All language subtitles for Conscience Point (2019)_en

(upbeat music)

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(tense music)

- [Woman] Morning, hi how's everything?

- [Woman] Good morning, grandmother.

We're ready to get ready.

- Good morning Popsy
honey wash day, my baby.

Henry hurry, hurry, hurry.

Give me one second he'll be right here.

- Love you.

See you later.

- Shinnecock Nation is a small tribe,

on the reservation 500 people or so.

And we're surrounded by the wealthy folks

who are living on our land.

As native people, you
feel a responsibility to

your ancestral territory,

to protect the land as much as we can.

It's nearly impossible
in this day and age,

but we're still gonna do the best we can.

(upbeat music)

- We're a Maritime Community.

People are coming here with
large amounts of money.

The conflict now is overdevelopment.

- More often than not,

I hardly recognize this place I call home.

- In the last 10 years we've
lost right away to the bank.

- This property was
transferred from the town

without the town board,
understanding this agreement.

- You watch what happens
with all this preserve land.

They're gonna be encroaching on it.

They're gonna be put in
driveways through it.

- [Man] That guy down
there changed that place

into his Hamptons.

And you took our Hamptons.

- Now I feel so alone today.

I feel what the farmers are feeling.

I feel what the people are feeling.

We're gonna do something about this.

- Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful today.

Little blue, Jay.

No, that's a woodpecker.

What is that?

These are mostly clamshells.

We are at conscience point.

This is where our Shinnecock ancestors

met the first Europeans pilgrims.

Some people say, my family's been here for

four, five, six generations well,

we've been here 400 generations plus.

As far as land was

it was just a total
different way of thinking,

like to own your land,
we're just caretakers.

I love this spot because it is beautiful

and it is preserved land over
there, but it's a good place

to commune with the
ancestors and let them know

how much we honor and
respect and care for them,

try to be good people
and think about them.

(upbeat music)

For at least of last century.

The Hamptons has been
a spot for the wealthy,

to get away from the hustle and bustle.

They can drive their limousines

right past this indigenous community

and not even know that we exist

- We're small community.

We're finite in this greater
community of the Hamptons.

The land base that we have here
is approximately 1200 acres.

This is a small piece of
our original territory.

Our original territory

extended from the East Hampton town line,

all the way to the Brookhaven town line.

One of the first things that
we did as a people in 1640

when the first settlers arrived

is we gave them eight
square miles of land to use

which is now current
day, Southampton village.

And we've paid the
price for it ever since.

Here we sit, in the middle of lifestyles

of the rich and famous,
and yet 60% of our people

in our community are
below the poverty level.

That's a problem.

(upbeat music)

- You know, Modell's shopping stores.

That's Modell's house.

It's funny the people that live out here.

You see this house right
here, house on an acre,

that's $8 million right there.

That huge house back there,

I sold to a 29 year old, 10
years ago for $15 million.

The owner of COACH just built that house

he paid $25 million for
the land, right there,

and a farmer sold it that
owned it for hundreds of years.

It's a crazy place.

Almost everybody who's successful
financially in New York,

they wanna be here.

So when you have a lot of
people chasing not that much

property, it just keeps going up.

But there's something about it out here

that they all wanna come.

I just happened to enter
real estate in 1996.

And I call it the best
20 years in real estate

in 10,000 years.

We were selling $18 million
houses in '06 and '07,

the hedge fund managers,
like they were candy

being a finance guy, I like
to turn things quickly.

I call it the velocity of money.

The big complaint out
here is overdevelopment.

And I agree with them, but
people are gonna continue

to want homes and buy homes.

This and the next generation

deserve the house pool and
tennis in the Hamptons.

That's how I see it.

- This is a very unique area,

besides having a population
of close to 60,000.

That's a year-round population.

In the summer months, it quadruples

and it's very culturally diverse
and economically diverse.

We have some of the wealthiest
people on the planet,

heads of multinational corporations,

the 1% of the one percenters.

Then we also have very modest
people who work two or three

jobs to deal with the
high costs of living here.

So the disparity between rich and poor

is probably no greater
anywhere else than right here

in the town of Southampton.

And of course that
makes things complicated

because you have to serve
and protect all people.

(door creeks)

(door slams)

(crunches)

(clanking)

(birds chirping)

(bang)

(birds chirping)

(engine revving)

- My family's been out
here since the early 1700s.

I grew up in a farming fishing community.

It's still gorgeous place,

don't get me wrong, but it's
pretty much been bought out.

(rattles)

20 years ago, that would have
been stuffed with scallops

for weeks.

It's called Sputnik grass.

It's gotta be the only thing
that every scallop larvae

has to hide in these days.

It's heavy.

With all the toxins that
are going into the bays

it makes it really difficult.

God knows what goes into these bays.

In the morning you see
him spray vector spray

for mosquito control.

Feel like ah, juvenile
fish eat mosquito larvae.

That's how that whole cycle works.

A lot of the locals back in the day

didn't really wanna build on the water.

That's why land next to
the water was so cheap

because there was too many
mosquitoes you get eaten alive

and now everything is kind of changing

ecologically there's no mosquitoes.

Well, that's why there's no juvenile fish

kind of making their way
back up into the marshes

and stuff like that.

The Shinnecocks are the only ones

that have respectably
kept it, updeveloped.

If you look at the Bay,

around where the reservation it's gorgeous

and then everywhere else has
been built up on so, I mean.

For me, it has basically
destroyed my livelihood

the development on the bay.

- See you guys later.

We're gonna go over to where
the fish usually show up

in the early season.

