Moving beyond the acknowledgement

In a bright event space in the Newhouse School with floor-to-ceiling windows, a panel discussion started with the words that initiate most events at Syracuse University:

“I acknowledge with respect the Onondaga Nation, firekeepers of the Haudenosaunee, the Indigenous people on whose ancestral lands Syracuse University now stands.”

The words held extra weight at Wednesday’s event hosted by Newhouse’s D.E.I.A. Committee, as the panel discussion focused on how to move from words to action. Now that the university recognizes it sits on stolen land, what will it do about it? 

Moderated by Wes Whiteside, associate director of recruitment and diversity at Newhouse, the discussion took place during National Native American Heritage Month, but panelist Neal Powless says the topic should be front of mind year round. 

“It’s not just about November,” said Powless, a member of the Onondaga Nation, a former professional lacrosse player and the Syracuse University ombuds. “We’re indigenous every day.”

Panelist E.J. Figueroa, a junior Television, Radio and Film major who identifies as two-spirit Hopi-Quechua, said he wants non-native students to feel welcome at Indigenous events. He said more participation would help Indigenous students feel supported at SU.

“I’m one of the event coordinators for Indigenous Students at Syracuse, and an issue that we see a lot of times is that people do not feel as though they should be at our events,” Figuero said. “We want all sorts of people to be there and celebrate with us, but people get too cautious and feel nervous.”

Michelle Schenandoah, a member of the Oneida Nation, founded Rematriation, an Indigenous women’s movement that uses digital storytelling to honor the matrilineal societies of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and beyond. 

She noted the deep and often unrecognized contributions the Haudenosaunee made to American democracy.

“The suffragists were influenced by the Haudenosaunee,” Schenandoah said as an example. “There is so much here.”

Upcoming Indigenous Students events include a Full Moon Ceremony hosted by the Barnes Center today, a self-care seminar on Monday and a celebration of two-spirit and transgender communities on Wednesday. 

Nia Nephew, a graduating Senior in Whitman’s School of Management, shared her experiences with being Native American at a predominantly white institution.

“I’ve had many different interactions where people didn’t even know Native Americans were still here,” said Nephew. “Some people have lived their whole lives not hearing a thing about us, so I feel like cultural competency training would be helpful when onboarding new students and faculty.”

Darrin White is a 2017 SU graduate and interim program coordinator for the Native Student Program. White explained the significance of 113 Euclid, the program’s house on-campus and safe space for students to celebrate Native American culture.

“As we’ve gone through the program, we noticed that Indigenous students needed a space to feel that community, that tightness to our culture and sense of belonging,” said White. “I’m always encouraging non-Indigenous people to come through that space.”

Other topics of discussion included greater integration of Indigenous content into higher education, which Schenandoah believes starts with campus-wide events that not only acknowledge Native American perspectives, but advocates for and empowers them.

“Michelle and I will take as many opportunities as we can to grab a microphone and speak during Native American Heritage Month, because that’s the month that people always hear us,” said Powless. “It’s about creating opportunities for us to come and share and present about what it means for us to be indigenous, to be from this land.”

The panelists also emphasized the potential for native thought to be incorporated into all campus spaces, not just D.E.I.A. ones, something that WAER has done with its “The Land You’re On: Acknowledging The Haudenosaunee” podcast.

Schenandoah’s mother Diane is the university’s Honwadiyenawa’sek, or “One Who Helps Them.” Her identity as a Faithkeeper of the Wolf Clan and energy worker for the Haudenosaunee Confederacy allows her to help students recognize the Haudenosaunee principles of peace and gratitude in their own lives.

“The important thing to remember is that it’s a Haudenosaunee Confederacy of six nations, and we are on Onondaga territory, our capitol,” said Schenandoah. “The democracy that everybody participates in right now, whether you like it or dislike it, actually originated from here.”