In 1997, I moved to the unceded Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ homeland, the Cayuga Lake watershed, without even knowing, that the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ are one of the six nations of the Hodinǫhsǫ́:nih Confederacy, united under the Great Law of Peace. Hodinǫhsǫ́:nih self-governance long predates the arrival of colonial settlers, and the founding of both the United States, and Canada. 

The first president of the US, George Washington, gave orders to have Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ homes, crops, and orchards burned to the ground. Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ had to flee the devastation. They faced extreme adversity, but they kept their language and culture alive. Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ have been returning to their homelands.

I support Hodinǫhsǫ́:nih rematriation, and the flourishing of Hodinǫhsǫ́:nih cultures, here in their homelands.

I recognize the sovereignty of Hodinǫhsǫ́:nih, and of all indigenous people. 

2022, I first ever saw the word Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ. I have been studying the language and culture, through classes with the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ Learning Project. I have found the ideas, communicated, by Culture Bearer, Stephen Henhawk, to be transformative, and deeply impactful. 

This past Spring, 2023, my son and I got to help plant a garden with the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ Learning Project, on land in Danby, NY at the Youth Farm Project. Over the summer, we helped weeding and harvesting. This is a very special garden, because Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ seeds, saved for generations of exile, were finally reunited with the earth where they were originated; rematriated by descendants of the 1st people to tend them: Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ.

Do you know about the Doctrine of Discovery? As recently as 2005, the US Supreme Court, used it as a justification to deny Indigenous Sovereignty, and land claims, in City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation. In the 1st footnote, of the Supreme Court Decision, “Justice” R.B. Ginsburg says : “Under the “doctrine of discovery,” … “fee title to the lands occupied by Indians when the colonists arrived became vested in the sovereign– first the discovering European nation, and later the original States and the United States.” R.B.G. …all for the rights of women to be lawyers, but not so much for the rights of Indigenous people, …?

Just this year, the Vatican officially repudiated it for “fail(ing) to recognize the inherent human rights of Indigenous peoples”.