[IPSM] MNN: Mohawk Warrior "Lasagna" Ron Cross Passed Away 5 Years Ago

[Jaggi Singh]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 23:19:51 -0500
From: Kahntineta Horn <kahntineta at paulcomm.ca>

Please send around or reprint this story by giving credit to
"info at akwesasnephoenix.com, vol 4, Dec. 12, 2004 issue

MOHAWK WARRIOR "LASAGNA" RON CROSS PASSED AWAY 5 YEARS AGO

VETERAN OF 1990 MOHAWK CRISIS AT OKA

MNN Mohawk Nation News.  Dec. 12, 2004.  At 11:00 pm on Nov. 1st Lasagna
Ron Cross, 41 years of age, died of heart failure.  He was the Mohawk
Warrior made famous during the Oka Crisis of 1990. He was seen daily on
the media standing up to the Quebec Provincial Police and the Canadian
Army in defense of Mohawk land.  He left an imprint in everybody's mind:
a hero to some and a villain to others. Canada and Quebec wanted to
pacify his irrepressible spirit, his bravado.  But he remained true to
himself.  His spirit was an example to others in their own struggles.
Had he caved in, it would have been bad for all Indigenous people.
Although he did not intend it, there is always someone who stands out in
such a crisis and he was it.

It was Wednesday, September 26, 1990.  Lasagna was one of 52 men, women
and children and 10 journalists who marched out of the Alcohol and Drug
Treatment Centre at Oka Quebec after a 78 day siege. It was one of the
gravest political confrontations in modern Canadian history.

The Army, the police and the media had targeted Lasagna.  The Canadian
soldiers were jealous of him, the police wanted his blood.  Canada and
Quebec wanted him to pay for the Mohawks upsetting them.  For a moment he
wanted to stay behind and "look after himself", but the others talked him
out of it.  Together they walked out of the Centre to freedom, singing
their Mohawk victory song.  As they crossed over the stretcher that had
been placed on the razor wire several soldiers grabbed Lasagna and began
to kick, punch and beat him with their fists and guns.  He was beaten
several times by the SQ.  Later he brought charges against these four
Quebec police who were dressed in army clothes.  He won.  Amnesty
International condemned this beating worldwide.  Some believe that this
vicious beating caused so much internal injuries that it contributed to
his early death.

Lasagna's trial came up in St. Jerome Quebec in September 1991 which
lasted almost a year.  Joining him as defendants were two other warriors,
Gordon Noriega Lazore and Roger 20-20 Lazore.  Roger recently passed away
and Gordon lives in Kanehsatake.  The proceedings of the trial were
published in a book "Mohawk Warriors Three".  Also, he won a Supreme Court
of Canada decision to have his trial in English rather than French.

It is significant that the three warriors did not recognize the
jurisdiction of the white man's court and remained silent.  They said
nothing from the beginning, throughout the trial and afterwards.  They
allowed the jury to decide their fate.

In the end Lasagna was the only one who served a prison sentence.  The
only charge that stood was his involvement in the beating of Mohawk
informant Francis Jacobs.  He was released from prison two months prior to
his death and was working on construction on the Champlain Bridge in
Montreal.  He felt ill and decided to sit in his car.  His friends check
on him twice, the second time he was dead.  He is survived by his wife,
Nadine, four sons and grandchildren.  Since the 1990 crisis the following
men who were in the compound with him have died:  Thomas "the General"
Paul, Leroy "Splinter" Gabriel, Todd Diabo, Joe "Stone Carver" David, "Mad
Jap" and Roger Lazore.

On November 3rd, 1999, Lasagna Ron Cross was laid to rest in the graveyard
of Long House 207 at Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (Quebec Canada).

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
orakwa at paulcomm.ca
http://kahntinetahorn.tripod.com/