The Pokanoket Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation, the Headship Tribe of the largest Aboriginal Nation in Colonial time, has reclaimed their land right at Potumtuk (look out of Pokanoket) the seat of the massasoit to repatriate lands that were illegally taken from the rightful ownership and control of the Pokanoket Tribe for the past 371 years.
Brown University does not have an Aboriginal Title to the land, given that King Philip’s ancestral line has never signed over their right to the land. The tribe has used the law and legal avenues to to make known their legal standing and rightful land ownership of the Pokanoket Nation. Response to their communications have been delayed for too long.
In 2015 the Pokanoket Tribe raised the Pokonoket Flag declaring their right to the land. The Tribe has a lawsuit seeking pending against the town of Bristol and the State of Rhode Island and has recorded Public and Constructive Notices to tho the town of Bristol.
As a result of the ongoing neglect of the environmental needs of Sowams and due to the Tribe’s historic significance to and aboriginal relationship with the land, the Pokanoket tribe is taking the lead to ensure that Sowams is properly reconstituted to its pristine, healthy and productive environmental state, creating a sustainable habitat for the local wildlife and surrounding local community.
“We as aboriginal citizens have been denied our birthright to our family’s land, our sovereignty rights, therefore states and powerful organizations have held our wealth over and over to the point that they believe it is their natural gift and natural right to have our property.” Sagamore William (Po Wauipi Neimpaug) Guy Pokanoket Tribe/Pokanoket Nation
The Pokanoket Tribe are the people who welcomed the Pilgrims, who were seeking religious freedom, to this country. Yet the Pokanoket cannot practice their own spiritual and cultural traditions without having to ask permission to gain access to their own ancestral lands.
The Pokanoket Tribe will be accepting Public Support in the form of camping supplies and through online donations.