WEBVTT - Episode 7: The Mohawk Civil War 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:08.719 Campsite media. How's it going, How are you right? Very 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:11.840 nice to meet. I don't usually get black jeeves with 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:15.240 men I just met, but I'm not gay. But ten 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.360 bucks is ten bucks right. Looks like we're off to 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:22.480 a good start already, so you want to see my reservation. 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.239 Earlier this year, I drove up to upstate New York 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:29.479 to meet a man we're calling Danny. He's a retired 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:32.040 New York State Police officer who agreed to show me 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.400 around the aguasas Name Mohawk Territory. He has to be 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:39.199 anonymous because he still investigates and testifies on cases in 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:43.960 the area. Should we get rolled? Absolutely sounds good. Danny's 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:46.159 a longtime trooper who spent twelve years working in this 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:48.960 part of New York, just by the Canadian border, and 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:51.000 back in the day, a big part of Danny's job 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:54.920 was patrolling the Aguasasna Territory. They called it res duty. 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:59.320 What was the reaction of most Brickey cops that had 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:04.080 their first year on resduded uh deer in the headlights 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.759 when we first take them take them down there, They 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.039 just they couldn't believe. They go, well, can they do that? 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:18.600 And we'd go. Yeah, yeah, there is For those cops. 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:22.840 Res duty felt like frat house hazy, but Daddy loved it. 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:28.120 Early eighties to late eighties, it was It was the 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:36.120 wild West. It was nothing back then to have yes 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:42.000 pursuits in a night and you're doing a D D 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:46.200 and ten and the car you're pursuing is throwing beer 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.560 bottles at you. And it wasn't their first rodeo. They 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.480 don't throw them straight back, no, no, no, they throw 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:56.160 them up in the air so they land in front 0:01:56.200 --> 0:02:02.640 of you. But yeah, lost a few windshields. But it 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:08.520 was just a crazy time, crazy time. Someone nicknamed him 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:17.520 res Rockets because their cars went fucking fly. Aside from 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:20.480 car chases and beer bottles, this was a turbulent time 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:24.080 in Agrasasna. Angry residents who believed that the Native police 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.160 were siding with the federal government demanded that the police 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:31.160 disband and leave the reservation, and in the years that followed, 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:34.480 that security void was filled by folks who had money 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:38.040 and more importantly, had weapons. What would this entrance have 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:43.679 looked like thirty years ago, blocked with tires stack five 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.760 or six deep, ten high. At night, they'd have bonfires 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:51.800 and they're all standing around it, the natives with their 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:59.280 faces covered with masks, carrying assault weapons, shotguns, and they 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:04.919 had actual shifts that people were assigned to roadblocks, and 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.679 they had roving patrols. Danny isn't native and he's a 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.920 law enforcement officer, so he doesn't really provide the definitive 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.959 perspective of agassn but the picture he paints to the 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:18.680 place is compelling themtheless and shows just how tense things 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:21.679 were back then. He was forced to work undercover because 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:24.520 of the hostility that state police faced. I mean, we 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:28.040 didn't have, you know, the fancy lighting the spoiled punks 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.920 have today. He had fucking burn barrels, and it was 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:34.399 he was medieval here. You go up to the burn 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.440 barrels and you got guys standing there with cowboy hats 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:41.960 and shotguns and spoken big cigars, And do you feel 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.280 like you're in a movie? Back then? It could have been. 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.480 It apps to fucking lutly could have been if that 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:50.160 movie ever got made. There's no doubt what the opening 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:55.000 shots would be. A gigantic warehouse looking building on the 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:58.280 corner of the main road here in Aguasas. Today it's 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:02.160 totally abandoned and boarded up. But thirty years ago this 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.960 was a casino and in the summer it was the 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:09.320 scene of one of the most dramatic events of Aguasas's history. 