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Bishop Pushes final Recognition of Shinnecock Indian Nation |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 21 July 2010 |
Bishop Pushes final Recognition of Shinnecock Indian Nation
2010-07-20
PoliticalNews.me - Jul 20,2010 - WASHINGTON-- Congressman Tim Bishop urged the Secretary of the Interior to grant final federal recognition to the Shinnecock Indian Nation, despite an objection recently filed by out-of-state interests.
"For the people of my district, there is no doubt that the Shinnecock Indian nation is a bona fide Indian tribe that has existed in Southampton since before the recorded history of the region," Congressman Bishop wrote, noting that the Shinnecock nation has been identified continuously since 1640 as a distinct Indian community, with its own rituals, customs, and elections.
"Last week, a so-called 'Coalition' of Connecticut interests, which refuses to disclose its members, asserted that the Bureau of Indian Affairs was wrong to acknowledge the existence of the Shinnecock Indian Nation because the Shinnecocks have recently begun working with an outside development partner. This, the 'Coalition' claims, warrants an investigation into whether the Shinnecock Indian Nation is in fact an autonomous political entity and whether its members are Indian. The people of my district know the answer to these questions and so do I," Congressman Bishop wrote.
Bishop sent a carbon copy of the letter to Steven K. Linscheid, Chief Administrative Judge of the Interior Board of Indian Appeals, the legal entity charged with evaluating the merits of the Connecticut group's challenge. No timetable has been announced for the process, but Congressman Bishop hopes the long-overdue federal recognition of the Shinnecock can be accomplished expediently.
"For the people of Southampton and the East End of Long Island, the decision of the federal government to acknowledge the Shinnecock Indian Nation is puzzling only in that it took so long to recognize what everyone who has grown up in this community has known all their lives -- the Shinnecock Indian Nation is unquestionably an Indian tribe," Bishop wrote.
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