The day began on a more relaxed schedule today. We bagged food for Margaret and shelled corn while we waited for Emily to come back with the van loaded up with apples and packaged buffalo meat. Shelling corn has a distinct rhythm to the twist and the individual kernels falling into the box. The corn that sifts through our fingertips sounds like a rain stick. Once Emily returned, we loaded up the van with the bags of food. She and I parted with Chris, Dave, Dana, and Phyllis.
Chris, Dave, and Dana spent the morning and early afternoon shelling beautiful multicolored corn. Dave used a technique he learned in Nicaragua where he put the corn into a sack and beat the sack mercilessly and then opened it up to pour out the kernels and remove the cobs. Later they drove to the WELRP sugarbush where Dave and Dana began moving an enormous woodpile and Chris put his electrical skills to work helping Ronnie connect a generator to the grid.
Meanwhile, before we pulled out of the long driveway to the Land Recovery Office, we had Margaret in the middle of a story involving Clyde Belcourt. He and his crew petitioned the warden to have a Powwow while in prison. The warden agreed. Margaret told us that she was part of the dance group that came to the prison to help with the Powwow.
Our conversations were spontaneous. It was exciting to hear stories from Margaret that were triggered by a few key words. We learned about her two years with the Post Office in Minneapolis. She successfully passed her truck driving test and landed a route downtown Minneapolis. She returned to her home to take care of her family as her sons entered high school because "family comes first." Margaret also shared with us about the beginnings of the Land Recovery Project. After Winona LaDuke left her position as the Circle of Life school, the two formed an outfit to sell local crafts. The two wrote Washington for grant money to buy the crafts. A few summers later, the outfit bought wild rice.
Margaret visited co-ops in the Twin Cities and promised to deliver the products if the vendors promised to buy the goods in bulk. Margaret was also the book keeper in the first few years. She was pleased to tell us that she was treated well in her delivery position.
In between stories, we dropped off the food and chatted with Margaret's friends. By the time we returned to the Land Recovery Project, we had an hour or so to hang around as we waited for Dana, Chris, and Dave to return from the sugarbush. Steph played us a recording of the wild rice hearing delivered to the Agricultural Committee of the Minnesota Senate.
After the crew assembled in full, we drove over to Native Harvest to begin the food prep for a dinner we hosted for Ronnie, Ronnie's wife and grandson, Joe LaGarde, Paul Schultz, and his granddaughter, Lera. The five of us helped with some initial chopping, but Sarah, Steph, and Jen took charge from there and let us interact with the guests. Our conversations were casual as we became acquainted, but as bread was passed around the table before the soup came out, our conversations became more intentional. Joe enjoyed telling us about the radio show he hosted with Paul. A local radio station, KPRM 870 AM, gave the two free air time to talk politics and to report local Elvis sightings on the reservation. The two used their air time to straighten out some concerns they had with the tribal government. Both Canadian and United States public radio approached Joe and Paul to ask them if they could broadcast their program. After careful consideration, Joe and Paul decided not to broadcast their program any further than the local community that KPRM reached because it would compromise their "editorial integrity" as Paul put it. Remarkably, the local radio station placed no restrictions on what Paul and Joe decide to discuss in their Saturday morning shows.
Joe recounted stories about his involvement with AIM, the American Indian Movement, "We built the American Indian Movement when we were young," he chuckled. Joe told us about confronting the corrupt tribal government and occupying their headquarters to protest selling out the tribe. They worked with the Black Panthers and were constantly hounded by the FBI. "We were pretty heavy handed and willing to take up arms against the government. A lot of us had been in Vietnam." Joe recounted occupying the naval air station one day and began to explain that they engaged in a variety of civil disobedience where elder grandmothers were the first to be arrested and that gave courage to the younger people. Although he was very humble and bashful about his experiences, we got the impression that since those times Joe has been at the forefront of legal battles and activism to reclaim native culture and sovereignty.
Joe also shared with us how he reclaimed his Indian heritage in 1997. To do this, he petitioned the government to have his blood quantum reassessed by bringing in documentation of his ancestors. He described the exhilaration of waking up as an Native American, again. He taught himself the legal terminology and procedures necessary to reclaim his status. Joe also explained that he contacted local Law professors and asked them questions. In turn, the professors posed Joe's dilemma to their students, and Joe got answers. Recently Joe has helping draft a tribal constitution to ensure separation of tribal powers and mitigate corruption.
By this time, the bread and smoked fish reached all corners of the table, and the master chefs served the Buffalo wild rice soup. Paul collected food and tobacco to place an offering outside. He blessed the food both in Ojibwe and English. The English segment of the prayer impressed the need to live humbly among all of the living world. Following a blessing, he reintroduced his granddaughter as the next spiritual healer of the community. He has taken on the responsibilities and strains of teacher and pupil. He briefed us on Lera's training. A component of Lera's training is spontaneous speaking about pertinent issues to the Native American community and for an audience. Lera was asked to sing us a song to begin.
While seated, she brought out a drum. Lera sang a hymn that still sings in my ears with a confidence unlike any sixth-grader I have ever met. Steady. Solid. Full. Following the song, Paul asked her to speak about racism in the community. With the same confidence, Lera shared that both peers and teachers often treat Native American students poorly in the local Detroit Lakes schools. "Some kids think that if you live on the res you're not as good as white people." Lera attests that one's identity while returning to tradition could give Native American students the confidence they need. "Using tradition is really helpful to kids. It's helped me self-identify and helps peers learn more and who they are."
With this strong conclusion, Paul began to tell us about his program with Joe to teach Native American students math and science. Paul explained that many students look to their culture and see no legacy of mathematics or science, and therefore, they have no reason to believe they will be successful in these subjects. Paul's program is based on applied environmental education to teach the cultural significance of science to the students. The teaching staff was composed of science profs to give the students exposure to collegiate teaching; DNR specialists; and community elders. Within two years, behavior and attendance have skyrocketed, as well as standardized test scores in those areas.
Paul also had an important lesson for us regarding our education. He cautioned us from over-confidence in ourselves and our abilities. While Western education sees individualism as a noble goal, it also suggests that humans are something special, and therefore, something detached from the rest of the natural world.
"You may be smart, we say to our young people, but if it doesn't connect here (Paul patted the center of his chest), you're only half a person."