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:13.400 The casino was full of gamblers and security guards, the 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:15.680 parking lot was full of protesters who wanted to shut 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:18.160 it all down, and a cavalry of police cars were 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:22.760 on their way. It was a classic Mexican standoff. And 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:30.120 when we got to the casino, there's probably troop cars, 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:39.200 probably troopers, officers, investigators. We were met with two Maudus 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.839 fifty caliber machine guns on the roof of that casino. 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:53.440 From Campside Media and Dan Patrick Productions, this is running smoke. 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:15.920 Yeah right, I'm rogi Gola and this is episode seven 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:21.240 Civil War. When Derek turned himself into the police, he 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:22.839 knew then and there that he was going to fight 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:25.200 this case all the way to the end. Whether it 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.680 was bankruptcy, jail time, or victory. Derek was all in 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.200 and now he was appealing his case on a constitutional basis. 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:34.920 This was the first time a tobacco case had come 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:37.839 this far. In every other instance, the case would languish 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:40.440 and appeals for years before being dismissed by a judge. 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:44.039 It seemed like Canada wasn't interested in addressing the issue 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:47.480 head on, But this time was different. The judge had 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:49.640 agreed to hear the case and the stage was set 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:53.000 for a landmark decision. But it's exactly because the stakes 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.560 were so high that the Mohawk Nation had asked Derek 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.719 and Hunter to drop their case. The risk of losing 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:00.960 was too great and they'd ready seen what could happen 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:03.680 when things went wrong. They were concerned that we're using 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:08.760 these agreements that were made as a defense, which is 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:13.320 true Hunter Montur Derek's co accused, and they were worried 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:15.520 that if we lose that it's going to affect the 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.960 Mohawk Nation. I said, well, what the hell's the point 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:23.400 of having these tools if we can't use them, when 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:25.280 are you going to use them? Well, there's another time 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:29.359 for this, when this is the time. Right now is 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:33.880 the time. So don't be dumbass. Oh well, we know 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:37.240 we shouldn't do this right now. You should just roll 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:42.560 over and take it. Not me. I have every right 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:45.960 to use these laws or whatever you want to however 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:47.960 you want to phrase it, agreements that were made that 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:55.840 are binding. So why can't I use this to defend myself. 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:59.120 If I can't use it, what the hell good is it? 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:01.640 And are you going to use it? I don't see 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:05.599 any of you fighting for land or or or pushing 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:11.160 for more rights. I don't see it. I've dedicated myself 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:18.120 to whatever I could to help our nation, and I 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:20.880 should be able to use my what I'm fighting for 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:24.800 to help myself to get out of whatever. It is. 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:29.600 Stupid ass predicament I'm in. That's what we do this 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:33.760 for them and c C is basically stating that I'm 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:38.440 using my rights because of a criminal activity. What is 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.320 not criminal in activity? In the eyes of the government, 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:46.600 it's criminal activity. But for us here, it's just our 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:51.320 our how do you put it, It's what we've grown 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.280 up to to do. I mean there's not much left. 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:58.680 I mean they stole all our land. Um, they have 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:04.880 highways coming truer reserve at all ends. I mean we 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:08.320 have to benefit from it somehow. I mean we have 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:13.960 the gas stations and we have secrets. So that's what 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:19.240 they get for stealing our land. The question at the 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:22.440 heart of Derek's case boiled down to this, the rights 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.640 belong to an individual or do they belong to a community. 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.120 Derek argued that the rights belonged to individuals. Mohawk's had 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:31.200 a right to trade tax free, and he had just 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.400 as much claim to that right as any other Mohawk. 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.000 But the Council of Chiefs, well, they believed that right 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:40.760 belonged to the community and community institutions. The way they 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:43.360 saw it, Derek had done his business without the permission 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:46.520 of the Mohawk government, so it wasn't appropriate for him 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:48.640 to claim Mohawk rights now that he was in trouble. 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:52.880 It's a debate over what sovereignty actually means, and it's 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:56.360 one that nearly tore apart one Mohawk territory decades ago. 