Give America Back To The Indians!

Byrnzie

He he!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/ju ... e-american


Native American tribe reclaims slice of the Hamptons after court victory

Shinnecock nation recovers ancestral lands in millionaires' Long Island playground after gaining federal recognition

* Paul Harris in Southampton, New York
* The Observer, Sunday 11 July 2010


From a distance the teardrop-shaped peninsula looks just like any other bit of the famed Hamptons shoreline. Thick woods crowd down to the water's edge, and through the trees houses and roads can be glimpsed.

But this land is not part of the Hamptons, neither is it really part of the United States any more. This patch – in the middle of the playground to Manhattan's social elite – is proudly and fiercely Native American country.

Almost four centuries since their first contact with the white man and after a 32-year court battle that has just ended in victory, the tiny Shinnecock tribe has now been formally recognised by America's federal government.

The decision means that the Shinnecock, numbering some 1,300 members, many of whom live in deep poverty compared with their wealthy neighbours, can apply for federal funding to build schools, health centres and set up their own police force. It means their tiny 750-acre reservation is now a semi-sovereign nation within the US, just like much bigger and more famous reservations in the west.

In order to qualify the Shinnecock literally had to prove that they existed, submitting thousands of pages of tribal records. It was a process that has left a bitter legacy. "Why do we need federal recognition to show we are who we are?" said Shinnecock leader Lance Gumbs as he sat in his office in the community centre. "It's a humiliating, degrading and insensitive process. Why do Indian people have to go through that? No other peoples are treated like that."

Many believe that the lengthy and painful process that the Shinnecock have been forced to go through is explained by the tribe's position bang in the middle of the Hamptons, the string of Long Island towns where rich New Yorkers come to party away the summers. The difference between Shinnecock land and the rest of the Hamptons is jarring. The reservation, signalled by a line of stalls selling cheap cigarettes, sits side by side with the town of Southampton, heart of the Hamptons scene.

On the reservation, some roads are dusty and unpaved. The houses can be ramshackle. Unemployment can be a problem for many Shinnecock members. Outside it on the streets of Southampton, stretch limos and black Lexus prowl down streets lined with shops selling Ralph Lauren and Diane von Furstenberg. A real estate agent on Southampton's main street happily advertises a local house going for $12.2m.

Historically – and indeed pretty much since Europeans first arrived in the area in the 1600s – the Shinnecock have been on the retreat. They lost land steadily as more and more Europeans began to farm their traditional territory, eventually leading to an agreement in 1703 that saw them confined to a broad swath of land around Southampton under a 1,000-year lease. However, in 1859 the pressure of development saw that deal scrapped by the settlers and the Shinnecock reduced to their current tiny holding. For years tribal members then eked out a living working on white farms or helping local fishermen and whalers.

Now that is all set to change as a key part of federal recognition allows the Shinnecock to do the one thing that has changed Native American fortunes more than anything else in the last 100 years: build a casino. Gumbs now sees real power finally in Shinnecock hands. "We are going after everything we are entitled to," he said. "I am not a big fan of Southampton. They were happy as long as we were the good little Indians in the corner. Well, that's changed now."

It is unlikely that the Shinnecock will build their casino in the Hamptons itself, which is already notoriously crowded and traffic-clogged. Instead the simple threat of it is likely to eventually see them negotiate the right to build a casino elsewhere in Long Island, an area that is seen as ripe for the development of a gambling mecca.

Either way, it seems Shinnecock fortunes are set to be dramatically reversed. For many tribal members it is a chance to rescue what remains of the tribe's culture. Sitting in the tribal museum and cultural centre, Winonah Warren, 71, remembers being taken as a young girl to see a Shinnecock medicine man. She sees the deer that she spots in her garden as a spiritual sign.

She practises a Native American religion in which she takes peyote. It is about as far from the Hamptons scene as it is possible to get. "I love being on the reservation. Even when I am not here, I feel that my heart is," she said, touching her chest.

Some even feel that federal recognition – and the prospect of a casino – might be the beginning of a wider Shinnecock resurgence. In the white land grab of 1859 an area of land called the Shinnecock Hills was taken. Many Shinnecock held it to be sacred ground. It is now full of rich houses and the famous Shinnecock Hills golf club, with total real estate worth more than a billion dollars. The Shinnecock have sued to get it back.

