Update – The chief and the tribe’s medicine man, Guy “Soaring Eagle” Cash, joined a gathering of approximately 150 members on Monday night who unanimously voted to revoke an order to shun the 63-year-old Bingham; his mother, Amelia Bingham; Michelle Tobey Rogers and Stephanie Roderick. The members were shunned after they accused the tribal council of financial mismanagement.

Tribal council spokesman Scott Ferson said the tribal council has no intention of reversing the shunning order, which bars the dissidents from participating in tribal activities or receiving benefits for seven years.

Some might be expecting us pro-community people to be gleeful over the recent Glenn Marshall revelations. No doubt some of us are. The rest of us are not. It’s not pleasant to watch the complete destruction of someone – even an adversary. Mr. Marshall and his casino have been like a plague – ruining our town in some ways before the first shovelful of dirt has been turned. The allegations make us more concerned than ever about the honesty of the people we were negotiating with. The past ties with Jack Abramhoff, the current ties with Detroit and South African developers put an icy chill on any good feelings we might have about entering into an agreement with the Mashpee Wampanoag – a good people with a proud history who have been unfortunate in their choice of leader.

Despite all the bad that Marshall has brought and the pall that lies over the casino – it is not only Mr. Marshall that suffers. He made his choices and will pay the consequences. Connected with him are a family, a Tribe, and a community that will all suffer along with him on one level or another. No decent person could derive glee from seeing the innocent suffer.

Which brings me to Amelia Bingham. I realize I’ll probably be vilified(what else is new) for daring to comment on a Tribal matter but I can’t remain silent. I hereby call on the new Tribal Chairman to rescind the shunning of Amelia Bingham and her associates. Make it so.

As background – Amelia Bingham is a Wampanoag Tribal elder who demanded to see the agreements that former Chairman Marshall had entered into with the casino backers. She clearly had doubts after such information was not forthcoming from Mr. Marshall. She took great umbrage with hired guns like Scott Ferson speaking for her tribe. Mr. Marshall seeminlyg invented “shunning” to silence Amelia and strip her of her status as a member of the Tribe she had belonged to all her life.

Why the connection between Glenn and Amelia? Glenn is a man who lost everything as a consequences of his actions. Amelia is a women who lost the thing she loved best – her Tribal identity – as a consequence of her actions. The glaring difference is that Amelia’s actions were done out of a concern for her Tribe. She had the courage for stand up to something that was wrong. Out of concern for her people, she took one for the team just as the prospect of vast gambling riches were coming to fruition. For some people personal integrity has no price. Amelia is one such person.

On the one hand we have Glenn Marshall – who shunned Amelia Bingham, a man we now know is a convicted rapist. A man who has a cocaine arrest in his past. A man who lied about being a police officer. A man who lied about his war record. A man who may very well wind up in jail. On the other hand we have Amelia Bingham. A woman of grace, dignity, and integrity who was wrongfully cast out of her Tribe. The tribe she has belonged to for eighty-four years. The tribe she belonged to while Mr. Marshall was claiming to be Portugese and taunting Wampanoag kids.

So I say again to vice chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Shawn Hendrick: Do the right thing. Restore Ms. Binghams Tribal status. Show her the respect she has earned in her long life. Do away with shunning completely. And let your Tribe know what sort of deals have been made on their behalf. And if you can’t do all those things. Do the one thing that matters most. Make things right for Amelia.