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:00.280 To understand why it's such a difficult question, we have 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:02.800 to go back to the nineteen seventies, to the birth 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:06.800 of the modern Native rights movement. We'll get into all 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:16.480 that right after the break. This was the era when 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.199 groups like a I AM, the American Indian Movement but 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:22.920 Native rights on the map and staged radical protests like 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:26.440 reclaiming Wounded need from corrupt leaders. Either we forced the 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:31.000 federal government to kill us all, or else they come 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:35.680 out and they negotiate and meet our demands. They occupied 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:39.079 Alcatraz and demanded its return to Native people. They d 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:41.880 a learning in peaceful Their sub fishermen's wre was shattered 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:45.600 suddenly by the ridic mean of Indian timetowns, and they 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:47.920 even took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs in d C. 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:50.800 After a cross country march they called the Trail of 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:54.199 Broken Treaties. The Indians came from everywhere, and they came 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:56.560 with a purpose. By the time we start doing something, 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.360 I think this is a test to see how the 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.960 government can uphold the law. Native Americans were developing a 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:06.840 radical political consciousness, and sovereignty became the political project of 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:10.320 the moment. Sovereignty meant writing your own rules, standing on 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:12.559 your own two feet, and not letting anyone else tell 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.640 you otherwise. An important part of that fight for self 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:19.800 determination was economic, but not everyone agreed on exactly how 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:23.120 to build up that economy. It became an especially contentious 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:26.520 issue once some Native community started experimenting with gambling and 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:29.480 tax free tobacco. It was a sort of legal gray 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:33.280 area that would soon become a battleground. Doug George Canendio 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:36.760 is a prominent Mohawk journalist and advocate who lives outside 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.680 of Agua Sas. Back in the day, he reported on 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.560 how these new ideas were changing his community. I was 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:45.679 involved with this issue when it first came to our 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:50.400 attention in n when individuals from our sister community of 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:55.520 Gonawaga approached us and ask they could secure a license 0:10:55.600 --> 0:11:00.840 to transport tobacco products across the international border. And they 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:05.720 wanted to do this in order to form a new economy, UM, 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:12.680 to introduce wealth and to our our communities. Tobacco was 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:16.200 risk free, had high profit margins and a constant demand. 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:20.280 It seemed like a golden ticket. But Doug George and 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.839 the Traditional Leadership Council he sat on weren't fully convinced 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:29.040 that council was concerned at tobacco, Uh, something that's extremely 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:34.679 sacred to the Mohawk people should become a commodity. Uh. 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:39.160 And they knew that there would be serious ramifications. You know. 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:42.280 Our elders told us, they warned us, don't do this, 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:47.079 and we thought we could control it. We were wrong. 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.559 Pretty quickly, the tobacco industry swept through the Mohawk territories. 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.800 Before the Nation Council could make a decision. The handful 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:57.040 of the Native entrepreneurs who got into the cigarette game 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:00.319 early on, became massively wealthy in a short amount of time, 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.040 and Doug George was afraid of the implications of that 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:06.319 sort of wealth gap. Unless we had firm control of this, 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:10.600 these individuals, we're going to grow very powerful. They were 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.000 going to do something that was fairly alien to our 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:14.839 Mohawk way of life, in that they were going to 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.640 create a handful of very rich people who are then 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:22.280 going to turn around and use their wealth to manipulate 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:27.160 the community, Uh, towards our own ends. Ours is not 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:30.600 a community that is given to capitalism. You know. We 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:34.240 were a people who develop a system by which all 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:38.760 of us could prosper, and we were adamantly opposed to 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:42.079 the rise of a wealthy elite who would then dictate 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:45.400 how that society would be to the rest of us. 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.960 That that's something that is so alien to to Mohawk tradition. 