For many of the Hamptons residents the prospect no doubt seems ridiculous: a relic of ancient history and long-forgotten wrongs. But not so for some of the Shinnecock. Elizabeth Haile, a 79-year-old tribal member, remembers her grandmother telling her how the Shinnecock Hills had been stolen.

Does she think the tribe will ever get them back? "Yeah," she said with no hesitation, and then added with a smile: "It is a prediction. Some people never thought we would get federally recognised."

BinauralJam

Let them try and take it!!!

Byrnzie

KOYOURASS wrote:

Let them try and take it!!!

I wonder what they'd do with it if they did take it back? :think:

Maybe you'd all get to eat peyote for breakfast every morning?

And maybe motor vehicles would be replaced with horses and buffalo? :think:

WaveCameCrashin

This is somthing that should have happened a long time ago. Maybe someday china will give Tibet back

Godfather.

Byrnzie wrote:

KOYOURASS wrote:

Let them try and take it!!!

I wonder what they'd do with it if they did take it back? :think:

Maybe you'd all get to eat peyote for breakfast every morning?

And maybe motor vehicles would be replaced with horses and buffalo? :think:

I'm betting on a casino

Godfather.

BinauralJam

Maybe you'd all get to eat peyote for breakfast every morning?



Well maybe something can be arranged.

blackredyellow

Byrnzie wrote:

KOYOURASS wrote:

Let them try and take it!!!

I wonder what they'd do with it if they did take it back? :think:

Maybe you'd all get to eat peyote for breakfast every morning?

And maybe motor vehicles would be replaced with horses and buffalo? :think:

If they take our land back, then we (people of European descent) are taking our horses back off of them. They can go back to walking

Godfather.

blackredyellow wrote:

Byrnzie wrote:

KOYOURASS wrote:

Let them try and take it!!!

I wonder what they'd do with it if they did take it back? :think:

Maybe you'd all get to eat peyote for breakfast every morning?

And maybe motor vehicles would be replaced with horses and buffalo? :think:

If they take our land back, then we (people of European descent) are taking our horses back off of them. They can go back to walking

and our metals,before the settlers arived they used all stone and bone tools.
this is just a goofy idea, should the people of other countries give back their land also ?or just the Americans.

anybody seen any cromagnim or neiandertal people at the casino lately ? they might be here to reclaim their rightful lands from the Indians...so ez a caveman can do it.
please forgive my primitive spelling.

Godfather.

pjfan021

idk...not too funny to me. we kinda fucked over an entire culture of people just so we could have their land. if i were a native american, i'd probably be doing something instead of being content living in poverty. dated a girl who has family that lives on the reservation in south dakota and it's a pretty serious problem. siblings grow up around alcholics and drug abuse and just fall into the same pattern...sorry but i got no problems with some natives tryin to restore some dignity to their name.

stargirl69

prfctlefts wrote:

This is somthing that should have happened a long time ago. Maybe someday china will give Tibet back

I agree .. and for the Canadian First Nations .. I read the Canadian Government finally made an apology to the first nations.They admitted they had made a "mistake" in putting priest and nuns into reservations to promote Roman Catholicism ... and actively rid the native teachings,culture and values ... Some of the accounts of abuse etc sickened me.

Yet like Seattle a lot of the "tourist attractions" is Native/First Nation based and a real money spinner for the lucky few.But while living in Canada,I saw time and time again many of the First Nations pushed to the outskirts of areas in poor housing,unemployed and many of them addicted.
It is way over due that people are giving their rights back.

And yes it is way over dues that China should give Tibet back ... glass houses

arq

blackredyellow wrote:

Byrnzie wrote:

KOYOURASS wrote:

Let them try and take it!!!

I wonder what they'd do with it if they did take it back? :think:

Maybe you'd all get to eat peyote for breakfast every morning?

And maybe motor vehicles would be replaced with horses and buffalo? :think:

If they take our land back, then we (people of European descent) are taking our horses back off of them. They can go back to walking

Ok take your horses back but people of European descent have to restore every natural resource they took from here in the last 500 years and restore the land how they found it... maybe if they keep the horses is not a bad deal after all.

