N.Y. Indians Want the Hamptons Back !

Fox News ^ | Thursday, June 16, 2005 | Kieran Crowley and Marsha Kranes

[RuthannaK]

NEW YORK — The Southampton, N.Y.-based Shinnecock Indians (search) on Tuesday fired the first arrow in their battle to reclaim ancestral lands — filing a federal lawsuit seeking the return of 3,600 acres of prime real estate "stolen" by the state a century and a half ago.

The 1,300-member tribe also is asking for monetary damages — conservatively estimated at $1.7 billion — and 150 years of back rent and interest in what it called "the largest Indian land claim ever filed."

The suit is seen by many locals as an attempt to force favorable action on the Shinnecocks' bid for federal recognition and its plan to open a casino in the booming resort area.

Members of the tribe beat animal-skin drums, shook rattles, chanted an "honor song" and whooped yesterday as their leader, Randy King (search), entered federal court to file the suit.

"This day has been decades in the making. We only seek what is ours," said King, chairman of the tribe's board of trustees.

The tribe wants title to all non-residential property within a 3,600-acre area of Southampton Town — land it claims it was cheated out of in 1859.

The land targeted in the suit includes the world-renowned Shinnecock Hills Golf Club (search), Southampton College's sprawling campus and the elite bayfront National Golf Links of America (search).

[Publius6961]

And for today's bonus question:
What do the following have in common?
Besides being injuns, of course

Kou-zhon-ta-co, or Poor Bear
Ba-zhe-ech, or Iron Shirt
Az-che-om-a-te-ne, or the Old Fool Man
Karn-tin-ta, or the Crow
Mah-vip-pah, or The Wolf Sleeve
Nahn-tan, or The Chief

Moke-ta-ve-to, or Black Kettle
Oh-to-ah-ne-so-to-wheo, or Seven Bulls
Hark-kah-o-me, or Little Robe
Moke-tah-vo-ve-ho, or Black White Man
Mun-a-men-ek, or Eagle’s Head
O-to-ah-nis-to, or Bull that Hears, headman

Oh-has-tee, or Little Raven, head chief
Oh-hah-mah-hah, or Storm, chief
Pah-uf-pah-top, or Big Mouth, chief
Ah-cra-ka-tau-nah, or Spotted Wolf, chief
Ah-nah-wat-tan, or Black Man, headman
Nah-a-nah-cha, Chief in Everything, headman
Chi-e-nuk, or Haversack, headman

[absolootezer0]

yanno, if he'd quit wasting time and money on other ventures, maybe he could get the tigers to actually do something.

[Lorianne]

This is great! I hope all those limousine liberals do the right thing and pay restitution to those poor persecuted (for centuries) Native Americans. It's just the right thing to do ...

[Sunshine Sister]

This ought to be good. The Indians against Teddy!

[Publius6961]

There they met peaceful, resourceful people who had been in the same geographical area for thousands of years.

A remarkable, colorful and curious assertion. Without a written language, or being able to count past 100, I doubt very much that this can be substantiated.
Under the circumstances (and total hearsay), they might as well have been quoted as saying, "a million years," by the PC do-gooder who originally wrote this down.
The peaceful part, ditto.

[metesky]

I was half done building my second spec house near Wakeby/Mashpee when the suit hit. The bank froze all our construction loans and that pretty near drove us to bankruptcy.

[CzarChasm]

what's the status of limitations on grand theft? pretty sure it's less than 100+ years...

[Hatteras]

Speaking of limosine liberals, while looking online for local opinion on this subject I came across "The East Hampton Star" online. I found this in the "Letters to the Editor" section...

(Warning: Barf Alert!)

Scroll Down to the 3rd Letter titled "Changed Forever" (Warning: Barf Alert!)

Also, while you're at it, read all the letters, it's kind of humorous and it appears that the writer of the third letter is quite the activist in his little town. At least his name appears in the second letter also. :-)

[TheForceOfOne]

Oh, I know nothing of them. I just added some google info. I found.

http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/naind/html/na_035800_shinnecock.htm

[Vicomte13]

Kawin nanagadawendamoowin...

They're all not Chippewa.

[Antoninus]

In 1640, English colonists entered Shinnecock land. There they met peaceful, resourceful people who had been in the same geographical area for thousands of years. The Shinnecocks' land extended eastward to the Easthampton town line and westward to the Brookhaven town line, with the Atlantic Ocean to the south and Peconic Bay to the north.