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.360 Tobacco money started pouring into other lucrative gray markets like 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:59.000 casinos and Bengo halls, even though gambling was illegal elsewhere 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:02.680 in Canada and the West. The smugglers and casino owners 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:07.280 claimed that the reserves were sovereign territory. Federal laws didn't apply. 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.800 Tobacco and gambling were controversial issues within the territory, but 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:14.440 they were symbols for an even bigger set of questions. 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:17.840 These people are using that and saying, I am sovereign, 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:19.320 therefore I got a right to do what every what 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:22.800 I want on my sovereign territory. While it's not your territory. 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:28.199 You aren't sovereign, You're not Sovereignty belongs to the collective. 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:34.160 And we fought great battles, as as Mohawks and as 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:38.840 natives to in order to secure a certain level of 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:44.000 self control and self determination. But these guys are undermining that. 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:50.240 They espoused all of this rhetoric about helping the nation 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:55.280 and the people and you know, upholding traditional values, but 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:58.360 they were destroying the very thing that they were claiming 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:02.160 to try to strengthen. You know, they were destroying the 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:07.400 idea of of a stable central government. They were undermining 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:11.840 the authority of traditional law. They were violating um our 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:17.720 customs and our culture. This was the battleground on which 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:21.600 the Mohawks Civil War would play out. Anti tobacco and 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:25.200 anti gambling advocates on one side trying to preserve their 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.200 traditions against an influx of money earned off of vice 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:33.680 and exploitation. These were known as the antis. On the 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:37.280 other side were the casino and tobacco supporters, tired of 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:40.720 playing by the old rules. Gambling and cigarettes offered a 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.560 way out, offered a way to build an economy. Why 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:49.360 should they sit out while everyone else moves ahead? How 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:54.080 did the antis see rights differently than you see rights? 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.520 They don't mind being in the arm pit up the 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:02.040 United States government. Lauren Thompson was a traditional leader in 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:05.160 Agrasas back in the nineteen eighties. He had a reputation 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.560 as a fierce and wily defender who would take radical 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:10.880 action to protect the community. Once, when laggers tried to 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:14.480 cut down trees to establish a border around agass Lauren 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:17.880 confiscated their machinery and kicked off a month's long standoff 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:22.120 with government officials. Lauren believed that tobacco and gambling offered 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:26.080 massive potential for Mohawks to lift themselves up. Sure it 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.600 wasn't exactly clean or noble money, but he felt that 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:33.640 was a reasonable cost to achieve true economic independence. He 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.280 clashed with others in the community and ultimately lost his 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:38.960 leadership position for trying to bring a casino to the reserve. 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.440 He felt that the antis were holding the community back. 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:49.800 They don't mind their treaties being secondary Trudeau United States 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:55.560 law and court decisions. They do mind that. In other words, 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:04.680 they accept being American citizens. Okay, where's the the hardcore 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:10.600 traditional people will stand up and fight for the rights 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:15.400 in their own land, just as the settlers was stand up, 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:20.280 grab a gun and fight for their freedom. Say that's 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:24.080 how we fight. We we stand as equals to the 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:27.600 government of the United States, the people of the United States. 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.080 But it created a problem because there was so much 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:36.320 money being made that a lot of the community wanted 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:41.080 a part of it because they were starting to say, 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:45.720 you're using my rights to do this right. So so 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:49.240 there was all kinds of conversations going on at that time, 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:53.280 and that were created a different of opinion all over 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:58.200 the place and from there and it just kept growing. 