Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2003-11-28

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS       • 9
Starwatch: Ring in
the New Year!
page 5
Reader questions Vince
Hill's position on AIM
page 4
Press/ON announces Slippery slope
who is biggest turkey in       of war
Minnesota Indian country
page 4
page 4
It's time to be
thankful
page 4
MCT housing revives attempt to foreclose on Leech
Lake family's home, land
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
web page: www.press-on.net
By Jeff Armstrong
A Leech Lake family facing
foreclosure on a slioddily constructed, MCT-fmanced home
charged reservation mid tribal
officials with attempting to facilitate tlie illegal confiscation
of family-owned trust land on
the reservation.
'The MCT is committing land
theft from their own people that
they're supposed to be looking
over," said Leroy Whitebird, Jr.
Approved for an 83,000
home loan by tlie MCT Housing Corporation, Whitebird mid
his spouse, Leota Hardy, began
withholding payments from
housing contractor Jon Cornier
when they discovered they were
being billed for materials not
actually used on tlie home.
Despite discovering numerous
flaws in the home's construction, the couple continued making mortgage payments until tlie
MCT flatly refused to make any
needed repairs to tlie residence.
A private inspector lured by the
couple subsequently revealed 63
construction deficiencies in die
home.
"We're not saying we should
get a free house. We're saying
we want the house they should
have built in the first place,"
Whitebird said.
On Aug. 2,2002, Uie MCTHC
filed suit against Hardy and
Whitebird in Leech Lake tribal
court under Minnesota state law,
seeking to recover the house and
take possession of die land—to
which Hardy is one of several
heirs. Chief Judge Margaret
Treuer dismissed ihe complaint
Nov. 26,2002, noting thai the
reservation had no foreclosure
code on which to base the action and that tlie MCT could not
even produce a signed copy of
tlie mortgage.
Treuer also commented that
'It appears that Plaintiff did not
adequately inspect the quality of the work and materials
on diis home before approving
payments to tlie various contractors," an obligation of the
housing authority under its own
internal policies.
Last June 17, however, the
Leech J .ake RBC enacted a
foreclosure ordinance purporting to retroactively validate tlie
mortgages of lands leased by
co-heirs with BIA approval over
tlie past 25 years. Characteriz
ing die RBC action as "nothing
more than a Whitebird-Hardy
foreclosure ordinance," White-
bird noted that Ins and odier
such leases specifically preclude
the mortgage of the land.
"Widiout the approval of the
heirs or tlie Secretary |of die Interior], there's no way the lease
could be put up for a mortgage,
even if we had signed one," said
Whitebird. "Nobody's ever contested diese leases. That's how
the XICT has been foreclosing
on land that never should have
been taken."
Hardy and Whitebird were
back in court Tuesday, Nov. 18,
at which time MCTHC attorney
Larry Kimball withdrew an
appeal to a shadowy reservation appellate court reportedly
composed of Anita Fineday, B.J;
Jones and Paul Day. Whitebird
said that because he intends to
file a counterclaim against the
\l( IIIC, he was denied court-
appointed legal counsel and
given 60 days to find a private
attorney.
"It's milling into a real nightmare," Whitebird said.
Intergenerational Sharing and Feast
If you attended die Intergenerational Sharing and Feast held
at the Minneapolis American
Indian Center this past weekend,
you most likely left knowing tlie
importance of Diebetes among
our people and if you were one
of the lucky ones, you left widi
anew pair of shoes.
The event, sponsored by die
Diabetes Community Council
(DDC) and die Native Padi To
Wellness Council was held on
Saurday, November 22,2003.
'Hie (DDC) is a partnership
group of the Ginew / Golden
Eagles ( youth )Program, and
Native American Community
Clinic (NACC ) and is funded
by The Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation. The Native Path
To Wellness Council is made
up of parents, elders, youth and
community agency representa
tives. There were a number of
representatives from community
agencies available to answer
questions. Participants had the
opportunity to get bodi their
blood sugar .and blood pressure
checked. Orthopedic shoes were
given to diabetics and nutritionists were also available.
Jim Clairmont, a spiritual
Lakota elder and Herb Sam,
an Ojibwe spiritual healer bodi
said prayers and stressed die
importance of exercising and
eating right among our people.
Native Americans are most
likely to get diabetes. You put
yourself at risk if you arc overweight, do not exercise regularly and do not eat right. If you
have a family member with diabetes or if there is past history
of diabetes in your family, > ou
are at a higher risk of being a
diabetic. Some warning signs is
dial you may feel very thirsty at
times, needing to urinate often,
losing weight and feeling tired a
lot of the time.
Several elders of die Diabetes
Community Council gave testimonies of their life experiances
of living with diabetes. Monte
Fox, anodier speaker, encouraged everyone to exercise, in
doing so you could help prevent
die disease and or manage diabetes.
Vincent 1 [ill, an Anishinabe
elder said a closing prayer m
Ojibwe at the end of the community gathering.
During die five hour event,
the community was fed healthy
snacks and a feast was served
at the end of the tla\. whieh-v
comprised of healthy foods thai
people widi diabetes should eat.
Town of Taos, N.M. is not Indian country, court rules
By Deborah Baker
Associated Press
SANTA FE - The state can
prosecute a Taos Pueblo Indian for a crime he allegedly
committed in the town of Taos
because the land is no longer
Indian country, the state Court
of Appeals has ruled.
The case involved Del Romero, who was indicted by a grand
jury in June 2001 for aggravated battery on another Taos tribal
member, Darrell Mondragon.
The incident occurred at the
Pueblo Alegre Mall in Taos.
Under federal law, the federal government has exclusive
jurisdiction to prosecute certain
serious offenses committed by
Indians within Indian country.
Romero had argued that the
state lacked jurisdiction to pros-
Coeur d'Alene
chairman loses
bid to lead
Indian congress
Associated Press
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho
- Coeur d'Alene Tribal Chairman Ernie Stensgar has lost his
bid for the presidency of the
National Congress of American
Indians.
"We ran an honorable fight,
a good fight and we can leave
with our heads held high,"
Stensgar said Thursday at the
organization's 60th amiual convention in New Mexico.
Tex Hall - chainnan of the
Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara
Nation in North Dakota - was
re-elected to a two-year terni
with 15,657 votes to 10,554 for
Stensgar.
Tlie congress is the oldest and
largest organization representing
American Indian tribes, lt works
for protection of dieir treaty,
cultural and religious rights.
Stensgar has been president of
the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians since 1996 and
Coeur d'Alene chairman since
1986.
ecute him because the mall is
located on land that was within
the original boundaries of the
land giant from the King of
Spain to Taos Pueblo.
It was owned by Taos Pueblo
at the time New Mexico became
a state, and is still Indian country, Romero said.
Tlie state argued that the mall
■is in the town, and outside the
boundaries of Taos Pueblo.
The pueblo's title to the land
was extinguished by the Pueblo
Lands Act of 1924, under which
Congress set up a mechanism
to resolve the issue of lands
claimed by non-Indians widiin
pueblos, die state argued.
The question, the Court of
Appeals said Friday, is whether
the extinguishment of the pueblo title lo the lands underlying
the town of Taos changed its
jurisdictional status.
"We conclude diat it did, and
that the 926 acres underlying
the town ol"Taos ... are not Indian country," a panel of judges
ruled 2-1, overturning a state
district court niling.
Romero, and Taos ftieblo, argued dial in enacting die Pueblo
Lands Act, Congress intended
to extinguish title to pueblo
lands without altering their jurisdictional status.
Judge Jonathan Sutin dissented from the niling, saying
the case should have been returned to district court for more
analysis and argument on die
important "practical, legal and
sovereignty issues" it raised.
Native
American
Press
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2003
Founded in 1988
Volume 16 Issue 24
November 28, 2003
Leah LaChapelle, Chair of the Little Earth Housing Complex Residents Association.
Indian gangs
at Little Earth
Housing
complex in
Minneapolis
By Vincent Hill
Mille Lacs Lake Ojibvte
Anishinabe Elder-Mpls
Due to an alarm al the
widespread problem of gang
culture continuing to infiltrate
and disrupt famih elans at the
I.iitlc Earth I lousing complex
in south Mpls. parents under
the leadership of I .eah I a( "handle. Chair of Uie Resident
Association at Little Earth,
requested help from city and
county officials on November^, 2003.
According to grass roots
residents at Little Earth, the
Litde Earth housing director
Ullie Webster uses a "white
man' s" approach in solving
gang problems, as well as
Other pressing problems, such
as housing and oilier social
issues. Residents relate that IT
lie, who is white, isolates herself and distances herself from
Anishinabeg residents at Little
Earth. I was shocked to find
out that Lllie does not allow
residents to conduct meetings
of their own!
High-powered city, county,
Scott Gerlicher, Commander 3rd Precinct Minneapolis
and federal officials convened at
the Neighborhood 1 iarly I .e;ini-
ing Center (M 3,('), located
across from the west side
of the I .idle Faith I lousing complex last Tuesday in response to
a proposed peace treat) b) the
infamous AIM leader,Clyde Bel-
lecourt. To the horror of Litde
Earth 1 lousing residents present
in this meeting, the Media Chief
chaired the peace treaty and, of
course, attempted to stifle free
speech, except from officials and
others loyal to him, due to political sweet-heart deals
1 eah I .aC'hapelle was amazingly ignored but, eventually,
she thundered forth to spell oul
that a grass-roots and 'community driven' approach was die
only way gang problems could
be solved at and near the Littie
Eardi Housing complex. Hie
new 3rd precinct commander, Inspector Scott Gerlicher, outlined
three goals Unit sound promising; but die question is will the
N Ipls police force continue to be
heavy-handed when dealing with
American Indians of all ages in
Minneapolis?
Excerpts from "A History of the Legitimate Mdewakanton"
By Barbara Buttes, Ph.D.
Editor's Note: The Mdewakanton
signed a treaty witii Uie United Stales
on August 5,1851, ceding lands in
Minnesota and Iowa....
The 1851 treaty makes no mention
of tlie "Santie" and. neittier did the
next land cession treaty on June 19,
1858, the last treaty signed between tlie
Mdewakanton and the Unites States...
The Minnesota Sioux people
nevertheless waited for eleven years,
expecting to receive the money and
supplies that the United States had
promised in return for the land cessions. They finally declared war on
August 19,1862, attempting to gel; what
was due. with their condition already at
the point of starvation.
During six weeks of combat that
began on August. 19,1862, the Minnesota Sioux killed nearly two hundred
Minnesotans and burned farms, businesses, and homes. Twenty-one men
from Minnesota Sioux communities
died in battle, attempting to regain
their land and human rights (Thornton
105 n). After a quick military (rial
when the war ended, the Army publicly
executed thirty-eight Dakota men on
December 26,1862, carrying out the
largest mass hanging in our nation's
history.53 The Minnesota militia helped
the United States Army round up the
fleeing Minnesota Sioux, bringing them
to Fort Snelling in Saint Paul, where
they spent the winter as prisoners of
war. Disease, starvation, and exposure
in the tipi encampment at Fort Snelling
claimed more than four hundred Minnesota Sioux lives during the winter of
1862-1863. According to the children
and grandchildren of those who survived imprisonment, the Sioux spent
nearly every- day of the freezing cold
months of their imprisonment, from
sunup to sundown, burying their dead
in the frozen Minnesota earth.
