WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st March, 2020) One of the two Wampanoag Indian tribes in the US state of Massachusetts faces the threat of having its reservation land stripped away by Federal government action, the National Congress of American Indians said in a press release on Tuesday.
"On Friday, March 27, 2020, the Secretary of the Interior notified the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe that he has ordered the disestablishment of the Tribe's reservation, an act that would take Mashpee's tribal homelands out of trust status," the release stated.
The action was being taken despite the Department of the Interior's prior commitment that no such action would be taken until litigation defending the status of the Tribe's reservation was resolved, the release noted.
"This surprise action is a devastating blow to not only the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe but all of Indian Country, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and violates the federal government's solemn trust responsibility to safeguard tribal nations and their lands," the NCAI said.
The decision undermines the Tribe's ability to continue to self-govern, provide vital programs and services to its citizens, and protect its traditional lands and cultural resources, the release added.
