"It should be a matter of conscience for us all."
Diane Dix, Nolumbeka Project Secretary
Fifty years after Native American remains were disrespectfully and unceremoniously removed from the Mackin sand and gravel pit in Greenfield and bulldozed into the swamp across the road, the Greenfield Town Council will meet to decide on a Native American Burial Ordinance (see below) that could protect the ten acres of White Ash Swamp -- and serve to prevent such desecrations in the future.
We hope that you will join the Nolumbeka Project and other concerned citizens to show your support as the Council meets on Wednesday, May 21 at 7 PM at the GCTV studios, 393 Main Street, 3rd Floor, Greenfield.
Coming two days after the 338th anniversary of the infamous Great Falls massacre, it is an appropriate time to take an important step in to offer the same respect and consideration to the First Peoples of this region that we should expect for all other Americans, for all human beings.
There will a time for public comment at the meeting. Your presence and your voice can make a difference.
We also encourage you to call or write the members of the Greenfield Town Council before Wednesday's meetimg to indicate your support of immediate passage of the Native American Burial Ordinance. (Click for list of telephone number and addresses of Town Councilors)
It's time.
Chapter 105
NATIVE AMERICAN BURIAL GROUND
General Reference
25 USC Chapter 32
42 USC 1996
Section 106 of the National
Historic Preservation Act
MGL Part I Title VI Ch. 38
sec. 6
MGL 114 Ch. 17
§ 105-1 Native American
Burial Ground Ordinance
The Town of Greenfield recognizes,
to the extent provided for in State or
Federal law, any known place where American Indian remains have been buried or
reburied as an American Indian Burial Ground, and as such, it shall be accorded
the treatment and protections specified by Federal or State Laws,
including but not limited to 25 USC Chapter 32 (Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation), 42 USC 1996 (The American Indian Religious
Freedom Act, and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, MGL
Part I Title VI Ch. 38 sec. 6, MGL 114 Ch. 17. It is, furthermore ordered that as
soon as human remains of a Native American and/or a Native American Burial
Ground is discovered and reported and which falls within the jurisdiction of
State or Federal law, a local advocate for Native Americans shall immediately
be appointed by the Mayor and the
Narragansett Indian Tribe, who shall participate with others having
jurisdiction in the enforcement of
State or Federal law relating to the treatment and protection of American
Indian Burial Grounds within the Town of Greenfield.
Nothing in this Native
American Burial Ground Ordinance shall be deemed as acquiring any interest in land, or as imposing any land use
regulation which is properly the subject of State or Federal law, nor is it
intended by the creation and implementation of this Ordinance to supersede,
modify, alter, change, or enlarge any existing Greenfield Town Ordinance,
Zoning Bylaw, or State or Federal law related to Native American Burial
Grounds.
