January 26, 1995: Vol26n14: PERSONALITIES:  Prof is advocate for many causes

By STEVE COX
Reporter Staff
Over the past 25 years, if the cause has involved Native Americans or
the campaign has been one to protect the environment or relieve an
oppressed culture, more likely than not UB's John Mohawk had a hand in
it.
	Mohawk, a Seneca Indian and assistant professor of American
Studies, has been an outspoken representative of Native American
interests in his writings, through the media and at the grass roots.
An educator, author, advocate, historian and tribal leader, Mohawk has
worn many hats -- rather, headdresses -- during his career.
	Mohawk is editor of Daybreak , an award-winning Native
American journal, and former editor of Akwasane Notes , the nation's
largest American Indian periodical. He has authored countless articles
and several books, and has lectured extensively. Mohawk also advises
the Grand Council of the Iroquois Confederacy, the governing body of
the Seneca Nation.
	In 1992, he coauthored Exiled in the Land of the Free:
Democracy, Indian Nations and the U.S. Constitution with UB Professor
Oren Lyons. This book offers "an authentic version of Indian history,"
according to Mohawk, by examining historical relations between the
U.S. government and the Indian Nations on issues such as sovereignty
and spiritual freedom.
	Last December, Mohawk was a featured tribal leader in the
three-part TBS broadcast, "The Native Americans."
	"Seven or eight of us gathered at the Mohawk Valley Project in
Canajoharie for about four hours of filming for it," explained Mohawk.
Their segment centered around boarding schools for Indians, although,
Mohawk says, a wide variety of topics was discussed. "It was
interesting that we were there because it was near Fonda, where Jane
Fonda's (wife of TBS owner Ted Turner) great, great grandfather was a
very large landowner."
	Mohawk believe he owes his distinguished career of advocacy on
behalf of Native Americans to one man: Christopher Columbus.
	In 1992, the U.S. observed the 500th anniversary of Columbus'
discovery of the "new world." American Indians, however, observed a
period of mourning. Indians measure the time after Columbus' arrival
as a time of cultural genocide. Mohawk authored a paper called
"Looking for Columbus" that offers a philosophical twist on the
conventional view of Columbus. He argues that, in light of America's
claim to be the world's melting pot, it is disingenuous to honor
Columbus, who sought to annihilate the Indian people to make room for
the "superior" European culture.
ohawk is also a founding
	 member of the American Indian Anti-Defamation Council, which
sought to oppose instances of "institutionalized racism" towards
Indians, from the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Columbus'
arrival to the Atlanta Braves' "tomahawk chop."
	"In the seventies, I was pretty active on the political scene
with the Six-Nation Confederacy," recalls Mohawk, whose activism
brought him to numerous sites of clashes between American and Indian
cultures, including the incident at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
	During the 1980s, Mohawk turned his efforts to developing an
institutional infrastructure for Indians. Mohawk still presides over
the boards of two organizations he helped found to promote indigenous
peoples' rights: The Seventh Generation Fund, based in California, and
the Indian Law Resource Center in Washington, D.C. He has also worked
tirelessly to repaint the public perception of Indians. Also, Mohawk
has contributed to efforts by the State Board of Regents to revise
curricular treatment of Native American history in public schools.
	Today, Mohawk is most concerned with the state of contemporary
Indian life. Native Americans are disproportionately unemployed and
undereducated, according to Mohawk, so he has turned his attention to
what he considers "a crisis among indigenous people who need capacity
building and community economic development." Mohawk urges an economic
diversification of skills and talents among Native Americans, and
doesn't believe the current rage of casino gaming on Indian lands will
be an economic panacea.
	Although a graduate student and Ph.D. candidate at UB from
1970-74, Mohawk never managed to squeeze a dissertation into his busy
schedule. In 1992, he received an honorary doctorate from his alma
mater, Hartwick College in Oneonta. College officials praised Mohawk
for "significantly enhancing awareness of the Native American
experience within, and contributions to, the historical record of
American society."