A slim Ceddie with Sherry and next to it the horror of a raggedy headdress sunglasses, buckskin leggings and a lousy ribbon shirt that frightened onlookers. The picture was seen all over the world. Yes, it was.
Cedric Cromwell was determined to turn himself into a Mashpee Indian. That was a painful metamorphosis. But actually he really shoulda taken his show on the road. Ceddie was really funny to watch in the crazy get ups. If you didn’t see him in person in the riggings, the pictures would cause tears to run down your face from laughter at the disastrous combinations. Shovel Ready Ceddie did not have a single friend in the Tribe to stear him right. Another tell tale sign.
So after Genting bought Cedric and his crew, he started looking for land to build his “Asino.” Never mind the fact we had no land in trust, a compact or a strategy to do either . We did have a lot of lawyers and consultants who had no experience in Indian law or the political wherewithal to do the jobs. They all got paid millions to play and took full advantage of a chairman out of his depth completely. On top of it all, Cedric lacked credibility as a man, a Native and a professional. He exaggerated his professional experience at Fidelity saying he handled millions of dollars in investments for clients. Right and he attended Roxbury Community College to achieve that right? Actually he was a tech guy. He lacked any of the compassion, interest or understanding of our uniqueness as a people who survived 400 years of encroachment and hardship. Again, he didn’t know what a “roll” was and turned against the very people who helped legitimize him (and his mother) as members of this Tribe.
When you compare Cromwell to our other leaders over the past century, Cedric lacks even the most basic attributes worthy of a Mashpee leader. They were very smart, resourceful and famous for their humor. The only thing he has in common with them is power. He used it against us to empower himself.
He’s not that smart either. How about the time he jumped in a helicopter and flew over the Bay State looking for casino land from the air. He got the moniker ” Whirlie Bird” on that one. Then he went on to Fall River (we had no historic ties to the area)….and gave the town a $2 million deposit on land designated for bio tech research by U Mass and the state. Ya. And the deposit was non-refundable. It was incredibly embarrassing.
Meanwhile the debt and the scandals multipied. The money was rolling and the American Express cards were on fire. Remember Mark Harding renting porn videos on the Tribal card? Sure you do. Just messy business. We thought this would take maybe 3 installments, but clearly its going to take more ! Getting to this latest budget vote is pretty awful.
We’ll get there…just a few reminders along the way.
