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Camille Cosby Issues Urgent Plea to
Save Native American Burial Site
Camille O. Cosby is calling for urgent public action to prevent the
further desecration of a major Native American village and burial site
in Western Massachusetts dating back more than ten thousand years.
October 20, 1997
CONTACT: Joel Brokaw (310) 273 2060
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAMILLE COSBY ISSUES URGENT PLEA TO
SAVE NATIVE AMERICAN BURIAL SITE
Camille O. Cosby is calling for urgent public action to prevent the
further desecration of a major Native American village and burial site
in Western Massachusetts dating back more than ten thousand years. Ten
days ago, the grassroots organization Friends of Mohawk
Trail/Wissatinnewag announced a pledge by Dr. Cosby of $20,000 to be
applied towards the purchase of the site in Greenfield, MA currently
owned by Peter Mackin, a construction and gravel contractor. Despite
increased public interest from across the country since the announcement
of Dr. Cosby's pledge, Mr. Mackin has stepped up his destruction of the
site, according to Monique Fordham, spokesperson of the organization.
Under current federal NAGPRA regulations, native burial sites located on
private lands are exempted from protection.
In urging the American public to get involved, Dr. Cosby has issued the
following statement:
"Knowledge enables humans to respect each other. Throughout the
histories of humankind, people have worshipped and protected their
ancestors' burial grounds. Thinking people do not destroy others' sacred
places--they preserve and honor them."
The site is recognized as the last undeveloped quadrant of the ancient
Pocumtuck village of Wissatinnewag (also known as Peskeompskut or
Squamscut), located on the Great Falls of the Connecticut River in
Greenfield. The village was the location of the 1676 Turner's Falls
Massacre, where a settler militia attacked and killed 300 Native women,
children and elders in one of the earliest mass killings of
non-combatants in the history of New England (Turner was the commander
of this raid).
Mr. Mackin is currently running bulldozers over the ancient burial
grounds, according to Ms. Fordham, whose group is closely monitoring his
activity. Mackin Construction has already bid on one contract to
transport the site's topsoil as a cap for a garbage landfill in a
neighboring town. After selling the topsoil, Mr. Mackin plans to sell
off the rest of the underlying glacial sand and begin producing asphalt
on the property.
"The destruction of this ancient site will insure that another piece of
the Connecticut Valley's indigenous history will be forgotten," stated
Ms. Fordham. "It will send the message that Native American sites, even
those where the occupants were massacred by Europeans, are unimportant
to protect or to remember."
Eric S. Johnson, Ph.D., Staff Archaeologist at the University of
Massachusetts, described the historical significance of the site:
"Peskeompskut--the Great Falls--is a special place. It is rich in
history. a history of joy and sorrow, of great bounty, and of great
destruction. For thousands of years, Native people gathered every spring
by the tumbling waters to renew acquaintances and family ties, to feast
on the abundant shad, and to celebrate and honor the return of spring.
These were surely times of great joy. In the spring of 1676, this
celebration was shattered by a raid by Puritan soldiers who massacred
hundreds including many children. Peskeompskut's land is not just a
commodity to be scraped away and sold, it is also a living memory bank.
Destroying this land diminishes this history and thus diminishes all of
our lives."
Grand Chief Joseph Norton of the Kahnawake Mohawk Reserve commented, "As
a matter of fact, we are considered remnants of a lost and gone
civilization. But we do exist, we do remember, we do understand, we do
know, we have the connection back to our land and to our people and to
our travels."
Dr. Cosby hopes people will express their outrage over this situation by
contacting government officials in Greenfield, MA and by joining with
her to contribute to the fund to purchase the property and protect it
from further development. The Friends of the Mohawk Trail/Wissatinnewag
hope the site can serve as a memorial to Native Americans and a place of
education about history. For more information, contact the Friends of
the Mohawk Trail/Wissatinnewag at (413) 538 8631 or 549 2737.
The Friends of Wissatinnewag and leaders of the Narragansett Nation held
a press conference at the Mackin sand bank site on Wednesday, October 22.
(END)
CONTACT: FRIENDS OF WISSATINNEWAG
(802) 234-6821
(413) 772-3743
E-MAIL news@friendsofwissatinnewag.org
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