Jack Manno became involved with land rights of the Onondaga Nation after an Onondaga midwife assisted in the birth of his son. 

Manno, a professor of environmental science at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, will hold a lecture Oct. 4 about the founding constitution of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and The Great Law of Peace, which brought together several Native American groups, including Onondaga people, in the 10th century. 

His lecture is part of a wider lecture series, called The Onondaga Land Rights and Our Common Future II series, to educate New York residents about the Onondaga Nation’s history, culture and efforts to reclaim aboriginal land. 

The series began Sept. 24 and will end Dec. 6, with five events throughout the series. Along with ESF, Syracuse University and other area universities will provide financial support for the events.

The Great Law of Peace, which Manno is focusing on, came after a period of violent warfare among Haudenosaunee people, characterized by blood feuds and revenge killings, Manno said. 

Manno said he looks at what kinds of governance systems and institutions are needed to change global economic and political systems to promote environmental health. 

‘I’ll talk about The Great Law of Peace as an example of what we can do,’ he said. ‘It’s good to put a model out there, especially a model that exists today.’

Some of the other lectures in the overall series will focus on Onondaga Nation’s efforts to regain its native territory. 

‘When other members of the Iroquois or Haudenosaunee Confederacy had filed land claim suits in federal courts, there was quite a backlash from the white community,’ Manno said.

‘So the Neighbors of Onondaga Nation thought it was important to educate people about the Land Rights Action, Onondaga’s intentions and the friendship between indigenous people and the population.’ 

The nation’s aboriginal territory includes a strip of land that runs vertically through the center of New York, according to the Neighbors of Onondaga Nation, a grassroots organization in Central New York that supports the sovereignty of Onondaga Nation. 

The nation filed the Land Rights Action suit on March 11, 2005, which sought New York’s acknowledgement of Onondaga’s rights to the aboriginal territory. The suit claimed New York violated the U.S. Constitution and the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790 when the land was taken from the Nation.

‘They ask that history be recognized and that the title of that land was never legally taken,’ Manno said. 

The Onondaga people were fooled into signing treaties through intimidation, impairment and differing ideas on the concept of property, he said.

‘Our notion of property is different from their notion of property,’ Manno said. ‘They believe no one owns the land, you can just use it and respect it according to natural law.’ 

The suit did not seek to displace anyone living in the area, but requested the defendants clean up environmental damage that has occurred in the area, Manno said. 

‘What they are asking for will benefit all of us,’ Manno said. ‘They want Onondaga Lake cleaned up, and they want the land cleaned up.’

The state of New York, city of Syracuse, Onondaga County and five corporations were defendants in the suit. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss the suit entirely Aug. 15, 2006. 

Last Wednesday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Albany ruled in favor of the defendants’ case to dismiss the suit, due to recent legal precedent. 

‘The ruling is not devastating, it’s not the end of the story,’ Manno said. ‘The question of native land rights isn’t going to go away.’

jlsiart@syr.edu

Published on September 26, 2010 at 12:00 pm