Last year I was asked by CERA (Citizens Equal Rights Alliance) to write two articles for an informational booket of articles called Voices Across America they were preparing to send to every sitting member of Congress - one speaking to Fee to Trust and one personal article regarding the story in Middleboro - I agreed to both and would like not only share the Middleboro article I submitted with you, but to again personally thank all CERA members for all that they do....In the 2011 edition of Voices Across America that was handed to Congress - I submitted the following article about the Mashpee Wampanoag's bid for Land in Trust specifically to build a mega casino resort in Middleboro Massachusetts.
Needful Things
- Ladies and Gentlemen, attention please! Come in close where everyone can see! I got a tale to tell, it isn't gonna cost a dime! And if you believe that, we're gonna ge along just fine! - Steve Earl 'snakoil"
In a picturesque New England town - in a small community - the announcement of plans for a newly recognized Federal Indian Tribe’s plans to build a Tribal Casino-Resort built to the likes of Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun- or more accurately “the largest casino in the world” was shocking, and at the time, unbelievable news, to say the least. Especially when said Tribe’s so called “home base” was located over 40 miles away from the proposed casino and my home was located less than 4 miles from that site and in another town altogether. I could write a best selling novel around what I witnessed first hand between 2007 through now…but I only have two pages to tell a story that is akin to a Stephen King novel. A story that started with a now convicted felon who at the time was a tribal leader, a man and a corrupt Tribal Government that was at the epicenter of the destruction of an entire town….an entire community. A man who headed a corrupt Tribal government that hid behind the thinly disguised veil of tribal sovereignty that succeeded in pitting neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, family member against family member and community against community....all under the guise of the “right under IGRA” to build a mega casino resort on land exempt from local, state and many federal regulations….an entire region that to this day is still trying to heal from the aftermath of fighting flawed federal policy while watching it unfold all over again in an unsuspecting community located just 26 miles to the south, in the same State. Why?
....So this Tribe can build a casino....Period.
Land in Trust isn’t about supporting a Tribe's ability to self govern, it is about abuses to our Government, who at the time, wanted to right the wrongs done in the past….a Government who in effect is supporting the segregation of American citizens into federally recognized Native American Tribes and the rest of us…a government that has become weak and ineffective in protecting the basic freedoms for all it’s citizens out of misplaced guilt and flawed federal policies.
So instead of rehashing the same story that is repeated over and over again in communities throughout this nation, this narrator would prefer to inform this Congress of the integrity, bravery and unprecedented unity of the communities located in Southeast Massachusetts…communities that were made to feel as if they had no rights, no say in their futures as American citizens. People who questioned the lies told to them and communities who began educating themselves on Federal Indian Policy, specifically the Land in Trust process and who slowly began to realize that under current Federal Indian Policy, they had little to no rights. People who realized that what was happening in their little corner of the world was wrong…unconstitutional and biased…and it didn’t matter unless they united together to stand up and question the injustice instilled upon them by their own Federal Government...and fight…and hope to win.
The Mashpee Wampanoag’s bid for Land in Trust in Middleboro Massachusetts is a story about corruption, lies, violence and deception. It is a story about the truth behind the true LIT process and how with no Congressional oversight Tribal Governments can attempt to bully a State Government into relinquishing it‘s own sovereign rights. A story of how communities can be raped and disseminated by the BIA, how individuals can so easily be stripped of their basic rights and people left wondering if anyone in their Government is even listening or protecting them. It is a story of the ignorance of a State Government who only sees opportunity for “revenue” without recognizing costs out of fear of “doing it ourselves or having it done to us“….it is about a so called “Native American Tribe’s” claiming aboriginal rights to land located over 40 miles from their headquarters so they can build the largest casino in the world. The truth is this is a story that has nothing to do with aboriginal rights or bettering a tribe or it’s members, and everything to do with a corrupt Tribal Government trying to take advantage of an unsuspecting community to build a mega casino resort.
Being one who was on the front lines of opposition of this casino, I witnessed firsthand how this Tribal Government and casino supporters harassed, threatened and bullied those of us against the casino, against the process of Land in Trust and who questioned Tribal Sovereignty. How could a Tribe claim sovereignty when it is being given millions of dollars in federal funding and the opportunity to take away the quality of life for those of us who chose this little corner of the world to call home? What gave this tribal government the right to try and take away our individual freedoms without due process and how in the world can one group of “American Citizens” have more rights and advantages over another group of American Citizens?
