The Last Word

In context, it doesn’t seem all that surprising that the Montaukett Nation, earlier this month, was once again disappointed when its bid for state recognition as a Native American nation was scuttled by a veto by Governor Kathy Hochul. After all, it was the fifth time a form of the legislation was vetoed — the second time by Hochul, and three earlier times by her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo. Sure, the State Assembly and State Senate had both approved the legislation this year, unanimously, but the veto still wasn’t really a surprise.

But that’s not the context that matters. What’s important is to understand exactly what Hochul’s veto says, on behalf of New York State — or, rather, what it refuses to take back. In that context, it’s absolutely infuriating.

New York State’s official position right now is that the Montaukett tribe, the native settlers of what is now East Hampton and a tribe that has survived to modern times, did not have an unbroken history of existence, which is required for state recognition.

Why? Because in 1910, and in an appeal two years later, the state decided that the Montaukett Nation had “disintegrated” into a mix of “shiftless” men and women who were “impaired by miscegenation, particularly with the Negro race.” They were no longer Indians, you see, because they had now become part of a “civilized community.”

That disgusting paragraph above — hard to write, hard to read, saturated with poisonous racism and carrying strong whiffs of eugenics, the discredited pseudoscience that drove policies regarding Native Americans in the early 1900s — is standing law in New York State. And Governor Kathy Hochul, with her signature, endorsed it with her veto, even though a judge nearly 50 years ago described the Benson decision as being of “questionable propriety.”

The nefarious ruling came from Judge Abel Blackmar after a long land dispute involving white families and the Montaukett. Justice Joseph Burr added the appalling “miscegenation” language in the 1912 appeal. The case gave 4,200 acres of tribal lands to the Long Island Rail Road and the heirs of Arthur W. Benson, who went on to make a fortune. It’s a decision that should make state officials hide their faces — “one of the most racist decisions” in New York history, as State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele aptly described it.

Today, we know better. We know that race is a social construct, and that the treatment of Native American tribes, especially at key moments in our nation’s development, was rooted in greed, untapped power and prejudice. It is a shameful legacy we are, and should be, actively working to repair.

State recognition — which, the latest legislation noted, the Montaukett Nation had at one point — is, ironically, mostly a ceremonial gesture toward reparation of this damage. There isn’t much benefit to it for the 1,500 or so Montaukett alive in 2023. It won’t overturn that ruling and return land to them, nor provide much in the way of assistance. It won’t automatically grant any gaming rights — though, of course, those rights are the key strategy that America has deemed appropriate to try to repay debts to Indigenous people and to provide a financial engine beyond federal grants.

So even a gesture is too dangerous for Hochul to support, despite the fact that her fellow legislators from both parties are united in support of righting this wrong. Instead, the last word goes to the pre-Depression era judges who denied the Montaukett their very existence, drowning them in a putrid stew of racism.

Hochul could have had the last word instead, with plenty of political cover. She could have put to rest a tragic and painful chapter of New York State’s history, and given the Montaukett Nation its proper respect.

“An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it,” Thiele said of the veto. “Instead of rejecting the noxious rationale of Benson, [Hochul’s] veto affirmed it. I am ashamed of our state government.”

The State Legislature has one last chance to fix this, by going back into session before the term ends on December 31 and overriding the veto, something that should be easy to do considering the unanimous support the legislation received. But that’s not likely to happen.

Across the generations, the noxious words of a pair of forgettable judges echo still. It would have been so easy to drown them out. Instead, Governor Kathy Hochul has underscored them — to our state’s enduring shame.