The leaders of the Narragansett Tribe should be disappointed by the turnout at their March 21 rally in Providence. The rally was advertised nationally on television, in newspapers, on Facebook and on commercial and nonprofit Web sites.

The Narragansetts claim to have 2,400 members, all of whom presumably have a financial stake in the tribe’s proposed gambling enterprise. Since some of the estimated 140 people who attended the rally were invited guests, brought in from other Eastern tribes, then probably no more than 5 percent of the Narragansetts attended their own rally.

Charlestown Town Council meetings routinely draw more people than this rally did.

The rally was meant to show public support for the Narragansetts’ effort to overturn a U.S. Supreme Court ruling and build a casino without voter approval. The rally attracted only a handful of non-tribal supporters and brings into question whether there is even much support within the tribe for the policies of the tribal government.

The Rhode Island Constitution requires that every community have the right to hold a voter referendum before a gambling facility is built in that community. The Narragansetts claim that the tribe’s ability to have a gambling facility without voter approval is a civil right. Giving the tribe this power would diminish the rights of all Rhode Islanders by denying them their constitutional right to hold a binding referendum.

U.S. Senators Claiborne Pell, Jack Reed, Sheldon Whitehouse and John and Lincoln Chafee; U.S. Representatives Ronald Machtley, Bob Weygand and James Langevin; Governors Almond and Carcieri; Attorneys General James O'Neil, Jeffrey Pine, Whitehouse and Patrick Lynch; the Rhode Island Council of Churches; state legislators and other politicians; and many private citizen groups have worked for many years to protect our right to vote on gambling facilities. All of these people should take note of this rally, because it demonstrates that there is little support in Rhode Island for giving up our right to vote.

Ruth Platner