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:02.680 And then all of a sudden was um uh protests 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:07.000 from the Longhouse people. People we thought we were on 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:11.600 that were on our side. So they did the protests 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.040 and then they came to the point where they shut 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:19.440 off they closed off the toll gate where the buses 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:23.240 were coming through, so that put a halt tool the 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:33.879 major part of the casino going on when they were 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:42.639 right back, you're listening to running smoke left. By the 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:46.800 late nineties, tensions between the antis and the tobacco gambling 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:50.320 crowd were growing intense. Cigarettes were coming in by the 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.160 semi truck load, and streets were backed up with tour 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.800 buses full of Americans and Canadians coming into gamble at 0:17:56.800 --> 0:18:00.639 the casinos. Money was flowing into the reserve like never before. 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.800 Buildings were going up, roads were being paved, and smoke 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.879 shacks were popping up like mushrooms after a rain. And 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:09.560 just as Doug George had predicted, a new class of 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:11.399 wealthy elites was turning the old way of life in 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:16.080 Aguas upside down. The casinos had become incredibly contentious on 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.399 the reservation, and Tony's Vegas International was at the center 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:22.360 of the debate. There was a federal ban on gambling, 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.520 but the owner of the casino, Tony Laughing, said that 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.720 didn't apply in aguasas it was his right as a 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:35.359 Mohawks citizen. State police beg to differ. What ignited really 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:40.600 the issue in ninety was Tony was running an illegal 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.359 casino out of there. At the time in New York State. 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:49.600 It was illegal run I illegal casino, go figure. So 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:55.760 we had undercover officers go into the casino and he 0:18:55.840 --> 0:19:01.119 had I don't know, a hundred D slot machines. Well 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:06.719 that was illegal. So state police put a detail together 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:15.840 to raid the casino and somehow the Natives were apprized 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:19.680 of the oncoming rate armed mohawks and casino security were 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:23.280 standing by ready to defend the casino. We were met 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:28.120 with two Maudus fifty caliber machine guns on the roof 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.760 of that casino. That's an impressive site when you're sitting 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:37.040 there with a magnum and at twelve game jack. So 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:42.840 discretion being the better part of valor, we left and 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:46.920 as soon as we left, that's when the roadblocks went 0:19:47.040 --> 0:19:53.320 up and the fun really started. Once the police left 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:56.359 the scene, anti gambling protesters realized that they were on 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:59.879 their own, and in the spring of they decided to 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.880 fight this battled themselves. A group of people said enough 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:05.280 and they decided that they were going to stop a 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.639 lot of these uh large buses that were coming onto 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:12.679 reservation every day and to patronize at casinos. And so 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:16.439 they formed a roadblock and they said, holy cal that 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:20.080 they had actually done this in the people had their roadblocks. 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:22.960 We were well aware that they did this at high risk. 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:25.800 That risk came from the fact that at the time 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:29.200 there were no state or Mohawk cops operating on the reserve. 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:31.880 They'd been kicked out years earlier in a different set 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.679 of protests. The only policing force in Agusas now was 0:20:35.720 --> 0:20:40.760 the Mohawks Sovereignty Security Force, otherwise known as the Mohawk Warriors. 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:44.639 The Warrior Society had been around for decades, and in 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:47.800 the early days it was simply a revival of older customs. 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:50.720 It was a society for young men who wanted to 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:54.480 fulfill traditional roles. Their symbol was the flag of a 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:58.000 Mohawk Warrior head on a red background. It was the 0:20:58.040 --> 0:20:59.879 same flag that Derek had painted on the hood of 0:20:59.880 --> 0:21:03.199 his Race car Warrior handbook. Who was really about the 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:06.719 role of the men and it channeled that energy and 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:08.960 it put it in to me in a good way 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:12.680 that it gave the men direction and what to do. 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:15.520 Kenneth Dear was a spokesperson for the Mohawk Nation during 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:17.840 these years, and he saw how the Warriors in August 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:21.040 Sassy were getting drawn into a political battle. It wasn't 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:24.399 a criminal organization. Wasn't supposed to be a criminal organization, 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:27.119 you know. It was supposed to be a way to 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:30.720 teach the men are responsibilities and within tradition, you know. 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:35.679 And uh, some unfortunately, some people used it like a gang. 