The Schaghticokes are having their land, and their rights, violated

I am writing this to provide readers with some facts about what has been going on at the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation Reservation in Kent.

The January 29 protest in Hartford was to educate the citizens of Connecticut and beyond of the cultural genocide that is happening right here and now on the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation reservation in Kent. What I see as hate crimes, desecration and destruction of sacred land, including historical burial grounds, intimidation — all these are calculated to intimidate and destroy the tribe’s culture and heritage.

It’s a disgrace for our state leaders to say there is nothing more they can do. Governor M. Jodi Rell, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Commissioners Gina McCarthy and John Danaher have done nothing for almost two years, thus allowing Michael Rost, the non-Schaghticoke intruder, to continue his activities of destruction and intimidation. This is morally and ethically unacceptable. The governor is the administrative executive who is supposed to assure that the provisions of Connecticut General Statutes, Title 47, “Land and Land Titles,� Chapter 824, “Indians,� and its regulations are carried out.

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The desecration of Schaghticoke burial grounds and the pillaging of artifacts and resources should disturb everyone. Today it’s the tribe’s rights that are being violated; tomorrow it could be yours. If a noose were hung in an African American community or a swastika placed in a Jewish community, there would be outrage and an immediate arrest. Is it anti-Indian racism that allows these violations to happen in an Indian community without anyone objecting, other than the Indians themselves?

More than 70 trees on the reservation have been cut down and removed, and some up to 3 feet wide, all without tribal permission from the more than 360 documented Schaghticoke Tribal Nation members who make up the majority and legitimate legislative body of the tribe. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) classified this logging activity as “non-commercial� and described it as “not insignificant.� The ongoing destruction appears to be gratifying to our state’s politicians because the trespasser is a “chosen vendor for wood delivery,� for the town of Kent’s heating assistance program because of the price, item and reliability.

In 2004 this same trespasser, Michael Rost of Sharon, was arrested for similar destructive and dangerous activities on the reservation. Rost had been hired verbally by Alan Russell in 2004 to do what they called “construction work� on the reservation. Russell claims the status of chairman of the tribal council of the Schaghticoke Indian Tribe (SIT), a faction consisting of Russell and his sister, Gail Harrison’s, immediate family members and a few other Schaghticoke who chose not to enroll in the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation (STN). Gail Harrison also claims to be the chairman of SIT while living in New York.

Shortly after the start of the “construction work�(which consisted of piling enormous boulders weighing tons around, against and on the roof of the tribe’s communal pavilion), the Connecticut State Police, acting on the complaint and authority of Schaghticoke Tribal Nation Chief Richard Velky (my husband), arrested both Rost and Russell for their destructive actions on the reservation. Rost was charged with criminal mischief in the first degree and reckless endangerment in the second degree. In his testimony to the court at that time, he did not claim to be an Indian as he claims now.

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 Commissioner McCarthy continues to say, “None of us like the destruction of the land,â€� and “It’s a question of whether we legally have any ability to do anything.â€�  This refusal to act contrasts sharply with the actions of former DEP Deputy Commissioner Leff who, in a letter of July 12, 2004, to Chief Richard Velky, applauded the Schaghticoke people for “having sought state police enforcement of laws designed to protect property and the resources it containsâ€� and urged “the Schaghticoke people to be vigilant in protection of their natural and cultural resources.â€� The inability of the current commissioner of the DEP to prevent the alienation of the land for future generations of Schaghticoke, and the blatant disregard of her mandated responsibility to care for and manage reservation lands goes against the spirit of the law. She bases her refusal to act on the pretext that there is a “leadership conflict.â€� There is no leadership conflict.

Chief Richard Velky has been the acknowledged elected Schaghticoke leader since 1987 and this fact is supported by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), court and state documents. The only way to dispute Chief Velky’s leadership is through a formal challenge with verifiable evidence under the tribe’s practice and usage law in Connecticut General Statutes, Title 47, “Land and Land Titles,� Chapter 824, “Indians,� and their regulations.

Former DEP Commissioner Rocque affirmed Chief Velky as leader in 2000. DEP official Matt Fritz was quoted in a news article last year as saying there has been no challenge to Chief Velky’s elected position; DEP Indian Affairs Coordinator Ed Sarabia again confirmed that fact in an e-mail in June 2008. Recent Freedom of Information requests to Connecticut officials and agencies show that no documents showing a formal challenge to Chief Velky’s leadership have been provided to the governor, the attorney general or the DEP — and they know it.

That means that the state has concocted an alleged “leadership conflict� based on their acceptance of any random claim from anyone — Schaghticoke or not — who says he or she is the “chief,� “chairman� or “spokesman� of the Schaghticoke tribe. And they continue to refuse to acknowledge Chief Velky as the legal, elected leader of the Schaghticoke. This begs the questions: Why did they recognize Chief Velky’s leadership and authority in 2004 when they arrested Rost, but refuse to recognize him now? And, who profits from this strategy, which I believe has been devised by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal?

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Ethically and morally, the state police had the responsibility to act on STN Council member Joe Velky’s attempts to file complaints of a hate crime, criminal mischief, larceny, trespass and other laws in November 2007 when he discovered that Rost was destroying Schaghticoke land and in the following months. But the state police were advised by the attorney general not to take complaints from Joe Velky or other STN members.

If the state police had done their job and arrested Rost back then, Katherine Saunders and her family would not have been subjected to the heart-wrenching ordeal of Rost desecrating her mother’s remains by bulldozing over her burial sites.  The state-listed endangered rattlesnake that lives on the reservation would not have been threatened by Rost’s destruction of land near its dens. A natural watercourse would not have been diverted by his slashing out of a road on the mountain’ steep slope.

These criminal activities would not be tolerated if they happened to people of any other race, ethnicity or religion in the state of Connecticut, nor would they be allowed to happen in your backyard, on the lawn of the state Capitol, or in the cemetery where your loved ones are buried.

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Yet the state continues to refuse to act to protect the land and environment on the reservation on the excuse that they don’t know who the Schaghticoke leader is. This is the same state that condoned the bulldozing and burning of tribal homes 50 years ago and prevented Indians from living on the reservation. It is the same state that over the course of its history devastated tribal economies, forbade the speaking of Indian languages, prohibited traditional religious activities, and now continues the cultural genocide of the Schaghticokes by denying their traditional government and constantly perpetuating the lie that the Schaghticokes want federal acknowledgment only to open a casino.

The attorney general is the chief civil legal officer of the state to represent the interests of the people of the state of Connecticut in all civil legal matters involving the protection of  the public interest, and he serves as legal counsel to all state agencies to ensure that state government acts within the letter and spirit of the law, that public resources are protected for present and future generations, that the quality of life of all citizens is preserved and enhanced, and that the rights of our most vulnerable citizens are safeguarded. He has not fulfilled his responsibility to the Schaghticoke people.

But who is to investigate the misuse of governmental power and human rights abuses when the abusers are the government itself?

The above is a letter that was sent to Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Gina McCarthy and Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Danaher, as well as to this newspaper, by Kathy Velky. Velky is married to Chief Richard Velky, as well as being a mother of Schaghticoke children, and is an advocate for them and all the tribe. She resides in Woodbury.

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