—Native Americans, Farmers And Fishing Communities Fight For The Soul Of The Hamptons—
In Long Island’s Hamptons, one of the wealthiest areas in the nation and an epicenter of the luxury property boom, a clash of values is taking place. Members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation — the original inhabitants of the beautiful peninsula — find themselves squeezed onto a tiny, impoverished reservation.
Over hundreds of years, the Shinnecock have seen their ancient burial grounds plowed up for the widening of roads, golf courses, and new mega-mansions. Long-simmering tensions come to a head in the summer of 2018, when the U.S. Open golf tournament unfolds at the ultra-exclusive Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
As thousands descend, Rebecca Hill-Genia, a Shinnecock activist, wants the throngs of visitors to understand one thing: the world-renowned golf course’s celebrated slopes and sand traps were literally carved out of a sacred Shinnecock burial ground.
Directed by Treva Wurmfeld, "Conscience Point" premieres on INDEPENDENT LENS as part of Native American Heritage Month programming.
With a population that quadruples in the summer months as the elite flock to its pristine beaches, Southampton is actually home to a surprisingly diverse group of residents, with some of the highest income disparities in the U.S.
“Here we sit in the middle of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, yet sixty percent of people in our community are below the poverty level,” said Shinnecock Tribal Trustee Lance Gumbs.
These economic divisions continue to grow as property values rise, pricing out long-time farming and working-class families. Fishing communities, meanwhile, are having to move to other areas as pesticides and runoff from irrigated lawns have decimated fish populations.
Featuring interviews with a cross-section of Hamptons residents, including Shinnecock Nation leaders, Town of Southampton officials, developers, farmers, and baymen, the film follows Rebecca as she tirelessly speaks out at town meetings and fights against overdevelopment.
For decades, she and other leaders have continued to bring issues to the attention of officials, including improper disposal of ancestral remains and disturbances of graves sites.
Others in the film share the Shinnecock’s concerns about the negative impacts of the building boom. Bayman Chip Moran, whose family has been in the area since the early 1700s, laments the environmental destruction of the bay and says that development has destroyed his livelihood.
Eleventh generation farmers Bill and Joanna Halsey discuss the changing landscape, where rising property values have made it easier to sell an acre for half a million dollars than to continue to farm it, escalating the displacement of working and middle-class families.
When long-time property owners sell to cash in on rising property values, new owners build luxury second homes. But the labor needed to service those homes can no longer afford to live in Southampton, creating tremendous traffic problems as workers are forced to commute from farther and farther away.
“When we think of the Hamptons we probably don’t realize it is being built on Native American burial grounds,” said Lois Vossen, Executive Producer of INDEPENDENT LENS. “Farmers, artists, and housing for the working class are being displaced by mega-mansions, as the runoff from pristine lawns and golf courses poisons the livelihoods of fisherman who have harvested there for centuries. Conscience Point, the spot where the Shinnecock first met European settlers, feels aptly named as we consider how the choices made by the one percent of the one percent impact all the people who once called this natural paradise their home.”
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Credits:
Produced & Directed by Treva Wurmfeld. Produced by Julianna Brannum and Alli Joseph. Supervising Producer: David Eisenberg. Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer, Lois Vossen. Cinematography: Nausheen Dadabhoy, Nadia Hallgren and Treva Wurmfeld. Written and edited by Brian Johnson andTreva Wurmfeld. Music by Garth Stevenson.
