From the Southampton Press, February 1, 2007
A Matter of Justice
I missed last Thursday’s Press and didn’t much notice—sorry. But when a neighbor sent me a copy of Reynolds Dodson’s latest literary work [“Honoring the Dead—And the Living,” The View East, January 25], many of the reasons I might not notice were reconfirmed.
Oh, yes, unlike the commander in chief, I do read—and I read newspapers—but I find value within their pages rare and often honest attempts at journalism are accidental rather than the norm. I am thankful that there were Southampton neighbors who were offended at what seemed entirely uninformed statements, which led him to an unacceptable conclusion, but I observe that this has been a pattern—Mr. Dodson has published his presumptuous musings before, and I believe that he is even paid for them ... go figure.
It seems to be a popular defense mechanism to belittle that which we don’t understand, and dismissing the concerns of another is easy when no basic respect exists for others who dare hold an alternative perspective on so-called “commonly accepted” standards.
I have never heard a Shinnecock person talk about the spirits of the dead having unhappy moments because of continued desecration—actually, in all of the public hearings and proposed legislation, not once, has the heading of “Unhappy Spirits” been cited as the basis for the claims of the Shinnecock people, living or dead. Shinnecock people are not cartoon characters whose concerns are frivolous nonsense that can be mocked in the local news.
What is verifiable, and the documentation has been provided to the councils of our five East End townships, is that the remains of both colonial and ancient Native graves are not protected under New York State Law as they are in 46 other states. In addition, it is evident that other graves remain undisturbed even to this day, despite their sometimes unlikely locations all around the Hamptons on its “oh so valuable real estate.”
Justice is the issue, Mr. Dodson. “Justice for all” is denied when one group’s human remains enjoy protection under the law, while the human remains of another group of people are not protected under the same type of law.
I do not believe Mr. Dodson dare criticize the consecrated ground of our Catholic sisters and brothers—our local Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Cemetery is cared for daily, and it is a beautifully kept place where the ground that holds the relatives of our neighbors is protected, regarded as sacred—and rightly so. Further, I do not believe that Mr. Dodson would put in writing that when Jewish cemeteries are vandalized and disrespected—as they too often are—the site is anything except a desecrated sacred site.
Why have we made an agreement across the lines of race, faith and language to protect by law these holy places? In civilized societies, thinking people understand that it serves everyone to recognize that both nurturing the living and protecting the resting places of the dead is a good thing for all people.
What Shinnecock people have said is that all cemeteries, all burying grounds, deserve to be protected; that the human remains of our people are entrusted to we who are living.
I would like to invite Mr. Dodson to join me for a cup of coffee, so that he might be able to ask a willing and reasonably intelligent Shinnecock tribal member questions about a culture and community that, judging by his article, he knows little about. And whether I meet you or not, I wish you peace and safety while you live, and respect and dignity for your bodily remains when you die.A-Hau.
REV. HOLLY HAILE DAVIS, DD,
Founding Pastor
Padoquohan Medicine Lodge Inc.
Shinnecock Indian Reservation
