An accident, which is a rule used in a specific instance it was not meant for, is what the Department of Interior used, but it was no “accident.”
The National Congress of American Indians disagrees strongly with the Department of the Interior’s recently announced decision affecting the tribal homelands of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.
In the decision, the Department(DOI) failed to consider the totality of the Tribe’s evidence in determining whether or not the Tribe was “under the jurisdiction” of the Federal Government in 1934. Instead, the Tribe was unfairly expected to prove that each individual submitted piece of evidence on its own proved that the Tribe was under federal jurisdiction, rather than viewing the collective evidence presented by the Tribe and then making a determination based on all of the assembled facts.
Furthermore, it’s no “accident” Tara Sweeney is the new Indian Scout, putting the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe “on the chopping block” after tracking them with the overgeneralized rule (unfairly expected to prove that each individual submitted piece of evidence).
Tara Sweeney, the recently-installed Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, issued a decision on Friday that paves the way for a reservation to be taken out of trust for the first time since the termination era. The victim in this age of self-determination and sovereignty is the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, whose home lands in Massachusetts are now on the chopping block.
Sweeney even put her own homelands “on the chopping block,” like any good fascist Tr*mp apologist would.
Sweeney also has pushed for Congress to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy development. Her corporation, Arctic Slope, owns subsurface rights and the Kaktovik Iñupiat Corporation owns surface rights to land within ANWR where development could occur. Native residents anticipate jobs, revenues and economic growth if Congress takes action.
Democrats, environmental groups and the Gwich'in people have long opposed drilling in the refuge. But it's one of the Trump administration's new priorities and Sweeney's addition to the team signals a new focus on issues in Alaska, home to more than 220 tribes, plus regional and village Native corporations.
The arctic has been the “canary in the coal mine” regarding climate change, and she wants to shoot the canary.
Thankfully, however, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Ed Markey have introduced S.2628 to “ensure the tribe's land in Massachusetts stays in trust.”
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) introduced S.2628 last Thursday to ensure the tribe's land in Massachusetts stays in trust. The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), who has promised to do more for Indian Country after she claimed to be "part" Native American.
“I would very much like to thank the outstanding leadership of Senators Markey and Warren on this bill to protect our ancestral homeland,” Chairman Cedric Cromwell said on Monday.
Indeed, thank you very much Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Ed Markey. And Tara Sweeney – stop acting like the white man.