In This Issue:

- NEWLY RECOGNIZED AND SEARCHING FOR A CASINO LOCATION ON LONG ISLAND by Dennis J. Whittlesey

- WHAT IS OKLAHOMA DOING TO ITS NATIVE AMERICAN POPULATION? by Dennis J. Whittlesey

Excerpt from NEWLY RECOGNIZED AND SEARCHING FOR A CASINO LOCATION ON LONG ISLAND

Less than a year ago, the Shinnecock Nation won its decades-long (and very expensive) battle to win federal recognition from the Department of the Interior’s Office of Acknowledgement and Research. Many observers initially saw that victory as somewhat “pyrrhic” because of legal challenges mounted by people who had no ostensible vested interest in the matter but nonetheless would not disclose the source of funding to sustain their opposition activity. However, continuing its persistent and dogged drive to secure status clarification, the Nation survived those initial challenges, secured a final decision for tribal recognition in October 2010, and now is shopping for the best possible location for a gaming resort within its historic territory.

The Shinnecock historically occupied one of the most intriguing geographical areas in the country: virtually all of what today is known as Long Island, New York.