Following the 1862 war, the Mdewakanton political [xisition altered as a
result of the federal government's abrogation of all the treaties that the United
States had signed with the Minnesota
Sioux. Minnesotans also demanded an
Indian-free state. Minnesota officials
met their demands in 1863, and with
the help of the United States Army, they
exiled the surviving Minnesota Sioux
people, placing a $200 bounty on the
heads of those who dared to remain
within the state's borders (Folwell
289).55 The Minnesotans organized
a militia to find and destroy any Mdewakanton people who hid among the
trees along the rivers in Minnesota.56
The. United States goverrfnent supported Minnesota's plan to eliminate the
Mdewakanton, sending troops to scour
the western territory of South Dakota to
search for Mdewakanton refugees who
may have sought safety there among
relatives. The relationships that, the
Mdewakanton had established through
treaties with the federal government
ended.
A small group of mostly Mdewakanton fugitives miraculously escaped
exile from Minnesota and outwitted the
bounty hunters. They survived, in the
midst of constant, danger, staying out
of sight, living in makeshift, shelters,
and eating whatever they could find.
The scarcity of buffalo had ended their
old practices of .making dwellings and
clothing from hides; but the men who
remained hidden in Minnesota made
dangerous trips out onto the western
Plains, hunting tor the few surviving
buffalo herds that could supply meat,
and other needed items for their struggling families in Minnesota (Thornton
123).
Meanwhile, the United States assigned most of the exiles, including the
Wahpekutewan, Winnebago, and others
to the Santee Sioux Reservation in Nebraska. By 1868, the exiled Minnesota
Sioux had coalesced with other tribes
in Santee, Nebraska; the collective
group signed atreaty with the United
States, legally establishing their political identity as the Santee Sioux Tribe
of Nebraska. They had legal standing
as Santee because the United Stales
acknowledged their sovereignly by
entering into an J868 treaty agreement
with them. An unknown number of
Santee Sioux Tribe members held biological ties to the politically powerless
Minnesota Mdewakanton; but, equally
important, an unknown number of
Santee were biologically unrelated to
the Mdewakanton.
The Santee Sioux
Tribe of Nebraska
clearly differs from
the vaguely understood Santie Sioux
who signed treaties with the United
Stales in the 1830s. No federal census
clarifies the former tribal affiliation of
today's Santee Sioux Tribe members,
who nonetheless merged from several
formerly sovereign political entities,
becoming a single sovereign entity in
1868, as determined by the treaty they
negotiated with the United States.
At the same time that the Santee
Sioux Tribe of Nebraska originated, the
■small group of Dakota-speaking people
remained in hiding in their Minnesota
homelands. They signed no treaties
with the United States after the 1862
war. As far as their relationship with
the federal government, was concerned
the Mdewakanton fugitives in Minnesota were totally without political
identity. The shadowy presence of the
fugitives gradually became apparent to
non-Indian Minnesotans two decades
after the war. Congress, formally recognized the landless fugitives as the Minnesota Mdewakanton Sioux in 1884.
Alter a period of twenty-two years,
the Mdewakanton who had remained
in Minnesota unmistakably differed
from the Santee Sioux of Nebraska.
The small group of Mdewakanton
fugitives
Minnesotans [in
1862] ...demanded
an Indian-free state.
A small group of mostly Mdewakanton fugitives miraculously
escaped exile from Minnesota and outwitted the bounty hunters.
struggled for
survival in
their Minnesota homelands while
the Santee received government
rations, lived on reservation land, and
engaged in a government-to-govern-
ment relationship with Ilie United
Stales. A federal census dated June
30,1886 gives the names, relationships, sex, and ages of the individuals listed thereon as Santee Sioux,
Another federal census dated May 20.
1 SSti clearly delineates the political
distinction between the Santee and
the Mdewakanton, designating the
two hundred and eight individuals
it, lists as the full-blood Minnesota
Mdewakanton Sioux. The federal
government completed a second
Mdewakanton census in 1889, which
included the Mdewakanton who had
been in the process of returning to
Minnesota when the 1886 census
was conducted and half bloods whom
tlie agents had mentioned, but, had
intentionally leffoff the census ol'full
bloods. However, I he refugees who
survived to be named on the 1886
Minnesota census constituted the
only group of Minnesota Sioux legally
identified as full-blood Mdewakanton,
Acts of Congress and Federal Corre-
TREATY to page 2