Reflections
from the Ahnishinahbæótjibway (We, the People)
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from the
Minneapolis Star
Journal,
Monday,
April 28, 1958
VOTE PLAN FOR RED LAKE
INDIANS SCORED
U.S. commissioner’s order
could leave Chippewas worse off than before, “U” experts feel
by Jay Edgerton
of the editorial page staff
The
bureau of Indian affairs of the United States Interior
department will soon be confronted by some very pointed questions about
what is
going on at the Red Lake Indian Reservation.
The
occasion is an ambiguous set of regulations issued by
Indian Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons, to govern the Red Lake tribal
election of
a committee to draft a new government for the reservation.
University
of Minnesota experts who have examined Emmons’
order say that it is so confusing—to trained professionals, not to
mention
Indians—that it could result in no Indian government at all at Red Lake.
The
Red Lake controversy goes back to the death of old Peter
Graves, the “ruler” of Red Lake for more than 40 years, in March, 1957. Two rival factions contended after his death
for the government of the reservation.
The
interior department sent in a fact-finding commission and
as a result of this two separate elections were ordered at Red Lake. One is to elect a constitutional committee
to draft a new constitution for the reservation; the other is to elect
a tribal
government after the constitution is framed.
Then
came Emmons’ order for the election of a tribal
constitutional committee. University
faculty members in the fields of law, political science and Indian
affairs, who
have examined it, say that it leaves much to be desired.
It
could result in the Red Lake Chippewas being worse off
than they were in the first place.
The
crux of the matter is in Sec. 4 of Emmons’ order dealing
with the way Red Lakers shall vote for candidates.
The reservation is being divided into three election
districts. A fourth election district
comprises the Red Lakes who now live outside the reservation. The “Joker” is in one particular sentence of
Sec. 4, the experts say.
This
reads: “Each voter may cast is vote for any one
candidate regardless of the district the candidate represents or
whether the
candidate is a nonresident member of the band”.
Translated
into the realities of the situation, this means
that the leaders of the two opposing factions—Rose Graves, a daughter
of old
Peter, and Roger Jourdain, leader of the other group—will receive the
great
majority of votes. Because Indians will
be able to cross district lines and vote for any candidate they please,
it is
believed that Miss Graves and Jourdain will get most of the ballots.
As
a result of this, the majority of the constitutional
committee may and probably will be elected by a very small number of
votes. In brief, it is believed that
the committee to draft the new government will represent the
minority—perhaps a
mere fraction—of the reservation.
“If
each voter can vote for only one man, and if he can vote,
regardless of the district to which his choice belongs, how can the
election
result on any proportional or geographically representative Committee?”
asks
Helen Parker Mudgett, University of Minnesota assistant professor and
well
known authority on Indian Affairs.
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