be pure, but unfortunately on our Nation, that is not the case. We should stand up and say, “stop it” and change it. To be beaten down for that, that’s wrong. That shouldn’t be happening. It’s not only at Onondaga, it exists on the other Nations. We had meetings about the corruption that exists within the entire Confederacy. Now, people came together and they came to Onondaga to question why do we live like this.

I remember a Tuscarora clan mother who was in one of our meetings who said;, “I shouldn’t be here asking these questions.” She said, “ We should be celebrating the lives of our children. I shouldn’t be attending funerals of children who are newborn, two years old, or six years old, because we live on a toxic waste dump. We have petroleum buried under our road. Our children are born deformed. They are born just existing for a little while. Parents are given their children at birth only to hold them for a few minutes and maybe a month later have to say good-bye and bury them. Our neighbors, not from this Nation, should be asking questions because it doesn’t affect just the people of the Nation, it affects our neighbors.

On Onondagas, our water is so polluted by the medical waste dump that sits on a hill and is three stories high. It pollutes the water on our Nation that goes off the Nation. The outbreak of hepatitis in the early eighties was so bad that even today Onondaga County is the only County that health workers and restaurant people still have to wear gloves. This water flows from our Nation to our neighbors in Nedrow, Syracuse, Onondaga Lake, Ontario, and all the while you think the water is okay to play in and kids are playing in it. They come home and you wonder why they are sick, why we have such an outbreak of what they call stomach flu. Is it really stomach flu? Is it easier to say that than to clean up the source? This affects everyone.

My father was asking these questions. He’s not here to ask them. Now, he leaves that to us. Because if they think we are going to keep quiet, I have children of my own I have to think about. I would like to know that what I leave them and my grand kids and my great grand kids, is that they don’t have to worry about the air they breathe. They don’t have to worry about the land they live on. They don’t have to worry about the water they drink. That all of our neighbors, the Tuscaroras, that they don’t have to worry that when their children are born that they are only going to hold them for a little while and then have to put them back into the ground, that they are just existing, that when they are born, part of them is missing.

This should not have to be, because not only does it affect us, it affects others. It affects our neighbors. You have to remember to ask questions. Because if you don’t, you’re giving permission. When you don’t stick up, then you are saying yes, commit these crimes against me. We do have laws to go by. You have laws to go by. We have to follow them. If we don’t follow them, they will just say, “Do it. Commit these crimes against me.” But remember, when people stand up we’re not just standing up for one person, we stand up for our children and our children to come. So, I hope that you will do the same and remember that it does affect us all.

Tom Sullivan: There was some pretty powerful stuff that was said by your father in the Onondaga Progressive on the letter he wrote some time ago. Karen, maybe you could share that with us. I thought it was a good statement.

Karen Jones: This is an article my father wrote back in 1985 regarding the illegal banishment and I think from then to now it is like a circle going round and round and it still applies. Here is what he wrote. It says, “For years I have wrongly fought for Indian sovereignty. I was wrong! You see, I thought Indian sovereignty for the Onondagas was for all of us. Little by little, I have come to realize what a big mistake I have made. Sovereignty on the Onondaga Nation means something very different.

What does it mean? It means “sovereignty” will protect the special interests of a small clique on the reserve in disregard of our laws and at the same time putting them above any outside laws. For the rest of us, it means we will be doubly oppressed, like all Native Americans, by outside dictatorial laws imposed on us historically by brutal, genocidal force, and by the double dictatorship of a small clique of “upwardly mobile” opportunists.

They are “salesmen” and what have they got to sell? Us. They scurry around the country pushing their wares in the face of any buyer. What are their wares? The “poor Indian.” Who are the poor Indians? Us. To make sure they always have the wares to sell they will keep us that way.

Meanwhile, they are enriched, the corporations are enriched, and their children go to college. Well, they sure have taught me a lesson the hard way. I thought sovereignty was sovereignty. Now I find that there are two sovereignties: sovereignty for them and sovereignty for us.

What are the facts? Sovereignty for them puts them above our laws and puts us under, not our laws, but their dictatorship backed by the outside dictatorship of those they sell us to. “Ain’t that the American way?”

This is my confession, now what are the details? Chief Leon Shenandoah and his nephew, Seneca, Oren Lyons, keep saying that there are other laws that I have broken but their silence proves they have no facts or proof. They broke the following laws: Our clan laws, Onondaga, Seneca, Longhouse and the Great Law.

CLAN LAWS: Oren Lyons, who belongs to the Seneca Tribe, not the Onondaga, has no legal authority to represent the Turtle Clan of Onondaga, or complain to the other Chiefs of the Six Nations against any member of another Clan.

ONONDAGA LAWS: Seneca Oren Lyons has no legal authority to represent the Onondaga Council because his status is only that of a family member to the Clan which he belongs and a visitor to the Onondaga Nation.

SENECA LAW: Seneca, Oren Lyons violated his own family’s Nation and Seneca Heritage.

LONGHOUSE: Seneca, Oren Lyons used a mob and the armed force of the Onondaga County Sheriff John Dillon against my children and home.

THE GREAT LAW: Chiefs Oren Lyons and Leon Shenandoah used chief Edwin Cook just as they used his brother Chief Horace Cook in 1974. Chief Cook faced two charges stemming from the 1974 evictions. Now Edwin Cook has been ordered to take on a matter that held more responsibilities than he was capable of comprehending. Edwin was used because of his youth, brawn, and ignorance. Edwin was set up to get me into a situation of defending my home and family. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that he will find himself in the same position as his brother.”

There is an article written in 1985. I just have to say that since then the right Chief, Leon Shenandoah, apologized for his wrongdoing and asked for the peoples’ forgiveness and he was given that. So, to his family, I apologize---------------------------------------------

Just prior this rude interruption, Jim Wall had concluded a telephone conversation with Joe Heath, attorney for the illegal Council of Onondaga Chiefs. Joe had threatened a law suit against the radio station if they did not stop the program. Once again, this was a violation of the freedom of speech for the Onondaga people.