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Posted on 01/17/2003 4:56:24 PM PST by NewHampshireDuo
AUGUSTA — Chief Barry Dana of the Penobscot Nation says he felt like a fool as he sat behind Gov. John Baldacci during the governor's inaugural speech last week. Dressed in ceremonial regalia, Dana and his uncle, Butch Phillips, had just performed a "smudging" ceremony for the new governor on the Augusta Civic Center stage. The cleansing ceremony is one of the tribe's highest honors.
But during his speech that followed the ceremony, Baldacci reiterated his well-known opposition to casino gambling, and Dana could barely contain his anger.
"I was in shock. I was in absolute shock," Dana said. "I was really getting upset. That was absolutely inappropriate."
If he had known Baldacci would talk about casinos, Dana said, he would not have performed the ceremony, which was one of the highlights of the inauguration. Now he wants Baldacci to apologize.
Donna Loring, the representative of the Penobscot Nation in the Maine House, spoke to Baldacci's chief of staff, Jane Lincoln, on Wednesday about her disappointment over Baldacci's speech, and spoke to Baldacci's press secretary, Lee Umphrey, about it Thursday.
Baldacci's failure to give tribal leaders a "heads up" about the casino comments showed a cultural insensitivity, she said. "It was just plain rude," she said.
Fred Moore, the Passamaquoddy tribal representative in the House, said Dana and Phillips were making a conciliatory gesture by agreeing to appear onstage with Baldacci, despite his opposition to casino gambling.
In return, Moore said, Baldacci should have shown enough courtesy to avoid talking about casinos during his speech. Bashing casinos served no purpose, he said, because Baldacci's opposition to gambling is widely known. "He was pushing it in our face," Moore said.
Umphrey on Thursday assured Loring that Baldacci did not intend to surprise or insult tribal leaders. He said Baldacci included the Penobscot Nation in the ceremony to reflect his long-standing commitment to Maine's Native Americans.
"Nobody, including me, ever anticipated that the one line mentioning casinos would cause a flap," he said. "We apologize for having Barry Dana feel uncomfortable."
He added, "We did not intend, by mentioning casinos, to slight him in any way. It was really more of an oversight."
Baldacci planned to telephone Dana and Loring on Thursday evening to talk about their concerns, Umphrey said.
Never before had Native Americans participated in a Maine governor's inaugural. Dana filled in at the last minute, after a relative who had planned to participate was forced to withdraw so she could handle an emergency foster-care placement.
Dana, who represents about 2,000 people in the Penobscot Nation, has been one of the most visible leaders in the effort to establish a casino in Maine.
The original plan called for a welcoming song during the ceremony, but Dana decided he would sing a healing song because of the "deep scars" between the state government and the state's native people.
Dana played his uncle's hand drum and chanted the song "Medicine Man," which he had learned as a boy on the reservation. Phillips, a tribal elder, walked over to Baldacci carrying a clamshell that was giving off smoke produced by smoldering sweet grass. He directed the smoke - traditionally viewed as a healing agent - toward Baldacci. As the smoke rose, it created a connection between Baldacci and the ancestors in the heavens, Loring explained.
Although Baldacci's casino comments were insulting, Loring said, she now wants to put the issue behind her. "We have to move on," she said.
Archaeologists investigating the great mound cultures have recently uncovered caches of pottery poker chips and great ceremonial complimentary buffets. Cahokia is considered the Las Vegas of prehistoric America. Dr. Paul Reno recently wrote an article in the scholarly journal "Paradigms of Random Returns in Ancient America" in which he claims Cahokia was the center of a great empire based on gambling, prostitution, and drugs. He contends that the mounds are the foundations of early casinos. Some archaeologists claim they are burial mounds, however, Dr. Reno dismisses their arguments saying that our modern culture has parallels in that business rivals are often ceremonially executed and entombed in the concrete of our present day casinos as well.
Good point. If I were a smoker I'd be on a mail order subscription plan.
ATTN: Chief Barry Dana of the Penobscot Nation, mister thin skined weasel, yea know pal, the almighty ruined the most worlds most perfect a--hole when he put teeth in your mouth!
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