Opinion

Column: Tough case for Narragansett jury

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

"The newspaper had a nice photo last week of Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas testifying in Superior Court in the Narragansett Indian smoke shop case.

But it was a sorry sight too. On ceremonial occasions this same man dons a handsome feather headdress that befits the leader of a sovereign nation. Yet here in Judge Susan McGuirl’s courtroom, he is accused, along with six other tribe members, of being a common criminal.

Thomas told me he was not ashamed. “I’m here because we stood up for what we believed in and we’ve got to defend it.”

He said he floats between two worlds and tries not to allow history to eat away at him. “There are days when I ride up to Colt State Park, there are days when I ride down to Point Judith and look at the ocean, and realize once upon a time our chief sachems ruled over that and we ruled it all. … I realize that the world has changed, that there’s no turning the clock back, but all we’re trying to do is get people to understand who we are, what we are, allow us to be self-sufficient and, in trying to do that, we just keep battling.”

I like Thomas, but it’s not for me to decide if the Indians assaulted state police, resisted arrest, or engaged in disorderly conduct during the July 14, 2003, raid that closed down the smoke shop."

Get the Story:
M. Charles Bakst: Verdict will be trial for jurors (The Providence Journal 4/1)
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