"Few arguments arouse such extreme passion as the fight over immigration. The topic touches many aspects of everyday life and can be seen as a threat to traditional culture, an opportunity to broaden ideological diversity, an economic boom or bust, or a political game-changer. Wanting to further understand the conflicting perspectives on this issue, I traveled to the place regarded as the very heart of the debate, where major legislation has recently caused enormous turmoil in the social and political spheres.

To Chogan Tanguma, an elder in the Nipmuc American Indian tribe and member of the Wabanaki Council, the situation is perfectly clear.

“The white man must leave,” Tanguma told me firmly, before softening his tone. “Look,” he continued, “I get it. Many of these people are fleeing some sort of persecution in their homeland, and quite a few just want a better life for their families. I’m sympathetic to their plight. But we can’t just have foreign nationals waltzing in here, overturning traditions that have existed for untold generations, and claiming private ownership of land just because ‘God’ told them to. What’s a ‘God,’ anyway?”

In response to this perceived threat, Tanguma authored the controversial Algonquin Unity bill, formally known as SB 1070, which has in recent weeks generated buzz among community leaders both for and against the legislation. Essentially, the bill aims to restrict the ability of whites living within Algonquin-speaking territory to find work, and it proposes strict fines for American Indians who trade with Europeans that have not filed the correct documents with the Wabanaki Confederacy. The most infamous section, however, is a clause which would grant Algonquin warriors the right to question the legal American residency of anyone they thought looked suspiciously white."

Get the Story:
Abe Cass: The American Indian’s Perspective on Immigration (The Pomona College Student Life 10/7)