The Native American Press (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1992-05-22

              A lost generation
Employment Discrimination Against American Indians in the Minneapolis School District
By Bill Lawrence
On December 3, 1982, an
individual and class action lawsuit
was filed by Nancy D. and Paulette
Fairbanks Moline against the Special
School District No. 1, the
Minneapolis Public School System.
The complaint was amended on May
3, 1983, and on June 13, 1984. The
Honorable Diana Murphy certified
the two classes as follows:
1. All women who have
applied for but were denied
employment in administrative
positions at the secondary level after
December 3, 1976, women who
would have applied for such
positions but for the discriminatory
policies and practices of the school
district, and all women who may
apply in the future for but be denied
such employment, and
2. All American Indians who
have applied for but were denied
employment in certificated positions
at anytime after December 3, 1976,
American Indians who would have
applied for such positions but for the
discriminatory policies and practices
of the school district, and all
American Indians who may in the
future apply for but be denied such
employment.
In the late 60s and early 70s the
Indian student population in the
Minneapolis Public Schools was
increasing. In 1970, the Indian
student population was 1993,
increasing for the next twenty years
to more than 3200 students today. In
1980 over 58 percent of Indian
students in Minnesota attended
urban schools, 45 percent of those
lived in the seven county Twin
Cities area.
While the Indian student
population was increasing within the
Minneapolis Public School System,
institutional discrimination was
occurring against American Indians
seeking employment with the
Minneapolis Public School System
during these years. Dr. Richard Hoyt
testified on behalf of the plaintiffs
that Indians were not being hired by
the district.
Both Wester and Fairbanks Moline
had applied for positions of
secondary assistant principal
positions within the school district.
Paulette Fairbanks Moline is a
female American Indian enrolled in
the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe: She
graduated from the University of
Minnesota at Morris with a BA
degree in English and French. She
worked as a social worker on the
White Earth Reservation and later
attended Atlanta University where
she studied sociology during
1976-78. She worked in training
programs sponsored by the Office of
Economic opportunity in rural areas
of Georgia, Alabama, North
Carolina, and South Carolina. She
also worked for the United
Southeastern tribes where she
developed and planned programs
and wrote proposals. In 1970 she
returned to Minnesota and to work
with the BIA. She applied for a
position with the school district in
1971 but was told that there were no
positions available. She was
eventually hired in 1983. In the fall
of 1973, Moline started a master's
program at the University of
Minnesota in educational
administration, receiving her
Specialists Certificate in 1976. She
was licensed as a school social
worker K-12, as a sociology teacher
at the secondary level, and as a
principal in the secondary level from
1978-83. In 1980 she attended
Harvard University under a Bush
Fellowship, and in 1981 she
transferred back to the University, of
Minnesota to continue her studies
and was awarded a Ph.D in
Educational Administration in 1987.
Nancy Wester is a female
Government-ordered teacher raises
for Indian schools not funded by Bush
By Philip Brasher
Associated Press Writer
Washington, D.C. (AP) - For
teachers at the nation's beleaguered
Indian schools, it was a cruel good
news-bad joke.
Congress ordered their salaries
increased substantially, but the Bush
administration didn't request enough
money to cover the raises. Now the
schools say they're laying off staff
to balance their budgets.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs,
which subsidizes both government
and tribally run schools, has a $14
million shortfall this year in its $200
million education budget, according
to testimony at a congressional
hearing Wednesday. The deficit is
expected to nearly double next year.
"Schools in South Dakota and all
over the nation are going to fail,"
said Rep. Tim Johnson, D-S:D., who
called the BIA funding
"unconscionable."
The BIA already is under fire for
low student test scores and the
dilapidated condition of school
buildings. The agency operates or
subsidizes 181 schools educating
41,000 Indian children in 26 states.
To improve the schools, Congress
required the BIA to boost its teacher
salaries to the Defense Department
pay scale over three years, beginning
in 1989. Some salaries nearly
doubled, and teachers with advanced
degrees got raises of as much as
$10,000 in one year.
However, a BIA official admitted
Wednesday at a joint House-Senate
committee hearing that the agency
underestimated the number of
teachers that would qualify for the
raises and how much the schools'
enrollment would grow.
As a result, BIA funding is
expected to drop from $2,864 per
student this year to $2,667 next year
and rise to only $2,727 in 1993, said
Joe Christie, deputy director of the
agency's education office.
"That's a substantial reduction
from what you're getting this year.
Where are those schools supposed to
come up with the difference?" asked
Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn.,
said government funding of Indian
education is a "national disgrace."
"The consequences of such a
shortfall will be devastating to many
of our schools," said Angela
Barney-Nez, director of a Navajo
school association in Arizona.
One Navajo school with a $750,000
shortfall in BIA money didn't have
money for the congressionally
mandated salary increase this year
and had to cut spending on special
education, student transportation and
other services, she said.
Tribally run schools were not
forced to raise teacher pay, but they
were hurt by the raises because their
BIA funding was reduced.
Roger Bordeaux, superintendent of
a school on the Sisseton-Wahpeton
Sioux reservation in South Dakota,
said he was forced to cut three
teachers and seven other employees
from his 83-member staff this year.
The school's enrollment grew
from 213 to 242 this year and is
expected to reach 310 by the fall of
1993, but Bordeaux said he will
have to reduce his staff by another
three positions because of BIA's
budget problems.
Carlson announces minority hiring goals
By Gene Lahammer
Associated Press Writer
St. Paul, Minn. (AP) - Gov. Ame
Carlson says goals of hiring more
minorities to work on state
construction and highway projects in
11 Minnesota counties are the first
step in trying to improve
opportunities for the disadvantaged.
The new hiring goals apply to 10
counties in the Twin Cities area and
to St. Louis County in northeastern
Minnesota.
"They are one of the many
approaches we will take to address a
complicated set of issues," Carlson
said.
The goals, which take effect
Monday, will create a minimum of
500 job opportunities for minorities
on highway projects, Carlson said.
State officials did not have an
estimate for the number of job
opportunities that would be available
to minorities on other state
construction projects.
Richard Copeland, president of the
National Association of Minority
Contractors-Minnesota, said wages
for the highway jobs would range
from $11 per hour for unskilled
labor up to $22 per hour for skilled
labor.
The current minority hiring
guidelines allocate 2.9 percent of the
jobs to minorities in the Twin Cities
area counties, based on 1970 census
data.
The new goals for the cities of
Minneapolis and St. Paul are 15
percent minority for unskilled labor,
and 8 percent for skilled labor. In
Hennepin and Ramsey counties,
excluding Minneapolis and St. Paul,
minority hiring goals increase to 10
American Indian, an enrolled
member of the Lake Superior Band
of the Bad River Chippewa Tribe.
She attended the University of
Wisconsin at Superior during
1964-65 where she studied English,
education, and French. In 1965, she
transferred to the University of
Minnesota and graduated in 1970,
She got her master's degree in
Educational Administration in 1975.
In 1980-81 she received a
scholarship from St. Thomas to
work on her M.B.A. program. She
was employed as an English teacher
by the Mounds View Public School
System in 1971. She was hired by
the Minneapolis Public School
System to teach in the Title VIII
Drop Out Program. She applied to
teacher in the district, but was told
that there were no openings. She
applied for a position of secondary
assistant principal in 1981, and
unlike Moline, she was invited to
participate in a screening seminar.
percent for unskilled labor and 6
percent for skilled labor.
In Anoka, Carver, Chisago,
Dakota, Scott, Washington and
Wright counties, hiring goals for
both skilled and unskilled labor will
increase to 6 percent from 2.9
percent.
In Isanti County, hiring goals for
both skilled and unskilled labor
increase to 6 percent from 2.2
percent. In St. Louis County, hiring
goals for both skilled and unskilled
labor will increase to 4.5 percent
from 1 percent.
"These hiring goals more
accurately reflect the burden of
unemployment in our communities,"
Carlson said.
He said the new goals are based on
1980 census data and will be revised,
when 1990 census data become
official in late July.
"We are not going to wait fr
permanent numbers ... to take acti
on a critical problem," Carlson said
The new goals grew out C
meeting of business and commit
leaders convened Monday byte
governor in the wake of last w s
racial violence in Minneapolis.
State Transportfon
Commissioner James Denn ? the
state also will offer fir0'3'
incentives to contractors wf^t
the goals.
But George Hawkins, ^utive
director of the Minnesota Pter °f
Associated Build*.and
Contractors, Inc., saidW'" be
hard, perhaps impossilto meet
the new goals because s;'aws and
regulations severer1111'* tne
number of untraine'or'cer^ a
contractor may empon public
projects.
She received information concerning
the seminar only after she initiated a
meeting with Mack Sirois. Not
everyone attending the seminar was
given follow-up questions, but her
questions were more difficult than
those given to others. She has not
applied for positions since that time
due to the unfair treatment that she
received.
In both instances the individuals
Employment/See page 6
Free
By and For the Native American Community
The
Native
American
Press
We support Equal Opportunity For All People
A Weekly Publication
Founded in 1991
Volume 2 Issue 2
R'.'i
May 22, 1992
Copyright, The Native American t'ress, 1992
Protestors met with church officials concerning charges of discrimination invloving religious freedom.
Photos by Gary Blair
Church discriminates by failing to allow smudging
By Gary Blair
On Sunday, May 7, a small group
of American Inrians and their
pastor, Everet Christenson,
protested for the ifth time in front
of the Rosehill >lliance Church at
2105 Roselawn^venue, Roseville,
Minnesota. Thi church which is a
major contribtor to the Christian
and Missions Alliance Church
(CMAC) Practices racial
discriminaion against Native
American who respect their
traditions, yd yet follow Jesus.
On Febjary 3, CMAC removed
Pastor ftristenson from the
pastorafof the New Day Indian
Churchor "insubordination to
constitpd authority." This action
was fesed on Christenson's
unwiJngness to discontinue
smud/'g. a Native American ritual.
Sndging is the burning of sage
and '• fanning of the smoke around
on<* body for purification.
Chanson, who is not an American
In*n, has appealed the church's
d>sion.
hristenson was told by Pastor,
gene Hall, a CMAC official "that
xl does not want American Indian
people to use sage."
Steve Wood, another CMAC
official told Christenson "it would
cause Native American people to go
back to their unchristian ways and it
will cause our weaker brother to
stumble."
CMAC officials refuse to talk
about the issue of Native American
ethnic symbols used in the worship
of Jesus. Christenson believes that
CMAC wants to keep the issue to
insubordination rather than to see
that smudging is no different than
using incense.
In a prepared statement by
Christenson to his parishiners he
stated, "because CMAC has a less
dramatic ritual, and because CMAC
people have a bent towards proving
their superiority as a people, they
have discriminated against a people
because of ethnic symbols used in
the worship of Jesus. This is a subtle
and sophisticated form of racial
discrimination and, as such, must be
resisted. The CMAC needs to
change its policy towards Native
American forms of worshiping Jesus
if it is to assist in the empowerment
and self-determination of Native
Americans for the sake of Jesus.
Jesus must not remain just the 'white
man's God.'"
The incident started when
Christenson's church shared space at
the Midway Community Church in
St. Paul, and that church's pastor,
Glen Hofer, complained to CMAC's
world headquarters in Colorado
Springs about Christenson's pastoral
practice. Pastor Hofer told him, "that
burning sage was heathen."
