Sanders Backs Mashpee Wampanoag At Risk Of Losing Reservation

MASHPEE, MA — Presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, announced he's standing in solidarity with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, who was told by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that their reservation will be disestablished. The order came Friday from President Donald Trump's administration, and the reservation land is expected to be taken out of trust from the secretary of the interior.

Sanders called the administration's decision "disgraceful" and vowed to stand with the tribe in their fight to restore its land.

"The well-being of indigenous peoples and tribal nations is intrinsically tied to their land," Sanders said in a statement. "For far too long, the federal government has adopted policies that take land away from tribes, ignore treaty rights and interfere with tribal management of their own resources. We must reset the partnership between the federal government and tribal nations by putting land and control of that land "back in the hands of tribes.

Tribe Chairman Cedric Cromwell highlighted that the news comes as the country and the tribe are in the midst of dealing with the new coronavirus "on the very day that the United States has reached a record 100,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and our Tribe is desperately struggling with responding to this devastating pandemic," Cromwell said.

According to WBUR, Conner Swanson, a spokesperson from the Department of the Interior, said the tribe is still federally recognized. He added that a court decision mandating the department's action was present.

Cromwell ended his message with a promise that the tribe will continue it's efforts to maintain the reservation's confirmed status. "We will not rest until we are treated equally with other federally recognized tribes and the status of our reservation is confirmed," Cromwell said.