1993_001-HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING COMMITTEE

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Katherine W. Brown November 8, 1993 To the Mashpee Select-board and the Mashpee High School Building Committee: I am asking the High School Building Committee and the Town Select-board to choose the Route 151 site for the Mashpee High School. It seems clear to me that BY THE STANDARDS ESTABLISHED BY THE HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING COMMITTEE, both the north (behind Town Hall) and the south (Route 151 and Old Barnstable Road) sites are fairly equal. Both would have an unfortunate environmental impact, both would cause some traffic problems, while other factors seem to weigh each other out in both pro's and con's. But, as James Kinney has stated, since the Route 151 area is already in the process of being built up and the other is still "pristine," it seems very much better to leave it that way, and choose the Route 151 site. As I understood what was said at the meeting of the High School Building Committee on Tuesday evening, November 3, BY THE STANDARDS OF THE WAMPANOAG TRIBE, the sites are far from equal. It seemed clear to me, from what was said then, that the tribe holds the land behind the town hall as sacred. • It is not possible for we who are white Americans of European background to understand or fully appreciate the values that the tribe holds dear with regard to this land. They did not try to explain their values to us. Nor is there NEED for us to understand or fully appreciate those values. What IS important is for us to honor and respect them. White Americans have a long history of trampling on Native values. Are we who are lucky enough to share the town of Mashpee with the Wampanoags too insensitive to change history's pattern? Shouldn't we, rather, honor the American principle of freedom of religion by honoring Wampanoag feelings and spiritual issues related to the land behind the Town Hall, and choose our High School site to be elsewhere? It seems we would be giving up almost nothing by choosing the Route 151 site; even the committee seems to disagree among themselves about which is the best site. But we would gain so much for the town toward building good will with the tribe ... if we do choose the Route 151 site. Are we so narrow in our Judeo-Christian values as to be unable to do that? Can't we be generous enough to give a little in this situation, when we have taken so much? Can't we make humane choices now, instead of inhumane ones, as our ancestors did? Lets choose the Route 151 site! Yours truly, • Katherine W. Brown 155 James Circle, John's Pond Estates, Mashpee, MA 02649