Shinnecock tribe protests at Southampton development site

More than a dozen members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation and their supporters protested Monday to demand that Southampton Town preserve a parcel under development which they say is sacred and may contain the remains of their ancestors.

Members of a tribal group, the Shinnecock Graves Protection Warrior Society, said they’d been given assurances that the site, on Montauk Highway across from a recently preserved site called Sugar Loaf Hill, would be protected from development.

"We’re furious," said Becky Genia, a longtime tribal advocate for graves protection. She said the tribe was given no notice when a developer began clearing the parcel on the north side of the highway before last week’s snowstorm.

Members held signs urging the town to "Stop selling Cemeteries" and "Defend the Sacred," and threatening development of "Another McMansion on Indian Graves Over My Dead Body."

"We were told it was purchased and protected," Genia said. "We would never have left in 2020" if development could still occur, she said, referring to past protests at the site. Genia was referring to the 2020 protests that shut down part of Montauk Highway.

"We’re just asking the town to utilize the [Community Preservation] Fund as quickly as possible to preserve what’s left, not only for Shinnecock but for all of us, the groundwater, the aquifers," said Tela LandBack Troge, a lawyer and member of the Shinnecock graves protection group.

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman noted the town has preserved numerous sacred sites with its Community Preservation Fund, including several parcels around the site where the tribe members protested Monday, but he said the owner of one particular site has not agreed to sell.

"We never had a willing seller," he said. "We’re always willing to talk if the property owner is interested in selling it, particularly with these culturally sensitive lots. But there has to be a willing seller."

In any case, Schneiderman said, the developer cannot begin digging a foundation on the site without an archaeological review from the town, per a grave’s protection law approved by the town. There also are a series of steps to make sure potential graves are not disturbed once a developer does get approval, he said. The site had been cleared of trees to provide access, but no foundation had been dug.

Genia said the laws setting requirements and guidelines for those who can excavate are "not enough," and she said the tribe has heard complaints that the archaeologist isn’t routinely consulted on all culturally sensitive sites.

While she spoke, a woman in a black Mercedes pulled up and told her the tribe already won preservation of Sugar Loaf Hill, adding: "Why do you need this," too?

Genia said some in the town were "so full of hate, they say things like that out of pure hate." Others, she said, support the group’s mission because "they’re tired of overdevelopment."

Genia said the tribe would consider legal options to oppose the development but hoped to avoid them. The developers and the town "shouldn’t be putting us through this. They absolutely know this lot was preserved and protected in perpetuity. That’s what they said … They know we have limited resources."

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.