It comes as no surprise that the U.S. Supreme Court would not hear our (Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Nations) appeal on tribal waters. Good thing we weren’t expecting it. What is expected is that the state or federal government will eventually find a way to take the waters away from us. We have been conditioned for centuries that what we own or possess will be taken.

It’s unfortunate that things have come this far; it never should have been a question of who should regulate waters that have traditionally been ours, way before racial integration. We still fight injustices that should have long been over. We still fight poverty, alcoholism, drug addiction and racism.

We are still treated as unequal by our white neighbors. Try being a Native American and go into a store only to be watched and followed. Try to send your child to a private school, only to have her quit and come home in tears because she was told her mother was on welfare and her father a drunk. Like my brother’s bumper sticker says, “The government is fair, ask any Indian.”

Debora A. Newell

Pleasant Point Reservation

Perry