One has to look no further than Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, N.Y. to find a prime example of pristine and sacred lands ripped away from Native American Nations, and desecrated in return, only to be promised a fraction of it back after the carnage of environmental destruction has rendered it utterly useless. It became known as the most polluted lake in the United States. As the Onondaga Nation website states, “Centuries ago, the Peacemaker brought the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and the Mohawk Nations together on the shores of Onondaga Lake. At the lakeshore, these warring nations accepted the message of peace, laid down their arms, and formed the Haudenosaunee Confederacy - the first representative democracy in the West. The lake became a sacred place, one that must be cared for and respected. The Onondagas were good stewards of the lake, until New York, in defiance of federal law, took control of the lake, and its surrounding areas” (Para 2). The lake was once rich in supply of fish such as Atlantic Salmon, Sturgeon and Eel. The website goes on listing in great detail the various industry-dumped toxins in the lake and the algae blooms resulting from sewage with little or no treatment also released into the lake. They also outline their plan for recovery, their philosophy and indigenous knowledge shining throughout. In 2014, as reported in the New York Law Journal, the Onondaga Nation, represented by legal counsel Joe Heath, filed a petition against the American Government with human rights violations for refusing to consider gross violations of treaty obligations under the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua…for denial of justice in the federal courts and for environmental destruction of the original Onondaga lands and waters” (Para 1).
In 2012, Honeywell began dredging of the lake, and competed the removal of 2.2 million cubic yards in 2014. There was a big deal made about this, and now there is much press on the drastic improvement of the lake. It has been opened for swimming and fishing, and an amphitheater has been built on top of a major toxic site on the shore of lake. The Onondaga, however, think otherwise. The reason is that the remediation program basically called for dredging a portion of the lake sediment, and capping of the rest, leaving toxic soil underneath to be dealt with once the caps fail in the future. They point out the safety concerns of building an amphitheater directly on top of a contaminated superfund site. The local government could care less, and has repeatedly brushed aside these concerns, contending that the remediation efforts are adequate. The Onondaga Nation was actually promised property on the shores of the lake, but the county reneged on it, and said that they will give a different parcel (when they figure out which one)…but all of this is nothing new for the Onondaga Nation, as with most Tribes, they have been fighting for their rights ever since their first encounters with the White Man.
As far as sports mascots, Syracuse University had the “Saltine Warrior” for nearly fifty years from 1931 to 1978. The legend was started in the campus magazine, and told of the remains of an Indian Warrior unearthed during an excavation one of the campus buildings. The article claimed the site to be an ancient Native American dwelling where artifacts, arrowheads, etc. were found. The story was believed as true from 1931 until 1976, when it was disproved. Throughout that time, the Indian mascot was a tradition, with frat guys dressing up and running around during sports games. Eventually, in 1978, the Onkwehonweneha Native American student group protested the mascot, because of its derogatory nature, ending its official use.
http://wrvo.org/post/onondaga-nation-expresses-environments-concerns-about-site-lakeview-amphitheater
http://www.npr.org/2012/07/31/157413747/americas-most-polluted-lake-finally-comes-clean
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/11/onondaga_nation_honeywell_onondaga_lake_cleanup_dec.html
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2016/05/county_well_give_onondaga_nation_a_different_shoreline_parcel_location_tbd.html
http://www.onondaganation.org/land-rights/onondaga-lake/
http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/id=1202754628225/US-Should-Honor-Onondaga-Treaty?slreturn=20160406233801
http://archives.syr.edu/history/mascots.html
http://syrguide.com/guide/2013/04/10/history-of-the-saltine-warrior/
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