he Wampanoag, the People of the First Light, were the first Native American nation to give land to the Pilgrims, in 1629, in what is now Massachusetts. For four decades the two groups lived in peace, but “our tenure and sovereignty have been under attack ever since,” says jessie little doe baird, vice-chairwoman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, who does not use uppercase letters in her name. “We’ve never been left alone to peacefully enjoy our sovereignty and our resources.”
Today, during the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ arrival, the Mashpee Wampanoag face a new and powerful threat. The Trump administration plans to remove their tribal lands from federal trust, which could lead to the shutdown of their school and police force and even cost them their land. The Unitarian Universalist Association is urging UUs to stand in solidarity with the Mashpee Wampanoag and reject the government’s “reprehensible actions.”
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“The gentleman on the phone said, ‘I’ve been instructed to tell you that under orders of the Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt, we’re going to take away your trust lands,’” recalls baird. The government officials cited a recent federal appeals court decision ruling that the government wasn’t authorized to place the land in trust; Cromwell countered that a related court case was pending and there was no mandate for the Department of the Interior (DOI) to act now.
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