RealAudio 2.0 14.4

Part of the Mainstreet Radio series Treaty Rights and Tribal Sovereignty

A decade ago in Wisconsin, angry racial confrontations became everyday news when Indians began spearfishing under restored treaty rights. The same rights have been upheld in Minnesota. This spring, members of the Mille Lacs and seven other Ojibway bands are spearing and gillnetting walleye on waters in east-central Minnesota, including Lake Mille Lacs. Some worry the same kinds of confrontations could happen here. The long battle over treaty rights has already strained relations between Indians and whites.

The Onamia School District has about 800 students. One hundred twenty or so are Native American. There's nothing unfriendly or unusual in the way they group up at lunch time - still, you can't help but notice the gradual drift of native students toward other native students, of whites toward whites. Superintendent Jim Nelson.

Nelson: My honest read on it is, they get along very well through the primary grades; and as they get a little bit older and move on through the junior high school, you start to see more separation by race. You'll start to see the kids eating together more; they'll be in the halls together more. That's a pattern that's seen all over the country.

Boyd: We've had Indian parents bring in some of the food preparation, fry bread; especially in the elementary we've tried to bring some of the language into the classroom. At one time it was almost like a wall, when you got to this reservation. That wall has come down, is what I see.

First letter to editor: Why do Native Americans have a complete monopoly on gambling in Minnesota? Now they want exclusive rights for spearing and netting on Mille Lacs Lake. What happened to equal rights for all people? Sounds like discrimination to me.

Second letter to editor: My blood pressure is on the rise again. The Band is becoming like a spoiled child. They want all the public services and social benefits from the county and state, yet pay none of the taxes.

Third letter to editor: Division by race isn't always bad. We Band members have our own casinos, schools, and hunting and fishing laws. We don't want your tax dollars - we want our independence.

Fourth letter to editor: I ask: can an Indian not learn to fish with hook and line, like the rest of us?

Jim Baden: In truth, I do believe there have been more than a few bridges burned between the communities because of this issue.

Baden: It's a difficult thing for a community paper, to cover such an emotional upheaval in its community. We don't go home to Anoka at night. We all live here, we shop here, this story is our story. We're covering ourselves as we do this story.

Rasmussen: Sure, I'm sick of protesters. God, we're all sick of 'em. It's frightening, you and maybe one other person going down to a landing, and there's 800 people there who don't like you. It's really frightening.

Unidentified white fisherman: When you came in here, I didn't ask you what race you were. It shouldn't matter. We are all one nation, under God.

Nikkaboine: Who's greedy? Who's the greedy one, who's the greedy persons? The white people, white folk. They want all the fish, they want all the fish themselves. That's what I think.

At Living Waters, a small, white, Assemblies of God congregation near Mille Lacs, parishioners recently tried a different approach to race relations. The church invited a native evangelist to host a series of meetings. About fifteen Ojibway families came. It was the first time in her eight years at Living Waters that pastor Eunice Boeringa had seen natives and whites worship side by side.

Boeringa: This probably won't be too popular. But Paul talked about it - he said, You take each other to court - why not rather be cheated? Why not suffer a bit? There's been a lot of hostility, oppression, in the past. We have to let go of it. We have to say, "I'd rather be abused than not to walk in love with you, because you are my brother."