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:40.960 And and I can't support that. When anti gambling protesters 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.800 set up roadblocks in the spring of they knew that 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:47.080 they'd be up against the Mohawk Warriors and there was 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:50.080 going to be a reaction in the Mohawk Sovereignty Security Force, 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:53.399 which was supposed to provide a protection for the community, 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:57.840 showed where they're real allegiance slide, and that they became 0:21:58.400 --> 0:22:02.359 deeply involved with the casino group and trying to break 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:06.560 the roadblocks in order to resume the smuggling and resume 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:11.399 the casino gambling. And these guys were lazy, They weren't trained, 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:15.600 they didn't have the discipline, they didn't have the psychological background, 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:19.760 the spiritual background. Uh, they didn't know how to control 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:23.800 their weapons. They would ride around in and the souped 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:28.280 up cars and trucks and r vs, not RVs but SUVs, 0:22:28.320 --> 0:22:31.919 and and with with these weapons whose only purpose was 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:35.199 to kill other human beings and They were fueled by 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:39.360 alcohol and drugs, and they were employed as goon squads 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:43.639 by the cigarette smugglers who had now become the casino owners. 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:46.800 They had nothing of the virtues of a real mohawk 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:52.840 if you want to call a warrior. The roadblocks were 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:55.760 an escalation in the war between antis and casino owners. 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:59.679 Each side was dug in, accusing the other of collaborating 0:22:59.680 --> 0:23:04.159 with the World government of corrupting the community. Mohawk warriors 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:06.680 would drive around the reservation and pickup trucks with automatic 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:10.119 weapons and military fatigues. They manned checkpoints at the border 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:13.199 of the reserve and became a vigilante force. They had 0:23:13.240 --> 0:23:16.600 become a flashpoint in this conflict. Their supporters saw them 0:23:16.640 --> 0:23:20.080 as defenders of the community, but to the anties they 0:23:20.119 --> 0:23:24.200 were a marauding gang serving the smugglers. Tensions rose every 0:23:24.240 --> 0:23:26.440 day and violence was becoming a regular part of life 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:31.760 in agrasas arson, vandalism, beatings and shootings, even a grenade attack. 0:23:31.920 --> 0:23:36.080 It was, you know, automatic gunfire, all sorts of things 0:23:36.119 --> 0:23:38.920 going on there, and that people across the river in 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:41.119 Ontario would come out in their porch and listen to 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:43.280 and say what no world has gone on over there, 0:23:44.040 --> 0:23:46.399 but it was it was, it was, it was. It 0:23:46.480 --> 0:23:51.560 was a combat situation. Eventually two people were killed in 0:23:51.600 --> 0:23:55.680 the crossfire. Other Mohawk nations, which had done their best 0:23:55.720 --> 0:23:58.840 to stay out of Agrasasne, now had little option but 0:23:58.920 --> 0:24:03.280 to intervene. Kenneth Dear, the traditional leader in Gonawage, was 0:24:03.320 --> 0:24:05.280 sent to aguas Sasine to see what could be done 0:24:05.280 --> 0:24:08.320 about bringing both sides back together. You know, we we 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:11.680 tried our best to stay out of the the casino 0:24:11.760 --> 0:24:14.720 war over there. We were trying to be pulled into that. 0:24:15.320 --> 0:24:18.400 And our guys went there and and looked at what's 0:24:18.440 --> 0:24:21.520 going on, and they came back and said, stay out 0:24:21.520 --> 0:24:26.560 of there. He says, there's no there's no middle ground 0:24:26.720 --> 0:24:30.000 over there. Either you're four or against. The situation was 0:24:30.040 --> 0:24:34.040 so bad that if you weren't for them, you're against them. 0:24:34.200 --> 0:24:36.679 If you want to build an economy, that's fine, and 0:24:36.760 --> 0:24:39.480 it should be also be a collective, you know, but 0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:43.840 when the collective didn't agree with what was going on, 0:24:43.960 --> 0:24:49.200 and then it became uh an individual issue. It's hard 0:24:49.280 --> 0:24:53.520 to to make peace when there's no middle ground and UH, 0:24:53.640 --> 0:24:56.840 and that's why you know, it ended up with two 0:24:56.840 --> 0:24:59.760 people being dead. You know, it's it's It was unfortunate. 0:25:00.640 --> 0:25:04.199 But then came the Oka crisis. Hear firing. I'm not 0:25:04.240 --> 0:25:07.360 sure if the weapons bard that we had the day 0:25:07.400 --> 0:25:09.399 that they're firing at it good evening. It was a 0:25:09.440 --> 0:25:12.560 bloody day at the Mohawk Indian community and Oca Quebec 0:25:12.600 --> 0:25:16.399 near Montreal. Provincial police in riot gears stormed the barricades 0:25:16.480 --> 0:25:19.240 the Mohawks had set up. There's an out of weapons 0:25:19.240 --> 0:25:21.920 fire and now is this police firing or Mohawk firing 0:25:22.040 --> 0:25:24.040 here to be coming from the police find the Combet 0:25:24.080 --> 0:25:26.600 Police Force swap team moved in. It done and if 0:25:26.640 --> 0:25:29.320 ever a police operation was to go tragically wrong, it 0:25:29.480 --> 0:25:31.760 was this one. What kind of people are you? There's 0:25:31.840 --> 0:25:34.560 children here and you're shooting tear gas at us. We're 0:25:34.640 --> 0:25:36.960 unarmed and you're aiming your weapons at us. What kind 0:25:36.960 --> 0:25:40.760 of people are you? Police use gas, then bullets, but 0:25:40.840 --> 0:25:43.639 they weren't prepared for what met them. Dozens of heavily 0:25:43.720 --> 0:25:46.119 armed Mohawk men determined to hold what they say is 0:25:46.160 --> 0:25:49.000 their sacred ground behind a tree. There were clouds of 0:25:49.040 --> 0:25:51.720 tear gas, a hail of bullets, and in the midst 0:25:51.760 --> 0:25:55.359 of the battle of policemen was killed. All this because 0:25:55.359 --> 0:25:58.000 of a dispute over a piece of forest. The Indians 0:25:58.040 --> 0:26:01.639 claim is there's a forest owned council wants to bulldoze 0:26:01.680 --> 0:26:07.960 to expand the local golf course. Back in, the mayor 0:26:08.000 --> 0:26:11.399 of a small village near Montreal called Oka was pushing 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:14.480 a plan to develop a condominium complex and expanded golf 0:26:14.480 --> 0:26:18.160 course on the outskirts of town, but that land belonged 0:26:18.240 --> 0:26:22.119 to the Ghanesstaga Mohawk Territory and served as a cemetery 0:26:22.160 --> 0:26:26.119