Wunee keesuq Tribal family,

I want to wish a happy new year to all of our relations. 2020 is here. We are still here. Standing strong as the Mashpee Wampanoag Nation. That’s something that we can all be proud of.

Looking back on last year we made several important changes to our operations. Changes that allowed us to meet the needs of our tribal families and the strategic goals we’ve set. These changes included the appointment of the Tribal Council Chair to also serve as the Tribal Administrator.

Serving as the Tribal Administrator has given me a broad understanding of the day-to-day workings in our Community and Government Center. I’ve been working closely with each department to identify what’s working and what areas need improvement. It’s about getting the departments to work together as a harmonious unit toward the shared goals we’ve set as a government. It’s by working together as a unit in 2020 that we will ensure the coming years are prosperous for our people.

While we’ve made some adjustments to the operations and set new goals for the new year, there are also several priorities that we will continue to pursue. We will continue to push forward to ensure our land and our sovereign rights are forever protected. We will continue to protect the land and water that we all rely on for survival. We will also continue to build our educational programs and language classes and to build affordable housing. These are priorities that we made great progress on last year and will continue to strengthen them in the new year.

This year also marks the 400th commemoration of the colonization of this country and the crossing of the Mayflower. For us the history of colonization didn’t start in 1620 and cannot be wrapped up with a treaty. It’s a complicated and often heart wrenching history that forever changed our homeland…a homeland that we continue to fight for to this day.

I bring this up not as a call to action, but rather as a way to challenge you to be critical of popular versions of history and to be thoughtful about what our ancestors endured. They persevered through the most challenging of times to ensure we could remain here today as a tribe.

We are Mashpee Strong and we will never forget what the true cost of colonization is.

Kutâputunumuw;

Chairman Cedric Cromwell
Qaqeemasq (Running Bear)