[PEN-L:5020] INDIGENOUS-US: Black Indians Strike it Rich

[Michael Eisenscher <meisenscher@xxxxxxx>]

/* Written  3:37 PM  Apr  7, 1999 by newsdesk in igc:ips.english */
/* ---------- "INDIGENOUS-US: Black Indians Strike" ---------- */
       Copyright 1999 InterPress Service, all rights reserved.
          Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.

                      *** 04-Apr-99 ***

Title: INDIGENOUS-US: Black Indians Strike it Rich

By Leslie Goffe

NEW YORK, Apr. 4 (IPS) - Who is, and who is not an Indian is a
subject of debate among the 2.5 million Native Americans - few of
whom can claim to be "pure blood."

One tribe of so-called 'black indians', who have both Indian and
African-American ancestry, have now become the focus of discussion
about Indian identity.

The racially-mixed Mashantucket Pequot Indians may be small in
number - there are currently only 502 officially registered
members - but they comprise the richest, most powerful Indian
community in the United States.

They own Foxwoods Resort Casino, situated about 30 miles south of
Hartford, the capital of Connecticut state - about a one hour's
drive from either New York or Boston.

The casino grosses more than a billion dollars a year, much of
which, the Mashantucket Pequots say, has gone towards rebuilding
Indian life in the United States.

They cite, for example, the 200 million dollar Indian museum they
recently built on their reservation, and the annual festival they
host on their reservation which draws around 50,000 Indians from
500 tribes from across the U.S. and Canada.

Yet, despite all of this, the Mashantuckets are viewed by many as
falling short of being truly Native American, says Arlene
Hirschfelder, author of  The Native American Almanac.

"There are Native American people who react to tribal groups
who've inter-married with blacks. They're criticised for not
having their language and traditions.  They see them as people
without a culture.

I look at it as these Pequot people are trying to re-learn who
they are."

But Carrie Braine, a leader of the Northern Cheyenne Indians -
the victors over General George Custer's soldiers at the Battle of
the Little Bighorn in 1876 -  says 'black Indians' dont quite fit
the part they're playing.

"Many Indian people believe that a 'real Indian' must have dark
brown hair, dark eyes, you know the stereotype, and must not be
too dark or too light."

Though this picture does fit most people's idea of a Native
American, that's not how Vinny Sebastien or most of the members of
the Mashantucket Pequot tribe look.

Sebastien looks African-American because of a complicated history
which saw the original Pequot driven off their land onto a run-
down reservation, and eventually into neighbouring cities in New
England where they inter-married within African American
communities.

"I consider myself an "African-American Indian", explains
Sebastien, 37, determined to acknowledge both sides of his
ancestry.

Other Mashantuckets, though, like Clifford Sebastien, 72, are
determined to erase the tribe's African ancestry.

"A lot of us who appear like we marry out too far"  he says.
"We are marrying back in to make the blood stronger."

Another Mashantucket, Valerie Burgess, 34,  is divided over
the matter. She's married to an African-American, but says for the
sake of the tribe she would encourage her children to marry only
Indians.

"I would drop subtle hints that he should marry somebody who
was Pequot." she says.

But others, such as elder John Perry, say the tribe cannot
mandate who people should love. "In this modern time it is going
to be kind of hard to have a pure Indian race" he says.

He does admit, however, that talk of racial purity does obsess
some Pequot. "They are trying here on the reservation to get
people to marry other Indians. So I guess there will be some pure
Indians, but not that many."

Instead of trying to 'improve the blood', Vinny Sebastien says
his tribe ought to busy itself learning what it can about Indian
language and culture.

Vinny Sebastien grew up far away from the reservation in an
inner city ghetto immersed in black music.  But now, six years
after he moved to the reservation to begin a new life, he has
become an accomplished drummer, and can often be found at pow-wows
dressed in full Indian regalia..

"I dont speak the language" Sebastien says. "But I'm getting
into the culture now."

All Pequot work for one or other of the tribe's many business or
as adminstrators in departments like Youth, Culture, Senior
Citizens, etc. Vinny Sebastien is director of the Youth Service
Department.

All members of the community thereotically are shareholders in
the billion dollars grossed at the Casino every year. But the
tribal council, concerned not encourage idleness, requires members
to work in some shape or form and so earn their dividend from the
gambling profits.

Vinny Sebastien earns about 150,000 dollars as Director of Youth
Services, but by volunteering for other tasks and sitting on
committees he can increase his dividends at the end of the year to
quadruple his income.

If any of the community members want to set up a business, the
tribe will help out with the money to get started.

Still, this isn't good enough says Carrie Braine of the Northern
Cheyenne tribe of Montana. "I dont think you can re-learn being
Indian if it was lost," she insists.

And, it's not just Indians who do not accept the racially-mixed
Mashantuckets.

Whites, like Wesley Johnson, Mayor of the Connecticut town
surrounding the Pequot reservation, says he speaks for many whites
when he questions the tribe's authenticity.

"Locals do say that they (the Mashantuckets) aren't really
Indians, that they are black and whatever.  But I guess they, and
the federal government, have their rules as to what is and is not
an Indian."

Ever since Africans arrived in the United States as slaves they
have been mixing with Native Americans.  Tribes like the Seminole
of Florida often provided runaway slaves with refuge.

Several studies have shown that between 30 and 70 per cent of
African-Americans claimed they had some Indian ancestry.

But, whether other Indians, whites, or even the African-Americans
they used to live amongst, like it or not, the Mashantucket Pequot
refuse to apologise for their ancestry, or the good fortune that
has made them fantastically rich and powerful.

Tribal elder John Perry says they are a true American melting
pot.

"If you look at the Pequot today you are going to see light-skin
ones, you are going to see dark-skin ones. Some are going to look
white, some black, but we're all related." (END/IPS/lg/mk/99)


Origin: Montevideo/INDIGENOUS-US/
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