![]() “The island is just one part of our journey,” said Cheryl Seidner, a tribal elder and former Wiyot chairwoman. In 2014, they danced on the island again, completing the ceremony that had been cut short more than 150 years ago. And they worked with other partners to remove the toxic chemicals that had contaminated the soil. They did away with a wall of sea batteries that was eroding the shell midden. Volunteers helped move a large engine off the island. Since first purchasing those 1.5 acres, the Wiyot tribe has been working to restore the island back to its original state. Courtesy Eddy Alexander/City of Eureka, CA The Wiyot tribe celebrates the return of Duluwat Island in a ceremony in Eureka, California, on October 21, 2019. Then in 1860, a group of White settlers interrupted the tribe’s annual world renewal ceremony and massacred scores of Wiyot women, children and elders. “It’s just a perfect illustration of how messed up, and really, anti-Native, federal Indian policy has been throughout our history.”Ī federal judge blocked the government from disestablishing the reservation, but the Interior Department appealed the ruling in August.Ī rare triumph in a centuries-long battleįor thousands of years, the Wiyot people were the stewards of Duluwat Island, situated in the marshes and estuaries of what’s now Humboldt Bay along California’s northern coast. “It’s worth underscoring how absurd it is that the descendants of the tribe that met Pilgrims, who every American learns about around this time of year, couldn’t meet the definition of a ‘tribe,’” Maxim said. In March of this year, the tribe learned that the US would be taking their land out of trust. ![]() Steven Senne/APīut in 2018, the Department of the Interior reversed that decision after a lawsuit brought by area residents, saying the land was ineligible for trust status because the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe wasn’t under federal jurisdiction in 1934. It also gave the tribe sovereignty, allowing it to build housing, a school and police department on the land.Ī wooden sign advises motorists of the location of Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal lands in Massachusetts. The trust status meant that the land couldn’t be taken away from the Mashpee Wampanoag without the approval of the federal government. In 2015, the federal government declared it would place about 300 acres of land in Massachusetts into trust for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, turning it into a reservation – a victory after decades of trying to reclaim land. So the fact that it’s now losing its connection to the land is especially frustrating, Maxim said. In the face of everything the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe has endured, it has managed to maintain its identity. He said he’s seen so many areas that once belonged to Mashpee Wampanoag citizens now overtaken by people who don’t understand its history. Maxim was born in Mashpee, Massachusetts, and raised in a nearby town. View of Adler Ranch, Big Sur, California Doug Steakley/Western Rivers ConservancyĪfter 250 years, Native American tribe regains ownership of Big Sur ancestral lands Their claims are rooted in the US government’s dark history of removing indigenous people from their lands, whether through forced seizure or through treaties that promised them other lands or services. So, the demand is simple: Give us the land back. “The origin of being Indigenous is location and ties to the land,” said Randall Akee, an associate professor of public policy and American Indian Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Because finally, some non-Natives are paying attention. Though the fight is not new, activists are seizing on the moment to amplify their demands. Ultimately, it’s about getting indigenous lands back in indigenous hands. And it can be about sovereignty: jurisdiction and governance. For others, it’s about economics: being able to hunt for food, access clean water and build homes or schools. For some, reclamation is about identity: ceremonies, connections to ancestors and traditional knowledge. Their fight is one in a broader movement by indigenous people across North America to reclaim their lands – a movement that is gaining steam as the nation grapples with injustices committed against marginalized communities.Įach battle is unique. And in recent years, court rulings challenging whether the tribe’s reservation is eligible to be put in trust have posed an existential threat. Despite their storied history in the US, they weren’t recognized by the federal government until 2007. The Mashpee Wampanoag have lived in what’s now Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island for more than 12,000 years. Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe/Getty Images Mashpee Wampanoag marchers head to their traditional powwow grounds to hold a rally on October 6, 2018.
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