What I do catch, I eat myself.

I also give it to people
for free, free of charge

up here on the reservation.

I do the same thing with hunting.

I shoot a couple of deer,
I shoot a few ducks.

I give them away to people
here on the reservation.

People like it.

My dad taught me that.

(door thuds)

(swishes)

(rattles)

One of our traditional
ways at the end of a prayer

or at the end of the ceremony, we say,

(speaks foreign language)

Which means all of my relations.

And when you're saying all of my relations

you're acknowledging the connection

not just between your immediate family,

but you're acknowledging
the connection you have

to everything, all of creation

and that what you do with one thing

affects the other thing.

There's actually different kinds of fish

than there were when I was
a kid, and I was out there

right in front of Calvin
Klein's house, actually,

and I pulled up a sand shark
in the boat right next to me

pulled up a sand shark too, he was like,

"I've never seen the sand
shark and Heady Creek,

"other than me!"

(laughs)

Our reservation is a peninsula.

And on the East side is Heady
Creek and half of Heady Creek.

just in 2015, got shut down for Shellfish.

And that's just because of runoff

from all the houses, the golf
course, things like that.

For the most part what you
see in all the Hamptons

are assets.

They don't actually really
live there for the most part.

In the summertime they
come out here to vacation,

but for the most part they're assets.

If they were there year round

there'd be a lot more pollution

that is detrimental to our health here

and economy on Shinnecock.

So our biggest thing is
that we have to continue

to protect our front line.

(door slams)

- [Woman 2] Do you want a sandwich

- Oh no.

We're not doing good here,

hunting and fishing to near
extinction of everything.

It happened so fast.

There's barely any more scallops left.

We had a tribal oyster
hatchery for a while,

but that closed down unfortunately.

So there's no tribal Shellfish business,

like they do on the outside.

- Hi there.

- We're just back to sustenance living,

go out get some clams,

some mussels scallops for our own supper.

Fish to eat, for the week or so.

- Another bucket.

- Now we get to eat here.

- Absolutely unequivocally
see a correlation

between the overdevelopment
and especially our waterways.

We are people on the shore.

Our livelihood over the
course of time has been

derived from the waters.

We as whalers, basically
established the economy out here

in selling whale oil for the
street lamps, things like that.

- We have to live here together

and it's not getting any
better, it's getting worse.

The groundwater pollution,
the contamination

of the pesticides

'cause your lawn has to be
spotless and bright green

and unnatural

and the chemicals, everything
that's polluting this earth

and we're drinking it

and people are dying of
cancer left and right.

Can you just see, it's got to stop.

- Right here will be the tennis court,

in the back is the pool.

And this house will sell
for about 10 million

but I'm confident it'll
sell in the next 90 days.

(drilling)

Do you speak English?

- A little yes.

- I need that to shut
off for five minutes.

- Okay, okay.

- While we do some, thanks.

As you see it's like so wide open.

This has changed with our clients

who are now in their 30's and 40's,

and they want more modern and very open.

So people pay for that.

And it's, there's no woods.

People don't really love the woods.

They want openness.

But you'll drive up the street

and you'll see four of my
houses in a farm field.

And that gets people crazy.

So how do I defend myself against that?

I didn't buy the farm and
cut it up and sell it.

The farmer did.

- Bronze fennel, look's
like a forage in there.

These are all perennial
herb, cardoon over there.

Edible violas, nasturtiums.

We do a lot of edible flowers.

People discovered kale.

Now we have got six or eight
different types of kale.

- Yeah, this is some real work
in the farm, as you can tell.

Once the landscape has
changed, we've had to evolve

and it's constant.

Nettles.

- 12.99 a pound.

- [Woman 3] The family farm
has been here since the 1600s

and we are the 11th generation.

- We were going up in a very sweet,

provincial little town.

And there was so much land, I mean, I...

It's really amazing what's happened

in a short amount of time with
the water's being polluted

and the over building.

- Yeah, even in the past 10, 15 years

a lot of acreage that we used
to rent from family members

now that's all gone and developed.

- It's a lot easier to
sell an acre of land

for half a million dollars
and at least, you know,

struggling work, 50, 60 hours a week.

(upbeat music)

- Since 1640, there were
all these different disputes

about land, people challenging

whether the land was there

whether/ they had the
right to graze there.

The town of Southampton
approached the tribe and said,

"Okay this is how we're
going to try to resolve this.

"We will give to the tribe
a lease for 1,000 years."

(upbeat music)

And that includes the lands
for where we live now,

Shinnecock Neck, the Shinnecock Hills.

We were able to hold this lease

and then the tribe would
sublease to farmers

and other people and still
be able to use our own land.

That's how we were able to get
a lot of our basic needs met.

- We were given a lease
for 3000 plus acres

that was whittled away until 1859.

1859 the robber barons,
the railroad people

wanted to build the railroad line

from Manhattan out to Montauk.

And in blatant disregard
for the non intercourse act,

which said that no state, no
town, no village, no farmer

could take land from an
Indian or an Indian tribe

without an act of Congress.

Well, New York state,
they had 20 signatures

supposedly giving the land to the state.

Well, 10 of those signatures
were people that were dead.

They had gone and gotten
names off of headstones.

The other 10 were not Shinnecock.

This is what they put before the judge.

They got the land and our
people from that next day

when we found out about it,
proceeded to fight for it.

But we, as Indian people
were not considered citizens.

So they would not allow us
to take this into court.

This land was stolen from
us, a flat out, no questions

hands down stolen.

