A break at last
Most New Yorkers are aware that Peter Minuit bought Manhattan from the local Indians for $24-worth of beads and trinkets in 1626. Some know Broadway is a former Indian trail, and that neighborhoods, like Canarsie and Maspeth, are named for tribes long gone. Few realize, though, that there is an 800-acre (324-hectare) Indian reservation virtually on New York City's doorstep in Southampton, a town in the posh Hamptons. This beach area is where New York's rich have their summer homes. But unlike their wealthy neighbors, who come via high-end realtors, the Shinnecock Indian Nation say they are the children of a goddess who caused the land to form beneath her feet.
Even though the Shinnecocks are the oldest self-governing tribe in America and have been recognized by New York State since colonial times, they have struggled since 1978 to be federally recognized. The tribe moved a step closer on May 26th when a federal judge ruled that the Department of the Interior must make a decision by December 15th. The tribe meets the necessary criteria, so it could have federal status by mid 2010. Gordell Wright, one of the tribe's three elected trustees, observes most New Yorkers think of Indians in historical terms; but “we are here and our problems are contemporary,” he says. Housing is the biggest. Because members do not individually own the land on the reservation, they are not eligible for mortgages or building loans. Often several generations of a family live in one house.