RI Indian Tribe Prepares To Choose A New Chief; Purged Members Will Try to Vote

October 27, 2007 2:04 p.m. EST

Providence, RI (AHN) - Amid several controversies, the Narragansett Indian Tribe is ready for selecting its new chief sachem or tribe leader with the help of an election on Saturday.

Meanwhile, many Narragansett Indians and their families who were purged from the tribe are planning to vote in the tribal elections anyway.

In Rhode Island, the candidates running for the tribe's chief sachem position have used the issue of ousted members. Overall, 140 out of around 2,400 Narragansetts have been removed until today.

Matthew Thomas, an incumbent, is competing against Paulla Dove Jennings, an ex-tribal councilwoman, for the post of chief sachem or tribe leader for the period of five years.

One of the main reasons that some of the members were asked to leave the tribe is the presence of casinos in their town. Tribal officials told CNN that in order to maintain the tribe's integrity, its members cannot purse living on the gambled money.

David Wilkins, a political scientist at the University of Minnesota and a member of North Carolina's Lumbee Tribe, told CNN, "We're in the process of a redefinition of tribal identity at its core. It's ramping up in a way that's really quite frightening to a lot of Native people."

Other reasons to purge a member can be a squabble over political matters, tightened racial requirements for tribal membership and punishment for a crime related to drugs or forming a gang.

According to Paulla Dove Jennings, tribal leadership candidate, purging is an unfair act. She alleges that the families who were removed by the tribe officials have protested against their regulations.

On the other hand, Matthew Thomas claims that the members who were purged from the group were not able to prove their ancestral linkage with the tribe. He says that in order to join the tribe, members must be able to show their ancestors' record on an 1880 census using birth, death and marriage certificates.