Anin!
Thank you for bringing light to Native issues. Living in Duluth, we are close to four Minnesota Native Reserves (Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, Red Lake & Boise Fort)...one thing that people tend to forget is...the old movies that glorify how respected the elders are, and how the tribe operates - is not accurate. The only difference between a place like Red Lake and Detroit, Phoenix, Chicago, Jersey City, etc., is that in those big cities, you are aware of the poverty, addictions, and quality of life. In the far north, nobody comes up here - these Native reserves are not on the way to anywhere, so nobody sees the neglect. The way in which the tribe is governed is as corrupt as the 'non-native government' - often there are a few people who are living incredibly well and a huge number living in mobile homes with no running water or electricity. But because most people have no money to leave, they are afraid to say anything about it, because they know everyone else will know they said it. So this continues, the people on the reserves oppress each other, and there is no change.
I feel that...the ability to retain Native languages is so important. I learned Ojibwe from a very respected elder who, after high school, told me how sad she felt when young 8th grade Native girls would tell her to 'f-off' and 'go to hell' - for my instructor, who, at 75, NEVER would have talked that way to an elder when she was a child, almost appeared to be giving up on this new generation of Native children. The lack of interest in cultural events and language. Because someday those children will be the elders, and without any preservation of language, that's a huge cultural loss.
Someday I will post my photos of Grand Portage. Definitely not on the same scale as Pine Ridge, but I do think that people forget that life goes on up here!
Migwetch, (thank you)
jonathan l.
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