(upbeat music)

Now what sits on the acreage

is some of the most prestigious
golf courses in the world.

You have a national golf course.

You have a brand new one,
Sunbonnet Golf course.

And you have Shinnecock Hills,

which will be hosting U.S open.

And you have a multitude of
multimillion dollar homes

that sit in what was once
our sacred Shinnecock Hills.

(upbeat music)

- Property under video surveillance.

This is the Shinnecock Hills golf course.

This was, this is a sacred place to us

and it was a long time
ago and it's still is.

We can come here,

but still we're on the outside.

We're not allowed in here,

we're not allowed any
access to our sacred sites.

They use our name for whatever they want.

Their logo is a native
chief with a head dress on,

it's the in your face kind of boldness.

We know we have still to
this day, ancestors buried

in this golf course.

Buried with respect and
ceremony and love and honor.

Shinnecock men were hired to
help construct the golf course.

Stories handed down to us say

that they witnessed 100s and 100s

of the ancestors bones being desecrated

during this construction.

And couldn't do anything about it.

And to host the U.S Golf Open here,

it's just a slap in the face.

- [Caller] What are you guys doing?

- We're making a documentary.

- [Caller] Okay well,

I got a call about a
suspicious vehicle here so.

- We're not trespassing you.

This is none of your business right now.

So bye-bye goodbye.

No this is public property goodbye.

And I'm a Shinnecock Indian,
so leave us alone, goodbye.

I don't care who you are either.

We're on public property leave us alone.

- You're not on public property.

- Please, this is, are you kidding me?

Shoot go right ahead, not
even on the golf course.

A man with vehicle showed by the road

and this guy is harassing me.

Well, that's how the
Parrish Pond fight started.

You know, we were on
the shoulder of the road

having our peaceful protest

and the New York state police showed up

with a chip on their shoulder.

Someone told them that
there was a bunch of Indians

on the side of the road,

protesting the desecration of the land.

We were well within our
rights where we were standing.

This is the Parrish Pond Development,

62 acres of beautiful pristine land

with some of the last of
the Marine plant life.

Heathland, they call it?

(upbeat music)

it's gone, it's now someone's lawn.

(upbeat music)

It's gone forever.

(upbeat music)

- We are protecting ourself and territory,

where's that not one more acre sign.

You read that, I hope
everybody here can read

'cause that's what we're here for.

Not one more acre.

(upbeat music)

- State police you're just
calling and cursing at us.

One in particular,

after the bulldozers
fired up their engines,

he came from behind we were all his might

and pushed me into the middle of the road.

(upbeat music)

We know the bones were dug up here

and construction workers were instructed

to put them in the dumpster.

- When we ride through
the Shinnecock Hills,

and you see what we consider
the destruction of our land.

You hear about the Sioux
and their faint black Hills

our Shinnecock Hills here
held the same meaning

the same historic value that
any of these other tribes

around the country have
held with their land.

We've had several digs
up in the Hills there

that have traced our lineage in this area.

Back over 10,000 years.

(upbeat music)

- Our ancestors would bury
people on the hilltops.

The villages that we would live on

would be on the East
side where the sun rises

and then the burials
would be all facing West.

And so that's so the sunset can bring them

into the spirit world.

(somber instrumental music)

(roaring waves)

(rattles)

(screeches)

(footsteps)

(roaring waves)

- [Woman 4] Good morning, everybody.

- [Audience] Good morning.

- [Woman 4] You guys have a
good Memorial Day weekend?

Ruthie and I, we have a special
guest here with us today.

Our town supervisor Jay
Schneiderman is here.

(crowd clapping)

- Thank you, it's an honor for me

to serve as your supervisor.

The town is in great shape.

We continue to work really hard
on protecting drinking water

and surface waters and open space,

keeping taxes low which
I know is important.

We have the U.S open coming

and the big USGA golf tournament
that is coming next week.

It brings a lot of money to the economy.

And that's a good thing.

- My questions about taxes?

- Sure.

- Tax have really become a problem,

are you concerned about that?

- So I realized a lot of
you pay property taxes

and property values are
going up in general.

And I know most of you
are on fixed incomes.

- The high cost of land

complicates a lot of things out here

and it acts as a filter.

So a lot of people who
may be third, fourth,

fifth generation kinda grew up out here.

They see the cost of living go up,

but their property values
are going through the roof.

Their taxes are going higher and higher.

They end up selling those houses

and then that house will
become probably a second home.

And somebody will have to
service that second home

to take care of the landscaping

or fix the boiler or mow the lawn.

That person probably isn't
gonna be able to live

in the community.

So a lot more workers are commuting in

from further and further away.

And you see that in the
mornings between say six o'clock

and nine o'clock, the traffic
eastbound is unbelievable.

So we're creating a demand for labor

that can live in this community.

- [Repoter] Southampton town officials

say the most horrifying
violations they found

at the Bel-Aire Cove Motel

Town court officers this week
issued 215 code violations

against 28 Landlords.

Officials say they found 17 people

living in this four bedroom house.

(upbeat music)

- A lot of people are struggling,

if a three bedroom house
cost you I don't know,

$3,000 a month,

and you're only making, $15 an hour.

and they're only letting
you work 25 hours a week

because they don't wanna
give you insurance.

We have people that
don't have places to live

that are sleeping out in the woods,

or have making little shacks
for themselves to live,

because they're poor and the homeless.

People hear that and they're like, "Oh,

"you're in the Hamptons,
what are you talking about?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"You're in the Hampton."

- It's a kinda classic
town gown in the Hamptons.

