Tribe Debates Benefits of Fed Recognition, After Long Wait

The American Indian tribe that welcomed Pilgrims to North America and celebrated the mythical first Thanksgiving received federal recognition on Feb. 15. The Mashpee Wampanoag of Massachusetts waited 32 years for the call from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

With its new, government-to-government relationship with the United States, the tribe can now gain access to federal funding for health care, education and housing, among other services. The tribe’s 1,500 members also took an important step toward building a casino.

The possible economic benefits, however, do not affect the outlook of some tribal members, who say their identity and mission continue whether or not the federal government says they exist.

“We’ve had a lot of time to think about [tribal recognition],” said tribe member and clay artist Ramona Peters, in an article published May 23, 2006, in Indian Country Today, a New York-based, American Indian-owned newspaper. “But there are still a lot of unanswered questions.”

She recounts the tribe’s relationship with whites, from the Mayflower landing to the arrival of religious missionaries. “We were a reservation until 1870, when we became free and removed the missionaries,” she told the newspaper.

“We've been free until [we receive federal recognition], when we'll be wards of the government again."

This is the first time the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) recognized a tribe since George W. Bush took office, according to Mark C. Tilden, senior staff attorney at the Native American Rights Fund, the nation’s oldest and largest indigenous legal defense fund.

“There are more than 200 tribes that have filed letters of intent to petition for federal acknowledgement,” Tilden says. “The decision-making process takes so long. It’s very expensive and petitioners often have the perception that it can be unfair to a certain degree.”

Indeed, the Mashpee Wampanoag sent a letter of intent in 1975 and submitted a petition in 1990.

“I’m not sure if the BIA is going to issue any more decisions under the Bush administration as far as recognition of tribal governments,” says attorney Tilden.

The reaction from the public at large, Peters says, contradicts past sentiments toward her tribe.

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