The Wampanoag Tribal Chairman just issued a statement that his tribe is under attack by the federal government. His tribe is the ‘People of the Light’, the Mashpee Tribe of Massachusetts. Apparently, he received a letter from the federal government that the Department of Interior will be taking away the tribe’s trust status. This means the tribal land is not being recognized as an Indian Reservation. In short, the tribe’s reservation is being eliminated. It could be fake news but I don’t think this is fake news. Here’s the Notice from the chairman.
Folks, these are scary times. I said it before and I’ll say it again:
The fearing time has returned. Our grandparents dealt with it successfully, as a result, we are here. We need to do what they did and use our traditional teachings, methods, and practices. This is why it is important to know your language and culture. This is why it is important that our government and people uphold the traditional Dine ways. Without these Dine ways, we are no longer Dine. The 2015 elections involved a language vote which voted down the language, and it was not a good thing. This virus might be the result, a sort of teaching.
I hope this encourages the Dine to start relearning our traditional Dine language, culture, and way of life.
