Opinion: White man ripping off the Red man again

Monday, July 30, 2007  

"Federal recognition of the Wampanoags as a tribe should open vast opportunities for the tribe to gain quality medical care, education assistance, property, housing for tribe members and economic opportunity. There are numerous federal programs available to help the tribe lift itself out of its precarious position. But, to date, the only initiative Glenn Marshall and the tribal council have organized seems to be the one that Middleboro voters will decide on Saturday, a casino. The fate of this sovereign Indian nation is again in the hands of white men. Amelia Bingham says, "Glenn has kept the tribe in the dark, no one knows what he has been up to." She also speaks of Scott Ferson, "He doesn't speak for me or the tribe. He's not even one of us. He's a white man from Boston."

The situation is at the very least interesting. The official Wampanoag spokesman is a white man from Boston who is not paid by the tribe but by non-tribal interests who are looking to make potentially billions of dollars by renting from Glenn Marshall the Wampanoag's gaming franchise in Massachusetts. Rank and file members of the tribe are excluded from the planning of this enterprise, are not permitted access to the complete financial dossier of their own sovereign nation and those who oppose the rule of Glenn Marshall are to be expelled from tribal activities, and perhaps even stricken from its membership rolls. No one knows how much outside money has come into tribal coffers or what Wampanoag members have received how much over what period of time for what services they have performed because the tribal council is headed by man who will not disclose what he does no want known.

The only official source of information about these matters is paid by South African gaming speculators, among other investors. Amelia Bingham's words ring loud and clear in her strong, measured tones, "I was proud to call myself a Wampanoag from the time I could talk. I was a Wampanoag before Glenn Marshall was born and he cannot make me anything but a Wampanoag." She points out that when Marshall was identifying himself as Cape Verdean she was a proud Wampanoag."

Get the Story:
Peter Kenney: The Red Man is getting ripped off by the White Man again (Cape Cod Today 7/28)

Relevant Documents:
DOI Final Determination | Summary of Acknowledgment Cases | R. Lee Fleming Declaration

Only on Indianz.Com:
Federal Recognition Database V2.0 (May 2005)

Relevant Links:
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe - http://mashpeewampanoagtribe.com

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