Native American Wooden Cross

At Hamptons Indian Reservation, Most Remained

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y  — The Shinnecock Indian Reservation, an island of independence amid the luxury of the Hamptons, is home to 600 members of one of the oldest recognized Native American tribes in the country. More than 500 remained in their homes through the storm, despite the reservation’s low-lying geography.

The danger for those who stayed comes from the reservation’s location on a peninsula jutting out into Shinnecock Bay, some of which is below sea level.

According to security personnel on the reservation, only four or five families left the reservation. Most preferred to wait out the storm at home.

“They figure, we made it through 1938,” when a Category 3 hurricane battered Long Island, “we’ll make it through this one. My grandfather’s 90, and he’s not going anywhere,” said one security officer, who declined to give her name.

Randy King, one of the tribe’s three trustees, who along with a 13-member tribal council serve as leaders of the community, said that residents were urged to evacuate, but few did.

“The people here have a strong affinity for the land. We live by that,” he said. “They’ve lived here for thousands of years and they don’t want to go anywhere. We’re certainly not the only community where people want to stay in their homes.”

So far, there have been no reports of reservation residents forced out of their homes by flooding or wind damage. But as Irene batters Long Island, the risk of flooding grows by the hour.

Firefighters and tribal officials canvassed the reservation Saturday advising residents of the mandatory evacuation order in nearby Southampton. Residents who chose to stay were asked to sign a tribal document, according to Beverly Jensen, a Shinnecock spokeswoman and reservation resident who chose to stay behind.

“Every step of our lives has been dangerous,” she said. “We’re thinking: it’s a storm, and we prefer to go through it in our homes.

USA / Kanada: Indigene im zivilen Ungehorsam gegen Öl-Pipeline ...

“Native American and Canadian First Nations To Take Part In Largest Act of Civil Disobedience to Stop Keystone XL Pipeline

Washington DC: The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) is a national environmental justice and indigenous rights organization taking part in the largest act of civil disobedience in decades happening in front of the White House in Washington D.C. from August 20 to September 3, 2011.

The purpose of these actions is to send a direct message to President Obama to deny approval of the 1,702 mile Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline would be transporting pollution from the tar sands (also known as oilsands) of Canada to the United States by carrying 900,000 barrels per day of thick, corrosive, toxic, synthetic crude oil for refining in Texas and the Gulf States. If approved, the Keystone XL would lock the US into a dependency of energy intensive, hard-to-extract dirty oil and create a massive expansion of the world’s dirtiest and most environmentally destructive form of oil development currently taking place in northern Alberta Canada. These operations are already producing 1.5 million barrels per day and having horrendous environmental justice and human rights impacts on the way of life and health of the local Native communities of Cree, Dene and Métis.

The proposed pipeline threatens to pollute freshwater supplies in America’s agricultural heartland and grasslands with increased emissions in already-polluted communities of the Gulf Coast. Leaks and spills are common occurrences from such pipelines that could result in disproportionate impact to Native Nations and thousands of tribal members. A spill from the Keystone XL poses an even greater threat, given that the pipeline would run directly through the Ogallala aquifer, which supplies one-third of our nation’s ground water used for irrigation, and drinking water to 2 million citizens.

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