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Beware! This post MAY be about BOOKS

After speaking with Jon, I decided to post this excerpt from academia. I figured while I am already writing papers for class, I might as well post them since you working people probably have nothing better to do than read this. Also, it will increase my number of posts which will make me seem more manly to some. If you wish me to stop posting stuff like this, just say so and I will. Otherwise, this is a reaction paper for my independent study class. It is not graded, we meet once every two weeks, and I read two books then I write a short paper stating what struck me about the books. Pretty sweet assignment. Read or don't read, but here it is.

All Our Relations: Native Struggles For Land and Life. By Winona LaDuke.

Walleye Warriors: The Chippewa Treaty Rights Story. By Walt Bresette and Rick Whaley.

These two books deal with similar issues: the struggle for self-determination among native groups, and co-management of natural resources as a method of environmental protection. By tying the natural environment to traditional native culture, LaDuke’s All Our Relations: Native Struggles For Land and Life presents various case studies to show how native groups have fought ecological and cultural degradation at the hands of U.S. government organizations and multinational corporations. In Walleye Warriors: The Chippewa Treaty Rights Story, Bresette and Whaley detail the events surrounding the Chippewa off-reservation fishing treaty rights struggle during the late 1980s and early 1990s in northern Wisconsin. By shedding light on the underlying existing economic and social tensions, in Wisconsin during these violent years, the authors relate this local concern for treaty rights to what they see as the inherent problems of a global economic market. Both accounts pose many larger questions, some of which will only be answered by time itself. There is, in each book, an overriding sense of optimism and hope that rests on people from different cultures, races, and histories working together to create real and lasting solutions to environmental problems with global consequences.

There were several things which struck me while reading LaDuke’s book. First, in each chapter, she describes a completely avoidable situation that has “happened to” a native group within the United States. Issues ranging from contaminated breast milk, to inedible salmon, to the extinction of numerous species provide the reader with shocking figures of modern day conditions within native communities and their lands. Realizing this is a book written by a well known social and environmental activist, one must be careful to separate facts from political rhetoric. I had little trouble doing so in this book because LaDuke uses statistics, interviews, government documents, and scientific research to validate her claims.
My initial reaction to the majority of All Our Relations was, “This is shocking.” While attempting to remain emotionally neutral and read this book from an academic standpoint, I focused more on the individual leaders, methods, and solutions to problems. In doing so, I realized that all of the grassroots leaders were women; some formally educated, others not. This writing contrasts with most of the books I’ve read about the Red Power movement of the 1970s. Women’s roles were generally downplayed or ignored, while the more flamboyant and charismatic male leaders were lauded by the media and scholars for their actions. I found this to be a telling sign of how the scholarship has changed in recent years, as well as how women’s roles are becoming more publicly acknowledged.
The most positive aspect of this collection is the adaptive solutions enacted by these native groups to survive under recent abuses. While LaDuke begins each chapter with a discussion of what “happened to” these groups, she proudly ends by describing how native peoples are continuously overcoming the odds. For example, facing timber depletion, Native Harvest and White Earth Land Recovery Project reclaimed White Earth land and developed sustainable reservation businesses that employ and train White Earth tribal members. Native groups in near Yellowstone banded together to stop the slaughter of buffalo in an attempt to revive the herds of the great plains. Focusing on positive local changes that can serve as examples in the wider global arena is an important aspect of this book.
LaDuke challenges us (the U.S. Government, Tribal Councils, activists, humanity) to “transform human laws to match natural laws, not vice versa.” Additionally, “America and industrial society must move from a society based on conquest to one steeped in the practice of survival.” She cites Walt Bresette’s “Seventh Generation Amendment” to the U.S. Constitution and calls for our generation to consider the impact of the seventh generation from now. I cannot think of a piece of legislation in modern history that has applied this line of thinking. Modern technology and policy changes so rapidly that our society has always focused on solutions for the short-term. LaDuke warns unless our philosophy changes, all we will be left with is the short-term.

My first reaction to Walleye Warriors: The Chippewa Treaty Rights Story was to compare the book to Messages From Frank’s Landing, by Charles Wilkinson, which dealt with the 1973 Boldt Decision and treaty-fishing rights in the Puget Sound region. Both cases were strikingly similar, but Walleye Warriors provided a much more in-depth look at the events in Wisconsin. One of the main themes of this book is the need for “Euro-Americans” and Indians to work together. It is fitting that the book is co-authored by Walt Bresette (Chippewa) and Rick Whaley (Euro-American leader of the Witness group).
I was initially surprised that the landmark Boldt Decision and its violent aftermath had not served as a better warning for the events in Wisconsin. Almost twenty years later, the same abuses, racism, and violence against native communities was occurring. I was dumbfounded by some of the descriptions of the protestors, and the basis for their claims. The Chippewa’s miniscule take of the fish population was blamed for Wisconsin’s lagging economy, and the Indians were viewed as wanting extra rights and special treatment. Bresette and Whaley’s treatment of the protestor’s ignorance is actually quite objective, blaming the state’s education system and the state institutions and anti-treaty organizations for aiming for the public’s sore spots: the economy and loss of tourism. While this misinformation campaign masked the real issues, the protests erupted on the lakes and the Chippewa and their allies began a campaign based on non-violence and community education to change the minds of the public and the courts.
Similarly to when I read LaDuke’s book, I was appalled at some of the statements made and actions taken by the protestors. I must have lived a sheltered childhood, because I was shocked at the level of blind and ignorant racism portrayed by the protestors and public officials during this campaign. It both angered and confused me more when I realized this was only 15 years ago--well into my lifetime.
What also struck me about this book was the continuous reliance on non-violence by the Chippewa and the Witnesses. When compared to AIM and the actions of the Red Power Era, I realized just how different these two situations and players involved were. The treaty-supporters made genuine strides for unity among the citizens in Wisconsin, and hoped to open their eyes to the true problems occurring within the state: economic hardship, job loss, and mismanagement of environmental resources. Once the Indians stopped serving as a scapegoat, the “Euro-Americans” and the Chippewa could work together to solve problems that affected both groups equally.
Another topic I found interesting was the state courts’ rulings. When the subject was social/civil rights, the rulings generally favored the Chippewa. When the case involved resource management or claims monetary compensation, the rulings were unfavorable. Bresette and Whaley assert the Chippewa would be perfectly equipped to co-manage the resources surrounding their reservation. With the amount of resources found on modern tribal lands, the idea that the enforcement of treaties is a powerful method of environmental protection was intriguing.
One can only conclude from Walleye Warriors that although many strides have been taken since the civil rights movement began, social equality does not equate to economic equality or access to resources. Additionally, the nature of the reservation system and the century old treaties are problematic in determining the validity of sovereignty claims in the U.S. court system.
Both All Our Relations and Walleye Warriors showcase the determination of native groups to adapt and survive in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. While each focuses on local issues, the ideas expressed can and should be placed in a global context. They both serve as a warning to our generation that we must change our ways and , in doing so, secure our survival together.