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Members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation this week formally sought the right to access beaches in the Village of Southampton, presenting a resolution to the Village Board on Tuesday night that would exempt tribe members from having to pay to park at village beaches.
Among the Shinnecock making the case at Tuesday’s Village Board meeting was Dyani Brown, who is in the process of disputing a parking ticket she received at Coopers Beach on August 9, 2014. As a member of the Nation who lives on the reservation—which lies just outside village boundaries—Ms. Brown has argued, in court, that she should be allowed to park at village beaches for free, just as village residents can.
She went on to say the village is denying reasonable access to the beach with its parking fee, which is $40 per day, or $225 for the season for non-residents of the village.
Southampton Village Mayor Mark Epley told Ms. Brown on Tuesday that the village is not denying the Shinnecock people access to the beach. “What we are asking for is, if you are going to pull a car into that lot and park, that, like everybody else, you are going to participate in the cost of the maintenance of the beach,” he said.
Ms. Brown rejected that. “Unfortunately, because of how this country was established, you don’t have jurisdiction to charge us to access these same resources that we both share,” she responded.
Village Board member Richard Yastrzemski said he has seen numerous groups ask for free access to village parking lots, but that he has never seen a sovereign nation come forward with the request, nor has he seen anyone present a resolution on the matter. The problem, he said, comes when people seek to park for free, when village residents pay to park—via property taxes.
“In terms of it being for free—it’s not for free. We’ve already paid,” said Lance Gumbs, a former Shinnecock Tribal Trustee who attended the meeting along with Tribal Trustee Chairman Bryan Polite and presented the proposed resolution to the board.
“You are denying us the continuation of who we are, the ‘people of the stony shore,’” Ms. Brown told Village Board members, using the translation of the word “Shinnecock.” “Denying us access is denying us our cultural identity, and that is a violation of human indigenous rights.” Mr. Epley asked Ms. Brown why she had not approached or fought for the Shinnecock Nation’s right to access beaches run by Suffolk County or Southampton Town. Ms. Brown replied that she intends to do so.
Mr. Gumbs invited members of the board to visit the Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center and Museum to see all the murals that depict the Shinnecock people and their connection to the ocean.
Even the Village of Southampton seal, which was referred to many times because of its visibility in Village Hall, where the meeting was held, shows a Shinnecock Indian and an English settler facing one another, showing a relationship that has been in place since 1640.
“We have a golden opportunity to work together,” Mr. Gumbs told board members.
The Village Board took no action on the proposed resolution on Tuesday. Mr. Epley said village officials would review it.
Greg Wehner on Jul 27, 2016