Onondaga Land Rights and Our Common Future II
“Doctrine of Discovery” to International Recognition of Rights
March 7, 2010

The second event in the 2010 Onondaga Land Rights and Our Common Future speaking series, organized by Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation and sponsored by the local universities and others, was held on March 1 at LeMoyne College. 

Entitled “From the “Doctrine of Discovery” to International Recognition of Rights”, it featured Dr. Philip P. Arnold, an Associate Professor of Indigenous Religions at Syracuse University; Tonya Gonnella Frichner (Snipe Clan, Onondaga Nation), the North American Regional Representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII); and John Dieffenbacher-Krall, who has been a key organizer in the successful effort to convince the Episcopal Church to renounce the Christian Doctrine of Discovery.

The Doctorine of Discovery is a papal bull issued by Pope Nicholas V in the Age of Discovery in the late 1400's. In this Doctorine the Pope stated that explorers who "discover" natives who are not Christian have the blessings of the church to "capture, vanquish, and subdue the saracens, pagans, and other enemies of Christ," to "put them into perpetual slavery," and "to take all their possessions and property."

Phil Arnold began tonight's presentation with an overview of the Doctrine of Discovery and its ramifications in U.S. law and history.  Dr. Arnold made the point that this pervasive mentality of considering American Indians as less than human contributed to the abuse and terror of the Indian boarding schools a generation ago. Additionally, the Doctrine of Discovery made its way into U.S. Federal Indian Law in the 1823 Johnson v. M’Intosh decision stating that Natives only have the right to occupy the land and the state had title of the land, influencing the 2005 Sherrill v. Oneida decision.  Dr. Arnold's presentation was a similar to the one he gave as part of the panel on the Doctrine of Discovery at the Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne, Australia in December 2009.   Video of his speech at the Parliament is now available on YouTube, courtesy of Some Day Fire Productions.

In inspiring contrast to this history, Tonya Gonnella Frichner told us of the successful passage in 2007 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the culmination of thirty years of work on behalf of Indigenous Peoples from around the world.   The Onondaga Nation has been involved since the beginning, with the first trip to Geneva in the 1970s.  The work does not stop with its passage, she cautioned us.  The United States was one of four countries to vote against it, and it changes very little in the United States unless the federal government adopts it. 

Currently the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is investigating the Doctrine of Discovery, and published an investigative report into the Doctrine’s effects in February.   In the course of the evening, the audience gave a verbal acclimation calling for an experts’ meeting on the Doctrine of Discovery, which Tonya promised to take back to the Permanent Forum.

In a similarly inspiring speech, John Dieffenbacher-Krall detailed the successful campaign for the Episcopal Church to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery in 2009.   This act has helped to spur worldwide discussion of the Doctrine, and a worldwide movement to call for its repudiation. 

The more the Doctrine of Discovery is discussed, the more people learn of it and its ramifications both past and present, the more we see action being taken.  It is heartening to see so many different religious communities calling for its repudiation.  Most recently, the Syracuse Friends Meeting (Quakers) issued a minute on February 14, 2010 repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery and calling on the U.S. Senate to ratify the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  They see quite clearly, as did all who attended this talk, that these are opposite sides of the same coin; and in taking this action, we work to heal the injustices of the past and move towards a better and more respectful future for the Indigenous Peoples of the world. 

Click here for photos of the event.