Pepe Silvia

Godfather. wrote:

blackredyellow wrote:

Byrnzie wrote:

I wonder what they'd do with it if they did take it back? :think:

Maybe you'd all get to eat peyote for breakfast every morning?

And maybe motor vehicles would be replaced with horses and buffalo? :think:

If they take our land back, then we (people of European descent) are taking our horses back off of them. They can go back to walking

and our metals,before the settlers arived they used all stone and bone tools.
this is just a goofy idea, should the people of other countries give back their land also ?or just the Americans.

anybody seen any cromagnim or neiandertal people at the casino lately ? they might be here to reclaim their rightful lands from the Indians...so ez a caveman can do it.
please forgive my primitive spelling.

Godfather.

i wonder if white people would be willing to give up a lot of the food and agricultural processes they got from the natives? :problem:

BinauralJam

I'll give them Arizona!!!

Byrnzie

stargirl69 wrote:

And yes it is way over dues that China should give Tibet back ... glass houses

Nothing to do with glass houses, as I agree. And I'm not Chinese by the way.

BinauralJam

Byrnzie wrote:

stargirl69 wrote:

And yes it is way over dues that China should give Tibet back ... glass houses

Nothing to do with glass houses, as I agree. And I'm not Chinese by the way.

Sure your not Jet Li

_

Awesome! More power to them!

I found this part of the article particularly important:

Byrnzie wrote:

For many of the Hamptons residents the prospect no doubt seems ridiculous: a relic of ancient history and long-forgotten wrongs. But not so for some of the Shinnecock. Elizabeth Haile, a 79-year-old tribal member, remembers her grandmother telling her how the Shinnecock Hills had been stolen.

Based on conversations here, it seems to me that many people want to believe that the wrongs committed against the Native peoples are all ancient history - but they're not. (Remember that one time someone said the Native Americans have it so good? That still amazes me!) I hope this case calls more attention to modern-day atrocities that are still being committed.

Byrnzie

KOYOURASS wrote:

Byrnzie wrote:

stargirl69 wrote:

And yes it is way over dues that China should give Tibet back ... glass houses

Nothing to do with glass houses, as I agree. And I'm not Chinese by the way.

Sure your not Jet Li

I have my moments

Byrnzie

scb wrote:

Awesome! More power to them!

I found this part of the article particularly important:

Byrnzie wrote:

For many of the Hamptons residents the prospect no doubt seems ridiculous: a relic of ancient history and long-forgotten wrongs. But not so for some of the Shinnecock. Elizabeth Haile, a 79-year-old tribal member, remembers her grandmother telling her how the Shinnecock Hills had been stolen.

Based on conversations here, it seems to me that many people want to believe that the wrongs committed against the Native peoples are all ancient history - but they're not. (Remember that one time someone said the Native Americans have it so good? That still amazes me!) I hope this case calls more attention to modern-day atrocities that are still being committed.

Everyone should read Peter Matthiessons book 'In The Spirit of Crazy Horse': http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Crazy-Hors ... 778&sr=8-1

Hugh Freaking Dillon

first off, I'm sure the thread title was tongue in cheek, but they aren't Indians. they never were. Indians are from India.

I also have no issue with Aboriginals getting back something that was taken from them. Whenever I hear people talking about today's immigrants and assimilation and all that shit, I just say "then you should be eating bannock, skinning buffalo, and speaking Ojibway".

Hugh Freaking Dillon

and yes, to whomever brought it up, the Canadian government did finally apologize to the survivors of the residential school fiasco. Thousands upon thousands of aboriginals were stolen from their homes, many never returned, and those who did have severe emotional problems. It was disgusting.

I don't like who's currently in power (actually, I don't even like any of other 16 candidates), but I give my government props for standing tall and saying what should have been said long ago. It's only the beginning of the healing process for these people.

Kel Varnsen

I saw this posted on another message board where someone brought up a very valid point. Is there a way the Shinnecock can prove they always lived on those lands and they didn't steal it from some other native group?