In his testimony, Mr. Gumbs blasted the process by which Native American tribes seek official recognition from the U.S. government, a prerequisite to opening a federally sanctioned casino. The application and review process for federal recognition routinely takes tribes more than a decade to complete because of the exhaustive and complex review requirements and the number of tribes claiming the right to operate casinos.
"If my frustration over the current federal recognition process is evident in my testimony, it is because it was forged by the blood, sweat and tears of too many members of our tribe," Mr. Gumbs told the committee on Thursday morning, February 10. "The status of our petition sits in what I call the ‘black hole'—the Ready for Active Consideration list."
Mr. Gumbs said that even though the Shinnecocks, one of the most thoroughly documented tribes in the country, petitioned the federal government for recognition in 1978, the tribe was told recently by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that it might still take as long as 10 to 15 years for their application to be reviewed. Indian Affairs officials have noted that although the Shinnecocks initiated their quest for federal recognition in 1978, the tribe made little effort to compile and submit the mountains of historical records required until 2003.
The House Resources Committee that heard the testimony of Mr. Gumbs and other Native American advocacy groups is currently considering a bill that could all but eliminate the wait for the Shinnecocks and several other tribes.
If adopted, the bill would require that any tribe that initiated a request for federal recognition prior to October 1987 be given a greatly expedited review of their application and receive a final determination from the Secretary of the Interior within one year. Federal recognition applications require that a tribe extensively document its ancestral lineage and connection to native lands back hundreds of years.
"We are looking at a broken system that has seriously hindered a decision of recognition for several groups that started the process many years ago," said U.S. Representative Richard Pombo, a Republican from California who is chairman of the Resources Committee and the author and sponsor of the bill. "Some of these groups have seen generations come and go with very little progress."
The bill that would pave the way to an expedited granting of federal recognition must be approved by the Resources Committee first, then by a majority of the House and Senate and would then have to be signed by the president. According to a spokesperson, for the committee, that process can be expected to take at least two years.
The committee decided on 1987 as the cutoff because that was the year the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act made it legal for native tribes to operate casinos on ancestral lands, a lucrative but oft-maligned policy that has brought enormous windfalls to some tribes.
Several vaguely constituted tribes, some able to show only a handful of members with little or no organization for decades, have secured federal recognition, often through the use of lawsuits, and opened casinos.
The Shinnecock Indian Nation, in contrast, claim more than 1,500 current members, have been officially recognized by the State of New York for more than 350 years, and say they have detailed records of their tribal government, lineage and ancestral connection to the East End dating back centuries.
In 2003, the Shinnecocks and a private financial backer revealed plans to construct a casino on tribe-owned land in Hampton Bays. When the tribe first took up the casino issue, it alleged that its recognition and treatise with the state prior to the founding of the United States of America precluded it from the required federal recognition process, a claim that is set to be argued in federal court. The tribe then also renewed its efforts to compile the required information to complete the federal recognition application, funded by a $1.5 million gift from casino investor Ivy K. Ong, who has since reportedly sold his interest in the tribe's casino plans.
The tribe has pointed out that federal recognition would provide a handful of federal benefits, but the development of a casino is central to the tribe's plans. And for that reason, local politicians have opposed their efforts.
U.S. Representative Tim Bishop said this week that he would not support the Shinnecocks receiving federal recognition status, expedited or otherwise, because the designation would make it nearly impossible to stop the tribe from securing permission to develop a casino.
"It's a very difficult position for me to take, because these are my friends and neighbors that I went to school with and played sports with and have lived next to my whole life," Mr. Bishop, a Southampton Village native, said this week. "But I don't think that gaming, in any way, serves the interest of the people of eastern Long Island. So long as recognition is linked to gaming, I have to be opposed to recognition."