A Wampanoag is embossed on the Harvard crest, but conspicuously absent from its Native education program as if we don’t exist. They have passed over us for decades in favor of western tribes. Time to atone.
Harvard is atoning. It’s a big deal. This is not about guilty conscience. It’s about knowing the hierarchy of the ivy league institution did something horribly wrong by enslaving Natives and Blacks between 1636 -and 1783. So they plan to spend $100 million to atone and redress wrongs through ” teaching, research, and service.” Again, Natives were dominant in Massachusetts 16 years after the Pilgrims landed and Harvard was also used to educate the Wampanoag but primarily to covert them to Christianity.
This is a huge opportunity for the Mashpee Wampanoag. First, Harvard could carve out slots for our students in the Native American program. A Mashpee Wampanoag has never benefited from its Native American program. The western tribes dominate the program almost entirely despite the fact that King George established Harvard to educate the colonists and the Indians. The Indians were the Wampanoags on the mainland.
The tribe would benefit from programs the institution could establish for k-12 tutoring, social services, housing and economic development programs that would keep us in step with the business practices that are central to the economy of the United States. The Kennedy School of Government would be a welcomed program to help us learn new and viable governing methods.
This is the kind of strategy we need to secure our survival. If Harvard wants to atone we should be first in line to accept and with a plan.
