The Southampton Press Eastern Edition Person Of The Year: Bryan Polite

On the surface, running a commercial greenhouse operation doesn’t seem like a career path that would provide a natural segue into local politics or public service.

But Bryan Polite has always seen clear parallels.

His previous experience growing plants from seed has provided him with a perfect metaphor for the philosophical approach he’s taken while serving on the Shinnecock Nation’s Council of Trustees over the past decade.

Polite, 39 — the Person of the Year for the Eastern Edition of The Southampton Press — is in his fourth term as council chairman, and has been leading the nation in recent years in a time of great challenges and great change. He’s shepherding the tribe through the troubled waters of the COVID-19 pandemic, while at the same time being intimately involved in several economic development projects that are poised to give tribal members greater access to wealth and self-determination than they’ve ever had before.

Bringing it all together in the right way, and balancing competing interests, both within the nation and in the larger community, requires the same type of consistent, mindful and attentive care that Polite had to call upon when he was immersed in the horticulture business.

“The whole process of getting a seed to germinate is super important and takes a specific amount of care, depending on the variety you’re planting,” he said in a recent interview. “The whole entire process is about researching, and the nurture and cultivation of something that then gives you fruit.

“I look at community building in a similar fashion. You’re planting seeds, whether it’s economic development or something else, and different seeds require different kinds of care. How you approach the care and upkeep has a direct bearing on the fruit you will get from that plant.”

Thus far, Polite has proven to be as attentive and mindful a political leader as he was as a horticulturist. And while he does hold a title that makes him the de facto leader of the Shinnecock Nation, Polite is more comfortable describing his role in a different way, one that he said gets more to the heart of what being tribal chairman is all about.

“It’s always an honor, and it’s humbling when community members put their faith and trust in you and choose you as the representative of their voice,” he said. “I’ve always been honored by being returned to an office that is more of a public servant role than anything else.”

Polite has certainly embraced that definition of the job over his nearly 10 accumulated years of service on the council, whether it’s been being at the forefront of headline-grabbing efforts to usher in economic development — with plans for a casino, a hotel and resort on the bayfront Westwoods property in Hampton Bays, and a marijuana dispensary and a gas station on tribal land — or more under-the-radar gestures, like helping to distribute personal protective equipment to tribal members during the ongoing pandemic.

A heart for public service is something Polite came by thanks to various family members, most notably his mother, Dianne Vieira, who was deeply committed to her role as a leader for effective change while serving on the Tribal Council.

Polite said he distinctly remembers the hard work she put in to help bring the tribal elections back to Shinnecock Territory in 2006. Prior to that, they had been held at Southampton Town Hall, requiring tribal members to leave their sovereign land and into town to cast their votes.

“That’s something that inspired me, seeing her advocacy for the Shinnecock Indian Nation,” Polite said. “She was part of a team that was able to bring the elections home and create a more functional campaign, and it was really cool to see those structural changes.”

In an interview earlier this year, Vieira said she remembers her son being excited to hear from her about what went on in Tribal Council meetings, even when he was a teen. But she said one of the traits that has served him best in the role as a tribal leader over the last decade is his capacity for deep compassion.

“He takes everyone’s feelings and concerns into consideration,” she said. “And as much as he can, he tries to make it work for everybody. We know you can’t make everyone happy all the time, but he tries his darndest to get there. He’s so compassionate — to a fault sometimes.”

Polite cites his uncle, Dan Collins, as another powerful influence in his life.

Polite, a graduate of both Southampton High School and John Jay College of Criminal Justice, worked as a police officer with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation for a brief period, under the guidance of Collins, who was chief of the tribal police department at the time.

He eventually came back to Shinnecock, establishing his greenhouse business and then helping his mother run Raindrops Cafe on the territory, but he has remained close with Collins, who said he is proud of what Polite has achieved and the way he has carried himself as a leader.

“The best thing about having him as a tribal leader is that he’s a fair guy,” Collins said. “He listens to everybody and takes everyone’s concerns into account. He has an open mind, and he’s good at listening to team members, and to people who might know about certain things better than he does.”

That’s a vital trait for anyone in a leadership position within the tribe, not only because there are competing interests and ideas about what is best for the nation among tribal members, but also because functioning, working relationships with community stakeholders in Southampton Town also is key to getting things done.

Polite has succeeded in that arena as well, according to those who have worked with him on key issues and initiatives that the nation has been pursuing over the past few years, many that are often met with varying degrees of pushback from the larger Southampton community.

