Tiny Shinnecock Indian Tribe Finally Gets Recognized – I Wish My Grandad Had Lived To See This.
From the UK Guardian:
Almost four centuries since their first contact with the white man and after a 32-year court battle that has just ended in victory, the tiny Shinnecock tribe has now been formally recognised by America’s federal government.
The decision means that the Shinnecock, numbering some 1,300 members, many of whom live in deep poverty compared with their wealthy neighbours, can apply for federal funding to build schools, health centres and set up their own police force. It means their tiny 750-acre reservation is now a semi-sovereign nation within the US, just like much bigger and more famous reservations in the west.
Many believe that the lengthy and painful process that the Shinnecock have been forced to go through is explained by the tribe’s position bang in the middle of the Hamptons, the string of Long Island towns where rich New Yorkers come to party away the summers. The difference between Shinnecock land and the rest of the Hamptons is jarring. The reservation, signalled by a line of stalls selling cheap cigarettes, sits side by side with the town of Southampton, heart of the Hamptons scene.
Read More HERE
From the Sag Harbor Express:
How long have the Shinnecock people lived on the East End?
G: Basically, we have been here for 10,000 years or more. This gives you a time span of how far back our people go.
F: Archaeologists have used carbon dating of pottery and other Indian artifacts dug up in Southampton to show how old our tribe is. The Old Fort Site dates back almost a thousand years. Sugar Loaf Hill is just as ancient. There is a well-documented ancient Shinnecock village on or near Bullhead Bay as well. The history of our tribe is very well documented.Read More HERE
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Members of the Shinnecock tribe are used to the incongruity: a pocket of working-class Native Americans living on a sometimes-shabby reservation amid the wealth of Long Island’s Hamptons resorts.Their tax-free cigarette shops are down the road from designer boutiques and gourmet caterers.
Their health clinic building once served as the pro shop for the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, a bastion of privilege built on land dotted with their burial mounds.
Their struggling oyster farm lies across Heady Creek from the oceanfront estates of millionaires.
Read More HERE
Information, Videos | TheFourEyes July 18, 2010
