Amazing speech by Dreaming Bear.

Dreaming Bear gives nightmares to the Mashpee
This was one of my favorite speeches from the BIA hearing to take land into trust for the Mashpee Wampanoag for the purposes of buiding a casino. Faries Dreaming Bear Gray is the spiritual leader of the Massachusett tribe. Their Sachem Gill Solomon had spoken just before Mr. Gray. I have included a full transcript as well as a video.

Mr. Gray's powerful speech gave the Mashpee a lesson in the native way. The Massachusett came off as very principled and their motivations seem very pure. This speech really resonated with me.

Full transcript
Please forgive typos and errors.

Hello,

My name is Faries Dreaming Bear Gray and I am a Massachusett. That was my Sachem that just spoke, so I won't repeat the things that he said.

My concerns in Middleboro are twofold. One - this is not Mashpee territory. Two - destroying trees, the four-legged, the winged ones, all the creatures that will be destroyed if they build a casino is not the native way. And I don't know how the Mashpee can not be ashamed to kill such things and then say that they are still connected to the land. That is not the way. I am the spiritual leader of the Massachusett. I have spoken with our ancestors - Massachusett and Wampanaog are not happy.

What about the trees. How many trees are going to die. How many? Does anyone know? What about the creatures? How many will lose their homes? The eagle, the hawks, which the Creator sees us through, will see the Mashpee destroying the land. The Mashpee should be ashamed.

I don't understand how the Mashpee can make sense of what they are attempting to do. They say that they care about the land, they have been good stewards of the land. But they are going to destroy land. What little we have left they will destroy for financial reasons - to build a casino - because their tribe is struggling. What gives the Mashpee the right to take the lives of our brothers and sisters, our cousins - the creatures that live there? That is not the native way. That is the way of the settlers. That is not the native way - it never has been.

I will not question the blood of the Mashpee .. but their spirit is gone. If their spirit is intact, they would know this is the wrong thing to do. You cannot replace those things that will die. As a native, they should know this.

I have one thing to add. If the Mashpee continue on this course there will be war between the Massachusett and the Mashpee . You can laugh if you want but this is what the ancestors have told me.

I am Dreaming Bear spiritual leader of the Massachusett and the words I speak are true.