The professional middle-class
is so far from the elite

and there is such an
antagonism towards the elite.

You could feel it on a visceral level.

On the other hand, the whole
economy is based on this elite.

And so it's really hard

not to kind of continue to
market and cater to this elite

at the same time that you resent them.

I think the Hamptons represents
a historical microcosm

of the class struggle
here in the United States

and in many cases around the world

because it begins when native
Americans who had lived here

on the land have that
land taken away from them.

And the only thing left is really for them

to become the initial working
class here in the Hamptons.

- Did you have fun on the playground?

Did you go to the
playground or to the beach?

(speaks gibberish)

- Okay.

- One child sleeps on that
couch, two sleep on this couch,

I sleep in that bed and when
another grandson comes over,

he sleeps like right here,

he'll put the pillows down and sleep here.

And then Nasha and her
daughter sleep in one bedroom.

And my mother sleeps in that bedroom.

So we have to take care of each other.

The housing situation doesn't
get any better around here.

And I mean, the oppression runs deep.

- Every member of the Shinnecock Nation

is a member of the town of Southampton.

And so they're entitled to
everything that any town resident

would have.

They certainly vote,

they get permits to park on the beaches,

they use all town facilities.

There are tremendous things

that members of the nation
could take advantage of

without paying any property taxes.

But we do have high value
properties that pay high taxes

that provide services, youth services,

transportation services,
park services, roads.

The Shinnecock Nation they
benefit from all those things.

The same things that I
can take advantage of

and you know, I pay property taxes.

- We're obviously very
strong fiscal position.

We're improving our roads,
we're fixing drainage problems,

we're addressing infrastructure.

we're improving our parks
that everybody enjoys.

What happens when you do that?

People wanna live in
a community like that.

- What we've done is
tremendous for the town.

400 homes we've built

and the average tax bills
gotta be $30,000 on my homes.

It really helps keep up with
the ever-growing budget.

The town needs the
development to keep going.

They'll never say that, but
what they do without it.

(tense music)

- The Hamptons as a place
of paradise and respite

was something that,
Walt Whitman wrote about

and inspired a whole generation of artists

to leave New York to go out.

It became a place that symbolized nature.

It symbolized this authenticity.

As the Bohemian pioneers do in
all forms of gentrification,

the artists brought out
the very rich people

who saw this place for its
natural beauty, but also

as a place that they could
put their mark on it.

Very wealthy people from
New York city went out

and built these huge summer cottages.

And it became kind of the place

for the rich and famous to go.

On the one hand celebrating
its naturalness,

but also bringing in electric lights

and bringing in the golf clubs

and bringing in all
the different trappings

of their New York high society.

(soft music)

- Hi, welcome back to talk of the town.

I'm your host, Jason Ottoman.

And we are talking about the
U.S. Open, 118th U.S. Open.

You have been here for two
years planning this event.

- We've been in the community for a while,

but now it's real.

We certainly like having the guys here.

We try at the town level to
be as accommodating as we can,

and we recognize over $100 million dollars

in economic flow into the community.

- [Reporter 2] Despite the
bumper to bumper traffic

and the hassle of getting

to one of Golf's Premier
Tournaments played right here

at Shinnecock Hills Golf
Course in Southampton,

it's estimated about 30,000 spectators

will attend the week called event

helping business boom in the area,

including here at Melrose pizza,

where pies are flying out the door.

- And they are certainly
happy to get a piece

of the U.S. opened pie.

- You guys sat right at the table with us

in that last meeting.

And I feel personally that you misled us.

So as far as I'm concerned

you could have mentioned
that then and said,

well we really have no
need for overflow parking.

When Sage and Williams said to you,

all the people coming from the East

could be parked on the rez.

You never mentioned that you had already

established parking East.

So, you can sit here and try to spin it

because that's what you
do as a media person.

But we still have to answer to the people

and the people right
now didn't even want us

to continue any negotiations.

That was the sentiment
in the meeting Wednesday.

- Hey fill in those holes baby.

- Yeah baby.

- Don't even continue the negotiations.

Like let's just go out there and protest.

(sings in foreign language)

(motor vehicle hooting)

- Hi Becca.

- [Rebecca] Hi, how are you?

- We'll be here

probably from at least like
eight to five everyday.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

He said, if we need
anything, just let him know.

- How?

- Oh we need our land back.

- They're sitting on

one of the most valuable
pieces of land in the country

and they could generate
income from that land.

Like they could all be
millionaires literally

but they can't seem to
get behind any one idea

and stick with it for very long.

I don't know what's the right
economic development direction

for the Shinnecock.

It's really up to them,

but they have opportunities to, I'm not...

It town is standing in their way.

- [Reporter 3] It's the
multi-million dollar question?

Where will the Shinnecock Indians

want to build their casino?

Now that they've cleared a big hurdle

in gaining federal recognition as a tribe.

- There was a tribe in Connecticut

that owned one of the largest
casinos in the country.

They excel, they went by us
like we were standing still.

And in terms of creating
economic development

when we started the gaming,
there was a lot of hope

in our community.

Soon as we did that, we became
public enemy number one.

- I haven been here 43 years.

I have no desire to have that around here.

- The Island's narrow.

We have traffic problems as it is.

- Certainly revenues from
a casino can be quite high

but the community does not wanna see

a gambling facility out on the East End.

- A lot of people had
concerns about the traffic

and the problems that are
sometimes associated with gaming.

- It's gonna cause traffic.

And you've been out there on 27 lately

to understand the traffic out there,

we didn't create that you did.

