Reclaiming History With Cayuga Nation Member Pete Hill
In this episode of Reclaiming History, Lovonia Mallory interviews Pete Hill. He is a citizen of the Cayuga Nation, Heron Clan and the “All Our Relations” Project Director at Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. where he has worked for over 26 years. He has integrated several Native American cultural teachings into project design, strengths-based approaches, and programs designed to help the community to move beyond the impact of historical traumas. Pete has been active in several efforts and coalitions, including the Native American Ending the HIV Epidemic Advisory Group, East Coast Two Spirit Society, Hepatitis Elimination Task Force, Statewide Multicultural Advisory Committee, and Trauma Informed Coalition of Western New York.
Contact Information: Pete Hill, “All Our Relations” Project Director Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. 1005 Grant Street, Buffalo, NY 12407 Tel: 716-874-2797, ext. 348 Fax:716-874-1874 Email: [email protected].
Doctrine of Discovery- “The Papal Bull “Inter Caetera,” issued by Pope Alexander VI on May 4, 1493, played a central role in the Spanish conquest of the New World. The document supported Spain’s strategy to ensure its exclusive right to the lands discovered by Columbus the previous year. ..This effectively gave Spain a monopoly on the lands in the New World. The Bull stated that any land not inhabited by Christians was available to be “discovered,” claimed, and exploited by Christian rulers and declared that “the Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere increased and spread, that the health of souls be cared for and that barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself.” This “Doctrine of Discovery” became the basis of all European claims in the Americas as well as the foundation for the United States’ western expansion. In the US Supreme Court in the 1823 case Johnson v. McIntosh, Chief Justice John Marshall… held “that the principle of discovery gave European nations an absolute right to New World lands.” In essence, American Indians had only a right of occupancy, which could be abolished. (Accessed 7-8-2019www.gilderlehrman.org/content/doctrine-discovery-1493).
