Reel Wamps

The judge in Cedric’s case didn’t have a lot of respect for us but it wasn’t anything new. While there was a lot of talk about our sovereign status, they were actually saying that Cedric was not a public figure.  Not true at all. Try Googling the man.  At least ten pages of just about everything.  He’s wiped his profile of a lot of stuff because it is still pretty bad.  But he’s a public figure alright. They kept winding around the federal governments lack of jurisdiction on sovereign land.

Let’s be clear.  The Federal government does whatever it wants to do.  Why do they “take OUR LAND into trust?” We are in a big FEDERAL TRUST LAND ACCOUNT with nearly 600 other tribes.

Correct. It’s our land why don’t they just give us a deed and call it a day? That would be too much like right. Our land is “entrusted” to the federal government. They have a lot to say about Indian America. They come on to reservations to arrest and prosecute Natives whenever they get ready.

The federal Marshals arrested Cedric, the US Justice Department prosecuted him in federal court and whatever his sentence ends up being, he will be sent to a federal prison. Just remember that.

On to the actual sentencing hearing.  It was a time for victim impact statements.  That would be from Tribal members because we were the victims.

Cedric Cromwell did more damage to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe than we can measure.  Beyond the monetary illegalities, he methodically dismantled the ancient edicts that distinguish us from other races, tribes and the majority of Americans and that is tradition. Those traditions were one of the reasons we were federally recognized. We followed them consistently for centuries and we had a record of it.

Tradition is our foundation because in many instances it influences the crafting of the tribal laws that govern us.

The Tribal Elders are the moderators of our traditions. Core members of our Tribe can spot a Hendricks, a Peters, a Pocknett, a Hicks, a Mills and on and on.  But the Elders knew their family line start to finish. They knew who moved away, who went to college how many kids they had…and so forth. They knew who was on the roll. They used to oversee everything we do. Because of casino prosects we had so many people claiming our ancestry we had to have specific criteria for membership. They used to determine whether those applying for enrollment met that criteria and they monitored our elections to keep unknown or non-enrolled members from voting. They were also the arbiters

Rhoda Fernandes, Natalie Costa and Anne Peters Brown at the 2008 Mashpee Wampanoag Powwow where they selected Talia Landry Powwow Princess among other duties.

of many other important decisions when it came to choosing our spiritual leaders and chiefs. They are counselors and advisors to Council members in particular.  On the whole the Elders were not fond of Cedric. You can’t govern with impunity without the Elders approval.

The unraveling began when one of his protegees running the 2009 election removed the Elders from their oversight process.  No one was there to question hundreds of the unknown “pending members” voting.  People we had never seen before were in line voting.  The voter lists had been reconstructed and Cedric Cromwell was ushered into office. Cromwell quickly became unpopular and dictatorial. Since the Elders disapproved of his heavy handedness, he also removed them from enrollment and Cromwell’s cousin added hundreds of members creating what many called a separate Tribe. Slowly, he fired Aunt Dart, Anne Peters, Rhoda and Aunt Eleanor to name a few. The Elders were disenfranchised from the Tribe which was pretty much as close to blaspheming as you can get.

While he tried desperately to be “Indian” with comical costumes (regalia), tradition meant nothing to Cedric Cromwell, and he saw the Elders as an impediment. He was a late comer to the Tribal community rarely seen but became a casino stalker with a growing ambition. He had no knowledge of our tribal history, recent or ancient, his lineage and had no idea how to enroll in order to remain on the Tribal Council. With a lot of help from Glen Marshall and Patty Oakley, he made it on to the roll in 2006.  Just before federal recognition.

More disturbing was Cedric’s disrespect of Tribal women and Elder Tribal women.  In a vicious harangue in front of Tribal staff, Cromwell cursed and condemned Tribal Treasurer Nellie Hicks Ramos (then in her late 70’s) because she wrote a letter to the Massachusetts Attorney General requesting an investigation of the 2009 election. That was after he threatened another Tribal woman in the Council parking lot because she was not part of his team.  The Tribal Chairman witnessed that episode and was so disturbed be he kept asking “What the hell is wrong with you boy?” He threatened to hit the woman outside a Sunday General meeting because the Council approved a recommendation to video tape the council and Sunday meetings to keep certain Council members from disrupting the agenda. Tribal members ran into the meeting and got the Chairman and Vice Chairman to stop him.

Of course, they challenged him to “go outside “and as usual he refused. Tribal men were constantly calling him out and he was constantly saying no.

Cedric is appealing his sentence. We can’t appeal anything he has done. We live with his horrible legacy everyday.

The Tribal Elders were so concerned with the Cromwell Administration they met with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC on three separate occasions and successfully filed suit after exhausting all legal remedies.  There are so many stories, such a sad slow walk of shame by a man who had no respect for us.

Cedric Cromwell’s 12-year reign destroyed what the colonists and an evolving America could not achieve, and that the hollowing out of our survival mechanism….Tradition.

That’s a terrifying legacy. Fifty years of progress, centuries of tradition wiped out by a man who trampled us in his lust for power and money.