Amelia Grace (Peters) Bingham died Monday, December 20, 2021, at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital Plymouth at the age of 98. A beloved family matriarch and respected Elder of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Amelia was the Clan Mother of the Turtle Clan. In addition to being an extraordinarily loving wife and mother amongst many other things, Amelia was a dedicated and fearless advocate for the preservation of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe historically, culturally, and politically.

Today the Department of the Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland issued a lengthy decision in which he confirmed the status of the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribe's Reservation. In so doing, he confirmed that the Interior has authority under the Indian Reorganization Act to take such action, and further confirmed that the Tribe's Reservation has remained in federally protected trust status since the Reservation land was first placed in trust six years ago on November 10, 2015.

This is a momentous day for our Tribe. We were just notified that the Department of Interior has confirmed the legal status of our land, protecting our reservation for generations to come.

We are grateful that President Biden and his administration, including Secretary Deb Haaland, Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland, and Solicitor Bob Anderson, have faithfully implemented the law and respected the sovereign rights of our tribe to protect our reservation.

The Tribe’s Emergency Preparedness Office wanted to provide an update on the re-entry planning for this week following last week’s operations side of the Community & Government Center closure and deep clean.

ICWA asks community members and businesses to make the holidays memorable for our tribal youth by sponsoring a child in foster care with supplemental Christmas gifts this year (similar to how we have done the ICWA Giving Tree in the past).

The Thanksgiving holiday is a bitter reminder of a history that attempted to extinguish our culture and broken promises that have inflicted a tremendous amount of damage on our Tribal Nation. Today, we continue to feel the harm of federal policies that have fallen short of the promise to protect our land.