Today, the Bureau of Indian Affairs will officially recognize the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), the Dean of the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation and a senior member of the House Natural Resources Committee, released the following statement:

“Almost 400 years after the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe welcomed the Pilgrims, the tribe is finally being accorded a measure of respect from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  We cannot undo history, but we can work to ensure that the past does not lock away redress of historic wrongs. This recognition is not only a correct interpretation of the evidence; it represents the arc of justice finally bending in the direction of those few remaining ancestors of the Native Americans who actually greeted the Mayflower.”

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