Nations should honor agreements by Winona LaDuke
Nations should honor agreements
The 1867 Treaty was intended to provide a secure homeland for the Anishinaabe people forever. The Treaty was signed by our leaders and by President Andrew Johnson.
Agreements should be honored by nations.
Nations should honor agreements
by Winona LaDuke.
Minnesota Legislature, Sen. Mary Kunesh introduced SF 3480 3480 which would return the 160,000-acre White Earth State Forest to the White Earth band of Anishinaabe. It follows a land return to the Lower Sioux in mid March and represents a way to begin healing the wounds of Minnesota’s past and comply with the law.
The 1867 Treaty was intended to provide a secure homeland for the Anishinaabe people forever. The Treaty was signed by our leaders and by President Andrew Johnson.
Agreements should be honored by nations.
The Treaty provides for many things: The 837,000 acres of land, maples, the wild rice, the 47 lakes, the lifeblood of our people and …
“... the lands so held by any Indian shall be exempt from taxation and sale for debt and shall not be alienated except with approval of the Secretary of Interior and in no case to any person not a member of the Chippewa ...” — Article 7 of the 1867 Treaty.
That is the law of the land.
Nations and political leaders should keep agreements.
That’s how we keep the peace.
That’s not what happened. Land was taken illegally and the United States and Minnesota did not do the right thing for over a century. And now the state is trying to make it right. At the Minnesota Legislature, Sen. Mary Kunesh introduced Sf 3480 which would return the 160,000-acre White Earth State Forest to the White Earth band of Anishinaabe. It follows a land return to the Lower Sioux in mid March and represents a way to begin healing the wounds of Minnesota’s past and comply with the law.
Mahnomen and Becker county lawmakers seemed confused when they testified at the state hearing. Sen. Paul Utke referred to the bill as a “land grab” and David Geray, a Mahnomen County commissioner, talked about being blindsided by the land transfer. “Mahnomen County is entirely within the reservation. We didn’t find out about this until we were down here.”
That’s sort of surprising considering that these are elected officials who should understand the law and history. Here is a bit of history. This land is called Indakiingimin, the very land to which we belong. It is all we have left, Iskongigen, Reservation, leftovers.
The White Earth Reservation was reserved under Treaty, to protect our vast pine forests, 47 lakes, maple trees, our wild rice, and our water. For that is the source of our lives.
Our land was coveted. Sen. Knute Nelson secured the passage of what was to be known as the Nelson Act in 1889, not only illegally annexing four townships from the Treaty protected lands, but also violating the Treaty by creating a system to divide the land allotments. That’s how the big pines were cut. Then came Moses Clapp, and Steenerson who attached riders to bills securing access to more land, violating the same Treaty, and creating the place for Mahnomen County. Literally, counties which are located on the White Earth Reservation carved themselves out of the Reservation illegally. Now that’s a land grab.
The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council provides this history:
The Dawes Act of 1887, Nelson Act of 1889 along with the Clapp Act of 1904 and Snyder Act of 1906, enabled the rapid division of the reservation and allotments were given to individuals of 80 acres to head of household and 40 acres each to their children. There were many schemes to defraud individuals and minors from their land. Around the turn of the century much of the original Reservation land was illegally taken from allottee or their heirs through tax forfeit, minor sales, full blood or administrative sales. The timber was sold and cut and much of the land quickly passed into non-Indian ownership.
There are many ways to steal land from Indian people, and most of them happened here on the White Earth Reservation. It was something like “Killers of the Flower Moon” land speculators, lumber companies, and thieves.
Some land is taken with a gun, some is taken by a pen. Three hundred white farmers suddenly became mixed-blood allottees, illegal tax forfeitures of tribal trust land, forced fee patents, minor sales, and more illegal full blood sales, pushed it further. These thefts were the subject of no less than 1,600 lawsuits, but these cases were blocked.
By 1910, the people had been devastated, three-quarters of the allotments had been lost, and the forest was falling. The president sent Warren Moorehead out to investigate. Whole families blinded by trachoma, and land speculators all around, tuberculosis spreading like wildfire as people lived in refugee camps. He found diseases and death everywhere. We were almost wiped out as a people. Moorhead received death threats for telling the truth and returned to Washington. None of that should have happened if nations kept agreements.
The White Earth people were made refugees in our own land. Between 1915 and 1930 most tribal members were forced to move off Reservation. We have been the poorest people in the state of Minnesota since that time.
There have been many lawsuits, but none stopped the theft until the Zay Zah Case in 1977 which was filed by Clearwater County against Zay Zah, or George Aubid. The Minnesota Supreme Court found that Clearwater County had illegally attempted to tax forfeit a tribal allotment.
Finally, someone stopped the land grab.
In 1983, there were only 54,125 acres in tribal hands, and 1,953 under allotment on the Reservation, representing 7% of the Reservation. The largest landowners on the Reservation are the federal state and county governments, holding one third of the Reservation.
What is right and just is the return of lands which were taken in violation of the 1867 Treaty. This bill represents a way toward justice without displacing a single non-Indian landholder, and upholds the Treaty responsibility of the U.S. government.
“We’ve managed these lands long before the inception of any of these counties,” Eugene Sommers, District 1 representative, says. “For them to question our competency in management of these resources is a big slap in the face. History is repeating itself.”
I want to personally invite county commissioners and all to Giiwedinong, the Treaty Rights History and Culture Museum in Park Rapids. Minnesota.
Knowledge of the law is better than ignorance of the law. And understanding history is a good way to begin to heal.
A column by Winona LaDuke published March 23, 2024 - Alexandria Echo Press
Heritage Month- Library Back by Winona LaDuke
It’s just been the month when Native people are remembered. That’s nice. Now we want more, like we want to protect that Native heritage life-way and tell our stories to all. We also want to create a new history, one which is healing, restorative, and makes a better society and better world.
Native people are not in the past, we are in the present and we are in the future. Here’s a story we are making, it’s in Park Rapids, Minnesota and we can make this story together.
Giiwedinong, the new Treaty and Culture Museum will open this upcoming spring in downtown Park Rapids in the former Carnegie Library. In late October, we purchased the building, and hosted ceremonies at the former library, as our Native community organization, Akiing took possession of the building. Land Back that’s called, or Library Back in this case.
Heritage Month- Library Back
Winona LaDuke
New Giiwedinong Treaty Rights and Culture Museum - Photo by Sarah LittleRedfeather
It’s just been the month when Native people are remembered. That’s nice. Now we want more, like we want to protect that Native heritage life-way and tell our stories to all. We also want to create a new history, one which is healing, restorative, and makes a better society and better world.
Native people are not in the past, we are in the present and we are in the future. Here’s a story we are making, it’s in Park Rapids, Minnesota and we can make this story together.
Giiwedinong, the new Treaty Rights and Culture Museum will open this upcoming spring 2023 in downtown Park Rapids, MN in the former Carnegie Library. In late October, we purchased the building, and hosted ceremonies at the former library, as our Native community organization, Akiing took possession of the building. Land Back that’s called, or Library Back in this case. And, then we hosted a Day of the Dead Celebration there, to honor the multi-cultural community of the Deep North, and to share the beauty of ceremonies from the south. We are proud to be a part of making history.
Photo by Sarah LittleRedfeather - Salsa Tuesday’s
Here is the beginning of this story. Long ago, Misaabe Wajiw was born, that’s a long ridge on the shore of Lake Superior, which is the body of a sleeping giant. the Missabe Iron Range. That’s also part of a Thunder being a giant ore deposit which was known by our ancestors as part of a sacred geography and land.
It’s said that our wealth is the source of poverty. In this case, large mineral deposits. That’s how it began, the theft of the land, and the dispossession of our people. The 1837 1842 and 1854 and l855 treaties were about iron ore, copper and trees. At the turn of the century, Duluth held more millionaires than any other place in the world. This is the story of the Weyerhaeuser, Carnegie, JJ Hill, Pillsbury, Musser, Congden empires and more. They did not spin straw into gold they were complicit in the theft of land, trees, and wealth.
Take the story of Andrew Carnegie. The opening of the fabulously rich Mesabi Range in Minnesota in 1892 created the opportunity for Andrew Carnegie to take control of North America's richest iron deposits. Carnegie owned mineral rights. At the turn of the century, Northern Minnesota was the largest producer of iron in the world. And Andrew Carnegie did well. In l901, at 66, Andrew Carnegie was the world’s richest man. He quit, he retired.
Then, Andrew Carnegie decided to become a philanthropist, a person who gives money to good causes. He, like a few of the wealthiest people in the world, believed in the "Gospel of Wealth," which meant that wealthy people were morally obligated to give their money back to others in society. After all, you can’t take it with you.
Andrew Carnegie supported education; he gave money to towns and cities to build 2507 public libraries mostly in small towns throughout the country. And, then Andrew Carnegie financed the beginning of the Hague, the World Court, and a number of educational institutions. Carnegie believed in education and knowledge. Those libraries brought worlds far away imagination and a place of solitude to rural areas. The people appreciated the Carnegie Libraries as they were known, and many of us, including myself, spent many hours and days of our youth in a Carnegie Library.
The City of Park Rapids, Minnesota once had a Carnegie Library. Then, the city decided that the library should move to an old bank building, to insure handicapped access. And, then the Carnegie Library became a home to private businesses. One of those businesses was the Canadian multinational pipeline company Enbridge. That company wanted to put in Line 3, the largest tar sands pipeline in the United States.
In 2015, Enbridge purchased the former Carnegie Library in Park Rapids Minnesota, deploying it as a headquarters for their expansion in the l855 Treaty Territory. This struck many of us the wrong way, considering the library was for enlightenment, not greed. So, we responded by creating a presence in front of the offices. That’s to say, beginning in January of 2021, when Enbridge was beginning to run over our lands, we gathered. We would stand outside the offices with signs that said Water is Life, and other such controversial phrases, and to keep warm we would dance, and sing. Then we would go eat at the Mexican restaurant, Vallartas . We began to refer to this as Salsa Tuesdays. One day, we stood with some signs that said, Deport the Canadians, Keep the Mexicans This became a gathering event for Water Protectors in 2021. And we became very good at the Macarena. And very grateful for the warm meals.
Salsa Tuesday’s - Photo by Sarah LittleRedfeather
Enbridge began selling off their properties after they commissioned Line 3. Leaving liabilities, broken aquifers, fracked rivers, and court systems clogged with Water Protectors. And, then we, beaten, arrested, continued to dream. On October 27 of this year, Akiing an Anishinaabe Community organization purchased the former Enbridge office, the Carnegie Library. We intend to turn this into Giiwedinong- a Museum and Cultural Learning Center of the North.
Giiwedinong means “in the north. We had a good celebration for everyone, and now we are ready to work and make beautiful. Our first big public event was Dios de Lost Muertos; a Day of the Dead celebration with our Indigenous relatives from the south. Honoring those who had passed, and celebrating this moment we call life, we had a hundred or more people show up , ponies, music by Corey Medina and, we created a place for many cultures.
More to come…
That’s a story of land back and a heritage remembered. This is a living heritage, not something which happened long ago. This is the story we can make together, and it can be a healing story.
For more information contact info@akiing.org
Días de los Muertos Celebration, Day of the Dead, Block Party in Park Rapids, MN - Photo by Sarah LittleRedfeather