Reflections
from the Ahnishinahbæótjibway (We, the People)
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On
page 4 of the December 24 Native American Press/Ojibway
News, there was an unsigned letter to the Editor complaining about a
“NON-MEMBER.” When I was growing up at
Red Lake, people referred to other people who were not from Red Lake,
as
“Outsiders,” and many people (mostly “Outsiders” themselves) still use
this
term. But, Reservation English seems to
be on shaky ground, and now some Wanna-Be’s are using the term
“Non-Member.” The meaning of these two
words is different, though. Most of the
people who are defined as “Members” by the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
are
“outsiders” who are also not Anishinabe Ojibway—of Red Lake or anywhere
else.
I am no longer
enrolled as a “Member” of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians;
because I am
not an Indian. I took my own identity
back, and let the definers of Indians play with their own Members. The Chippewa Indians are a group of
Indo-European Settlers who are not Anishinabe Ojibway, who were put
onto this
land by another group of people who are, guess what, “Non-Members” and
“Outsiders.” Specifically, the people
who put the Chippewa Indians onto Red Lake were the White Members of
the United
States Congress, working through the White Members of the Minnesota
Chippewa
Commission. I resigned from the U.S.
Government Rolls of “Members” of Chippewa Indians, because I refuse to
be part
of the dishonest and racist scheme of making Wanna-Be Indian “Members,”
which
is done by “Outsiders.”
Before
Big Indian Members start crying about “Non-Members,”
they had better take a good look at who they are, and what they’re
asking for.
Who’s
the head of the Beltrami County Welfare Department, and
who pays the taxes that pay for Welfare?
They’re “Non-Members.”
Who’s the head of the
Forestry Services? Bud Anderson, an
“Outsider” and a “Non-Member.” He’s
only following orders written in Washington, D.C. by “Non-Members,” to
destroy
the whole ecosystem at Red Lake.
Who
are the school-teachers here, and who certified these
teachers and gives them jobs in the schools at Red Lake?
“Non-Members.” Who pays them? It’s not
Indians.
What
about you Chippewa Indians’ court system? Indian
Law is imported English Law and Roman
Law, defined by White Members of Congress.
The Chippewa Courts were put in here and paid for by
“Non-Members,” who
define Chippewas as “Indians” and non-persons.
The
Police and the Law Enforcement used by the United States
Government at Red Lake was illegally brought in here by people who the
anonymous “Member” would define as “Non-Members.”
The
1934 Indian Reorganization Act created the Indian
Chippewa Tribal Council, by Act of United States Congress, whose White
Members
are “Outsiders.”
Federal
Recognition is given to the I.R.A. Tribal Council by
the Great White Father, who is a “Member.”
What
about your hierarchical Chippewa language? Bishop
Baraga, an Outsider and a
“Non-Member,” took a pidgin Creole language spoken by French Voyageurs,
and
created a language for Chippewa Indians.
The Chippewa language which Clergy Member Baraga gave Indians is
worthless language, and wasn’t even used it in the Treaties which the
ancestors
of Chippewa Members signed to sell my Peoples’ Anishinabe Ojibway land.
What
about the Indian Sovereignty that you Chippewa “Members”
claim? It was given to you by
“Non-Members.” The only reason that
“Indian Tribal Sovereignty” was given to Chippewa Outsiders who are now
calling
themselves “Members,” is so that the United States Government, which
invented
this Indian Sovereignty, could protect themselves against violations of
their
Nepotism regulations. If you very
carefully read the 1958 Chippewa Indian Constitution that “Non-Members”
wrote
for you, you will find out that this is just about all that “Indian
Sovereignty” is good for.
What
about the Indian Settlers’ housing which you ungrateful
Indian “Members” and carpet-baggers live in?
It was given to you by “Non-Members,” and you should be thankful
you
have a roof over your head and Indian Rations called Commodities on
your table.
What
about the land that you Chippewa Indians claim? It’s
all held by “Outsiders.” If you don’t
believe me, go look at the land
records in the County Courthouse. The
land title to what is alleged to be Chippewa Indian land is held by the
United
States Government.
Who
gives you funding to run all of the Indian programs?
You guessed it—“Non-Members.”
The
Chippewa Indian “Members” never had it so good. I
don’t know what they’re complaining about:
they don’t have to think for themselves; they don’t have to learn job
skills to
compete in the “outside” labor market; they don’t have to learn
English, and
all the Math they have to learn is enough to figure out how big a
“Member” they
are according to Indian Blood Quantum.
Under Sacred Indian Trusteeship, Outsiders and Non-Members
define you
“Member” Chippewa Indians as Legally Incompetent Wards of the U.S.
Government. You don’t even have to
worry about voting in elections: the United States will vote for you
Chippewa “Members”
by proxy, to make sure you vote the right way.
Who
gave you Chippewa “Members” the identity of Indian?
Outsiders and “Non-Members” are the definers
the racist, demeaning stereotypes you self-important “Members” try to
act out
as an Indian.
Psychiatrist
Thomas Szasz explains who a definer and labeller
is: “Definers (that is, persons who insist on defining others) are like
pathogenic microorganisms: each invades, parasitizes, and often
destroys his
victim; and, in each case, those whose resistance is low are the most
susceptible to attack. Hence, those
whose immunological defenses are weak are most likely to contract
infectious
diseases; and those whose social defenses are weak—that is, the young
and the
old, the sick and the poor, and so forth—are the most likely to
contract
invidious definitions of themselves. ... In short, he who first seizes
the word
imposes reality on the other: he who defines thus dominates and lives;
and he
who is defined is subjugated and may be killed.”
The
anonymous letter-writer who is complaining about
“Non-Members” should find out what he/she is really writing about,
before they
write letters as a “Member.” The first
definition of this word, in Webster’s Dictionary, is “a human or animal
...
penis.” The translation of “Member” in
the hierarchical Chippewa Creole language is “Pa-jog.”
Bill Lawrence publishes a respectable
newspaper, but the anonymous letter-writer is the one who brought
“Members” up.
To
all of you Chippewa “Members,” and all of you non-Indian
Members who define their time by imported European calendars, Happy New
Year;
and not discriminating against you ladies, Happy New Year to you, also.
My telephone number
is (218) 679-2382 and my mailing address is P.O. Box 484, Bemidji, MN
56601.
Wub-e-ke-niew
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