The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1994-11-04

              Human Rights Commissioner files charge
of discrimination againstCity of Minneapolis
By Gary Blair
David Beaulieu, Commissioner of
the Minnesota Department ofHuman
Rights (MDHR), has charged the City
of Minneapolis with race discrimination in the area of employment.
On October 11, 1994, Beaulieu issued a commissioner's charge against
the city. The charge alleges the City- of
Minneapolis discriminated against
Native American firefighter applicants
in two ways.
The complaint comes in the midst
of a heated controversy7 betyveen the
city's Native American firefighters
and Fire Chief Frank Rieter involving
the hiring practices of Native Americans used by that department. The
allegation's center on the city's 1991
expanded certification (affirmative action) procedures.
According to the complaint Native
Americans/Native Alaskans seeking
employment yvith the Minneapolis fire
department who identity7 themselves
as Native people must provide documentation to certify7 that their heritage
comes within the definition. Applicants without that documentation
(tribal enrollment) were not supposed
to be eligible for consideration under
the city's expanded certification hiring program.
"I thought it yvas time that we took
a look at it," Beaulieu told the PRESS.
"We had heard about this for sometime now, and it appears to be affecting a lot of people."
Beaulieu's charge reads as follows:
Several persons who were employed
prior to 1991 in respondent's Fire
Department, who identified themselves as Native American when applying for employment, were subse
quently asked to provide documentation of their status and declined or
were unable to do so.
Despite notice to these individuals
that absent documentation satisfactory under Ordinance 139.20 C their
race would be identified as white for
affirmative action purposes, respondent (the Minneapolis Civil Service
Commission) continued to identify
them as Native Americans.
Respondent reportedly identifies six
of its Fire Captains and one Fire
Investigator as Native American, although only one of them has provided
acceptable evidence of his heritage.
Respondent has taken the position
that any employee whp has self-declared a specific race designation on
an application confidential data form
will continue to be identifiedwith that
Rights cont'd on pg 3
Complete text of pre-sent. report on Finn/ pg 8
HR Comm. files charges of discrim. against city/ pg 1
Get out and vote on November the 8th
MPR to air 5 part series on corruption on WE/ pg 1
Reflections by Wub-e-ke-niew/ pg 5
Voice of the Anishinabeg (The People)
1
Fifty Cents
AIM tribunal reconvenes in Rapid City, SD
By Shelley Davis
A tribunal conducted by the International Confederation of Autonomous Chapters of the American Indian Movement reconvened Wednesday, November 2, at which time testimony and evidence against Clyde and
Vernon Bellecourt yvere presented to
the judging panel.
In San Rafael, California, the panelists found the Bellecourts guilty of
subversion of the American Indian
Movement, its principles and activities and Clyde Bellecourt guilty ofthe
use, sale and/or distribution of drugs
and/or alcohol to Indian people.
The indictment containing eight
charges against each Bellecourt has
been issued and prosecution has been
supplying evidence to the panel relating to the charges. Ofthe five original
panelists, only three yvere in attendance Wednesday.
Joe Locust, Dian Million and Don
Grinde, presiding, sat as panelists during Wednesday's hearing. George
Martin sat in Regina Brave's place as
Brave is unavailable to attend. Sharon
Venne was expected but had not arrived by Wednesday.
Due to lack of yvitnesses, Russell
Means, tribunal prosecutor, and Glenn
Morris supplied the majority of oral
testimony. Hoyvever, evidence in writ
ten form was presented and more witnesses are expected to attend Thursday.
Means testified on charge five, misappropriation of funds directed for the
use of the American Indian Movement, the International Indian Treaty
Council and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee. He said during the
occupation of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs building in Washington, D.C,
money yvas given to the travelers.
Most of the individuals were given
$400, except Vernon Bellecourt who
received $7,000 and Clyde Bellecourt
who received $4,000, Means alleged.
AIM cont'd on pg 3
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All  People
Founded  in 198B        Volume 6   Issue 1 9        November 4, 1 994
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright. The Ojibwe News, 1994
Senator Harold Finn fields new accusations
By Chris Ison, Staff Writer
Minneapolis Star Tribune
State Sen. Harold (Skip) Finn took
hundreds of thousands of dollars in
tribal money through a phony insurance scheme, arranged payments of
thousands more to tribal officials to
keep it quiet and tried to have records
destroyed when federal officials yvere
closing in, prosecutors alleged Friday.
Finn pleaded guilty in August to a
misdemeanor charge involving misuse of $13,000. The U.S. attorney's
office made the new accusations Friday as part of an effort to persuade
U.S. District Judge James
Rosenbaum to give Finn, a DFL
senator from Cass Lake since 1990,
a stiffer sentence then recommended
under federal guidelines.
Prosecutors asserted that the plot
yvas much more devious than earlier
described. They called in an "unconscionable" crime that involved nearly
$1 million belonging to the Leech
Lake Band of Chippeyva.
Finn's attorney, Doug Kelley, said
the prosecutions' argument for a stiffer
sentence is specious. The sentencing
guidelines for the crime to which Finn
pleaded guilty recommend four to six
months, he said, and a judge could
order only probation.
Prosecutors noyv are raising charges
that they didn't have to prove in court,
having accepted the plea bargain, and
could not have proved, Kelley said.
"The government wants to have its
cake and eat it too," he said.
The documents introduced in court
Friday provide a clue to the subject of
the federal investigation into the tribe's
insurance fund. Earlier records hinted
that the scheme was carried out yvith
the approval of tribal council members, though only one, Myron Ellis,
was charged.
Finn and Ellis each pleaded guilty
in August to misapplying tribal funds.
They created a false insurance receipt
to give Ellis, yvho also heads the Minnesota Indian Gamine Association, a
$13,000 kickback.
But the records filed Friday say
Tribal Chairman Alfred (Tig)
Pemberton and Tribal Council Member Dan Broyvn also profited. They
also say that Finn's law partner,
Kimball Mattson, was involved and
my have profited. But Mattson has
been in a coma since a car accident
Finn cont'd on pg 3
; Miracle, the white Buffalo calf is changing colors. Complete story on page 2.
Submitted photo
2nd defendant acquitted in tribal casino
armed robbery
American Indian Radio Networksetto begin
P TO Q ra m m i n Q 77?e greatest challenge is in obtaining native programs
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) _ An American Indian radio network linking 25
tribal radio stations will begin regular programming on Monday.
The AIROS _ American Indian
Radio on Satellite _ network will
offer a storytelling series, interviews
yvith Native Americans, historical
specials and a multipart series on
breaking the cycle of child abuse, as
yvell as a variety of other specials and
series.
Netyvork officials hope to eventually expand into a 24-hour distribution system of radio programming by,
for and about American Indians.
"Our greatest challenge is in obtaining native content programs, particularly from the native stations, most
of yvhom have inadequate funds," said
Susan Braine, AIROS manager.
"We're working closely yvith the
tribal stations to determine programming needs and to address those needs
through the radio programs that
AIROS is able to acquire," she said.
"Our goal is to encourage and facilitate their own production of these
programs."
The 25 stations that will be linked
through the network are located in 10
states, many on reservations yvhere
radio is the sole telecommunications
service.
"This is their network," she said. "It
will be as successful and relevant as
they, the stations, collectively make it."
AIROS officials yvould like the netyvork to build and link stations on the
250 Indian reservations in the United
States, Braine said.
Nebraska has no American Indian-
oyvned radio stations on any of its
three Indian reservations.
"Native America Calling," an hour-
long live call-in talk show focusing
on current issues and topics affecting
American Indians, yvill begin airing
in January. The host yvill be Winona
LaDuke, yvho led a successful campaign to help the White Earth Band of
Anishinabe reclaim its ancestral
lands.
AIROS is a joint project of the
Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium and the Indigenous
Communications Association, based
in Neyv York.
The network, based at the Native
American Public Broadcasting Consortium offices in Lincoln, received
its initial funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
WALKER, Minn. (AP) A second
defendant was acquitted Tuesday in
the first armed robbery of a Minnesota
tribal casino, the 1993 heist at the
Palace Bingo and Casino near Cass
Lake.
A jury acquitted David Jones in
Cass County District Court in Walker
after deliberating four hours.
Jones yvas accused of driving the
get-away car in the robbery, in yvhich
three men wearing masks and
coveralls entered the casino at 4:32
a.m. on Sept. 30, 1993, terrifying
employees and taking more than
$27,000 from a cashier area. They
fled in a stolen car, leaving behind
nail-studded boards thatflattened tires
on two sheriffs cars ansyvering the
robbery call.
Minutes before the robbery, a
summer cottage yvas torched several
miles away in what authorities called
a diversionary fire.
Five young Cass Lake-area men, all
of yvho had yvorked for the casino,
were charged with aggravated
robbery, arson, conspiracy, assault
and receiving stolen property. Jones,
who turned 25 during the trial, had
been a slot machine mechanic.
About 100 yvitnesses testified during
the trial.
Prosecution witnesses included
Gordon Northbird Jr., yvho testified
that he had been included in the
robbery plans but had backed out, and
KristaHesch, Jones' former girlfriend,
yvho said money was counted at her
town house in Bemidji.
The defense tried to show that Hesch
sought revenge on Jones and that
Northbird, who was granted immunity
from prosecution, was a robbery
suspect.
Merrill Hill, 23, was the first
defendant to go to trial. He yvas
acquitted in February.
Also charged yvere Jones' brother
Richard, 27; his cousin, Arthur
LaRose, 23, and Bert Headbird, 21.
MPR to air series on corruption on White
Earth Reservation next week
The Minnesota Public Radio
(MPR) plans to air a five part series on corruption, election fraud
and other unscrupulous activities
which have occured and may still
be occuring on the White Earth Indian Reservation. The series will
begin on Monday, November the
7th and run daily through Friday
November the 11th. The Native
American Press/Ojibwe News will
carry the narrative part of the series with photographs in next weeks
edition.
One Mind, One Voice, One Heart, One Prayer By Lan? Neater
vigil '94 attended by U.S. govt officials
Museum opens on site where Europeans
once kept Indians away
By Denise Wakefield
One Mind, One Voice, One Heart,
One Prayer, a gathering of people
yvho believe in the poyver of prayer to
change the yvorld, yvas held for the
second time in Washington, D.C. on
October 1 and 2, 1994.
The purpose ofthe vigil, the second
in a series of four, was to pray communally for future generations; support
the Seventh Generation; and build
bridges among ourselves today that
all children can yvalk across tomorrow.
Two hundred Indigenous spiritual
yvisdom keepers from across the United
States and Canada gathered to deliver
testimony to an audience that included
the Director of Environmental Affairs, members of the President's
Council on the Environment, and of
ficials from the Department of the
Interior. Ada Deer, the Interior
Department's Assistant Secretary7 for
Indian Affairs also attended.
The spiritual leaders yvho attended
the gathering included Thomas
Benyaca, Hopi; William Commanda,
Leon Shenondoah, Mohawk; Roberta
Blackgoat, Grace Smith, Dine; Leah
PorterandDr. Phil Lane from Canada;
Dr. Arvol Looking Horse and Harry-
Charger, of the Lakota Nation; and
many other spiritual pipekeepers and
yvisdom keepers from multi-tribal
backgrounds.
The gathering yvas planned and
implemented by Sharon Franicemont
from California.
In 1993, only a handful of people
attended the gathering and one tipi
yvas all that marked their presence.
Hoyvever, this year there yvere ten
painted tipis, and by the fourth year,
it's predicted, the event yvill be very
large and newsworthy.
Five adults and one child attended
from the Ojibwe and Lakota Nations,
driving to Washington, D.C. in a van.
On the way, a stop was made in
Janesville, Wisconsin, to visit the
white buffalo calf. The party smoked
the pipe and left the calf seven white
buckskin tobacco ties.
On Friday evening, the program
began with grand entry for the Mending Global Wounds For Our Youth
Traditional Powwow. The MC was
from Chicago and Thomas Benyaca
offered prayers.
Saturday morning a ceremony was
held to bless the eagle on top of the
Capitol. People prayed, danced and
sang in the six directions. Washington, D.C. Mayor Berry attended and
Vigil cont'd on pg 3
NEW YORK (AP) _ Susan Billy, a
basketmaker from the Porno tribe,
weeps as she tells the story of how she
met her aunt in 1974.
'You don'tknow me. I'm your relative," Billy told her aunt, Elsie Allen.
The older woman then told her how
much she would like to teach her the
art of basket weaving.
Billy's story of how she learned her
craft, told on videotape at the National Museum of the American Indian, epitomizes the message the
museum's creators say they want to
convey: the native American tradition is alive.
"We've always been presented as if
Indians were dead and gone," said
Rick Hill, special assistant to the
museum's director.
If successful, the museum will
"bring credibility to the native voice,"
Hill said. And if it does, "I could die
tomorrow fulfilled."
Hand-woven baskets, painted hides,
a Cheyenne headdress, an Eskimo
kayak, Iroquois hair combs, a Navajo
rug and 2,000-year-old duck decoys
are among the 400 objects awaiting,
visitors at the nevv museum, which is
housed in the landmark Alexander
Hamilton U. S. Custom House in lower
Manhattan.
But in an effort to stamp out stereotypes, there are no full-sized teepees
or bows and arrows, except for a
single arrowhead around Hill's neck.
"The stereotypes of Indians are so
deeply ingrained, it's hard to shake
them loose," explained Hill, a member ofthe Tuscarora reservation outside Niagara Falls.
The museum, a part of the
Smithsonian Institution, is the first of
three to be completed by 2001, when
the Smithsonian will open another _
the main branch _ on the Mall near
the Capitol. A-Cultural Resources
Center will open in Suitland, Md.,
outside Washington.
The museum, which charges no
admission, features three exhibits. The
first, "Creation's Journey," is a classical presentation of Indian objects
from 3200 B.C. to the present. In the
second, "All Roads Are Good,"
American Indians tell their stories
via TV monitors.
The last, "This Path We Travel,"
includes a model of a 1930s Indian
boarding school classroom and, next
door, a typical living room in a reservation home, built by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
It also includes video scenes of various wars, so graphic that a warning
sign is posted.
The exhibits fan out from the gigantic empty rotunda where customs
agents once worked. A mural of Christopher Columbus and other European settlers remains on the ceiling
above.
"It's another takeover of a federal
building by Indians," Hill said as he
stood in the empty rotunda Friday.
Museum cont'd on pg 3