Late last year, Brown University transferred some 255 acres of land it owned in Bristol to a trust associated with the Pokanoket Tribe. That came after a separate land trust associated with another indigenous group, called Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation, acquired land in Tiverton with help from a state open space grant.
The Narragansett Indian Tribe is the state’s only federally recognized tribe, and Chief Sachem Anthony Dean Stanton says the Narragansett had to go through a rigorous review to get that recognition. He’s now calling for a process to be put into place to guide land transfers in the future.
An attorney for the Pokanoket Tribe says that the Pokanoket are historically connected to the land, and that federal recognition is just a credential.
Morning host Luis Hernandez spoke about these issues with Narragansett Indian Tribe Chief Sachem Anthony Dean Stanton, as well as Pokanoket Tribe attorney and spokesperson Taino Palermo, in the following two interviews.
TRANSCRIPT:
Luis Hernandez: Could you please elaborate for us what you take issue with here and what happened?
Anthony Dean Stanton: Alright. If I may say it in this way, sir. The state of Rhode Island doesn’t recognize any Indian tribe. The Narragansett Indian Tribe was federally recognized in 1983. But the state of Rhode Island doesn’t have any state recognized tribes, period. Having said that, when we filed our petition for federal recognition, we had to come up with 27 volumes of data from pre-contact until present day to go under intense scrutiny and review so we could be awarded federal recognition. That’s part of the process we had to go through, and we did it, and we were awarded federal recognition. Now, these other splinter groups and social clubs, they have done none of that, but now they’re getting lands from us, we have to compete with them for grants, we have to compete with them on other levels, and we’re asking ourselves why don’t they have to go through the same intensive scrutiny that we had to go through?
Hernandez: By this, are you saying that these other groups are making false claims about being historic tribes?
Stanton: When we filed our paperwork, no other tribe or anyone else even came forward to state that they were a tribe. And this is in the late 70s, early 80s, until now. We’ve had to produce 27 volumes of data from time immemorial until present day. We have done that. These splinter groups and social clubs, what have they done? Except pop up in the last 20 years. Where’s their history? Where’s their culture? Where’s their tradition? How can they be on the same footing as us when we’re long established in this territory? We didn’t just pass through, we have always been here. These other groups, do we know anything about their history? Where have they been and what have they done? Why didn’t they come forward decades ago? Now suddenly they’re here and they’re making life difficult for everyone and they’re discrediting a lot of us because, who are these people?
Hernandez: What harm do you think is being done with these land transfers?
Stanton: Well, here’s the thing. If you get a land transfer, that means you’re getting some kind of acknowledgement or some kind of recognition, and that can put you in line to do other things, put people in your tribe to do other things. At the same time, it denies some of my own tribal people an opportunity, a chance, and it denies my own tribe a chance to acquire more land and do more things along that level. You have to understand if it was historic times, a lot of these splinter groups and social clubs would be driven out of the territory. Sometimes tribes pass through, sometimes we traded, sometimes we exchange whatever. Since at the end of the King Philip War, do these people have any record of even being in Rhode Island?
Hernandez: One argument could be that these efforts, in recent years and this land transfer could be good because it’s a way to bring more attention to the issues of indigenous people. And I’m just wondering your perspective, your thoughts on maybe that there’s a positive in this in any way.
Stanton: Well, if you’re going to do it and do it in all fairness and do it right, you’d have to start with a fairly recognized Indian tribe because we have a long continuous history within this state. You have to understand, sir, since 1524, we were historically recorded being in this area. If you ask us in our recent history, we faced the Norsemen and the Vikings in the 1100s. So we’ve been here forever since time immemorial. Why were not included in some of what’s going on, we don’t understand why not, why we’re not considered and why we’re not recognized to the extent we should be.
Hernandez: We contacted Brown University about this land transfer to the Pokanoket Preservation Trust, which stemmed from an occupation of the land by some of its members back in 2017. A spokesperson with the school emphasized that the land in Bristol was given to a trust set up by the tribe and not the tribe itself. Brown also said that it tried to work with the various indigenous groups to secure access to the land in the future and that the Narragansett Tribe chose not to participate. It was a carefully worded statement, but some might read it as the school put it on you for not participating. I wanted your response.
Stanton: Well, in conversation with Brown, they never had any intention to transfer the land to the Narragansett Indian Tribe. I have no say what they do with anybody else, but to think that if we’re not going to be given serious consideration, they’re going to do what they do. What sense does it make for us to participate and recognize some other splinter group? Or a social club. That made no sense. It’s counteractive to what we do and what we represent.Â
Hernandez: You’ve raised concerns about another land transfer that happened last year. In that case, the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust bought more than 38 acres of land in Tiverton. That trust is associated with the Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation. And we called the head of the tribe and he basically said this: Why is Chief Stanton challenging us when we can all work together on issues that affect us? I just wanted your response.Â
Stanton: Well, my point to that is when they made those moves, they didn’t confer with us at all. They dealt directly with Tiverton, but they never conferred with us or consulted with us in any way, shape, or fashion.
Hernandez: Most of the money for that purchase, again, came from a grant from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. The Narragansett, as you know, have had a notoriously difficult relationship with the state of Rhode Island. Are you critical of this transfer in part because of the role the state played?
Stanton: Well, they could have been more open about it. They could have brought parties to the table and tried to work it. In a way where things could have been done to benefit all, but they didn’t do it that way. They just took it upon themselves without checking in with the indigenous tribe of the state.
Hernandez: What do we do moving forward? What do you wanna see happen?
