Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Threatened with Land Disestablishment, Tribal Leaders Step in to Address Ongoing Land Issues and Threats to Sovereignty
Published on Mar 30, 2020
Ongoing Land Issues and Threats to Sovereignty
Published on Mar 30, 2020
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Threatened
with Land Disestablishment, Tribal Leaders Step in to Address Ongoing
Land Issues and Threats to Sovereignty
On Friday, March 27, 2020, the Secretary of the Interior notified the
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe that he has ordered the disestablishment of the
Tribe’s reservation, an act that would take Mashpee’s tribal homelands
out of trust status. This action is being taken despite Interior’s prior
commitment that no such action would be taken until litigation
defending the status of the Tribe’s reservation is resolved. This
surprise action is a devastating blow to not only the Mashpee Wampanoag
Tribe but all of Indian Country, particularly during the COVID-19
pandemic, and violates the federal government’s solemn trust
responsibility to safeguard tribal nations and their lands.
“The steps being taken right now – in the middle of a nationwide
pandemic – to disestablish our reservation and take our land out of
trust has created a crisis on top of a crisis. Our land is sacred. It’s
where our people receive health services. It’s where our children attend
our language immersion school. It’s where we are building houses for
our citizens. Taking our land is a direct attack on our culture and our
way of living,” said Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell.
“We now have no choice but to divert precious resources from COVID-19 to
address this unwarranted attack on our sovereignty. This is an
unconscionable act that’s ushered in a new termination era, and it is
the latest evidence of the erosion of the Department’s willingness to
act consistent with its trust duties to protect tribal lands.”
The land within the Mashpee Reservation has been Mashpee Wampanoag land
since time immemorial, and was set aside in trust to serve as a
permanent homeland for present and future generations of Mashpee
citizens. Last week’s misguided decision undermines the Tribe’s ability
to continue to self-govern, provide vital programs and services to its
citizens, and protect its traditional lands and cultural resources.
Last year, through a strong bipartisan vote, the House of
Representatives passed H.R. 375 (companion bill, S. 2808), commonly
referred to as the “Clean Carcieri Fix,” which would have
protected Mashpee’s and other tribal nations’ rights to permanent
homelands by resolving the damage caused to Indian Country by the
Supreme Court’s baseless 2009 opinion in Carcieri v. Salazar. Unfortunately,
the Senate has so far failed to consider or take any action on this
legislation, which is intended to restore certainty and fairness to all
tribal nations in the land-into-trust process. For a decade, Indian
Country has advocated that Congress address the Carcieri problem
and that this should be achieved by (1) restoring the Secretary of the
Interior’s authority under the Indian Reorganization Act to take land
into trust for all federally recognized tribal nations; and (2)
reaffirming existing Indian trust lands, which NCAI noted in its written testimony.
“Removing the homelands of established communities and villages
endangers the very existence of an entire nation of people. This is
unacceptable, and such an action during this pandemic is an outrage,”
said Kevin J. Allis, CEO of the National Congress of American Indians.
“At a time when tribal governments and their leaders are desperately
working to protect the health of their citizens and the economic
security of their communities in the face of the catastrophic COVID-19
pandemic, they shouldn’t also have to contend with attacks on their
tribal homelands from the very trustee that is legally obligated to
protect those homelands,” continued Allis. “Just like with the
destruction of the sacred sites of the Tohono O’odham along the southern
border, that of the Apache and Yavapai peoples at Oak Flat in Arizona,
the endangerment of Bears Ears and Chaco Canyon, and the inability of
our Native brothers and sisters in Alaska to take land into trust, this
latest action illuminates a disturbing pattern: the federal government
and this Administration’s brazen assault on the right and ability of all
tribal nations to sustain their cultures, identities, and ways of life
through deep and abiding connections to their time-honored places.”
“The action by this Administration in rendering such a decision is
dishonorable and reprehensible on its face, but to do so when we are
fighting a national pandemic is shameful. If there was any question
before, it is clear that we are experiencing a crisis in Indian Country
at this moment,” said President Kirk Francis of USET’s Sovereignty
Protection Fund. “We must all come together, stand up, and fight to
protect our inherent sovereign rights to and authorities on our own
lands. Congress has had more than a decade to do the right thing.
Baseless and nefarious challenges to our sovereign right to restore and
rebuild our tribal nations, after decades and centuries of unjust
actions that robbed of us of our lands and natural resources as the
United States pursued its growth and expansion through a rationalization
of manifest destiny, must come to an end. It is time that the United
States Congress finally does the honorable thing and pass a clean Carcieri fix.”
NCAI and the USET Sovereignty Protection Fund exist to strengthen and
support tribal sovereignty for tribal nations such as the Mashpee
Wampanoag and the 574 federally recognized tribal nations in the United
States. We call upon our champions in the United States Senate to
advance the passage of H.R. 375/S. 2808 with all due haste. Its passage
would represent a monumental victory for Indian Country, as tribal land
bases are integral to tribal sovereignty and economic opportunity.
###
About the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe:
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, also
known as the People of the First Light, has inhabited present day
Massachusetts for more than 12,000 years. After an arduous process
lasting more than three decades, the Mashpee Wampanoag were
re-acknowledged as a federally recognized tribe in 2007. In 2015, the
federal government declared 150 acres of land in Mashpee and 170 acres
of land in Taunton as the Tribe’s initial reservation, on which the
Tribe can exercise its full tribal sovereignty rights. The Mashpee tribe
currently has approximately 2,700 enrolled citizens.
About the National Congress of American Indians:
Founded in 1944, the National Congress of American Indians is the oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization in the country. NCAI advocates on behalf of tribal governments and communities, promoting strong tribal-federal government-to-government policies, and promoting a better understanding among the general public regarding American Indian and Alaska Native governments, people and rights. For more information, visit www.ncai.org.
Founded in 1944, the National Congress of American Indians is the oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization in the country. NCAI advocates on behalf of tribal governments and communities, promoting strong tribal-federal government-to-government policies, and promoting a better understanding among the general public regarding American Indian and Alaska Native governments, people and rights. For more information, visit www.ncai.org.
About the USET Sovereignty Protection Fund (USET SPF):
Established in 2014, the USET
Sovereignty Protection Fund (USET SPF) is a non-profit, inter-Tribal
organization advocating on behalf of thirty (30) federally recognized
Tribal Nations from the Northeastern Woodlands to the Everglades and
across the Gulf of Mexico. USET SPF is dedicated to promoting,
protecting, and advancing the inherent sovereign rights and authorities
of Tribal Nations and in assisting its membership in dealing effectively
with public policy issues.
Source: http://www.ncai.org/news
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