The Wampanoag Indians in Mashpee, on Cape Cod, are now in court seeking to regain some of the land they lost to the white man centuries ago. Another group of Wampanoags on Cape Cod obtained some tribal land by concession from their town's government, and the Passamaquodies along with the Penobscot tribe are suing Maine for nearly half the state.

Passamaquoddy Governor Francis Nicholas leans back behind the desk in his narrow office in the Pleasant Point Community Center, Someone drops a copy of the Bangor Daily News on his desk. He surveys the front page and a wry smile comes to his wan face. The State of Maine now wants to settle the land case out of court.

"They don't want to go to court with us," he says.

Nicholas speculates on how the tribe will use the land. "We will develop it, utilize it. Not only for Indians, but for whites too. There will be recreation grounds, cottages, campgrounds, not only for Indians but for whites," Moore says. "The environment is our first priority. Because, you know it's something. Even you sometimes, you see a little bird, and you don't stop and think. You just look at that bird, you tell your wife and children; but there's more to it than that. You take moose, deer, raccoon, all kinds of animal; and mister, if you stop and think, them's the most intelligent persons, on two legs or four. And if you do respect...sometimes I feel like I can communicate with these animals."

The Indians may get the land. If they have learned too well from the whites, they may forget the values that have historically excluded them from the white culture and begin to ravage, rape and plunder the land.

Moore assures us, "We don't have any intentions of making money off the land. The land has more value than gold itself. The people who want to live their own way will have a separate place for them. They can fish, they can do whatever they want. They're under their own mind. Naturally we do have more respect for the animals, for the land than gold itself."

The strength of Moore's belief, the sharp line between Indians and Western culture, will show them which route to take: they will remain a nation, or they will become an American minority group.

The Passamaquoddies say they will always remain the same; Grace Roderick says, "The values are so different. A white man will climb up anyone's back to get ahead. It is a respect for living."

Despite the encroaching influence of Western ways, the Passamaquoddy quietly assert their argument. There is no violent crime on the reservation. The children skateboard, play with their dogs, their many, many dogs. "We don't believe in not letting them live or have little pups," says one Passamaquoddy, unwittingly demonstrating his bond to Catholicism. Passamaquoddy children do not throw rocks at birds and dogs, as some young children do in Western society. They hug their animals and enjoy visitors from the outside. They are ambitious within their community. Despite poverty, they enjoy what they are doing on the reservation. And it seems that as long as they have that community, improvement is possible. Whether they can adapt to Western ways is a crucial question. But Raymond Moore seems to know the answer.

"...If they invite you to a party, go. If they give you a drink, drink. If they give you a smoke, smoke. But experience these things, and tell us in your own mind what you have learned from the outside, and then compare it. Is it happening here, or is it happening on the outside? Now you do whatever you think for the right of the people here on this reservation, because you have gone outside and you have learned, you have learned their ways, their rotten way.

"They are smoking out there, they are hooked on drugs, and they steal from each other...and then teach your people back here what you have learned from the outside world. And this is our major goal. And for instance, some people say, 'Well, for God's sake, look at that Indian, he's drinking.' Of course he's drinking; because he's learning. He's learning your way of life. And these people don't understand why some of us are doing these things--because we are learning. We have sent our people out to learn your way, and we don't like your way."

Up on a wall in Cliff Saunders' office at the BIC is a poem. It is written right on the wall, along with other poems by the same artist. The poet is Will Basque, Cliff's predecessor as executive director of BIC, who now works at the Massachusetts Bureau of Indian Affairs. It reads:

Your Body runs red

With Blue Blood

For the Air Hasn't