Thirty miles from Manhattan a group of mysterious mountain people fight for recognition as a legitimate Native American | dG1fNzlxU3NmeENLODA
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00WFAN in New York. And here with us now, Donald Trump.
00:05So what's this now? You got a bunch of drunken Indians who want to open a casino down there in New Jersey?
00:10Well, I think I might have more Indian blood than a lot of the so-called Indians that are trying to open up the reservations.
00:18It's a shame to have to fight to be recognized for who you are.
00:23It is about racism. It's about the Native people in this country.
00:27It's about the Ramapo being treated like dirtbags, like these people have been doing for the last two or three hundred years.
00:34He traces the original Ramapo to the mixed-race freed slaves.
00:41He invented a race for Native people.
00:44We are the Ramapo. We've always been the Ramapo. Always.
00:49We sit 30 miles from New York City.
00:51Our people have lived in these mountains going back to pre-European contact.
00:56We need federal recognition in order to really continue survival.
01:01I gave up a 23-year-long marriage.
01:05I gave up the second night to my daughter every night.
01:08I gave that all up to come back here and fight for my people.
01:14It would be in 1961, only after years of Ramapo homes burning to the ground, that we would even get our first fire department.
01:22Not much has changed for my people.
01:25What if you're dealing with a state that had very rigid segregation rules?
01:30Would that state have recognized the existence of an Indian community?
01:35Or would they have lumped that Indian community into a non-white?
01:39The greatest thing you can do is claim your heritage.
01:42You can't validate that you're an Indian. You certainly can't even get to the point of talking about being a tribe.
01:47There's a sense of identity of who that group is.
01:50Oh, what do you mean your land? Like, I have my land, too.
01:53No, you don't. This is my land. Like, this is me and my people.
01:57A more critical issue is your identity and having people acknowledge who you are.
02:01We are Ramapo Indians.
02:04And if we could show solidarity on all fronts, we'd have a voice.
02:10What I feel in my heart, no one can take from me.
02:13That's how I feel.
02:15It's not about what the government says. It's about what you believe and how you live your life.
02:22We're going to fight back in the most positive way we can.