A quote last week from U.S. Representative Tim Bishop stakes out the alternate point of view. Speaking on new legislation that would speed the review process for the tribe's application, Mr. Bishop made the connection plain: "So long as recognition is linked to gaming, I have to be opposed to recognition."
Respectfully, that seems unfair to a tribe that has legitimate roots, and records, stretching back centuries, and a long history of interaction with local and state government. The tribe deserves federal recognition of its sovereign status without unending bureaucratic delays.
The U.S. government is to blame for the Indian gaming threat to the East End: it was the government that decided Indian tribes should be reimbursed, and given a chance at fiscal self-reliance, through slot machines and games of chance. Don't punish the Shinnecocks for federal policy.
None of this should be read as an endorsement of the tribe's casino plan: It remains the single biggest threat looming on the horizon for the South Fork. And tribal officials are straining credibility by suggesting that a federal recognition application that languished for more than two decades—until sketches of a gaming facility were unveiled—is not directly tied to casino dreams rather than federal grants.
But the simple, and complicated, truth is this: The Shinnecock Indian Nation has a right to a fair chance at federal recognition, despite the bitter fruit it might bear.