Wayne Newton asks for Patawomeck recognition

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – When “Mr. Las Vegas” Wayne Newton recently sat his 7-year-old daughter down to tell her about her roots stretching back to a Virginia Indian tribe, the child only had one question: “Does that mean that I’m half Indian and half human?”

Newton, 67, said that question made him realize he had to help his tribe fight for official state recognition. So Tuesday, he sat across the table from some of the state’s most powerful members of the House of Delegates to appeal for recognition for the Patawomeck, or Potomac, Indians.

“I realized our heritage had to be documented,” he told the House Rules Committee.

The committee voted unanimously to grant recognition, which allows the group to be know as a tribe, but does not grant sovereignty. The full House and Senate still must approve the measure.

Newton and Patawomeck Chief Robert Green said recognition would validate the tribe’s identity and give them the ability to protect sacred burial grounds. Joyce Jett, another member, said it would allow them to retrieve bones from the Smithsonian Institute so they can receive a ceremonial burial.

About 20 members of the tribe, most of whom live in Stafford County along the Potomac River, attended the meeting. The tribe is best known for helping the English capture Pocahontas in April 1613.

Outside the meeting, women lined up to get autographs and kisses from Newton, who began performing as a child in Virginia before becoming a fixture in Las Vegas.

Newton was born in Norfolk and raised near Fredericksburg. He said asthma kept him from playing like most children, so much of his time was spent with his grandfather, who taught him about his Indian heritage. Newton passed around a gold-framed picture of his grandfather in a headdress.

“I have never met a native American that didn’t truly love who they were and what they were,” Newton said.

Six Virginia Indian tribes received state recognition in 1983, and two others later were added.

Green said his tribe did not come forward earlier because of lingering concerns about a Virginia law in effect from 1924 to 1967 that required that the racial identifications of people who weren’t of white ancestry be changed to “colored” on birth certificates and other documents during that period.

The tribe has fought for 16 years to gather enough documentation to get the recognition.

“We’re proud people,” Green said. “We’re certainly not asking the General Assembly for any more than the other tribes have received.”