I’m a smoker, and I’m an American-born citizen with rights. I also have no beef with the Native Americans who share our soil. Sure, smoking is frowned upon in our society, to some extent. And you know that if the sale of tobacco were suddenly to become an illegal practice in this country tomorrow, I’d still find a way to get my hands on it. Everyone knows at least one person who knows somebody else who has a friend-of-a-friend who’ll know where to find what you want. Granted, the notion of our governent outlawing the sale of cigarettes is a far-fetched notion at best, what with all the tobacco lobbyists on Capitol Hill. They don’t call it “Big Tobacco” for nothing, you know

As for the Native Americans, and their sale of tobacco on their reservations, and the fact that this is perceived to be a problem, I think it’s the inevitable crossroads that our two cultures had to encounter sooner or later. I am complete agreement with you, that the FBI and the Suffolk police and the Suffolk D.A. ought to be more diplomatic in their approach. As for the “hostile search and seizures on reservation land”…sure, it’s morally questionable, but are we in violation of any laws by doing so? Do these actions represent some sort of a last resort, because we’ve tried being diplomatic in the recent past, and it hasn’t been successful? And what would the shutdown of tobacco sales at Native American reservations eventually mean for those people, many of whose livelihoods depend on that industry.

Would it matter so much, if tobacco wasn’t so terrible for our health? Well, that’s the hardly the point here, but it’s interesting to think about. Or, what if all this fuss was about balloons instead of tobacco. Balloons are harmless and fun. Tobacco is many things, not all of which are good, and “harmless” or “fun” are certainly not amongst those things.

I remain hopeful that we can find a way to peacefully come to whatever resolutions need coming to, with these Native Americans on our island. It seems odd to think “Native Americans on our island”, doesn’t it?

~T