A Cause For Celebration - Editorial
The announcement this week that the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, which has lived on these lands for thousands of years, finally received state recognition from the commonwealth was very welcome news, and marks a historic moment in both local and Tribal history.
The Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, like its sister Tribe in Mashpee, has been a distinct and autonomous group in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for centuries. Recognition as such from the state is long overdue, and we commend Governor Maura T. Healey for taking the step to cement the Tribe’s autonomy through an executive order.
We also applaud the tireless efforts of Tribal members, including Tribal chairwoman Melissa A. Ferretti, the Tribal council, and the Tribal elders and ancestors that came before them for their perseverance in their mission of achieving state and, eventually, federal recognition. Having attended a few of Ms. Ferretti’s presentations on the tribe and its history, we are well aware of the tribulations local Wampanoag tribes endured during times of colonization and forced assimilation.
Since the Dawes Act of 1887, the Herring Pond Tribe has been ardently advocating for itself and its right to its ancestral homelands in what is now Bourne and Plymouth. A huge barrier to that, Ms. Ferretti has explained, is a lack of funding from state and federal resources. Without recognition at either level, the tribe had virtually no path forward. Now, though, a viable path is being paved thanks to the hard work of generations of Herring Pond Wampanoag people and allies.
Still, there is a long way to go. Federal recognition is the goal of the Herring Pond Wampanoag, but to achieve what its sister tribes in Aquinnah (Gay Head) and Mashpee have done is an undertaking that will cost hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of dollars.
We do not raise this point to dampen the excitement of the announcement—the Wampanoag people of Herring Pond and its sister Tribes should absolutely celebrate the momentous occasion that receiving state recognition is for the Tribe. Rather, we mention this to hopefully galvanize the excitement of non-Indigenous residents and neighboring communities, too. The Tribe may finally have the commonwealth’s official recognition as an autonomous group, but autonomy does not mean the Tribe is not greatly integrated into the communities in which its members live. Residents living across southeastern Massachusetts, regardless of town or village, are on Wampanoag land. We work, live, shop and explore here, but too many non-native people are unaware or uninterested in the cultures that originated and are still thriving here. One thing we have learned from our Indigenous friends and neighbors is that success oftentimes takes a village—and in order to get the federal recognition the Tribe has long been fighting for, support and advocacy from non-Indigenous allies is an equally important part of the winning equation.
It is time we not only recognize the existence of the Indigenous tribes upon whose lands we live, but that we celebrate and advocate with them, too. We hope that our readers and community members, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, can join us in celebrating this milestone with the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe.