Reflections
from the Ahnishinahbæótjibway (We, the People)
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May 24, 1988
[jointly written with other community members,
published in the Ojibwe News]
February 24, 1987
Red Lake, MN 56671
Mr. Tim Giago
Editor and Owner, Lakota Times
Martin, South Dakota 57551
Dear Mr. Giago,
In
a page-one article of your February 11, 1987 issue, Mr.
Frank Whitaker reported on the Alliance for American Indian Leaders
(AAIL). The issues discussed affect the
people of the Red Lake Indian Reservation deeply—and the implications
of your
article should be clarified.
Reading
between the lines of some mighty fine-sounding
rhetoric, it seems as though the leadership of AAIL is defending the
Bureau of
Indian Affairs. This is only to be
expected, since these gentlemen are (albeit indirectly) paid by the
B.I.A., and
their “unique” status as “Indian leaders” depends on the Bureau of
Indian
Affairs.
As
has been highlighted by recent media reports, American
Indian Nations appear to be caught on the horns of a dilemma, torn
between the
Hobson’s choices of:
(1) Ongoing dictatorial
(indirect) control by the B.I.A., and
even intensification and re-entrenchment of the B.I.A.’s power, or:
(2) Takeover (even on the
Red Lake Indian Reservation, which
is legally exempt from Public Law 280) of our beleaguered native
Nations by
State and County encroachment. This is
effectively the “termination” specter of the 1950’s all over again:
legislating
us out of existence.
In
Indian country across the continent, there has been strong
community involvement toward economic development.
Indian community economic independence from the Federal (and
State and County) Government; this would mean that we are no longer at
the beck
and call of bureaucrats in the dominant society. Community
owned and controlled economic development would also
provide us with the means to regain traditional sovereignty and
community-centered self-government.
Obviously, Red Lake Indian traditional self-government and
self-sufficiency would mean that many parasitic bureaucrats (B.I.A.,
“Tribal,”
and other) would no longer have their plush jobs, kickbacks and slush
funds.
It
should thus be apparent that this “dilemma” is a
red-herring issue; and furthermore that the B.I.A. is using this issue
as a
means to intensify division in Indian communities.
“Divide and Conquer” is an old tactic. We
in Red Lake have had 98 years too much of it.
As
is to be expected from a consummate politician, Roger
Jourdain and his AAIL associates (backed by the B.I.A. “good ol’ boy”
network)
have uttered some rousing platitudes.
All they need is a ticker-tape parade and a 21-gun salute (and
maybe a
few statutes). Unfortunately, a
critical look at the AAIL platform reveals some gaping holes through
which our
people could fall into oblivion. Roger
Jourdain, who has been “chosen” as our leader by the B.I.A., has little
stature
compared to our traditional chiefs who signed the treaties.
•The AAIL
met, according to the Lakota Times article, in the Hilton Hotel. The old chiefs wouldn’t be eating steaks
while their people eat commodities (= rations). They
would be sure that their people were fed. There
is 90% unemployment on this
reservation, and our children are malnourished.
•The AAIL
says that their “goal is nothing less than the recognition by
Washington and
other world governments of the constitutional rights ...”
But, whose constitution? The 1934
Indian Reorganization Act boilerplate
“Tribal Constitutions” were forced on the Indian people without their
informed
consent. Or, are they talking about the
U.S.A. Constitution—the constitution of an occupying nation. Both constitutions are racist, and both
constitutions deny Indian nations traditional sovereignty and
self-government.
• Point one
of the AAIL’s “1987 Campaign on Constitutional Rights” calls for
Congressional
Committee hearings on the “UNIQUE sovereign status of Indian nations.” This = “domestic dependent nations” =
indirect rule minus self-government = “constitutionally” abolishing
traditional
sovereign Indian governments and nations.
It is unclear exactly how this relates to “treaty rights,” since
the Rad
Lake Indian Nation signed the Treaties as a traditional sovereign
nation, and
(Roger Jourdain and the B.I.A. notwithstanding) remains such.
•The AAIL
does not specify what they mean by “correct constitutional relationship
of the
federal government to Indian tribes,” but past experience gives us
reason to
believe that what it probably means is bringing P.L. 280 through the
“back
door” of Red Lake Reservation (e.g. phasing out the Indian Health
Service,
present administration of our schools by the State of Minnesota [ranked
lower
in academic achievement than any school in the state], and, worst of
all,
phasing out any vestige of independence in the law enforcement system.) And then, where is our traditional
sovereignty, and where are our rights as a traditional sovereign nation
guaranteed by the Treaties?
•AAIL urges
a “congressional seat for a non-voting Native American Indian
representative to
be elected by (which?) members of Indian tribes.” This
has a nice sound to it—but under AAIL leadership and/or the
present system, the proposed representative will be an appointed B.I.A.
yes-man. Furthermore, this is blatantly
giving away our claims to traditional sovereignty.
