The hope was that history would turn itself to prophecy, as the
Onondaga Nation combed the snakes from the hair of Allied
Chemical. While others quarreled over cleanup costs, the
Onondaga took a stance that reversed the usual equation in which
economics takes priority over well-being. The Onondaga Nation
land rights action stipulated a full cleanup as part of restitution; no
halfway measures would be accepted. non-Native people of the
watershed joined with them as allies in their call for healing, in an
extraordinary partnership, the Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation.
In the midst of legal wrangling, technical debates, and
environmental models, it is important to not lose sight of the sacred
nature of the task: to make this most profaned lake worthy of the
work of water again. The spirit of the Peacemaker still walks along
these shores. The legal action concerned not only rights to the land
but also rights of the land, the right to be whole and healthy.
Clan Mother Audrey Shenandoah made the goal clear. It is not
casinos and not money and not revenge. “In this action,” she said,
“we seek justice. Justice for the waters. Justice for the four-leggeds
and the wingeds, whose habitats have been taken. We seek justice,
not just for ourselves, but justice for the whole of Creation.”
In the spring of 2010, the federal court handed down its ruling on
the Onondaga Nation’s suit. The case was dismissed.
In the face of blind injustice, how do we continue? How do we live
our responsibility for healing?
The first time I heard of the place, it was long past saving. But no
one even knew. They kept it hidden. Until one day the sign
appeared, eerily, out of nowhere.