Munsee

Shawnee Chief Ben Barnes grieved for people who died every week from COVID-19.

When families called the tribe to help pay for funerals, Barnes had to turn them down. 

The U.S. Treasury Department counted the tribe’s population as zero instead of 3,100 when it distributed CARES Act relief funding a year ago. Bad data forced Barnes and other tribal leaders across the U.S. to respond to the pandemic with little federal aid.

During the worst point of the pandemic in northeast Oklahoma, Barnes said he learned about new infections every day and two to four deaths a week.

“We had people dying,” Barnes said. “We didn’t have resources or ways to help.”

The dispute remains at the center of a federal lawsuit filed by the Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and joined by two other tribes. The Treasury Department announced in April that it would give more CARES Act money to some tribes in light of an appeals court ruling in the case.

Because of that decision, the Shawnee plan to exit the federal case. Other tribal leaders continue to push for equitable aid and an explanation of what went wrong.

More: Navajo Nation surpasses Cherokee to become largest US tribe

Another local tribe shortchanged

Eastern Shawnee Chief Glenna Wallace said she has repeatedly asked for a review of the initial funding formula, which counted her nation’s population as 221 instead of 3,650.

She points to parallels from 1830, when the Eastern Shawnee were forcibly removed from the Ohio Valley to the northeast corner of Oklahoma. The tribe received 58 acres of land, a fraction of what the federal government promised. 

“We’ve never been in a position to be able to financially help our tribal citizens, and it was about the same with COVID,” Wallace said. “It was a repetition.” 

Congress passed the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic…

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An aging metal sign erected by the Chester County Historical Society in 1908 stands partially obscured by a tree along a curvy rural road in tiny Newlin Township to commemorate theLenape people buried on the knoll just above.

Carol McCloskey has owned that knoll, now dense with woods, since 1987.

Now planning her estate, she wants to donate the property, preferably to Native Americans, to ensure its preservation. But finding a good steward for the land has been more complicated than she thought. So far she’s found no takers for her half-acre lot, the only officially recognized Native American burial site in Chester County.

“I thought it should go to the rightful owners,” McCloskey said, referring to the Lenape people. Previously, she had no luck trying to donate the land to a federally recognized tribe, and now is restarting the process and willing to expand the pool of potential recipients.

“I want to give it to someone who appreciates it,” she said. “I want the right people to have it.”

The burial site is a leftover wedge sliced out ofthe 170 acres, known as Indian Knoll Farm, McCloskey subdivided into 10-acre lots in 1987. The few motorists humming along Brandywine Drive each day likely don’t even notice the sign or the property as it rises steeply above the road.

McCloskey, who lives in nearby Willistown Township, has a conservation easement that ensures the land can never be developed. Because of that, it is assessed at $500 and the taxes are only a few dollars a year.

“My daughter and I have been trying to donate this for a couple of years,” McCloskey said. “But the Lenape group years ago moved out west. So there’s no one around to talk to or deal with in Pennsylvania. As a burial ground, you can’t do anything with it. It’s overgrown….

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