Land of the Lost - Part One

So here we are one year later and we’ve come a long way in fighting the proposed casino in Middleboro. We have heard it all….it is inevitable…it is coming no matter what you do….if you don’t fall in line then you are a liar, a racist, a terrorist or perhaps even mentally challenged. The one “reason” that has bothered me from day one of this entire debacle is the argument that “it is the Mashpee Wampanoag’s right to build a casino here”. Really? Is it really their right to build a casino in Middleboro under the IGRA? The answer to that question is a big fat NO!

Don’t get me wrong here. I am happy that the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has been granted their federal recognition status. After reading the Summary Under the Criteria and Evidence for Final Determination for Federal Acknowledgement of the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council submitted to the BIA, I have no doubt that the Masphee Wampanoag’s are a Tribe. They deserve their federal recognition. They do not however have the right to build a casino in Middleboro. If you went to, or watched the March 25th BIA hearing you heard Mark Bellanger’s excellent statement about “reservation shopping”. He made an excellent point here because, in essence, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act specifically states Indian Tribe’s are not allowed to conduct gaming on land taken into trust after October 17, 1988. The loophole lies in the exceptions to this rule (in red):

TITLE 25 - INDIANS, CHAPTER 29 - INDIAN GAMING REGULATIONSec. 2719. Gaming on lands acquired after October 17, 1988CITE: 25 U.S.C. 2719SOURCE: (Pub. L. 100-497, Sec. 20, Oct. 17, 1988, 102 Stat. 2485.)

(a) Prohibition on lands acquired in trust by Secretary
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, gaming regulated by this chapter shall not be conducted on lands acquired by the Secretary in trust for the benefit of an Indian tribe after October 17, 1988, unless -
(1) such lands are located within or contiguous to the boundaries of the reservation of the Indian tribe on October 17, 1988; or
(2) the Indian tribe has no reservation on October 17, 1988, and -
(A) such lands are located in Oklahoma and -
(i) are within the boundaries of the Indian tribe's former reservation, as defined by the Secretary, or
(ii) are contiguous to other land held in trust or restricted status by the United States for the Indian tribe in Oklahoma; or
(B) such lands are located in a State other than Oklahoma and are within the Indian tribe's last recognized reservation within the State or States within which such Indian tribe is presently located.
(b) Exceptions
(1) Subsection (a) of this section will not apply when -
(A) the Secretary, after consultation with the Indian tribe and appropriate State and local officials, including officials of other nearby Indian tribes, determines that a gaming establishment on newly acquired lands would be in the best interest of the Indian tribe and its members, and would not be detrimental to the surrounding community, but only if the Governor of the State in which the gaming activity is to be conducted concurs in the Secretary's determination; or
(B) lands are taken into trust as part of -
(i) a settlement of a land claim,
(ii) the initial reservation of an Indian tribe acknowledged by the Secretary under the Federal acknowledgment process, or
(iii) the restoration of lands for an Indian tribe that is restored to Federal recognition.

So, the skinny here is that “reservation shopping” is literally when a Tribe, or in our case, foreign casino investors want to take land for a purpose that has little or nothing to do with a tribe’s actual tribal heritage, but everything to do with gambling and place it into trust as an initial reservation. This is exactly what is happening with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. They have asked the Department of the Interior to take two tracts of land; 140 acres in Mashpee and 539 acres of land in Middleboro into trust as their initial reservation. In their Application Summary, they state:

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (“Tribe”) requests that the Secretary of the Interior take title to properties totaling approximately 140 acres more or less of land in Mashpee, Massachusetts (subject to survey), and approximately 539 acres more or less of land in Middleboro, Massachusetts (subject to survey), to be held in trust for the Tribe, pursuant to section 5 of the Indian Reorganization Act, 25 U.S.C. 465 (“IRA”) and its implementing regulations. The Tribe further requests that the lands be proclaimed the Tribe’s reservation by the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to section 7 of the IRA, 25 U.S.C. 267, and that the Secretary determine that such lands constitute the initial reservation of a newly acknowledged Indian tribe on which gaming may be conducted pursuant to section 20(b)(1)(B)(ii) of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C. 2791(b)(1)(B)(ii).

The problem I see in this is the request to place the 539 acres of land in Middleboro in trust as an “initial reservation”. The Mashpee Wampanoag’s need the land in Middleboro to be determined their “initial reservation” if they want to build a casino. My understanding is they have an agreement with the Town of Mashpee to not build a casino. Sooooooo, they needed to find an optimum site for their casino that has easy access to an interstate and a metropolitan area with a large number of potential gamblers. Under the IGRA, the only way they can build a casino is if this land is considered their initial reservation because according to a July 2005 testimony before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, to qualify for initial reservation exception, a tribe must show that it has strong geographic and historical ties to the land.

I stated earlier that I didn’t doubt that the Mashpee Wampanoag Indians tribal status…and I don’t. I do however highly doubt their historical and ancestral ties to Middleboro. In their summary for final determination, the Tribe was required to detail their history and connections to their land. They were quite successful in doing this for the land in Mashpee. However, reading through the 42 page document, not one mention of Middleboro was made. Not one. So how can they claim their ancestral rights to Middleboro? Well, in their application summary I was able to find this statement:

The Tribe currently has 1531 members, of whom over half – 838- live in Barnstable County (i.e. within 10 miles of Mashpee). Another 88 members live in Plymouth County (which includes Middleboro) and 70 live in neighboring Bristol County for a total of 984 members living within an approximate 50 mile radius of Mashpee Town.

I really get a chuckle out of this statement because it effectively covers the current issues with the Secretary of the Interior rejecting applications for land into trust for land located 40 miles or more from an existing Tribe’s initial reservation. Again, though, they are trying to make the land in Middleboro their initial reservation. I hardly think that saying that some of your tribal members are currently living in Plymouth County constitutes ancestral and historical ties. With that twisted logic, they could take land in any town located in both Plymouth and Bristol counties because they have tribal members living there now and any ancestrial ties to these lands is irrelevant.

What I find disturbing in all of this is that there are actually other tribes in our State who are not federally recognized, and who most likely do have ancestral ties to the land in Middleboro. In essence, the Mashpee Wampanoag’s are trying to encroach on land that doesn’t belong to them historically, and are seeking to move onto ancestral lands of other Tribes in Massachusetts in order to build a casino. I also find it highly unsettling that these foreign casino investors and the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribe are basically undermining the sanctity of the ancestral lands of these other tribes.

So I have decided that I am going to dedicate my next several blogs to exposing why the Mashpee Tribe has no right to the land in Middleboro. I would love to show you everything we have uncovered reading through the application and their history in just one blog, but honestly, the evidence against their having any ancestral ties in Middleboro is so overwhelming that it just cannot be done. I will also blog about what they wrote in their final determination and how they show ties in Mashpee – not Middleboro. You can then make your own determination as to whether they have the right to build a casino in our community. Me….I have made my determination, as have many of us who are currently going through the application line by line. Our goal? To simply show to the Secretary of the Interior that the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribe has no ancestral ties to the land in Middleboro – and to ensure the Secretary does not hold that land in trust as an initial reservation for the Tribe so their deep pocket foreign investors can build a mega resort casino…..or a mega-resort bingo hall either. Like I've said…..it’s a pipe dream and it ain’t gonna happen.

- be the change you want to see in the world -