Tribal leaders cheer recent attention from lawmakers

Stretching across the heart of eastern Connecticut like a praying mantis, the senate district of state Sen. Cathy Osten, DSprague, either surrounds or passes within a few miles of four of the state’s five recognized Native American tribes.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Osten has long been closely tied with many of the legislative battles related to the rights and recognition of local tribes throughout her five terms in Hartford. As part of those efforts, Osten has successfully pushed for a Native American curriculum to be taught in public schools, as well as punishing districts that continue to use Native American imagery or mascots.

As lawmakers near the half-way mark of this year’s legislative session, however, Osten has been tracking nearly a dozen proposed bills that touch on Native American issues. For the most part, they are the work of her colleagues.

“A lot of people associate the Native American legislation only with me, and that’s not true,” Osten said. “At least certainly not this year, [not] any longer.”

Among the issues that have attracted the support of Osten’s colleagues this year are a bill to rename the Thames River to reflect its centuries-old association with the Mohegan and Pequot tribes.

There’s a bill to grant members of federally-recognized tribes in Connecticut free tuition at any of the state’s public colleges and universities. Another would end the taxation of private business entities located on tribal lands — a million-dollar issue for the retail-packed casinos at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.

One lawmaker, state Rep. Christopher Rosario, D- Bridgeport, has filed a resolution to formally recognize that all of the land in Connecticut was once Native American territory.

And while one long standing target of Osten’s ire — the State Capitol statue of John Mason, the perpetrator of the Mystic Massacre against the Pequots — remains standing for now, other lawmakers have introduced their own legislation that would begin the process of identifying other potentially harmful public displays throughout Connecticut, as well as identifying new and diverse figures to add to the Capitol’s statuary.

“We are seeing more of it, frankly we’re seeing more of it over the last couple of years,” said Chuck Bunnell, the chief of staff for the Mohegan Tribal Nation. “I think Sen. Osten has taken a lead, but others have introduced legislation that are important to the relationship between the tribes, the local governments and the state.”

The chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council, Rodney Butler, said that the debate over Mason’s statue at the Capitol is an example where nearly decades of tribal advocacy has resulted in lawmakers stepping forward “organically” to address the state’s fraught legacy with its indigenous inhabitants.

“This started with us scratching and clawing to get any kind of attention,” Butler said. “It’s been a decade in the making of building relationships, showing the state that we’re what we’ve always been known to be, that we’re good partners and that we can work together… We’re not at the point where we have to fight so hard to be heard.”

Not all of the state’s Native American tribes share the same sentiment about the legislation being put forward by lawmakers. William Buchanan, an advisor to the Schaghticoke Indian Tribe in Kent, accused legislators of being preoccupied with helping the state’s two federallyrecognized tribes, the Mohegans and Mashantucket Pequots, while ignoring the three smaller, state-recognized tribes. (Buchanan, who has been assisting the Schaghticokes in their fight for federal recognition, said he is not an enrolled member).

“They’re proposing all this legislation, which pertains to tribal issues, but yet they’re not including any of the tribal leaders in the conversation,” Buchanan said. “Once again, they’re saying we’re going to do what’s best for you.”

Representatives of Connecticut’s two other staterecognized tribes, the Golden Hill Paugussetts and the Eastern Pequots, could not be reached for comment.

Another lawmaker, state Rep. Anthony Nolan, D- New London, said he first became interested in the story of how the Thames River in his hometown got its name several years ago during a local tour (the river was named by English settlers, in a poorly-pronounced homage to the river in London). After discussing the area’s history with Butler, he filed a bill earlier this year to change the name to the Pequot River, in honor of the local tribe.

“There was really no reason for them to change the name,” said shortly after he filed the bill in January. “They changed it just because they wanted to be from a place overseas, in Europe. That didn’t sit right with me.”

After hearing objections from the Mohegan tribe — whose reservation abuts the west bank of the river — Nolan and other lawmakers agreed to amend the bill to allow time for both tribes, along with the Eastern Pequot, to come up with a compromise name for the river.

Bunnell, the chief of staff for the Mohegans, said that while communication between lawmakers and the tribal leaders is “near excellent,” he pointed to the debate over the river’s name as one example where the different tribes have conflicting views.

“It’s equally important that we make sure that the lines of communication are wide open, that’s really important to us,” Bunnell said. “Talking to one tribe doesn’t mean you’re talking to all the Indians.”