Supporters Rally Around Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe
By Jessica Hill
Cape Cod Times
Mar 30, 2020
MASHPEE — Since the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe received the news Friday that its land would be taken out of trust, it has received an outpouring of support and calls to action.
Tribal officials are calling on the House of Representatives and the Senate to pass bill H.R. 312, also known as the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act.
Legislators and celebrities have released statements calling out the U.S. Department of the Interior’s order to disestablish the tribe’s reservation and remove its land-in-trust status.
State Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, and state Rep. David Vieira, R-Falmouth, said Monday they plan to circulate a letter to colleagues in the state Legislature and others in the public voicing their disappointment with Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s order.
“The intent is to really convey our strong disappointment that the federal government would take this sort of action against any tribe, let alone doing so in the midst of a national emergency is cruel and pathetic,” Cyr said Monday. “It is very sad that as we mark 400 years since first contact, at least in Massachusetts with the Pilgrims, that the People of the First Light would be treated by the federal government in such a cruel and unacceptable way.”
Vieira said the move is a “slap in the face to the first Native American tribe who received the Pilgrims.”
“How more authentic could a tribe be in the United States than those that we have as part of our national story?” he said. “We’re very disappointed with the action.”
On Sunday, U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren released a joint statement calling the Trump administration’s actions a “cruel injustice.”
On Sunday, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders also released a statement in support of the tribe.
“I stand with the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in their fight to restore lands that belong to them and oppose the disgraceful decision by the Trump Administration to disestablish their lands held in trust by the Department of Interior,” Sanders said in the statement.
Bands such as Portugal. The Man have also voiced support and urged people to sign the petition.
While the tribe has received an abundance of support, important questions still have not been answered, such as why the order was declared and what effects it will have.
Tribal attorney Benjamin Wish wrote in a statement Monday that no court has ever ordered the Department to take the Tribe’s land out of trust.
“The District Court did not so order,” Wish said in the statement. “The First Circuit did not so order. In fact, neither court ordered anyone to do anything.”
The tribe is continuing to provide health services and operate its food services for its citizens in need. It will also continue to provide educational language services through its Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project, which operates a school dedicated to children’s immersion of the tribal language.
The tribe first received federal recognition in 2007, and the federal government then went into the process of taking the land into trust, Peters said. With the land in trust, the tribe was then able to operate as a sovereign entity, providing its members schooling, health services and housing, Peters said.
Those services and projects, such as the development of 42 units of affordable housing and the school that it operates, are now at risk.
“There, kids are able to have educational curriculum that is based on our culture and language, which is what most tribes strive for,” Peters said. “If those kids didn’t have that school, it would be devastating.”
While the tribe hopes to have its questions answered soon, members continue to rally in support.
Jessie “Little Doe” Baird, vice chairwoman of the tribal council, said in the powwow that when the Mayflower arrived 400 years ago, the settlers brought with them a very bad sickness that had spread through the ship, causing half of the people on the Mayflower to die.
“But our people didn’t turn them away,” she said. “Our people didn’t build a wall. Our people didn’t blame them. Our people reached out to the Pilgrims. We protected them. We fed them, and we showed them how to feed themselves and shared the resources here with them. We also entered into an agreement with them, an agreement of peace and mutual aid.”
“Mashpee is in a desperate situation right now,” Baird said. “We are fighting a virus, and we’ve had war declared on us by our own government.”
By Jessica Hill
Cape Cod Times
Mar 30, 2020
MASHPEE — Since the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe received the news Friday that its land would be taken out of trust, it has received an outpouring of support and calls to action.
Tribal officials are calling on the House of Representatives and the Senate to pass bill H.R. 312, also known as the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act.
Legislators and celebrities have released statements calling out the U.S. Department of the Interior’s order to disestablish the tribe’s reservation and remove its land-in-trust status.
State Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, and state Rep. David Vieira, R-Falmouth, said Monday they plan to circulate a letter to colleagues in the state Legislature and others in the public voicing their disappointment with Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s order.
“The intent is to really convey our strong disappointment that the federal government would take this sort of action against any tribe, let alone doing so in the midst of a national emergency is cruel and pathetic,” Cyr said Monday. “It is very sad that as we mark 400 years since first contact, at least in Massachusetts with the Pilgrims, that the People of the First Light would be treated by the federal government in such a cruel and unacceptable way.”
Vieira said the move is a “slap in the face to the first Native American tribe who received the Pilgrims.”
“How more authentic could a tribe be in the United States than those that we have as part of our national story?” he said. “We’re very disappointed with the action.”
On Sunday, U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren released a joint statement calling the Trump administration’s actions a “cruel injustice.”
“The Mashpee Wampanoag have a right to their ancestral homeland no matter what craven political games the Trump administration tries to play,” the statement reads. “Disestablishment of the Mashpee Wampanoag reservation would reopen a shameful and painful chapter of American history of systematically ripping apart tribal lands and breaking the federal government’s word. We will not allow the Mashpee Wampanoag to lose their homeland. We will fight this cruel injustice that promises to have ripple effects across Indian Country.”
On Sunday, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders also released a statement in support of the tribe.
“I stand with the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in their fight to restore lands that belong to them and oppose the disgraceful decision by the Trump Administration to disestablish their lands held in trust by the Department of Interior,” Sanders said in the statement.
Bands such as Portugal. The Man have also voiced support and urged people to sign the petition.
While the tribe has received an abundance of support, important questions still have not been answered, such as why the order was declared and what effects it will have.
Tribal attorney Benjamin Wish wrote in a statement Monday that no court has ever ordered the Department to take the Tribe’s land out of trust.
“The District Court did not so order,” Wish said in the statement. “The First Circuit did not so order. In fact, neither court ordered anyone to do anything.”
The tribe is continuing to provide health services and operate its food services for its citizens in need. It will also continue to provide educational language services through its Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project, which operates a school dedicated to children’s immersion of the tribal language.
The tribe first received federal recognition in 2007, and the federal government then went into the process of taking the land into trust, Peters said. With the land in trust, the tribe was then able to operate as a sovereign entity, providing its members schooling, health services and housing, Peters said.
Those services and projects, such as the development of 42 units of affordable housing and the school that it operates, are now at risk.
“There, kids are able to have educational curriculum that is based on our culture and language, which is what most tribes strive for,” Peters said. “If those kids didn’t have that school, it would be devastating.”
While the tribe hopes to have its questions answered soon, members continue to rally in support.
On Sunday, tribal members held an hours long social distancing powwow, speaking through video chat about the tribe’s history and urging viewers to show support.
Jessie “Little Doe” Baird, vice chairwoman of the tribal council, said in the powwow that when the Mayflower arrived 400 years ago, the settlers brought with them a very bad sickness that had spread through the ship, causing half of the people on the Mayflower to die.
“But our people didn’t turn them away,” she said. “Our people didn’t build a wall. Our people didn’t blame them. Our people reached out to the Pilgrims. We protected them. We fed them, and we showed them how to feed themselves and shared the resources here with them. We also entered into an agreement with them, an agreement of peace and mutual aid.”
“Mashpee is in a desperate situation right now,” Baird said. “We are fighting a virus, and we’ve had war declared on us by our own government.”
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