In generations past, the prevailing narrative about the relationship between the tribe and government officials has been overwhelmingly negative, marked by a lack of compassion, understanding and good faith from government officials — and in several instances, outright hostility — and a hesitancy to engage with and a distrust of outsiders not belonging to the nation, including the media.

Polite and other leaders from the nation, as well as elected officials, still will readily admit that they have marked disagreements when it comes to various economic developments projects, most notably the tribe’s decision to proceed with plans to build a casino on their territory off Montauk Highway. What they do agree on, however, is that the relationships have improved significantly, and they’ve developed a degree of trust and civility that was previously lacking.

In an interview earlier this year, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said he’s enjoyed a productive working relationship with Polite and believes he possesses the qualities to help the nation move forward and thrive.

“I personally like Bryan a lot, and we talk fairly frequently,” the supervisor said. He added that while previous tribal leaders had been “more aggressive” in their approach to dealing with local government, he has found Polite to have a greater willingness to work with the town on certain issues — although he warned that the casino plans have the potential to “strain” the relationship between the town and the nation.

“I’ve always found him forthright, and he’s straightforward and well intentioned,” Schneiderman said. “He wants what’s best for his people.”

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said he has been impressed by Polite’s leadership as well. Thiele said that while he supported federal recognition for the Shinnecock Nation, he does not support the casino plans — but those differences of opinion have not altered his perspective on Polite as a leader.

“For me, he’s been an incredibly good partner to work with,” said Thiele. “In government in general, you have consensus builders and you have dividers who polarize people, and Bryan has been a consensus builder.”

Cultivating good working relationships with local government officials has been a key feature of Polite’s leadership style, but being a devoted student of the tribe’s history, as well as the present challenges it faces, has informed much of Polite’s approach to his role as well.

“He keeps himself informed, so when he faces challenges, he’s coming in with knowledge. He’s not a guesser,” Collins said. “He’s well studied. You can spark a conversation with him at any level, and he can hang with you.”

Being a self-described “student of history” helps Polite take a big picture approach to leadership, and keep things in perspective.

“As a nation, from 1776 to the present, there has been a lot of social mobility and change, but there’s also been horrible transgressions against the Native and African American communities, LGBT communities, Asian communities,” Polite said. “To truly move forward as a country and as a Shinnecock Nation, it’s important to understand that the U.S. has done some horrible things — but also that Native American communities have come a long way.”

Of course, the pandemic did slow the pace of that progress, and trying to safeguard the health and welfare of tribal members during the crisis has been a big responsibility for Polite and the rest of the Tribal Council. Polite described how COVID disrupted the normal way of life on tribal territory, which is heavily dependent on social interaction.

“It’s super important not just for getting information but for a sense of well-being,” he said. “That’s been one of the biggest challenges, trying to keep the sense of community and togetherness without being able to come together and be together.”

Polite spoke about how hard it was to cancel important community events, like the Labor Day weekend Powwow and annual Nunnowa (Indian Thanksgiving) community feast in 2020, describing those types of gatherings as “good medicine” for the community.

It certainly hasn’t been an easy time to be a community leader, but Polite has proven his steadfast commitment to the nation, amassing nearly a decade of public service before reaching his 40th birthday, which he will celebrate in July. He will not be up for election again until April 2023, meaning he will continue to lead the tribe as it moves forward with its economic development projects, like the medical cannabis dispensary and cultivation center.

Polite admitted that the nation has “a lot of balls in the air” right now when it comes to those economic development projects, and added that the ongoing pandemic and supply chain issues have added another layer of complexity. It requires consistent hard work, and teamwork, but Polite said, ultimately, the tribe will benefit.

“I don’t see the downside of having multiple projects going on,” he said. “Each one is so complex. If you put all your eggs in one basket, and that basket doesn’t come to fruition, then you have to start another project from the beginning. If you have the right people in place and you’re doing it correctly, it should all come together.”

Given his youth, Polite could end up being one of the longest-serving members in tribal government, but he wasn’t ready to offer any long-term projections about his future on the council. While he has remained a dedicated public servant for the tribe and said he will always look out for Shinnecock interests and causes, he also admitted he has personal aspirations competing for his attention as well.

Most of his 30s have been spent serving in tribal government, and as he prepares to usher in a new decade, Polite, a devout snowboarder, said he feels the tug of the mountains, with plans to one day perhaps start a business of mountain vacation rentals in the Vermont area that pay homage to Native American culture, art and experiences.

No matter where his personal and political aspirations take him, Polite said his heart will always be rooted in the Shinnecock community.

“My future with Shinnecock will always be as a caring community member first,” he said. “And if I need to be a tribal leader, I will do that.”