Conley: RI Native Americans Criticism Are “Bull Droppings,” He Says “Put a Muzzle” on Critic
GoLocalProv News Team
Conley: RI Native Americans Criticism Are “Bull Droppings,” He Says “Put a Muzzle” on Critic
Historian Laureate Patrick Conley called the perspective of some in Rhode Island’s Native American community regarding the statue of Reverend William Blackstone in Pawtucket as “bull droppings.”
A controversy has been brewing over the past few months over the statue, but now Conley is doubling down.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWhen GoLocal asked Conley about what he had written in an opinion piece in the Providence Journal, he told GoLocal in a phone interview last week that he stood by his comments.
“I dismissed [the criticism] because the opposition is not based whatsoever on historical fact and it's incredibly one-sided. They talked about [that] Blackstone allegedly had a Pequot maid or girl that worked with him,” said Conley.
Conley told GoLocal that he told Loren Spears, the Executive Director and curator of the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum in Exeter, to “put a muzzle” on one of the critics. He said that he has donated $10,000 to the museum in the past.
Spears told GoLocal that, “I voiced my opinion about Blackstone more privately, but I did not choose to get into a tit for tat. I was not involved in the discussion."
She said the construction of the Blackstone monument should have included people from the community.
Spears said the dismissal of the criticism of the relationship between Blackstone and the young woman fails to understand the historical bias.
"Servant was a hidden term for indentured servitude or slave," said Spears.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, a Democrat who is running for Rhode Island Governor in 2022, told GoLocal she disapproved of Conley’s use of words — and acknowledged that she had reappointed Conley to the post of Historian Laureate in 2020 with no other candidates considered.
“The position of historian laureate is honorific only. It comes with no salary and no state benefits. The enabling legislation is very thin and has no guidance on a selection process. Given these facts, when Dr. Conley requested reappointment in early 2020, I agreed without creating a robust selection process,” said Gorbea in a statement from her office.
“Transparency and accountability have been pillars of my administration, and that requires owning your mistakes and learning from them. The lack of an announced application process for naming the historian laureate was a mistake,” she added. “We have since developed recommendations to the next Secretary of State for a vetting process that involves the community in recommending the next historian laureate.”
“I disagree in the strongest possible terms with Dr. Conley’s published viewpoints,” Gorbea went on to add. “Denying the voice of Rhode Island’s indigenous community does a disservice to our entire state. We must continue to engage our indigenous leaders and learn from our history – the good and the bad – to build a more equitable Rhode Island going forward.”
When asked if she would call for Conley to step down, office spokesperson Nick Domings provided the following response.
“As strongly as she disagrees with Mr. Conley, calling for his resignation would set a bad precedent of asking for resignations based on a person's beliefs. The Secretary believes strongly in the rights granted under the First Amendment regarding free speech,” said Domings. “Instead she will work to provide her own counterpoints and encourage public spaces for others to provide their own views as a way to build a more equitable state.”
In the interview with GoLocal, Conley repeatedly defended the reference to Blackstone's bull droppings.
“I thought it was quite clever frankly,” said Conley. “The opposition [to the statue] is not based whatsoever on historical fact, and it’s incredibly one-sided. The only thing they talked about was allegedly [Blackstone] had a Pequot maid — a girl that worked with him.”
Conley went on to cite his support of Native American causes in the state — as well as what he had wanted to add to his position.
“In the Pequot War of 1638, the Narragansetts, the Niantics, and the Mohegans joined with the English settlers and Puritans from Connecticut to defeat the Pequot in the Pequot War, and after the war, they rounded up the survivors and divided them among the English and the three other Indian tribes took slaves,” said Conley.
“I actually restrained myself because [what I just said] becomes embarrassing to Native Americans to know that they enslaved other Native Americans,” said Conley of his opinion piece.
Conley, who has overseen the induction of Native American Rhode Islanders into the Heritage Hall of Fame, defended his position -- and said he has "done more for Native Americans than nearly any other white Rhode Islander."
“When I was Chairman of the Rhode Island Bicentennial Commission, I created the Native American Heritage subcommittee,” he said. “I provided all kinds of funding for Native American participation in the American independence celebration.”
This story was first published 12/8/21 2:32 AM