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SEPTEMBER 21, 2000

After seeing a photo of Vice Presidential candidate and Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn) embracing Kenneth Reels, Chairman of Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, Jeff Benedict questioned Lieberman's motives.

In the past, Lieberman sponsored legislation that would limit wealthier tribes from putting land into trust. But his efforts have so far failed.

Lieberman's spokeswoman says that there is no relationship between the legislation and the photo. Reels has endorsed the Al Gore-Lierberman ticket in the upcoming election.

Benedict is also questioning an 1857 Connecticut state court decision which recognizes particular ancestors of Reels and others as members of the Pequot tribe. In Associated Press article, he says that "[c]ourts aren't always right."

In his controversial book, Without Reservation, which questions the legitimacy of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, Benedict cites several court decisions regarding the acknowledgement of tribes. In one ruling, an all-white jury in Massachusetts found that the Mashpee Wampanoag were not a tribe, within the meaning of the law.

Benedict also says that documents such as the one describing the 1857 court decision can't be taken in isolation. "You never take one document and isolate it from everything else in the historical record and say this proves X," he tells the Associated Press.

As part of his claim that current members of the Mashantucket tribe are not Indian, Benedict cites as evidence a single document on which former Chairman Skip Hayward identifies himself as white. He also says on various Civil War documents, ancestors of current tribal members appear both as Mohegan and Pequot.

BIA researchers term this phenomemon as "conflicting ethnic identities." At a public meeting held in August to discuss two other Pequot, researchers said they rely on state docuements such as court rulings to prove membership in a tribe.

Conflicting ethnic identities do not outweigh such evidence, say researchers.

Get the Story:
Pequot critic questions Lieberman's relationship with tribe (AP 9/20)
Another document bolsters Pequots' claim of authenticity (AP 9/20)

Related Stories:
Lieberman asked to oppose bill (Tribal Law 9/18)
Lieberman wants BIA to start again (Tribal Law 09/05)
Lieberman's record resurfaces (The Talking Circle 08/22)

Without Reservation Jeff Benedict. Read our review. Buy the book that has been causing so much controversy.

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