Recent News
DOI approves Halftown's land-into-trust application
At the end of March, 2023, the U.S. Department of Interior approved the Halftown regime's application to place 114 acres of land located in Cayuga County into federal trust status. This will consolidate more power in Halftown's hands and has heightened concerns around the ongoing threats to Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ families.
Halftown's recent violence against Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ citizens
Starting in August 2022, Halftown and Cayuga Nation Police (CNP, his non-Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ police force) have escalated their violence against Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ citizens who oppose him. In this time CNP has: destroyed a ceremonial space and desecrated sacred corn and ceremonial items; destroyed homes; conducted an armed robbery and takeover of a Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ family's home; physically assaulted several Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ people, including tasering one person and brutalizing a disabled, diabetic matriarch; detained and pepper sprayed non-Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ supporters; and kidnapped Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ people and held them without bail in a prison in Cambria County, PA. One of the people held in Cambria was denied adequate medical attention, which led to a multi-day stay in the ICU and an additional hospital stay where he has needed to have multiple bones removed from his foot due to infection after being assaulted by CNP. Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ families continue to be in a state of high alert, not knowing which homes and families may be targeted next.
Background
The Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ (Cayuga Nation) are dealing with what the Nation's citizens have called a dictatorship—one enabled by the U.S. federal government. Since the mid-2000s, a Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ citizen named Clint Halftown has refused to step down after being removed by his Clan Mother from a temporary position within Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ governance.
In recent years, the U.S. Federal Government has bolstered Halftown, legitimizing him as "Federal Representative" of the Cayuga Nation, and proclaiming the "Council" Halftown created to be the government of the Nation. These actions of the U.S. government flagrantly disregard the governance authority held by Clan Mothers and Sachems as per the Haudenosaunee Confederacy's Great Law of Peace. (The Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ are a member nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy).
Halftown has used intimidation and violence—enacted by a non-Indigenous police force he hired in 2018—to hold control of Cayuga Nation land and businesses. Since 2020, Halftown's "Cayuga Nation Police" have escalated their violence against Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ people who speak out against him. He has now twice destroyed spaces that Gayogo̱hó:nǫ⁷ citizens used to hold ceremonies, as well as to teach language and culture. Since August 2022, Cayuga Nation Police have also escalated their use of forced evictions, home demolitions, physical violence, and kidnappings of those who speak out.
For a more thorough overview, see this article published Sept. 29, 2022.
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