At Conscience Point

Neighbourhood

• Episode: At Conscience Point
• Website: Neighbourhood
• Feed URL: http://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p06m6c5m.rss
• Duration: 00:26:28
• Published: 2018-10-15 03:00

The Hamptons in the East End of Long Island, New York, is the playground of the super-rich, the epicentre of a luxury property boom, with developers scheming for any scrap of land on which to make millions. Meanwhile the original inhabitants of this beautiful peninsula, the Shinnecock Indians, find themselves pushed to a point of near extinction, squeezed onto a tiny 1000-acre reservation. Over hundreds of years the Shinnecock have seen their ancient burial grounds ploughed up unceremoniously for the widening of roads, golf courses and new mansions. On the reservation wounds run deep. Treva Wurmfeld and Shinnecock activist, Becky Genia explore the roots of American inequity, greed and pollution. They look at the contrast between those for whom beautiful places are a commodity - who regard land as raw material to be developed for profit and pleasure - and those locals for whom land means community, belonging, heritage and home.

Photo: Montage by D8