[IPSM] New Dawn For Abenaki: State Recognizes Original Vermonters

[Nora Butler-Burke]

*Reprinted From Catamount Tavern News, Vermont*
New Dawn For Abenaki: State Recognizes Original Vermonters*

Staff Writer

Montpelier, Vermont - On April 5th, the Vermont House of Representatives 
voted to officially recognize the existence of the Abenaki Tribe. While 
the bill, which passed unanimously on a voice vote, still has to be 
reconciled with the previously passed Senate version, legislators say 
that recognition is a done deal, and will become law by the end of this 
session.

Abenaki leaders such a Chief April Saint Francis and the Swanton based 
Tribal Council, are expressing relief and joy over the General 
Assembly’s decision. State recognition will mean that the tribe will be 
allowed to sell traditional crafts as “Native American Made.” In 
addition, Abenaki will now qualify for certain Federal grants aimed to 
help Indian youth attain higher education. However, members of the 
General Assembly are quick to point out that recognition will not open 
any legal doors to land claims nor does it allow the tribe to administer 
their own hunting and fishing rights.

The Vermont House was ‘courageously’ moved to recognize the existence of 
the tribe after the federal government denied national recognition in 
November. The feds denial effectively shuts the legal door on land 
claims and political self rule. Therefore, although Vermont politicians, 
both Republican and Democrat, have long sought to stifle recognition in 
the hopes of keeping a lid on Abenaki autonomy, they no longer had 
anything to fear. Even so, state recognition is being seen as a step in 
the right direction by the Abenaki and their supporters.

Tribal member Debbie Bezio told the AP, “I’m elated… [The Abenaki] will 
be able to have a sense of pride back… We’ll have a chance to have our 
rights.”

However, as things stand those legal rights remain limited. In fact 
House leaders point out that recognition will grant them no special 
rights at all. Therefore it is likely that the Abenaki struggle for 
meaningful sovereignty has by no means reached an end; perhaps just a 
new beginning.

Where will the struggle go from here? In this moment of symbolic triumph 
few are commenting on the next path. Still, it is clear that the 
Abenaki, a tribe which has faced down centuries of attempted genocide, 
deserve their own land, and/or their own sovereignty. Towards this end 
it would only seem just if the state, at the minimum, began a volunteer 
program of land repatriation, paid for by tax dollars, in the area of 
Swanton where much of the Abenaki population is concentrated. Once 
sufficient land is procured Abenaki should be free to administer that 
area autonomously.

On the other hand, if the Abenaki themselves decide that they would 
prefer to remain within the political structure of Vermont, and 
recognizing the dispersment of Abenaki population across the state, 
Abenaki should be given a special charter from the state which 
recognizes them essentially as an at-large town.

Such a charter, the parameters of which negotiated between the state and 
tribal leaders, would be the basis for the Abenaki to meet on their own 
on Town Meeting day to discuss and vote on issues relevant to the native 
population as well as give a recognized voice in the democratic process 
which most Vermonters take for granted. Anything less lacks the real 
empowerment that the Abenaki both deserve and have an inalienable right to.

After all, the Abenaki lived here for hundreds of years before the first 
European settler stepped foot in New England, and to deny them their 
right to sovereignty is nothing but a continuation of 500 years of 
oppression, and should be unacceptable to every Vermonter!