Stanton: There should be a process, and it may take the federal government, along with the state of Rhode Island to say if tribes are gonna be recognized or people are gonna be recognized, there should be a time when people come to the table, discuss the possibility of who’s who and what’s what in fairness to everyone, especially the indigenous people of this land. Because if we’re not even considered, or we’re circumvented, how is that fair to the real people that live in the state of Rhode Island? If you look historically, we had people in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey. Do we claim any part of that our ancestral territory at this time? No. We could make astronomical claims in many places. We don’t do that. How can these other people come from Massachusetts into our territory and make these claims when they haven’t been seen or heard from since the King Philip War?
Hernandez: Chief Stanton, you’ve been critical of the state and the way it’s treated the Narragansett. What do you want to see the state do for the Narragansett moving forward?
Stanton: Our tribe should be fully recognized by the state, number one. There should be some more economic development opportunities where the tribe can benefit, and there should be more housing opportunities, and the list goes on and on and on. There can be a better relationship as far as law enforcement and along those lines. So there’s many opportunities, many things the tribe needs, but we can work together with the state of Rhode Island to make things better for all parties involved.
Hernandez: Again, I’ve been speaking with Anthony Dean Stanton, he’s chief sachem of the Narragansett. Sir, I really appreciate the time. Thank you so much.
Stanton: Well, I’d like to thank you, and I’d like to thank Public Radio 89.3 for having me on the show.
Hernandez: We’re going to speak now with Taino Palermo. He’s an attorney and spokesperson for the Pokanoket Tribe. It’s a tribe that established a trust that now holds more than 250 acres of land in Bristol, previously owned by Brown University. Taino, I really appreciate the time. Thank you so much.Â
Taino Palermo: Thank you for having me.
Hernandez: Can you start by telling us who the Pokanoket are? What’s their story?
Palermo: The Pokanoket was a confederation at the time of English contact in the New England area at the time of first settlements. The Pokanoket confederation included several bands of tribes throughout the southern New England area. Upon colonization, the King Philip War, the actual name Pokanoket as a reference was banned in the colonies. The Pokanokets who survived the war were either enslaved, shipped to the Caribbean as part of the slave trade, or reidentified themselves as Wampanoags as a way to maintain their heritage, but also not fall subject to these new laws imposed by colonists after the King Philip War, who for all intents and purposes wanted to eradicate the Pokanoket as a force of resistance against early colonization. And so the bands today have different names and references, but the Pokanoket Tribe have continued their existence, have proclaimed that they are who they are, recognized in a variety of ways between state proclamations and historical archives. So they are the remaining faction of the direct descendants of King Philip.
Hernandez: Do the Pookanoket see themselves as the ancestors of the historic Pokanoket Tribe, or do they also believe they’ve maintained a tribal structure without interruption like many federally recognized tribes do in the U.S.?Â
Palermo: Yeah, well, they maintain their continuity in the way federally recognized and non federally recognized tribes do. Federal recognition or recognition of any type is a credential, nothing more. It doesn’t make anyone more Indian than the other. Federal recognition as a label credential wasn’t even in existence until 1978 when the Office of Acknowledgement was created under the Department of Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Pokanoket Tribe have maintained their continuity and held themselves out as a tribe that is recognized by other tribes, even when there’s internal disputes among who’s who. We see this kind of posturing between tribal communities that is less about the tribal communities and more about the effects of colonization.
Hernandez: How did Brown University determine that the Pokanoket trust was going to be the recipient of this land transfer? Did the school ask the tribe for documentation or some proof? How did that work?
Palermo: Well, the tribe first occupied the Mount Hope property, which brought Brown to the table in 2017. There was no engagement other than some cordial allowing of the tribe to hold ceremonies on the land prior to them feeling like they needed to occupy to really engage in land back discussion. And so, Brown had already a relationship with the Pokanoket Tribe. In engaging further in 2017, and then ultimately entering into an agreement in 2017 to eventually get to where we got to today seven years later, Brown did their due diligence to ensure the tribes historically connected to these lands, which are the tribes today that were historically under the Pokanoket Confederation, and were all part of these discussions.
Hernandez: We just heard from Chief Sachem, Anthony Dean Stanton of the Narragansett Indian Tribe, and you know what he said. He said that the Pokanoket have not had to prove their status like the Narragansett, and that’s part of the reason why he objects to the Brown University land transfer. I wanted to get your response to his argument.
Palermo: Rhode Island has one federally recognized tribe, and then there’s just this kind of layperson perception that if it’s not anything having to do with the one federally recognized tribe, then Rhode Island doesn’t have Indian affairs issues. But there are a lot of vibrant tribal communities historically tied to Rhode Island operating here. What Chief Stanton’s talking about is really that process through federal recognition, which is an election of the tribe. They can choose to pursue that federal recognition or not. To Brown’s credit, they, weren’t deterred by this misunderstanding that if you’re not federally recognized, you’re less Indian than another tribe.
Hernandez: Do the Pokanoket want federal recognition from the Bureau of Indian Affairs? Do they want the state of Rhode Island to recognize them? Where do the Pokanoket want to go from here?
Palermo: Well, the Pokanoket want to return to their land, which they are able to now, and be the stewards of their lands as they once were. Federal recognition is not a priority for the tribe. They have entertained the idea, but it’s not a quick process. It’s certainly not a process by which it would help expedite their land back efforts in the way we’ve seen their success at this point. The most important thing is to be able to return to their land and so that’s what they have. And now it’s about management and stewardship of that land.
