Determined Residents United for Mohawk Sovereignty (DRUMS)
Determined Residents United for Mohawk Sovereignty (DRUMS) is a grassroots organization founded in 1974 at the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation, which spans the border between the United States and Canada. The group emerged in response to increasing smuggling activities in the early 1970s, as residents sought to address the challenges posed by illicit trade in their community. Over the late 1970s and early 1980s, DRUMS shifted its focus toward tackling the issue of speakeasies—illegal drinking establishments that contributed to rising traffic accidents on the reservation.
As the decade progressed, DRUMS began to address concerns related to illegal casinos that were allegedly financed through smuggling profits. The organization considered civil disobedience, including blockading Route 37, to protest these establishments, which they believed were detrimental to community safety and well-being. In July 1989, a significant law enforcement raid targeted these casinos, leading to arrests and the seizure of financial records. DRUMS remained active in opposing illegal gambling until a violent incident in 1990, which resulted in the deaths of two Mohawk men and subsequent police occupation of the reservation. Through its advocacy, DRUMS has sought to assert Mohawk sovereignty and protect the interests of the Akwesasne community.
Determined Residents United for Mohawk Sovereignty (DRUMS)
Determined Residents United for Mohawk Sovereignty (DRUMS) was established at the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation in 1974. The Akwesasne Mohawk reservation (also called the Saint Regis Mohawk reserve) straddles the United States-Canadian border near Massena, New York, and Cornwall, Ontario. Beginning in the early 1970s, Akwesasne residents established DRUMS to combat increasing smuggling across the border. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, DRUMS’s main focus turned to speakeasies—small, illegal drinking establishments—that were contributing to an increasing number of traffic accidents on the reservation.
By June 1989, DRUMS members were beginning to talk of blockading Route 37, the reservation’s main highway, to keep away the clientele of several illegal casinos that had been constructed with smuggling profits. If the New York State Police refused to close the gaming houses, many people believed civil disobedience to be their only option. DRUMS planned a blockade for June 9 but abandoned it in favor of a peaceful march. On July 20, two hundred FBI agents and New York state troopers raided seven casinos on the reservation, arresting thirteen people and seizing cash and financial records. DRUMS continued to oppose the casinos until May 1, 1990, when two Mohawk men, Mathew Pyke and “Junior” Edwards, were shot to death in firefights. After that, New York, Ontario, and Quebec police occupied the reservation, and the gaming houses were closed.
Bibliography
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Monchalin, Lisa, and Olga Marques. “‘Canada Under Attack from Within’: Problematizing ‘the Natives,’ Governing Borders, and the Social Injustice of the Akwesasne Dispute.” American Indian Culture & Research Journal 38.4 (2014): 57–84. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
O’Brien, Jean M., and Amy E. Den Ouden. Recognition, Sovereignty Struggles, & Indigenous Rights in the United States: A Sourcebook. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2013. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 16 Apr. 2015.