- [Man 2] We were going
to start a small facility.

We weren't going to go

into the big billion dollar facilities

or anything like that.

- We went through that whole year

and it was really a nightmare.

The developer backed away.

The whole thing just fell
apart, literally it fell apart,

while we were good neighbors,
everything was okay.

As long as you Indians
stay up on the reservation

and in your place, we're
fine having you here.

- I'm not really sure what
else the town could do

for members of the nation.

But I think that they can
improve their economic situation

in a lot of ways

and I'd love to work
with the tribal council,

moving an idea forward,

as long as it's one that
really supports the community.

It's not gonna be a
problem for the community.

- The Hamptons itself has become a brand.

It's become a commodity
and one of the things

that's buttress the image of the Hamptons

as the land of the rich and famous

is the marketing to the rich and famous

that makes it even harder for
people who are struggling,

that makes it even harder,

for the people who were in
the backroom, doing the dishes

or the people who are
serving and being ignored

or the people who are cleaning the streets

or the people who are in places like

the Shinnecock reservation

where you essentially have
whatever cultural capital

having quote unquote, real
Indians gives to a location.

But without any knowledge
of the history struggle

in what those different
locations actually mean.

(upbeat music)

- [Woman] We've seen more
Porsches and Mercedes.

(motor vehicle hooting)

- [Woman 4] Thanks Bry.

- Hi how are you doing?

- All right, and you?
- Good, what about you?

- So I saw the signs and I
wanted to see what was going on?

So there are remains that are just.

- Our ancestors are still buried here.

- What do you think
should be done for them

to right the wrong?

- Really give us our land back.

- Yeah, you want the whole forest back?

- It would be nice if we got all--

- That would be nice, I don't think that

can actually happen.
- They can start

with the reconstruction of the graves

so that they don't play golf
on the graves of our ancestors.

- And it needs acknowledgement
to Shinnecock the people

not Shinnecock the Golf Course.

- No I know, I was really curious

because I know there's
millions of millions of dollars

being made like how can you right,

or how would you want the
right to, the wrong to be--

- I just told you.

- We are to give back the land.

But you're right they probably won't.

- Why is it fair to continue on

committing this crime of stolen property?

Just because you stole
it 100 and so years ago,

doesn't mean the crime goes away.

You take our land, you
desecrate our graves,

you play golf, you make
gazillions of dollars.

What is justice fair about that?

Nothing, you gonna start from square one.

- Sorry.

Yeah.

I'm with you.

- Okay thank you.

- You should have the logo on your shirt.

- Yeah that's the real logo,

not that fake Shinnecock open logo.

- My grandmother was one of the
matriarchs of our community.

She was born in 1889.

I think one of the things
that she instilled in us...

I had two uncles.

They caddy they used to
caddy right over here

at Shinnecock Hills.

And everyday that we
rode on that golf course

she would say to us little,
man, this is your land,

this is our land and you
have to get this back for us.

It's gonna be your
generation that does it.

The land battle has
been ongoing from 1978.

We started this battle, this
fight for recognition and land.

In the last 15 years

we finally had enough funding
to really fight it in court.

- So it was 2005

that we first officially
filed our land claim.

- They are claiming latches.

And what latches is, latches says

that, well you waited too
long, you didn't fight for it.

And we're like, are you kidding?

- And the equitable doctrine of latches

you can't disrupt the expectation
of current land owners.

And because the Court of Appeals
just dismissed our claims

we weren't able to delve
into the facts of the case.

So I put together a petition
for a writ of certiorari

to the Supreme court for our land claim.

It's kind of the last way
to really exhaust your claim

through the system.

But the Supreme court decided
not to review our claim.

In that sense, it's still alive.

If it was an unfavorable decision

that would really have ended
our claim, but they didn't.

And because of that we still have ways

that we can bring our claims.

(upbeat music)

- We have a thing,

we have to preserve our way of life

for the next seven generations.

What that means is that we
have to understand who we are.

We have to understand our history.

We have to be able to
tell that to our children.

There was a famous quote

"To save the man you
must kill the Indian."

Meaning, not literally kill the person,

but you have to kill the
Indian spirit inside of them.

You have to kill their way of life

and turn them into a civilized person.

It was actually illegal in
the United States and Canada

for native Americans to
practice our cultures

for us to hold ceremonies

for us to wear our traditional regalia.

They would say that we couldn't
have been worshiping God

because we weren't Christian.

So we must've been worshiping the devil.

We were forced to assimilate
to the colonized world

due to what I call
institutionalized colonialism.

A lot of our culture was lost.

A lot of our history was lost.

- There used to be a stockade downtown

and our people used to
be put in that stockade

if we were caught speaking our language.

- [Man 3] The Hamptons has its
own sense of its own history.

And who gets to tell that history?

- There are two ways that people

who kind of come to an area
and conquer and settle an area,

try to both imprint
their own identity on it

and then naturalize it in a way

as if they've always been there.

The first way is to establish
the aesthetic of their lives.

They build buildings

that look like the buildings
that they're used to.

So you bring with you and
you build what you know,

but eventually you need to
suggest that this always was.

You start to look at the history

and who gets to tell the history

and where do you start your history?

You start to look at how things are named.

You start to create a
kind of historical sense

that this has always been your
place, you are of this place.

And so if we're really going
to have an accurate picture

of history, whose voices
aren't being portrayed in this,

and what do they add to the story?