Pastor Hofer, when told about
Christenson's remarks said that he
didn't want to be involved in the
situation.
Christenson said that he had 70
people involved in his church group,
with about 30 attending regularly.
Seventy percent are Native
American. I only smudge those who
ask to be smudged, and I have asked
many times to smudge in the homes
of Indian people.
Steve Wood said that the matter
would be handled according to
church policies. But his credentials
were lifted with no explanation.
Christenson said that CMAC
officials did hold a tribunal, and at
the hearing he was read the charges
against him. He responded with the
signatures of 70 Indian people who
support him.
You have asked that I practice
racial discrimination in the name of
Jesus. If you are not prepared to
discuss this then there isn't much we
have to talk about.
Pastor Richard Bailey, an official
in CMAC headquarters, said,
"Christenson walked out and did not
allow for any discussion."
Christenson said, "there wasn't
any discussion because they wanted
to discuss the issue of
insubordination." He added that he's
not the only CMAC pastor that uses
traditional Indian rituals as part of
the worship service. The other pastor
is question is an American
Indianwho is due to retire soon.
As American Indians holding
signs reading, "Jesus isn't white,"
moved back and forth in front of the
Rosehill Alliance Church,
parishioners watched from inside. A
member of the church denied that
his church had anything to do with
the decision to remove Christenson
as their pastor. A large whiteman
came out and stood blocking the
entrance saying, "I am the chairman
of the church committee, and we
have nothing to say."
Canadians study Minnesota Indian gaming operations
Bemidji, Minn. (AP) -
Members of Indian tribes from six
Canadian provinces spent the
weekend in Minnesota looking at
tribal gambling operations to
learn whether they might benefit
from launching gaming in their
country.
More than 130 tribal delegates
from Canada joined representatives
of the Canadian justice system and
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Saturday for the three-day meeting
in Bemidji, 188 miles north of
Minneapolis.
The conference included tours of
area casinos and seminars on the
business of gambling, including
financing and management
contracts, property development
design and costs, government
relations, employee training, public
relations and surveillance.
"The lead that the U.S. has taken
in gaming is something we've been
looking at for a long time," said
Chief Lawrence Henry of the
Roseau River Anishinabe First
Nation in the province of Manitoba.
Altin Paulson, chairman of the
Minnesota Indian Chamber of
Commerce, told conferees that in the
past two years, American Indian
casinos created more than 10,000
jobs in Minnesota _ 70 percent for
non-Indians _ and last year
generated about $26 million from
out-of-state visitors.
The conference comes at a time
when Canadians are working on
rewriting their constitution in part to
address questions of authority over
Indian tribes.
In the United States, new federal
rules allow tribes to run casino-style
gambling if their state allows such
gaming in any form outside
reservations, but only if the tribes
and the state negotiate an agreement
allowing the games.
In Minnesota, seven bands of
Chippewa Indians and four Sioux
communities run video games of
chance and blackjack under
agreements with the state.
Paulson called legal gambling the
"new white buffalo."
"Gaming is just a window, of
opportunity to open up other
businesses," he said.
He cited a study by the Minnesota
Office of Strategic and Long-range
Planning that found the Indian
gambling industry "is beginning to
have a historic impact on the
self-sufficiency and self-esteem of
Indian families."
Last year, the new casinos paid
$30 million in salaries to Indian and
/
non-Indian employees, Paulson said.
Besides lessening the burden of
jobless benefits, the casinos also
lowered the cost of Aid to Families
with Dependent Children 16 percent
since 1987, according to a study of
four non-urban counties with casino
operations.
"Local economies are benefiting
from increased employment,
purchasing, wage rates, lodging and
hospitality business, construction,
and property valuation," the state
study found.
The darker side of legal gaming is
the problems it causes for
compulsive gamblers and in tribal
squabbles.
But several of the Canadians said
new problems would be preferable
to the old. "As far as I'm concerned,
there is no downside," said one
delegate.