NAACP Supports Tribe in Effort for Casino

Released on: Saturday, 11/04/2006

PROVIDENCE — The NAACP’s Providence branch is supporting the Narragansett Indian tribe’s quest to build a casino in West Warwick, calling the tribe’s struggle for economic self-sufficiency an issue of social justice.

“America has learned how to mistreat Native Americans based on this country’s experience and dealings with the Narragansett Indians,” said Clifford Montiero, president of the branch. Montiero said the mistreatment began with the stealing of Native American land and was punctuated during King Philip’s war, when settlers beheaded the Rhode Island tribe’s chief sachem and brought his head to Plymouth Rock.

Montiero, who attended the University of Rhode Island in the late 1950s and 1960s and interacted with members of the tribe in South County, said he saw how the Narragansetts struggled to maintain their culture. He said government constraints on how the Narragansetts could use their land in Charlestown hindered their economic development.

While the civil-rights organization does not support political candidates, it does support issues and recognizes leaders who have worked to improve the lives of the disenfranchised.

At its annual Freedom Fund dinner last month, the Providence branch gave Matthew Thomas, the Narragansett’s chief sachem, the Rosa Parks Award for outstanding leadership for his efforts to bring economic, political and cultural advantages to the tribe. (Harrah’s Entertainment, which would build and own the casino, contributed $5,000 to the NAACP to help sponsor that event. The company has given money to several local groups, including $10,000 to sponsor a WaterFire Providence.)

Montiero said the NAACP believes that the casino will not only benefit the tribe, but will boost Providence’s stature as a tourism destination and a convention location, bringing more business to hotels and restaurants. And he said it would create jobs and benefit businesses.

Montiero said he is not alone in seeing Question 1 as being about more than just a casino.

“A lot of people are addicted to joblessness,” he said. “The opposition will say anything. But what’s the last thing they’ve done to help improve the unemployment situation in Rhode Island? What have they done and what are they going to do to help all of the people that they say this isn’t going to help?”

Montiero also said he believes there are times when the Constitution should be amended and notes that many people were initially left out of the Constitution.

“If the Constitution hadn’t been changed, my people would still be slaves,” he said.

“We’ve been concerned about social justice all of our lives and this is social justice. This is about economic opportunity,” Montiero said.