Statement written in 1985 at the time of his and his wife’s eviction from the Onondaga Nation.
For years, I have wrongly fought for Indian sovereignty. I was wrong! You see, I thought Indian sovereignty for the Onondaga 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 a 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 Lean 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.
At a December, 1985 hearing before New York State Supreme court Justice John Lawton, Attorney Joseph Heath, legal counsel to the Onondaga Nation council of chiefs, threatened the outbreak of “conditions of physical conflict” if the Jones’ were allowed to return to the Onondaga Indian Nation after they had been evicted from their ancestral home. It was on April 14, 1985 that Ron and Ruth Jones were prevented from returning to their home by the Nation’s Chiefs and a mob of 50-60 persons who surrounded their home while their children, ages ranging from 10 to 20 years old remained in their home, separated from their parents. For almost a year, Mr. and Mrs. Jones challenged their illegal banishment which had been initiated by the Onondaga Council of Chiefs without due process. At that time, a prominent Indian resident who did not want to be identified because of fear of reprisals, stated that according to the Great Law, the chiefs were supposed to notify a person at least three times to warn them of the penalty of banishment. Jones was invited to the Longhouse only after the decision to evict him and his wife had already been made. That action went against all the basic principles of the Great Law.
On July 19, 1985, Ronald and Ruth Jones, with the assistance of the Pan-American Pan-African Association, filed a civil rights suit in State Supreme court against 46 individual defendants (which included Onondaga Nation Chiefs) to bring about their return to their home on the Onondaga Indian Nation. Their suit sought $65,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages. The Jones’ attorney justified their decision to seek redress under the New York State Courts because it could be demonstrated that the constituted authority on the Nation did not have its own courts to provide concurrent jurisdiction or had not followed their own laws, customs and traditions.
The suit also charged Onondaga County Sheriff John Dillon with exceeding the scope of his authority by sanctioning mob action against Ronald and Ruth Jones. He had been quoted as saying that the Jones’ would be forcibly ejected from the Reservation if they attempted to return.
In recognition of the lawlessness with which the Jones were confronted, the court ordered that service of court papers upon the defendants could be effected by first class mail rather than in person. This decision came in the wake of the July 21, 1985 assault and detention on the Nation by Chief Virgil Thomas of two process servers attempting to serve court documents on the Chiefs. Chief Thomas smashed the driver’s side window, punching one of the process servers and holding them at gunpoint for several hours.
On January 6, 1986, after 6 months of litigation and after 10 months of being separated from their children, Ron and Ruth Jones were granted a default judgment because of the refusal of the defendants to respond to the suit on the grounds that they were “foreign nationals, protected by the sovereign immunity of the Onondaga Nation.” Ron Jones was quoted as saying, “Our children were the main victims of this violation of our human rights.” He continued by expressing hope that the Court decision would usher in an era of peace within the Onondaga Indian community.
Unfortunately, with the recent murder of my father and the destruction of his home by suspected arson, that era of peace is yet to be fulfilled.