Our Towns - Tribal Justice? They'd Settle For Syracuse - NYTimes.com http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/30/nyregion/our-towns-tribal-justice-th...

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Our Towns; Tribal Justice? They'd Settle For Syracuse Your Money E-Mail
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By MATTHEW PURDY
Monday.
Published: January 30, 2000

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ONONDAGA INDIAN NATION WHEN representatives of the SIGN IN TO E-MAIL

Onondaga Nation met with state officials last year to identify land PRINT

that they say was illegally taken from them, they mentioned one
eye-catching parcel: a piece of ground commonly known as the city
of Syracuse.

''The city of Syracuse, 160,000 people,'' Chief Irving Powless said

the other day in his large log home on rural Onondaga land just south of Syracuse. ''It's
in total violation.''

Consternation and hostility over Indian land claims are boiling in central New York.
The Onondagas' announced plans to sue alleging theft of the state's fifth-largest city are
hardly lowering the flame.

But the question of who owns Syracuse is not just about land, since few debate who was
here first. Like the other land disputes, it is also about time. Advertise on NYTimes.com

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To the white landowners, the Indians are living in the past. ''To claim the whole city of
Syracuse, it's mind-boggling,'' said Mary Teelin, a Syracuse nurse. Said Leon Koziol, a E-MAILED BLOGGED SEARCHED

lawyer for the landowners, ''It is an excellent way to raise large amounts of cash on the 1. Once Just a Site With Funny Cat Pictures, and Now a
backs of taxpayers to settle a 200-year-old wrong that could never be corrected in Web Empire

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TO the Indians, the past is inseparable from the present. They say the white landowners 4. A Dirt-Poor Nation, With a Health Plan
see history as a commodity, easily discarded. 5. Aiming at Rivals, Starbucks Will Offer Free Wi-Fi
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Chief Powless and another Onondaga chief, Oren Lyons, grew up hunting and fishing 7. Studying Engineering Before They Can Spell It
together in the rolling hills and streams of their 7,000-acre nation. Chief Powless is 70 8. Paternal Bonds, Special and Strange
and Chief Lyons is a few months younger, but full, smooth faces and ponytails hide it. 9. U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan
They were raised on the story of stolen land and a debt owed by the descendants of 10. World Cups Incessant Drone Will Stay for Now
European invaders. Now they are trying to collect it. The old treaties are alive to them.
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''I was there,'' Chief Powless said. ''My relatives were there.''

Indian land disputes, settled in many states, rage on in New York. In 1985, the Supreme
Court found that the state violated federal law 200 years ago by buying Indian land
without federal approval.

A federal jury in Syracuse is now considering how much the state owes the Cayuga
Indians for 64,000 acres taken illegally. A claim of 250,000 acres by the Oneida Indians
is being negotiated. The Onondagas' claim is the most dramatic, seeking land and
compensation for some of the most valuable property in this part of the state.

The moment is precarious for the Onondagas. ''The potential for failure is high,'' Chief
Lyons said. Once a claim is resolved, recouping more land will be hard and their legend
of the unpaid debt will be altered.

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Our Towns - Tribal Justice? They'd Settle For Syracuse - NYTimes.com http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/30/nyregion/our-towns-tribal-justice-th...

The job of the modern Indian chief is to uphold the traditions without fumbling the
present. The chiefs have their eye on both. They want land around Syracuse's polluted
Onondaga Lake, sacred ground to Indians, and they want the lake cleaned up. They'll
seek no evictions of private landowners. ''We were chased all over the state of New
York,'' Chief Powless said. ''We'd never do that.'' They might settle for land elsewhere in
the state.

THE chiefs see themselves weathering a continuum of hostility from Gov. DeWitt
Clinton, who they say obtained land illegally, to Gov. George E. Pataki, who they say is
resisting settling claims. Their goal, they say, is their nation's survival. To show their
enduring tradition, Chief Powless, a turquoise earring dangling from his left ear, sings
an ancient Indian song. The background music is a fax machine whirring on his desk.

If they don't live in the past, they do live with it. And it gives them purpose, especially
now. Chief Lyons, an American studies professor at SUNY Buffalo, said that when he
graduated from Syracuse University, Chief Powless's father took him fishing in a boat.
The older man asked the new graduate if he now knew who he was. The young man said
his name and his Indian name. But there was silence and he knew his answer was
wrong. ''He turned around and pointed to a bluff and pointed to a pine tree,'' Chief
Lyons said. ''He said: 'You're just like the pine tree. You're anchored to the earth. Earth
is your mother. You're not going to get away from it.' ''

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