(bell rings)

(birds chirping)

- The Southampton town board
has made massive efforts

to protect their colonial sites

and their colonial cemeteries
or colonial old houses,

but they don't make an effort

to help us preserve our Native American

sensitive sacred sites.

They just, they don't see it as the same.

- The acquisition of lands
of Romeo in Shinnecock hills.

- We have been before you many many times

and you always have said the same thing.

The goal is to preserve the 13 acres.

- Good afternoon, I am Rebecca
Geniah and this is Lasha

my granddaughter from the
Shinnecock Indian Nation.

I believe the town
Southampton needs a reminder

that life did not begin in 1640

when the pilgrims arrived
on our shores from Europe,

Native people lived on this
land in harmony with nature

for 1000s and 1000s of
years before your arrival.

- Public hearing number five
to consider the acquisition

of lands of Parrish Pond.

- The source of funding

would be the community preservation fund.

- Those lots were historically sensitive.

And what they're planning to do with it,

to preserve it, does anybody know.

- Today we're talking about preservation,

primarily land preservation

and the community preservation fund.

- When property transfers,

the buyer pays 2% of the purchase price

into a dedicated fund.

- This 2% tax has been
generating quite a bit of money.

- In the town of Southampton alone.

The fund has generated
over $700 million yes.

- Right well, $700 million

- Previous to the 1990s,

there was your small year
round population here

as well as your summer resort homeowners.

I think in the 1990s wall street started

to sort of get bigger.

(upbeat music)

The Hamptons became an
attractive place to have equity.

- With the pace of development,
we're losing open spaces,

Woodlands, which are important habitat.

We're losing farmland

which was part of our
agricultural character.

So we started to buy a
lot of these properties

that really kind of protected
our rural character.

- People who spend a lot
of money on homes out here

really love to drive past farmland.

Community preservation fund

was to preserve our community character

which is defined in part
with our scenic landscapes.

- One of the things that accompanies

this new wave out to the
Hamptons is a kind of aesthetic

that really creates a new sense of nature.

If you look at some of the photography

of the disappearing farms

and there's this kind of
romanticization of the farms

at the same time that
farms are becoming vistas

and not working farms,
they don't produce food.

They produce views,

photographers kind of
create this whole nostalgia

around the farms at the same time

that they kind of
naturalize their extinction.

It really turns farms into
this kind of caricature

of something that's historical.

And on the other hand, it's a distortion

of the historical narrative itself

because it suggests that
the farms themselves

are what's indigenous to the place.

And of course, the farms only represent

that wave of conqueror
that clear cut the land

and destroyed the Native American economy

and brought in

their own kind of commercial
agricultural economy.

- Shinnecocks do alert me to properties

that they think are important.

They will get involved
particularly for a subdivision

on a property that they feel is important

to explore preservation.

It has to do with timing and persistence,

and also with the
Shinnecock tribe members,

educating landowners

and helping them to
understand why it's important.

- We've been able to preserve.

I think it's less than 20 acres of land

fighting tooth and nail,
telling them these are graves.

We have to protect them
this is sacred land.

This is ancient burials.

New York is one of four States

in the whole country that don't
have graves protection laws.

(upbeat music)

- [Reporter 4] Walter
Richards of Shelter Island

speaks with awe

about the discovery he
unearth on the grounds

of his Osprey road home, a mass grave

containing the remains of
Native American Indians.

Skeletal remains buried in fetal positions

about four feet into the ground.

- It's not too late and it's
not over till it's over.

There's not one foundation up there yet.

- A horse barn was built
over a massive grave site

on private property,
despite the good intentions

and the goodwill of
individuals in town people

they went ahead and build it.

They have known grave site ever known

so on County land or public land,

there are laws,

there are rules and regulations in place

to protect those sites.

But if they're on private land
then it's a different story.

- Everybody watches, discovery channel.

We thought this was something that,

was going to be really neat
and be able to uncover.

We had a really good time uncovering it,

looking at everything and studying it.

It was really exciting.

- We thought it would
be in the best interest

of the remains to be encased
within the four walls

of our structure and
basically preserved forever

which when you get into the whole

which that's when things went awry,

because we didn't know
that their belief system

was not similar to our belief system

where we bury people in
concrete vaults all the time.

- Don't imagine how we feel.

Imagine how you would feel if it were you.

(upbeat music)

- Shelter Island prompted us
to start writing legislation.

- When these issues are
brought to our attention

we address them like a fire drill.

Seeing that the Shinnecock have proposed

that there be a systematized
approach to this

namely a colonial and Native
Americans graves' preservation.

- This draft has been

with the Southampton town
board probably since 2003.

Archeologists have helped
over the past 13 years or so.

Every time we go to the
Southampton town board.

Okay well, here's another draft.

I have to run it by the attorney.

We have, we're probably on
our fourth town supervisor.

- George.

- [Man 4] I think the real experts on this

they're sitting in front
of you, the Shinnecocks.

- [Judge] Of course.

- What you said to us in the phone calls

is that it's in the attorney's hands.

What has your attorney come up
with in four and a half years

of reviewing this draft
of graves protection?

- There is a working draft

but it's been through at least
three different attorneys.

- We've been to many supervisors

many different board members,
many different town attorneys

and everybody has the same story.

We're looking into it and
we'll, pass it by the attorneys.

- Some people that buy the
property don't know the property.

They only see the value.

I don't blame them for
that's all we showed them.

Southampton town needs
to say there's graves,

if you find one, you're moving your house.

- Okay, but I want to
get you there legally.

Okay and we've talked about this

and I know it's all
cumbersome and complicated,

and I'm asking my town attorney
to please pay attention

so that you can move it through
the town attorney's office.

