May 2, 2017

To The Editor,

She:kon. The spring season has sprung upon Akwesasne, and the fair weather is allowing residents to share their often astute local observations. One topic of discussion is municipal real estate. Specifically, an Internet listing with the Champlain Valley MLS # 158999 has appeared for a New York realtor trying to make a quick sale locally on Route 37, “within a few hundred feet” of the tribal casino. Luckily, the area in question is described as Bombay, N.Y., and not the Akwesasne Territory.

But, I was reminded, didn’t the New York Senate somewhat recently vote to extend the “jurisdiction” of the tribal police to fill in a gap in enforcement that had arisen through legal decisions successfully argued by defense attorneys for their clients pertaining to the area? The easiest way to do that was to just re-designate large tracts of central and eastern Akwesasne as Bombay, New York. That is quite a story.

To prevent such shenanigans by N.Y. by forcing the tribal police to do the hard lifting law enforcement in a contentious area that the Franklin County Sheriff Department has refused to, the tribal council under Paul O. Thompson was farsighted enough to install a Tribal Police Commission. This appointed buffering group is compensated for their time, often spent on required training. Certain former Chief Thompson connections to the group include his former chief of staff/spokeswoman as well as his brother in law. Surely with that background, they knew better than to go along with an agenda by a foreign government to push the envelope in an area that government refuses to take up themselves.

In fact, former tribal Chief James Ransom years ago successfully pushed for the end to funding the N.Y. State Police detachment that was based on the tribal gaming property because they were soaking the tribal general fund for over $2 million dollars a year for that convenient service.

So when someone put all of these dots together for me, flies could have landed in my open mouth. The real estate listing includes the capitalized words UNBELIEVABLE INVESTMENT. I guess that is the disclaimer on this fire sale listing. To think that anyone connected to the tribal police commission be involved in a hopeful but still contentious property transaction in a “newly” designated enforcement area that personnel under their supervision are ordered to patrol, is quite hard to swallow.

There is no realtor sign on this wooded property, but there are high voltage feeder wires transferring NYPA power project generated electricity past the overcharged Akwesasne residents without any benefit to them. That is an important disclosure for sure. Akwesasronon like the late tribal sub-chief Harry Benedict and activist Edgar Jock came together to oppose those power lines being upgraded in the 1990’s because they potentially created health problems related to high power transmission through the reservation. That was one way of looking out for the next generation there.

In the end, the free-for-all, anything goes behavior of the 21st century even comes home to roost in places like Akwesasne it would seem. The ad for the property references squatters in the area and boy was that the truth. That is a good admission there.

Squatters in Akwesasne might be seen as anyone not of the Kanienkehaka turtle, wolf and bear clans, who claim to own any land in Akwesasne. For instance, when the dislodged Oswegatchie or Abenaki refugees came to seek shelter at The Place Where the Partridge Drums, they were gladly welcomed with the understanding that the area was for the use of three clans and that would not change. Despite these clans sitting with the bear side of the Kanonhsesne in full understanding of what that means while in Kanienke, in Akwesasne some have hoped that memory has faded through their actions.

The slippery slope to municipal land transactions comes with benefits to the few and burdens to the many. The very nature of Captain Hogan and his legacy of Hogansburg derived from thinking that he also thought he knew better. Through the illegal transfer of land lease agreements into unsanctioned property sales, the fraudulent paper trail Hogan and his family created in Hogansburg remains a public danger to those using it to get ahead. Once the land was claimed this way, it remained out of reach to tribal members since before the tribe was even formed, hence the old growth trees in the general property area.

Just like the place name of Akwesasne, N.Y. only exists on tribal council letterhead, the hopeful efforts of those looking to pass Indian Title properties onto a new generation of property speculators engage themselves in a world of fantasy that even Mickey Mouse would blush at.

The reality is that no one on the Bombay Town Council claims to represent Akwesasne, although a fair amount of residents of the 13655 zip code regularly pass through the Bombay courtroom building that tribal casino revenue paid to construct.

I am sure that this whole matter has an easier explanation to it than I have yet heard. People are watching out there it seems especially tribal members. This talk may be shaping up like so many other past storylines, with possibly much ado about nothing. Who really would believe that a person, who acted as the representative for Kakwirakeron Arthur Montour Sr. when he was arrested brutally by New York State Police in 1989 but never charged for anything, would ever think to sell off land belonging to the unborn generations soon to come? That would be unbelievable for sure.

Nia:wen for your time and interest.

Chaz Kader

Turtle Clan