Uh, no. There is little evidence that the eastern woodland tribes, like the Shinnecocks stayed in one place very long. The Shinnecocks may have lived on Long Island for hundreds of years. Or, they may have been new arrivals. There's no documentary evidence and the archaeological evidence--as far as I'm awared--is not conclusive. Even the "settled" Iroquoian tribes tended to move around a lot. Once they exhausted the game and soil in an area, they abandoned their palisaded villages and moved on. The Shinnecocks just happened to inhabit eastern Long Island when European settlers arrived. But that in itself is not proof that they had for thousands of years.

Furthermore, the North American continent was in a perpetual state of war and conflict before, during, and after the first arrival of Europeans. The system of blood-feuding that existed in the Eastern Woodlands meant that there zero, none, zip, nada "peaceful" tribes. That is pure mythology. If you lived in eastern North America, you were either raiding or in immediate danger of being raided.

[Range Rover]

On September 18, 2002, Golden Hill Paugussett threatened to file claims covering hundreds of thousands of acres in Westport, Woodbridge, East Haven, Branford, and other towns. After describing the chaos that this litigation would unleash, they then offered not to pursue it—if the state gave them land in Bridgeport to build a casino.

Connecticut’s Schaghticoke tribe has also filed claims to thousands of acres along the Housatonic River in Litchfield County. The tribe’s chief refused to name the backer making the suit possible, describing him only as a “friend of the tribe.”

http://www.citizensalliance.org/links/pages/articles%20and%20CERA%20news/Should%20We%20Give%20It%20Back.htm

[Antoninus]

The peaceful part, ditto.

In all my research on the Eastern Woodland tribes, I have yet to run across a 'peaceful' one. If your tribe was 'peaceful', it didn't exist past the next spring. That was the hard truth. No modern liberal (or member of the Shinnecock tribe as it is currently constituted) would want to live how they did back then.

[Vicomte13]

"what's the status of limitations on grand theft? pretty sure it's less than 100+ years..."

Sure, but what is the expiration date of laws, acts of government or treaties?

There is none.
They are in force until specifically repealed.

And that is the problem for those who want to get rid of committments to the Indians.

A treaty is the Supreme Law of the Land according to the US Constitution. It's still in force, and so are the treaties concluded under it.

Likewise for Acts of Congress, or even of state legislatures that recognize tribes.

I haven't much looked into the Shinnecocks, because it's pretty obvious to me what's going on out there, but so long as there was an act of government that recognized them, they'll win. That's the way it works.

[Antoninus]

The "tribe" is not a tribe at all. They are a bunch of people who have no claim to the Shinnecock tribal rights any greater than you or me. Now they want to organize and build a casino, and are using this lawsuit as a way to pressure the local authorities to approve their plan. This is blackmail, plain and simple. The court should tell these folks to just get stuffed.

I think you're right. What you'll probably find among the leadership of this group are people with names like the following:

Red Cloud McKenzie
Gray Wolf Petrizello
Sky Hawk Meyerman

Maybe, maybe one of them has 1/64 Shinnecock blood.

This sounds like a shakedown, pure and simple. And it's a shame because it tends to make people hardened to any legitimate claims that might be out there.

[tarzantheapeman]

Go Indians!

[Vicomte13]

"The peaceful part, ditto.

In all my research on the Eastern Woodland tribes, I have yet to run across a 'peaceful' one. If your tribe was 'peaceful', it didn't exist past the next spring. That was the hard truth. No modern liberal (or member of the Shinnecock tribe as it is currently constituted) would want to live how they did back then."

Yes, but this is as true of the tribes of Europe and elsewhere.

Warfare is a part of life.

There was not a lot of total warfare, and the lack of concentrated power in centralized government meant that many "wars" were really just gangs of young men lead by some charismatic guy going out and fighting other gangs of young men.

Within the big national zones there was not a tremendous amount warfare in the "total war" sense. There was the equivalent of crime and border skirmishes. Think feudal Europe without fortresses and you are not all that terribly far off.

[Romish_Papist]

Se VA? Not a good idea unless you want to lose the largest Naval Base in the world. Not to mention I live in SE VA and have no desire to live under a corrupt Mexican regime. Give 'em Taxachussetts.

[HIDEK6]

Please let them have Albany.

Give 'em any college town they want under the condition that they have to take the college too.

[dakine]

Joke...