Brian made NCAI history alright, as the first officer facing felony charges. NEWS ALERT-he also claims membership in the “Eel Clan”. How about none of this nonsense improves your life.
Brian Weeden’s image enhancement plan backfired. Before he stepped off the plane in Boston, Mashpee Tribal members got the word and were grousing about him becoming First Vice President of the National Council of American Indians. Established in 1944, NCAI is a prestigious organization that develops policy, governance and lobbying strategies benefiting tribal nations. Clearly, the Weeden aversion to work of any kind, defies that whole concept. It’s another title for a Tribal Chairman who’s done nothing but ignore huge problems. He has failed to live up to the legacy of landmark achievements by Mashpee Wampanoag “on a national level.” You know the real Tribal leaders past and present. There are many!
National level? How about doing the work of a tribal chairman? That amounts to a (Dunkin) Donut. What they left out was that he’s the first NCAI officer to be facing felony charges of grand larceny. And there were arguments against his nomination by members of the Aquinnah Tribe. So, $370,000.00 later the
Members don’t accept clans as part of our culture. But the chairman does. He chose the delicious but revolting eel as his family moniker… like picking a web domain name. Anyhow, we went further and for clan fans, here’s what’s available: Scrod, Blue Fish, Herring Roe, Mussels, Lobster and Quahog. Grab one! MMMMMMM good.
member of the self-anointed “Eel Clan” (Never heard of it. Maybe because we don’t have animal or fish clans) has done nothing to move us forward. He does get that check regularly. When the scramble for money got tight, there was talk of cutting officers pay, he said, “You ain’t cuttin’ mine.”
With the continued postponements of Brian’s pretrial hearing (#7 scheduled for December 13) we will have paid him (some kinda way) $505,000.00 salary by the February 2025 election. Ya, stuck in crisis mode. You have to wonder if Plymouth County is punishing us! Brian was constantly screwing with Plymouth Plantation. Maybe this is payback.
SOME GOOD NEWS
The Department of Interior/ Bureau of Indian Affairs helped us defeat the Littlefield’s lawsuit to take our land out of trust. That was excellent. But those people are relentless. Let’s pray the Creator holds them at bay. We need all the help we can get.
The restoration of the Parsonage is finally underway which is another important project we complained about. No word on the museum rodent eradication, but Anita Peters tendered her resignation from her job there. So somethings going on.
THE LACK OF TRANSPARENCY,
Remains an enormous problem. The efforts to coverup in this Tribe are pretty futile. Everyone knows what’s going on. Brian took over operations and continues on his junkets across country. There was bad behavior in New Orleans, the housing mess was escalating unchecked, we have no budget, but the
David is expert at self-promotion and a failure at doing his job. And guess what? He doesn’t give a damn if you like it or not.
spending goes on. They are still paying two directors who have no grant resources and ignoring the continuing crises stalled by Brian’s inability to run the government. Thus, the very low member attendance at Council and Sunday meetings. The people have given up. At Reel Wamps, we keep waiting for good news and progress that rarely comes under this chairman. To all our detractors, be reminded that your own family and so-called friends rat you out at a steady clip. We do not tell all because it doesn’t help matters and the stuff is awfully cruel detailed stories.
THE BACKSTORY TO AN ONGOING SAGA
Again, David Weeden, AKA Da Magpie has added a new route to his struggle bus tour. A couple of months ago the Middleboro historical society was alerted to some tribal remains in what appeared to be at two burial grounds. They wanted authentication. Well, they called a tribal member who referred them to the Chief. And when the Chief said he was referring it to Magpie, well, there was silence on the other end of the line. The Chief was following the proper protocol being that Magpie is the historic preservation director. And the Chief probably thought Magpie had reformed his ways since he had chewed his _ss out about the museum, the Meeting House and other maintenance negligence (that have plagued his image reboot). So, somebody went over to Middleboro to check things out, but it wasn’t anyone fitting the description of Magpie. Here’s why. Magpie is the Director of Historic Preservation soooooo he’s supposed to be certified by the Department of Interior, wait for it….as a Tribal Historic Preservation Officer. You know the rest. He has the job, the $80 k salary and had no intention of doing the work. He never did the training or paperwork to get the certification which means he delayed the release of grants for years. That was probably behind his thinly veiled plan to derail the HACCP oyster farm facility. He threw a temper tantrum in council because the Vice Chairman wanted to remove a dilapidated building without consulting him as “the historic preservation officer.” He couldn’t verify a damned thing if he wanted to. In the end his worthless research amounted to the name of a family of Johnson’s who lived there in the 1800’s. So he insisted that the VC get the town to make the determination. The raggedy building was not on the state or federal historic registers but it was blocking the project. Magpie was stalling the project and covering up his lack of credentials.
Magpie is chained to the struggle bus. But he’s all over the place playing Indian in our name representing us in a fictitious way, never following through or delivering.
BACK TO CLANS
This clan business has everyone talking. Most members say for us, there’s no such thing. That’s true. The Elders say it’s fabricated, annoying and inappropriate. Okay, so the next question is how did we distinguish ourselves from each other? Simple. By family. We still do it today. Each family has distinguishing features that have transcended time. Whenever someone is trying to remember one of us they start with the tribal family, the parent, brothers sisters and so on. Anyway in the picture below are some substantial Mashpee Wampanoag who were pretty extraordinary in their day and are responsible for our existence. If you’re not related to them or the names on the list below, you’re probably not Mashpee.
Standing: Nelson Simmons, Priscilla Pells, Dorcus Coombs Gardener, Eben Queppish, Annie Pocknett, Alex Pocknett, Rhoda Sturgis, Sarah Amos Pocknett (daughter of Blind Joe Amos), Selena Coombs (child), Mattie Edwards, Cyrus Edwards, William Simons. Seated: Elizabeth Mills Coombs, Charles Peters.
Mashpee Wampanoag families: Amos, Apes, Attaquin, Bearse, Combs, Cowett (Couet),DeGrass, Edwards, Hicks, Hendricks, James, Mills, MIngo, Mye, Oakley, Pells, Peters, Pocknett, Queppish, Simmons, Sturgis, Webquish
Read more about our people and heritage start with The Wampanoags of Mashpee by Russell M Peters (you will see all your relatives there) and The Mashpee Indians Tribe on Trial by Jack Campisi. There are many more books published by tribal members who offer a diverse perspective on our rich heritage.
We should be teaching our children our tribal history. It would make a big difference in their lives.
