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Opinion
Column: Shinnecock Nation only seeks a future


"A full 365 years since white interlopers set themselves, their locks, stocks and barrels on East End sand, a remnant of the Shinnecock tribe today is demanding that what belonged to their ancients be returned to them. It is suing in federal court to retake 3,600 Southampton acres encompassing the Shinnecock Hills greens that have hosted four U.S. Open golf championships, the pastoral National Golf Links Club and Long Island University's Southampton campus.

Some locals are dismissing the litigious Shinnecocks as a bunch of dreamers. Many of non-Indian extraction call the territorial claim pie-in-the-sky. They are unfazed, unbothered, resting comfortably, predictably on their ancestral laurels.

'The one question I have is, 'Why did it take so long?' one Southamptonite told a reporter colleague of mine. 'Is it because the property values are so high?'

'The question,' asked another among the protesting locals who have been quoted in this newspaper, 'is how many years do you go back?'

From the hardware store clerk barely out of his teens: 'I feel like we're paying a price right now that our generation isn't responsible for.'"

Get the Story:
Katti Gray: Native soil, but whose? (Newsday 6/20)

Relevant Links:
Shinnecock Nation - http://www.shinnecocknation.com

Related Stories:
Tribe's lawsuit claims pricey Hamptons properties (6/17)
Editorial: Shinnecock Nation needs answer from BIA (6/17)
Shinnecock Nation takes land claim papers to court (6/16)
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Shinnecock Nation cites fraud in theft of land (6/14)
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Shinnecock Nation lays claim to bones of 60-foot whale (04/06)
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Hearing used to air complaints about tribal recognition (04/01)
Federal recognition process subject of two hearings (03/31)
Judge to have 'final word' on Shinnecock recognition (01/28)
Shinnecock Nation case tests legal waters (1/26)
Shinnecock leaders compare opposition to genocide (1/22)
BIA wants Shinnecocks to wait a decade for status (12/18)
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