Akwesasne's First Newspaper and the "Return" to Traditional
Government
(Previously
unpublished)
by
Darren Bonaparte
Ernest
Kaientaronken Benedict, the Akwesasne elder who was honored with the
National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 1995, was the founder of not
only the North American Indian Travelling College and Akwesasne
Notes,
but Akwesasne's first newspaper, Ka-Weh-Ras!
(It Thunders) in the late
1940's. As the editor and reporter, he covered the political
turmoil
in the community over traditional and elective forms of government, a
conflict that had been brewing for generations.
In 1932,
Akwesasne traditionalists approached the Grand Council of the Iroquois
Confederacy with the goal of being "reinstated" into the workings of
the league. In the summer of 1937, Chief George E. Thomas of
Onondaga came to speak at a "powwow" held here in Akwesasne. As
the Tadodarho of the Six Nations, it was his job to symbolically sweep
away the dust from the meeting place, but his presence served to fan
the
flames of the
traditionalism in "The Land Where The Partridge Drums."
This inspired another attempt to abolish the elected government that
ruled the St. Regis
Mohawk Reservation.
Supporters
of traditional government, up to 200 strong, tried to
prevent the next scheduled election from being held the following
year. This attempt was thwarted by two New York State
Troopers who were sent to the polling station to make sure it took
place. C. C. Daniels, a representative of the United
States Department of Justice, was present as an observer.
In addition
to the elected council governing the "American" side of Akwesasne,
there was also one on the "Canadian" side, imposed under Canada's
"Indian Act." There were also the Rotinonkwiseres,
or the "Longhairs," also known as the Life Chiefs. Like
the chiefs of the Iroquois Confederacy, they were selected by community
clan
mothers and appointed for life, but were
associated with the Seven
Nations of Canada, an alliance of Iroquoian and Algonquian villages
established during the days of New France. The Seven Nations
alliance faded away over time, and the Life Chiefs had become something
of an
underground movement with no legal power in the eyes of
outside authorities.
The
Rotinonkwiseres realized that the time had come for a return to
something even more ancient--the Iroquois Confederacy. As
Benedict
reported in the sixth issue of Ka-Weh-Ras!
on December 12, 1947, they put their support behind the traditionalist
movement growing Akwesasne:
LIFE
CHIEF MEETING
The Life Chiefs of St. Regis met in St. Regis
Wednesday, Dec. 10th. They showed great concern over the troubles
of their people south of what they term "the white man's boundary line."
The chiefs at their meeting made an appeal to the
whole reservation to become as one mind, to work as one group in the
important days coming. "The only hope for our people lies in the
Six Nations Confederacy (and) in the hearts and minds of its
people. If we can work as (one, our) united voice will be strong
enough to be heard in both Washington and Ottawa. The people
should petition their chiefs to clasp hands with their brothers across
the border."
On January
24, 1948, Benedict reported that Kahnawake had gotten involved:
DELEGATES
FROM CAUGHNAWAGA
Last weekend, a delegation of five, made up of
elected councillors and Six Nations chiefs came from Caughnawaga to see
what ways there might be for an even closer cooperation among the
Mohawk settlements. They urged a strong union of reservations
under a single central government which would be the Mohawk
Nation. The delegates were very well received at St. Regis
village, but at Hogansburg, the local chiefs took the matter under
advisement and are to report their decision on the matter to
Caughnawaga soon.
In the May
29, 1948 issue of Ka-Weh-Ras!,
Benedict reported that the matter had
been brought a vote.
REFERENDUM
Monday, May 24th a referendum was held at the
Forrester's Hall on the subject, What kind of government do you want on
the reservation? At a previous council, it was decided to make
the selection by ballot. The paper slips gave space to the
"Elected Chiefs," the "Seven Nations Chiefs" and the "Six Nations."
Eighty-four votes were counted by three men selected
in open council at ten o'clock Monday night. Eighty-three fell to
the Six Nations. The Elected Chiefs received one vote.
A letter was immediately written by the elected
chiefs which follows:
St.
Regis Reservation
May 24, 1948
To Whom It May Concern,
We, the
Undersigned, who are known as the Elected Chiefs of St. Regis
Reservation, heretofore operating under the New York State code of
Indian Law, hereby act in accordance with the wishes of the adult
residents of the St. Regis Reservation, as evidenced by the referendum
held on May 24, 1948, and do renounce all claim to authority. Any
correspondence hereafter concerning the tribe should be addressed to
whomever shall be designated by the Six Nations Chiefs for the
purpose. Signed--(by the Elective Chiefs)
The
referendum and the letter signed by the elected chiefs had little
effect.
Outside authorities refused to recognize the "Six Nations" chiefs as
the government of the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation. New York
State, in fact, mobilized to re-instate the elective system, as the
Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs described in 1982:
On
June 7, 1948, the "tribal attorney," Milton J. Valois, an employee of
the State of New York, accompanied by two State Troopers arrived at the
Council House to conduct an election. He found the doors to the
Council House padlocked and guarded by the clan mothers who refused to
permit the elections to be held.
On September 30, 1948, attorney Valois appointed an
"elective" government for St. Regis, and on June 13, 1949 conducted an
election under State Police guard. The election was held in
Hogansburg, one of the former Mohawk lands earlier ceded or leased by
the "trustees," and thus outside the present boundaries of the
reservation, in a building donated for the purpose by the missionary,
and under an armed police guard.
The elected
chiefs
who acquiesced to the will of the people were eventually replaced by
men who supported the continuation of an elective form of
government. In spite of growing traditionalist movement, there
were always those who supported elections in Akwesasne on both sides of
the border. That situation persists to this day.
Sources:
Kaw-Weh-Ras!
Newspaper collection, Museum
of the Mohawk People, Akwesasne Library and Cultural Center.
Rethinking Indian Law.
National Lawyers Guild Committee on Native American Struggles (CONAS).
Advocate Press Inc. New Haven. 1982:160.
If you've
arrived at this page from a search engine,
click
graphic below to visit the Wampum Chronicles homepage.
