Mashpee Mythology

Historian questions Wampanoag claim and state gambling commission predictions

Submitted by Editor on Mon, 05/14/2012

 

TODAY's quote: "The only Indian groups that historically and legitimately could be called “Wampanoag” were those of the so-called "Wampanoag Confederacy" (Pokanoket, Narragansett, and Nipmuc tribes) which sided with King Philip (c. 1675) the Pokanoket tribal sachem, in their war against the colonists. Mashpee sided with the colony in that conflict and were therefore not historically 'Wampanoag.'" - James Lynch.

 

 

Historian questions Wampanoag claim, gambling commission predictions

James Lynch cites several legal obstacles to tribe and Taunton's goals

The Taunton Gazette today has a guest column by a noted Native American historian who cites half a dozen reasons why the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe may not be able to come to a deal with either the state or the Bureau of Indian Affairs for one of the three casino licenses to be granted.

Malaysian Genting Syndicate, the financial backers of the Mashpee tribe’s efforts to establish a gambling facility within Taunton, remarked in regard to the proposed casino “that the first of four phases can be built within 15 months.” That same day in an article appearing in “Massachusetts Live,” Stephen P. Crosby, chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission remarked, “it will be three to five years before a casino is up and running” in Massachusetts.In it he claims that the historical record clearly demonstrates that the Mashpee Tribe never occupied or utilized lands off of Cape Cod, especially in Taunton, nor did any lands within Taunton hold any culturally significant meaning to the Mashpee such as burial grounds or mythlogically significant locations.

Mr. Lynch is owner and principal of Waterbury CT based, Historical Consulting & Research Services, LLC. He has been a practicing Ethno-historian for more than 25 years. He is also the author of four books addressing Colonial tribe land issues, tribal history, and the development of Federal Indian Policy.

In an article he wrote for Cape Cod Today in October 2007, he wrote, "Did any "Wampanoag" greet the first arrivals at Plymouth? No. No Indians did. What William Bradford and those other first arrivals found were deserted Indian villages, the victims of smallpox epidemic that had spread south from Newfoundland. Were there "Wampanoag" in the region? Yes. The boundary between the Pokanoket and Massachusetts tribal lands was in this area. Were these "Wampanoag" members of the Mashpee tribe? No."

Lynch adds that another federal regulation that must be met by the Mashpee, is that the tribe must have a present day presence in the area in which the land being sought is located. The regulation requires, “The land is within a 25 mile radius of the tribe’s headquarters or other tribal governmental facilities that have existed at that location for at least two years at the time of the application for land into trust.”

The Mashpee recently opened a administrative office in New Bedford. That location is well outside the mandated twenty-five mile maximum radius. So the Mashpee would have to open a tribal administrative office within twenty-five miles of Taunton and wait two years before any action to take the land into trust could be taken.


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