Through lies and deception…by making a small Town Board of Selectmen in desperate need of revenue believe that a mega Casino Resort on Trust land was their answer. A Board that ignored it’s citizens when they voted against having a casino on a hot July day in 2007...a meeting that has gone down in history as the Town Meeting From Hell. A Board so enumerated by the lies fed to them that they would gavel down their own citizens at meetings if they spoke against the Casino. This town had no hope…not until a small group of citizens banded together as a grassroots organization and started educating their own town and the other surrounding communities. Soon 17 communities in Plymouth County surrounding the Middleboro township organized a Regional Task Force of selectmen representing each town in opposing the land in trust process and publicly opposing the Casino in Middleboro. Through the RTF, CasinoFacts.org and bloggers, we were able get the truth out to the community and stop the casino in Middleboro. Unfortunately, the Tribe moved on to Fall River (well....now Taunton) Massachusetts….another struggling community and have begun the fear, lies and misconceptions on that unsuspecting Town. We won the battle in Middleboro, but we haven’t won the war…and we are far from healed.
The Truth. What is truth in this? The truth is the Mashpee Tribe never met the Pilgrims. That is revisionist history created by the tribe in their application for recognition. The truth is it was the Nauset Tribe who met the Pilgrims…but yet the Tribal Government would let you believe it was the them. The truth is the Mashpee tribe is a polyglot of eastern Indians who were grouped together on Cape Cod and organized by Richard Bourne in 1665 as a “praying town”. They have no historical, cultural, governmental, or geographical ties to the land in Middleboro (or Taunton for that matter). The truth is that every American citizen living today in the Commonwealth are under the civil, criminal, and taxing authority of the Commonwealth, regardless of race, ethnicity, creed, religion or sex and has been so since the state’s Indian population were made full citizens of the Commonwealth 82 years before they were made full citizens of the United States in 1924.
The truth is that flawed Federal Indian Policy disrupted the lives of thousands of Massachusetts citizens, has created a rift in a community that may never heal and this same flawed policy is allowing this Tribe to do it all over again in another town. Watching the battle against the casino unfold in Middleboro and watching what it did to me, my community, my family, friends and neighbors reminded me of that Stephen King novel, Needful Things.
...That was a story about a man named Leland Gaunt who opens a shop in a small town. Anyone who enters his store finds the object of his or her lifelong dreams and desires at no cost, yet in addition to a token payment, Gaunt requests that each person perform a seemingly innocent prank played on someone else from town. These pranks cascade out of control and soon the entire town is doing battle with itself. The antics and fighting witnessed while fighting the casino reminded me of the destruction in that novel and this is happening all over our country. It is happening all over again in my State.
The truth is that communities fighting LIT and Tribal casinos are not able to rely on our Federal Government to protect them and their communities…they can only rely on themselves. Grassroots organizations are battling flawed Federal Indian Policy all across this Nation and something needs to be done about it. I cannot speak for other communities and how or why they fight this process, but I can speak for mine. Without the tireless dedication of the people of this community I don’t know what would have happened here. I just know that the lies and deceits of the Tribe were exposed and that took away some of their power. We weren’t so much fighting against a casino as fighting for our rights granted to us under the Constitution…we were fighting to preserve our communities and way of life…we were fighting for our freedom in a time where our own government turns a blind eye to us. Here is an example of the bravery and dedication of these people:
What keeps me fighting is the wrongness of this entire situation. The more I learn, the more I want to fight. I got into this because I am worried about the future of our community and the irrepairable damage to our quality of life a casino would bring. I do it for my family...I do it for my friends…I do it for my neighbors....I do it for my community...
I do it for me because I know in my heart, not fighting, not standing up for my own rights, for all of our rights, and not demanding a fair and honest process is even more wrong than the casino itself.
Why do I keep fighting? Because it's wrong. It's wrong to be blindsided by a land sale whether or not you've been involved in the politics of the town or not. Our elected officials should have had the forethought to warn us all, knowing the potential impact a sale like this could have to a town and community. I fight because we live in a country where things like this should not happen. The process is done so coyly that unless you've lived through it, noone would believe you. I fight because it's important to have a voice and speak out....this is America after all, although that past year has made me wonder how this could happen here.
I fight the casino knowing that it is the symptom of a bigger problem, and that communities all over the country are faced with the very same "done deal" scenario, complete with local elected leaders who have failed to successfully manage a budget and need an easy answer to their fiscal problems. I fight the casino because the M'boro BOS didn't. I fight the casino because through research I have learned that an apathetic public has saddled me with an inept government, and maybe our battle will help change some of that. I fight this casino because I was one of those people who wasn't paying attention, and I was forced to fight if I wanted to have a say in what I wanted for my community. And I continue to fight because I am paying attention now, and after the casino issue is done, my job as a citizen isn't.
Kim Shea, Carver MA
Director Casinofacts.org
For the full story of what transpired in Middleboro, MA between 2007 - 2010 go to casinofacts.org or visit my blog at carverchick.blogspot.com
- be the change you want to see in the world -
2 comments:
Thank you for being there and for speaking out!
Well done.
Very interesting! Thanks or sharing!
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