Dear Editor:Conscientious opponents of illegal immigration should be aware that they are encroaching on the territory of the Tongva Indians, inhabitants of the region that now constitutes L.A. County long before Columbus and the various smallpox smuggling crews meandered off their boats. Moreover, the initial colonial development in New England that eventually facilitated aggressive expansion to the Pacific coast was in violation of Articles 73 and 74 of the Constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy, which state the following: "The soil of the earth from one end of the land to the other is the property of the people who inhabit it. By birthright the Ongwehonweh (Original beings) are the owners of the soil which they own and occupy and none other may hold it. The same law has been held from the oldest times. The Great Creator has made us of the one blood and of the same soil he made us and as only different tongues constitute different nations he established different hunting grounds and territories and made boundary lines between them. When any alien nation or individual is admitted into the Five Nations the admission shall be understood only to be a temporary one. Should the person or nation create loss, do wrong, or cause suffering of any kind to endanger the peace of the Confederacy, the Confederate Lords shall order one of their war chiefs to reprimand him or them and if a similar offense is again committed the offending party of parties shall be expelled from the territory of the Five United Nations." This doctrine was clarified by the Onandaga diplomat Canasatego in a speech to colonial officials: "When you mentioned the affair of the land yesterday, you went back to old times, and told us you had had the province of Maryland above one hundred years. But what is a hundred years in comparison of the length of time since our claim began - since we came out of the ground? For we must tell you, that, long before one hundred years, our ancestors came out of this ground, and their children have remained here ever since. You came out of the ground beyond the seas; but here you must allow us to be your elder brothers, and the lands to belong to us long before you knew any thing of them." The Seneca spokesman Sagoyewatha echoed this in later years, remarking, "[A]n evil day came upon us. Your forefathers crossed the great water and landed on this island. Their numbers were small. They found friends and not enemies. They told us they had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men, and had come here to enjoy their religion. They asked for a small seat. We took pity on them, granted their request; and they sat down amongst us. We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return." Surely we cannot imagine that the anchor babies of colonial squatters somehow have the moral authority to declare territorial sovereignty and insist that a largely Mesoamerican Indian population is "illegal." When will the deportations to Europe begin? -- Julian Gutierrez, Downey

********** Published: January 6, 2011 - Volume 9 - Issue 38