RFK Jr. visit elevates local tribal issues

Tick-borne illnesses, indigenous access to traditional food gathering methods, and offshore wind were among the issues raised to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his visit to the Vineyard this week. 

Kennedy arrived on the Island on Tuesday, where he was confronted by protesters at Martha’s Vineyard Airport and on his way to the Aquinnah Wampanoag Community Center for an annual meeting of the Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee, a group consisting of tribal delegates from across the nation that advises federal policymakers and supports indigenous causes. 

Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, chairwoman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), highlighted that this was an important opportunity for tribes to engage in “government-to-government negotiations” with not just Kennedy but top officials from agencies in his department, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. 

Andrews-Maltais, a longtime member of the advisory committee, said she has wanted to host the meeting for years, but tribes with more resources — with their own hotels or casinos — tend to hold it. She also noted that Aquinnah was selected to host last year, before Kennedy became a Trump administration cabinet member. 

“When they say Indian Country, they don’t always think of Martha’s Vineyard first,” Andrews-Maltais said. “They always think about Arizona, New Mexico, the Great Plains, and everywhere in between, and Oklahoma.”

According to Andrews-Maltais, bringing federal officials to the Vineyard makes it easier to establish a “reference point” about the challenges of Island life on top of public health concerns, including the housing crisis, high cost of living, and unreliable cellphone connectivity. 

While decisions weren’t made during the event, it gave the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe a chance to stress issues affecting its community and appeal for resources. Topping that list were tick-borne illnesses, including Lyme disease and alpha-gal syndrome. Andrews-Maltais said a large portion of her tribe have contracted Lyme disease from tick bites, and like the rest of the Island, alpha-gal cases were increasing. 

A loosening of restrictions on fishing, hunting, and gathering was also raised to federal officials. Andrews-Maltais said increasing access to these traditional methods of procuring food would not only benefit tribe members’ health but reduce their cost of living on the Vineyard. 

Other public health topics that were pointed out by the Island tribe included avian flu, protection from communicable diseases like COVID-19, and a need for vaccines and other preventive care. 

The meeting also included a visit to the Aquinnah Cliffs, a sacred spot for the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe, from which newly installed offshore wind turbines can be seen. The tribe has been at odds with the offshore wind industry, even joining lawsuits against projects. Andrews-Maltais suggested to the federal officials that the tribe should receive assistance in its legal fights against offshore wind, and that agencies should work together against them. While Kennedy didn’t make any commitments while in Aquinnah, the conversation was left open for potential collaboration between the tribe and federal officials. 

Kennedy’s visit was controversial. Some tribal members joined in the protests against Kennedy to proclaim he wasn’t welcome in their homeland, and said more community input should have been gathered before the meeting commenced. 

“We don’t want this to be taken lightly, and we care about all humans,” Juli Vanderhoop, an Aquinnah Wampanoag elder, said at the protest. Still, she expressed a hope that the meeting would yield needed resources for indigenous communities. 

But Andrews-Maltais said issues facing indigenous communities are “bipartisan,” and “government-to-government” negotiations were needed to acquire funding to help the entire community. She also said it was tribal leadership’s “absolute responsibility” to ensure the best outcomes for the entire community. 

“We’ve been here long before there was a United States, and we’ll be here even after, so we don’t have the luxury to be choosing sides that we want to talk to,” she said. “We have to talk, and we have to have those conversations with whoever’s in the administration or in the White House Oval Office.” 

Kennedy has had a longtime connection with indigenous communities. His father, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., was a vocal advocate for Native American rights and sovereignty during the 1960s. Meanwhile, RFK Jr. worked with indigenous communities in various environmental fights as an attorney, for example raising awareness about the Dakota Access Pipeline project that threatened drinking water and cultural sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. 

“His outreach this week demonstrates a clear commitment to partnership with tribes and to advancing sovereignty, food, security, and healthier futures in Indian Country,” said Emily Hilliard, HHS press secretary.

But critics say that despite Kennedy’s vow to work with indigenous communities and improve their health — Native Americans as a demographic are disproportionately unhealthy in the U.S., and had the highest mortality rates from COVID-19 — those promises have fallen short. While Kennedy did prevent layoffs at the Indian Health Service, a federal agency focused on improving the health of tribes, and increased its budget for 2026, cuts to programs in other areas under his department, such as Medicaid, put indigenous communities that rely on these health programs at risk. 

Andrews-Maltais said she was hopeful after Kennedy’s visit to Aquinnah. She said Kennedy was “acutely aware” of the trust and treaty obligations of the U.S. to tribes, and expressed a readiness to work with solutions that tribes bring to him. 

“We’re cautiously optimistic that we might be able to finally get necessary changes,” she said, for instance, more self-governance and increased autonomy over the use of federal funding. Andrews-Maltais said Kennedy was “fully supportive” of working with the tribes on this. Additionally, she noted, funding has been secured so the tribe doesn’t have to worry about whether it can pay for medical professionals. 

With more tribal input, Andrews-Maltais said, improving public health in indigenous communities could be a “positive legacy” of the current administration.