Native Americans warn against 'devastating impact' of Trump policies on indigenous population

Rasa - A Native American tribe has warned about the "devastating impact" of the Trump administration's policies on the livelihood and well-being of the indigenous population.

News ID: 442048

Date: 12 December 2018 - 12:13

RNA - The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe warned of imminent losses facing the tribe caused by the administration of US President Donald Trump.

"We need our trust land to provide for our people,” said Tribal Council Chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts , Cedric Cromwell,  Thomson Reuters Foundation reported on Tuesday.

Most Native American land is held in trust for tribes by the US government and it can take years or even decades to add to those holdings – an issue that many experts see as a key driver of poverty on reservations and an ongoing injustice.

“The federal government’s inaction has created a dire threat to our ability to meaningfully self-govern. In leaving us in this limbo, the United States turns its back on our people." Cromwell,  who is the head of the official elected government for the 2,600-member federally recognized Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and is also known as Qaqeemasq (or Running Bear) in Wôpanâak language, was quoted by indianz.com as saying.

"We've been a tribe that has had our land stolen from us over the years," he said. Cromwell noted that the US government continues stealing the Native Americans land. "We used to have 14,000 acres as a nation, and now we're talking about 320."

Members of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and its supporters marched in Washington, DC on November 14 - a week before Thanksgiving - to urge Congress to pass a law that would safeguard their land.

According to Press TV, Mashpee Wampanoag tribe hold a special place in the history of the United States of America. They were the Native American tribe that first met the European settlers known as Pilgrims. Mashpee Wampanoag saved the Pilgrims lives when they were in dire condition and later participated in the feast now commemorated as Thanksgiving.

In 2015, during the Obama administration, the tribe was allowed to hold 320 acres of Massachusetts land under a trust administered by the federal government, which only recognized them as a tribe eight years earlier.

Now the tribe's land holding is under threat and at risk of being lost due to an unprecedented move this fall by the Trump administration aimed to reverse the tribe's official recognition.

Since the Native American termination era ended in the 1960s, no Native American trust land has been taken out of trust by the US government.

Cromwell noted that should the Trump administration take their lands, it would be the first such instance in decades. "If neither Congress nor the federal courts weigh in to stop this, this administration will return the Mashpee Wampanoag once again to landlessness, force us to close our schools and social service programs, and lead us back to despair," he said.

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