Jump to full article: Providence (RI) Journal-Bulletin, 2008-04-05
Author: M. Charles Bakst
Intro: The state police were understandably pleased with the outcome of the Narragansett Indian smoke-shop trial -- Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas and two others were convicted -- but this saga will continue to course through Rhode Island's history.
It is a history that, certainly from the tribe's point of view, has been marked by heartache. . . .
The state police were understandably pleased with the outcome of the Narragansett Indian smoke-shop trial -- Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas and two others were convicted -- but this saga will continue to course through Rhode Island's history.
It is a history that, certainly from the tribe's point of view, has been marked by heartache. . . .
Thomas came across yesterday as a bundle of resentment, irony, amusement and pure anger. At one point he asserted, "The people that have dealt with us really have not dealt truthfully and honestly."
On this 40th anniversary of the slaying of Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas said, "It's a shame that he was murdered for trying to win fairness and equality, huh?"
Does Thomas feel that he is in a foreign country when he's in the courthouse? "I'm in a foreign country any time I walk off our reservation," he chuckled.
As for the smoke-shop saga consuming so much of his life, Thomas said, "There's always something interesting in my life. My life is chief sachem of the Narragansett Indian tribe." Not a day goes by, he said, "where I don't have to fight for justice."
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