Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation

Monday, March 1, 2010

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Europeans came to this continent armed with the ‘Doctrine of Christian Discovery,’ which gave them a religious mandate to claim and conquer lands they ‘discovered’ for their Christian monarchs. Over the ensuing centuries as Native Americans struggled to maintain their cultures, communities and land, this doctrine remained the foundation of US law related to Native Americans and is still utilized today. In 2007, decades-long international efforts by indigenous people culminated in the adoption by the United Nations of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people.

Philip P. Arnold is an Associate Professor of Indigenous Religions, Department of Religion, Syracuse University. For 20 years Phil has collaborated with the Haudenosaunee, particularly with the Onondaga Nation leadership. He is active with Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation, a key organizer of this series and founder of the Indigenous Values Initiative and Roots of Peacemaking celebrations.

John Dieffenbacher-Krall has devoted much of his adult life to activism, community organizing and social change. He is the Executive Director for the intergovernmental Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission. John initiated and has been a key organizer in the successful effort to convince the Episcopal Church to renounce the Christian Doctrine of Discovery.

Tonya Gonella Frichner (Snipe Clan, Onondaga Nation) is President and founder of the American Indian Law Alliance in New York City. She is the North American Regional Representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and played a key role in the passage of the UN Resolution.

SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry: President's Office, Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, Environmental Studies Department, Kincentric Syracuse University: Chancellor’s Office, Religion, Anthropology, Communication and Rhetorical Studies, Geography, History, Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Lions Club, Native American Students at Syracuse, Native American Student Program, Native American Studies Program, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Program in the Analysis and Resolution of Conflict, Program on Latin America and the Caribbean, School of Education, Student Environmental Action Coalition, Students for a Democratic Society, University College, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, and the Future of Minority Studies @ SU and the Writing Program

Other Educational Institutions: Le Moyne College, Center for Urban and Regional Applied Research (CURAR), Empire State College, Colgate University Native American Studies Program, Hamilton College Department of Religious Studies, Imagining America, Ithaca College Department of Anthropology & Native American Studies Program, Onondaga Community College, St. Lawrence University Native American Studies Program, SUNY Cortland, Upstate Medical University Office of Diversity & Affirmative Action and Multicultural Events Planning Committee and Wells College

Community co-sponsors: Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation, Indigenous Values Initiative, InterFaith Works and Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation and Syracuse Center of Excellence