The Trade
The Trade
The author begins her exploration of the Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne by visiting the many smoke shops lining the highway. After befriending a clerk at one shop, she starts to see the community’s similarities to Tejanos, particularly in regards to drug trafficking. She also learns that Mohawks do not consider their covert transferring of cigarettes from one nation to the next “smuggling,” but rather: “trading.” That is because Mohawks have been living in the St. Lawrence River Valley since time immemorial—long before white men drew arbitrary lines across it. The United States and Great Britain signed The Jay Treaty two centuries ago granting Indians the right to trade with each other. Canada, however, sharply disagrees with this reasoning, as its government loses upward of $2 billion annually to lost tax revenue.
Keywords: Indian smoke shop, Akwesasne, St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, tribal casino, cigarette smuggling, tobacco trade, U.S. Canada Border, Akwesasne Mohawk Casino, native sovereignty, The Jay Treaty
North Carolina Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
