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Butt out, NY Post! April 7, 2011 Your editorial on April 2 directs Gov. Cuomo to commence state cigarette-tax collections on Indian lands within the state ("Andrew & the Indians"). You demean the sovereignty of our Nation, American treaties and the decisions of the American courts that enjoin the state's predatory behavior. Fact is, the Seneca Nation is sovereign and always has been. Our sovereignty pre-dates the formation of the United States, and the American government always recognized that. Grade-school students know that our alliance was a major part of why Americans today are not British subjects.
Fact is, the Seneca Nation is sovereign and always has been. Our sovereignty pre-dates the formation of the United States, and the American government always recognized that. Grade-school students know that our alliance was a major part of why Americans today are not British subjects. We've always been economically self-sufficient. With most of our lands stolen from us in violation of our treaties 200 years ago, our people have since suffered chronic poverty. The meager social benefits you unjustly accuse us of accepting are mere crumbs off the table of American riches built on stolen Indian land, slave labor and female subjugation. New York has open borders with surrounding states, and blaming Indian nations for the state's declining cigarette tax revenues is laughable. Our lands have never been subject to state taxation, and we will fight at all costs to keep them that way. Robert Odawi Porter President Seneca Nation of Indians http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/letters/butt_out_ny_post_Cjmtqyib2mViV26XRUyGVI
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