What does a non-dependent, fully traditionally sovereign Indian
nation with self-government want with a small fraction of a non-voting
member
of the U.S.A. Congress? (They never
said anything about this in the Treaties—the emphasis was on “perpetual
peace
and friendship” between equal nations.
Besides which, if we had a solid economic base (as we should),
the Red
Lake Indian people could afford to send several observers (= non-voting
member)
to Congress. We could even afford to
follow the Capitalist Ethic, and buy ourselves a couple of
Senators—like the
corporations that are after our resources do.
•AAIL
recommends “election of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the
presidential
cabinet level.” There is a saying in
Indian Country about the “fox guarding the chicken coop.”
This plank of the AAIL platform sounds like
the “Tribal” chairmen are speaking for the B.I.A. again.
We all know about the old B.I.A. headlock,
“do as we tell you, or we’ll cut off your funding” (= “unique
relationship”). A traditional sovereign
Indian nation doesn’t need a B.I.A., cabinet-level or otherwise.
•Roger
Jourdain is quoted as saying some other strange things, for example,
“upholding
oral history ... legally.” Does this
mean that the B.I.A. gets to legislate, and thus censor, our oral
history? Roger has given away too many of
our treaty
rights already, whether out of self-aggrandizement, lining his own
pockets, or
perhaps ignorance. (Our traditional
Indian chiefs left community elders in charge of oral history, and
didn’t need
to buy followers. Without cold, hard
B.I.A. cash, how many followers would the Red Lake “Tribal Chairman”
have?)
•AAIL is
apparently launching an expensive (whose money?) campaign of P.R. and
mass-mailings. If this money were
ethically used, instead, it would be spent on addressing the problems
faced by
the people: urgent need for community owned and controlled economic
development
on the Red Lake Reservation; improving the educational system which is
destroying so many of our most precious resource, our children (who
have been
taught by non-Indians with disastrous results over the past 97 years);
dealing
with the root causes of the alcoholism, drug addiction, malnutrition,
and
suicide which are devastating our community; resolving—at the causal
level—the
health problems on Red Lake Reservation including epidemic stages of
diabetes
... protecting our remaining forest, timber, fish and watershed, and
wildlife
habitat from the depredations of the surrounding Whites ... the list of
extremely pressing problems inflicted on our nation and our people
under U.S.
B.I.A. (and “tribal council” administration is a depressingly long one.
Instead
of helping his people, the Red Lake “Tribal Chairman”
is playing dead-end politics with AAIL and devoting his energy to
lobbying for
an “Indian holiday.” We wonder if he
realizes that the White man’s holidays are generally named after dead
people,
or if perhaps his attention in this direction reflects the Bureau’s
alcoholic
leadership that will lead to our annihilation: “legislating” us out of
existence (the International Convention calls this “genocide,” but in
Chairman
Jourdain’s case perhaps there’s “fratricide”).
For the Red Lake Indian people, one whole season named after us
is good
enough—we have Indian Summer.
After
98 years we need to put a moratorium on greed,
corruption, graft, ruthless plunder of our resources, ... to a long
list of
man-made problems created by 98 years of the B.I.A. “helping us.” We need to free ourselves from our (B.I.A.
“recognized”) centralized and self-serving B.I.A.-controlled
government, and
return to our traditional council of chiefs dependent on the consensus
of the
community. We need to return to the
self-government, autonomy, and status as a traditional sovereign nation
guaranteed us by the Treaties. We need
to provide a solid economic base (rather than the corporate-controlled
“economic development” recommended by that apparent scoundrel Ross
Swimmer) for
our people. We need to address the
social and community problems inflicted on us by nearly a century of
colonial
occupation by the U.S. Government at the cause, rather than providing
jobs for
a B.I.A. elite (none of whom are descended from our ancestors who
signed the
Red Lake Treaties) and financing band-aid social service programs out
of our
trust funds.
We
also need a cease-and-desist injunction against the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Minnesota
Department of Natural Resources, various multinational corporations,
certain
“Christian” institutions, and other government agencies.
The time is, indeed, long overdue for
international (and U.S.A.) recognition of the Red Lake Anishinabe
Ojibwe Nation
as a traditional sovereign Indian nation.
We
have been at the bottom of the heap for so long, we have
nowhere to go but up.
You
can fool some of the people, some of the time, but after
30 years, you can’t fool us.
We
believe that since the Lakota Times has given ample space
to the platform of the AAIL, we deserve equal consideration.
Thank
you and mee gwitch.
Sincerely,
[jointly
signed by several persons, names omitted
in present
publication due to signer's expressed concerns about
'tribal' government's retaliation against
his family members; deceased signers included Roman Sigana and
George Whitefeather]
Enrolled
Members
Red Lake Anishinabe Ojibway Nation
Descendants of the signers of the 1889 Ratification of the
1863 Treaty
Roman Sigana
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