- It's only complicated because
you've never done it before.

It's not complicated, this is very simple.

If you want it done, you do it.

And anyone who buys property here,

that is part of the gamble they take

when they buy a piece of property

in the town of Southampton

and it can be done at your next meeting.

- Well if it's that simple we'll try it.

But I'm telling you, I don't
think it's that simple.

- Now on private property there's a law

that you can't bury a person.

I don't see how it's so hard to have a law

that says you can't dig up a person.

Somethings are as simple
as that they really are.

- We're not going to settle for this

each and every single
time a grave is unearth.

- So within a month, we're gonna regroup.

We're gonna give our
town attorney some time.

We will get back to you.

And Becky is you're our main point person

for heading up the task force.

(upbeat music)

- A number of you have
come to approach the board

of Native American graves,
burial site protection.

- We're on our fourth
supervisor since 2003.

And we have not really
gotten much anywhere.

- Just saying the owner's
rights are over yours

is that presently in you're looking line--

- Yes go over the rights of
the desecration of the grave.

- We have a committee

for relationships between
the Shinnecock Nation

and the town.

- No.

- Probably is a good idea.

Whether it would be twice a
year or something like that.

I don't know.

- I don't know either

but in order for us to
accomplish certain things,

we have to kinda keep it separate.

- And I just want to make
sure today you're speaking

as a representative of
the Shinnecock Nation

or as an individual?

- I am on the Shinnecock
Archeological Advisory Committee

the intergize, so I don't
know what you're asking me.

- I just wanna know if this is.

- Plus I am general counsel.

- Your position today is
it an official position

of the Shinnecock Nation or
is it an individual position?

- I am an official representative

of the Shinnecock Archeological
Advisory Committee.

And I'm no stranger maybe
to you or because I predate

I don't really remember anybody's face.

- So I just wanna make
sure you're speaking

on behalf of the nation.

- And I have been since 2003
and it's in black and white,

right in front of you, okay, thank you.

- We think a simple procedure

to protect these inadvertent discoveries.

- You know what my fear is right?

- I Know what it is.

- That a developer,

developers are good people you know

but that if we make
the process too onerous

that they're not gonna tell us.

They just simply then they never saw it.

So we have to make sure.

- 0kay but there are remedies for that.

Like if you dig up wetlands,

don't you have a remedy for that?

- That's it that's what I'm trying to say.

- Okay so if you dig up a place
where there are certain fish

that are protected a certain
trees that are protective

don't you have a remedy

and it includes potential
criminal prosecution.

Or potential violation or
withdrawal of your permit.

There are penalties for
all of this misbehavior.

Now we don't, we want people
to do the right thing.

But when they don't, there's a
consequence to this behavior.

- It is said, the fear is that

graves are being encountered
when homes are being excavated.

- Oh we know that we absolutely know that.

- And no one's being notified.

- No one's being notified.

- Not even the NB.

- Not even the NB.

- So we have to enforce that somehow.

When you look at the laws
that are the books John,

what are you finding here that then?

- This is total news to me.

So I wanna research this

and find out what we have here is--

(coughs)

- Isn't it just common
sense if you dig up bones--

- How come you didn't know this before

when you first came here?

- The tribal counsel has change too.

It shouldn't have happened.

- This has nothing to do
with the tribal council.

This is absolutely nothing
to do with tribal council.

(drum beats)

(upbeat tense music)

- Paige can you hear, go
hand me her a belt, please.

Give me five, give me 10.

There we go.

- You coming back with more

- A chief Little Fox
we're in the same space.

Okay, hi.

(clinks)

- My grandfather was
one of the co-founders

who began the Powwow.

He had a vision

that it was going to
bring the people together.

(drum beats)

(sings in foreign language)

- From Nassau County to Suffolk

where a grim discovery
happened in the Hamptons.

Human remains found at a construction site

in Shinnecock Hills, and
the remains were taken

to the office of the Suffolk
County medical examiner.

- He became very defensive

when we saw officers going down there

with shovels and sifters.

That was very offensive.

- They were treating it like a crime--

- They was treating it like a crime scene.

- I didn't even want to pull it out

because I'm afraid that
I'm gonna damage something.

- I don't wanna see it turn
into a long thing that--

- It's an archeologically
sensitive sites, it could need...

We don't know you.

- Construction is being halted

in parts of Southampton this morning.

The state's asking
Southampton town to consult

with members of the
Shinnecock Indian Nation.

- It's very hard to
see what the profile is

because it's all different
because it's a whole...

It's all been disturbed.

So things are falling
down on top of each other.

I can't get a good look at
what the soil even looks like.

Charcoal down, they're
falling out of the wall.

- Yeah it looks like it's charcoal.

- It could have something
to do with the burial.

- It looks like.

- You could probably
date, the due carbon 14

on the charcoal.

Typically you find fresh water so.

- It's right there.

- Shannicock gave us fresh
water until the hurricane.

(singing)

- [Reporter 5] Members
of the Shinnecock tribe

in Southampton

are fighting to protect the
graves of their ancestors.

Rebecca Geniah tells me
she believes the remains

are likely three centuries old.

- The Suffolk County
homicide kept telling us

we have to make sure
it's not an MS-13 murder.

So it was kind of like almost
insulting from day one.

- Constantine the homeowner,
unearthing this grave,

he did not take very lightly.

And he comes from a country
where there's war torn,

mass burials, so he was
very sensitive to this site.

