Today we celebrate a legal and moral victory that brings to our Tribe justice that has been very long overdue. The United States Supreme Court announced that it would not hear the appeal requested by a small group of Taunton residents who have challenged our right to our Reservation for nearly a decade. With this final legal victory, we secure the future for the generations who come after us, and we honor our ancestors who continued the fight to have ancestral land returned to us. With this victory, we will be able to fully exercise our sovereignty to provide for our people and to preserve our culture and traditions.
The Annual Holiday Gift Card and Parent Toy Pick-up opens on Saturday, December 16, with Stop & Shop gift card pick-up from 9:00 AM to Noon at the Tribe’s Community and Government Center. Starting at 1:00 PM and continuing through 6:00 PM, tribal citizens may pick up both toys and a Stop & Shop gift card. The annual event will continue on Sunday, December 17, from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, when parents may continue to pick up both toys and a Stop & Shop gift card.
It's unfortunate that we are not focused on the beautiful display of our culture and history at the Macy’s Day Parade but rather on the actions of an individual tribal citizen. We want to make it very clear that the Tribe takes no stance on the conflicts overseas. Our Tribal Nation remains focused on the issues we face on our ancestral homeland. While we cannot speak for an individual's actions, his actions were not a Tribal decision. Our governing tribal body, along with the other tribal citizens on the float, were not involved with his actions.
A community forum will be held on Saturday, November 25, to allow the Tribal Nation to receive important details about the Mashpee Wampanoag Transitional Housing and Shelter Program and ask questions. The forum will be held from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM at the Community and Government Center at 483 Great Neck Road South in Mashpee.
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe received welcome news this evening. The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston has ruled in favor of our Tribe. Our tribal lands will continue to remain in trust for generations to come. Tribal citizens who are with us today and our ancestors who have carried the fight for our homeland forward generation after generation. Today, we can celebrate this historic decision.
Congress may step in to end an ongoing legal challenge to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s efforts to secure reservation land and build a casino.
A bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass. and co-sponsored by a cadre of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, would reaffirm a 2015 decision by the U.S Department of Interior to take 171 acres in Mashpee and 150 acres in Taunton into trust, and establish statutory safeguards against further litigation on the matter in federal court.
Wunee keesuq Tribal family,
I want to provide an update about what is considered a historic show of support by representatives of the United State Congress, not only across Indian Country but across the United States of America on behalf of the Mashpee's.
A bi-partisan bill has been introduced by U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-MA in the U.S. House of Representatives that would protect our reservation lands in Mashpee and in Taunton.
The native Wampanoag people used to ease the effects of winter storms by moving their longhouses and wetus away from the coasts and burying their agricultural goods in holes they had dug in the ground.
“Our ancestors practiced emergency management principles well before our time,” said tribe member Nelson Andrews Jr., director of the Emergency Preparedness Department for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.
