I urge legislators and all Mainers to support a bill, L.D. 2094, that would restore a measure of home rule to the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet tribes, our good neighbors. This bill would make some much-needed improvements to the flawed Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act of 1980.
I was privileged to edit a tribal newspaper during the land claims negotiations, and vividly recall President Carter using an eagle feather from Old Town to sign the 1980 act. It was a compromise, and it’s now time to tweak it, just as state and federal constitutions have been improved through amendments.
When you consider the brutal treatment of Native people in Maine over the past 400 years, allowing the tribes a measure of sovereignty seems only fair and minimal compensation for the horrific history of broken treaties, land grabs and racial discrimination from non-Indians.
Steve Cartwright
Tenants Harbor
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