Narragansett Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas smokes a peace pipe at Roger Williams Park before supporters marched downtown yesterday, below right.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

PROVIDENCE — Members of the Narragansett Indian Tribe and supporters paraded more than three miles through the city and held a rally downtown yesterday to call on Congress to pass legislation that would allow the government to place land in trust for the tribe in Charlestown.

Legislation would be necessary for the tribe to work around a decision last month by the U.S. Supreme Court that the U.S. Department of the Interior could not place land in trust for the tribe because the Narragansetts were not under federal jurisdiction when the Indian Reorganization Act became law in 1934.

Trust status would free the land from most state and local laws and place it under federal and tribal control –– a move that some state officials are concerned would clear the way for an Indian-run gambling casino or other business venture outside state oversight and taxes.

“Why is it that the Narragansetts are in exile in their own land,” Domingo “Tall Dog” Monroe, one of the rally speakers, asked rhetorically. Monroe, who was introduced as “a Narragansett warrior,” demanded that Rhode Island’s congressional delegation pitch in to help the tribe’s cause.

“Why do you turn a blind eye to such an injustice,” Monroe said of the delegation and the court decision.

Narragansett Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas and the other speakers, who gave voice to grievances both ancient and fresh, were joined by Jack Cassidy of Cranston, a juror in the criminal trial of tribe members that arose from the State Police raid in 2003 on the tribe’s smoke shop. Cassidy, a Marine Corps veteran, is semiretired but works for a home-improvement contractor.

He told the crowd that he was proud to be among them.

Cassidy said later that he had wanted to vote for acquittal of all the defendants in the smoke shop trial but that he was obliged to follow the law and the judge’s instructions. Three members were convicted of assaulting and scuffling with troopers and four were acquitted of charges.

More than 100 people gathered in the late morning at Roger Williams Park, where there was a tribal religious ceremony and activists hawked T-shirts to raise money. Then a colorful caravan of walkers and six cars and minivans, including a member beating on a large drum held by others, traveled down Broad Street.

As the fringed clothing of some of the marchers flapped in the breeze, participants held up plastic orange banners emblazoned with messages such as “Narragansett Indians Held Captive & Shackled On Their Own Land” and “Recognize & Respect Your Neighbors (Narragansett Indians of Rhode Island).”

The parade looped around the State House and wound up at Burnside Park adjacent to Kennedy Plaza downtown. Rally speakers stood on the base of the statue of Civil War Gen. Ambrose Burnside.

gsmith@projo.com