Land dispossession tied Onondaga hands but never broke their stewardship covenant

Evidence

The people have endured the pain of being bystanders to the degradation of their lands, but they never surrendered their caregiving responsibilities. They have continued the ceremonies that honor the land and their connection to it. The Onondaga people still live by the precepts of the Great Law and still believe that, in return for the gifts of Mother Earth, human people have responsibility for caring for the nonhuman people, for stewardship of the land. Without title to their ancestral lands, however, their hands were tied to protect it. So they watched, powerless, as strangers buried the Peacemaker’s footsteps. The plants, animals, and waters they were bound to protect dwindled away, though the covenant with the land was never broken. Like the springs above the lake, the people just kept doing what they were called to do, no matter what fate met them downstream. The people went on giving thanks to the land, although so much of the land had little reason to be thankful for the people. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1165

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: ‘The people went on giving thanks to the land, although so much of the land had little reason to be thankful for the people’ — reciprocity kept alive toward a land that cannot reciprocate; a paradigm-level statement of gratitude as unconditional responsibility.
• XREF: Directly ties stewardship-without-title to ch77’s treaty knowledge and ch44’s land-rights/reparation discussion — the heart of the legal-systems and eco-justice threads. — connects to: Treaties guaranteed Onondaga rights that the US government then violated — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1163; The Onondaga filed suit seeking stewardship and healing, not property — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1170; Lack of legal title excluded the Onondaga from cleanup negotiations — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1175 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Treaties guaranteed Onondaga rights that the US government then violated #expands (0.85) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1163
• The Onondaga filed suit seeking stewardship and healing, not property #expands (0.80) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1170
• The Onondaga framed their suit as seeking justice for all creation #expands (0.80) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1178
• Lack of legal title excluded the Onondaga from cleanup negotiations #complicates (0.75) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1175