We asked the community preservation fund

to possibly make the offer
so we can put it back

as much as a natural
state as we possibly can.

After all of this destruction.

- Why is that?

- You guys promised that you
were gonna take care of this

and now you're canceling the meeting.

- He's in a bad position.

Now, he's now he's having
problems with his lender

'cause his lender saw this in the paper.

So, now they could call the loan on him

'cause he hasn't started he stopped.

- I don't know what to do at this point.

- The day you were there

you heard everything you
needed to hear when they said

what do you want us to buy

every piece that had bones on it?

I mean, you heard that's
where we should've known

in the beginning, where that was going.

- Call Becky I need
their blessings to start.

- Hey, how are you?

They canceled the meeting.

They don't want to get
in a battle right now

'cause they know the Powwow is going on.

And what they're gonna do is they'll say

there's not enough money or
didn't praise high enough

and they're gonna try to
throw it as Constantine

the bad builder, meanwhile,
he's willing to sell

for exactly what he has into it.

I mean, it's probably
half a million dollars.

And they've spent billions
almost in that fund.

- [Caller 2] I can feel
it flipping already.

- I would just take
excavator there tomorrow.

And if it's nothing
resolved then we'll stop.

(upbeat music)

- Their offer is what it is
and there's still $185,000

that he's put into this project.

Yes, that's amount he's short.

We're trying to do this I
need support from everybody

to call him and say, look we
are going to raise this money.

We're gonna do this.

Constantine wants to come back Tuesday

and finish his project.

The worst case scenario,
let's say he's allowed

to come back in here and he said, okay.

- I can watch.

The problem with monitoring is

the backer gets to it
before you can see it.

- Yeah.

- So even if you say
stop, which they stopped

things are already disturbed.

(upbeat music)

- You know, it is an emergency

and at the last text I sent you,

I said, "Why can't we purchase the land

and put it in land, into trust."

It's ours, we can own it
and put it into trust.

- My question is who
was to control the hand?

- Us.

We won't drop the contract where
we're stewards of the land.

They don't want another thing to do.

They proposed us in the past to us

and not your board of trustees,

but other boards or
trustees, please read this,

please read this, please read this.

A year, two, three, come Tuesday,

I gotta beg that guy to come here

instead of going over
there to start developing

to come here so he can hear it
from someone else besides me.

- Okay yeah.

We gonna find more money.

- We're trying to get man all money.

He needs all of his money back
and he deserves to have all

of his money back and that's
should be no question.

But it's always got to
be the native people

who stand up and begin something good.

(tense music)

- Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,

once again thank you all
for coming to our lands here

of Shinnecock.

Ladies and gentlemen we
have a situation going on

right down the road from here
there was a piece of land

that the remains of one of
our ancestors was found.

The leadership of the
Shinnecock Indian Nation

feels very strongly,

that this piece of land should be returned

to the tribe we call upon
you to stand with us.

- I'll have relatives going
around, passing out flyers

with that information, to
see how you can contribute.

(crowd claps)

- Members of our historic preservation

and repatriations
committee has been trying

to get them to put legislation

and policy in place for incidents

just like this and what transpired.

So they're aware of the long history

of us going at it with them.

And so for me, it's really
about sticking to your word.

(tense music)

- We're here today to pray.

So today we are gonna ask

that the ancestors please help us.

(speaks in foreign language)

- Thank you, creator for this plan.

Thank you for our ancestors.

We pray today creator that
you can be with all of us

however, this goes.

And I pray that our energy, our ancestors,

feel strong and they feel
honored and respected.

I pray that any divisions
that our tribes have, creator,

and this town has, and government has

I pray that we can understand, creator

that this is unhealthy from all of us.

(somber music)

(upbeat tense music)

- Suffolk County tax map,
number 900 to 32 to lot 35.

- If the town decides to
buy this property today

it's a very historic time,

for our relationship between
Shinnecock and Southampton

We are concerned about our
house on a private street

that we do not lose the value of our home.

- We are doing our best,
that's very difficult sometimes

when you're emotions are struck.

We hope that we all can uphold our word.

- Thank you for meeting with us

when our tribal leadership
has called for meetings,

this is not going to be the
last time if this happens.

So I really hope that there are policies

and protocols put in
place for the next time.

- Anyone else on the motion?

Call the vote all in favor.

- [Council] Aye.

- Any opposed opposition?

It is approved.

(crowd claps)

(upbeat music)

- So clearly you win?.

- More to come, more to come.

- We will acquire this property.

It will be protected and
it's not gonna stop here.

So I felt a sense of like we
had almost turned a corner

that this was part of the healing process.

- No more accidental unearthing
there's no such thing.

- I'd do a jig, but my legs hurt.

(laughs)

- Our goal is to purchase

every single vacant lot in the Hills

and protect for all time.

(mumbles)

When people realize you
take care of your ancestors

you take care of the earth,
good things will happen.

That's what I believe
with my heart and soul.

- Looking at the history
of the Shinnecock struggle.

It's their struggle

that gives us a sense of what
the future might look like.

That it's their continued
desire for dignity

for recognition and for not
even a return of the land,

to their ownership,

but a return of the land to
the spirit of their history

of collective ownership of
collaboration, of human survival

and subsistence in a
sustainable way with nature.

That really is the vision

for what a future world might look like.

(soft music)

- My name is Rebecca Geniah.

I'm calling from the
Shinnecock reservation

the grace protection group here.

We would like to have
a work session meeting,

get on the agenda so we can talk

about the graves protection laws.

We haven't accomplished that mission yet.

(upbeat slow music)