"Paul Delaronde is a warrior, and a Warrior. He�s a leader of the Warrior Society, a new movement intended to personify the ideals of the old Chiefs, but without the Chiefs� regard for the Haundenosaunee, which the Warriors feel no longer represents their people or their values.

He�s a man who speaks of democracy with reverence, but he�s also a man of action, one who led a handful of others into the Longhouse at Onondaga and disrupted the Tribal Council in 1989. Placing a large wooden war-club inside the doorway, symbolically (and actually) threatening everyone present, these Warriors announced that they would no longer recognize the authority of the Chiefs. And then they walked out.

An official press release followed a year later, declaring: �Now that war is being forced upon us, we will turn our hearts and minds to war and it too we will wage with all of our might.�

Paul�s FBI file, dating back to the early 1970s, is thicker than John Lennon�s and Martin Luther King Jr.�s combined. Back then he was a radical young leader of an aboriginal movement intent on reclaiming Native lands by enforcing ancient, long-broken treaties through bold but (mostly) legal means. These days, he�s gunning for existing Native institutions and leadership.

Raised by his grandparents in Quebec, just across the border, and speaking only the aboriginal language at home, Paul received a lifetime of training for this moment. He has triple citizenship: Canadian, American and Mohawk. He has traveled the world, and taken part in both peaceful and bloody revolts. Now, though, he�s middle-aged and increasingly worried about his people, particularly his teenage son, who�s more interested in girls than Native issues.

He drives below the speed limit and often checks his rearview. And he won�t discuss the Warrior Society with me. I have heard and read enough, though, to know that Native leaders and federal officials alike see its rebirth and rapid expansion as the greatest threat to their future co-existence."

Get the Story:
Brad Lockwood: NEW YORK'S ANGRY, ARMED MOHAWKS (The New York Press 2/1)