I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Oct. 22, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
RED LAKE -- What started as a discussion of refocusing the efforts of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council soon turned to a heated discussion about redefining the relationship between the state and its 11 Indian tribes.
The discussion took place Tuesday as the MIAC met at the Red Lake Reservation tribal headquarters in Red Lake for its quarterly meeting.
Too often, the Indian leaders said, the state treats the tribes as second-rate governments that are subject to the state's rule. When in reality, the tribes have sovereign powers that equate with the U.S. government.
More than one tribal leader cited examples of how the state continues to impose on their sovereignty.
Red Lake Tribal Chairman, and MIAC Chairman, Bobby Whitefeather said the tribes deserve more than just the MIAC being the state doesn't pay attention to the council anyway. He said Minnesota's 11 Indian tribes, and the large metropolitan Indian population in the Twin Cities, deserve their own department in state government, or at least an advisory position to the governor as high as his cabinet.
But Shakopee-Mdewakanton Tribal Chairman Stanley Crooks said that having a position in the state government only would increase the mindset that Indians are a subset of the Minnesota government, and that isn't true.
White Earth Chairman John Buckanaga said the MIAC just isn't as important as it was when it was developed more than 30 years ago. For instance, he said, the tribes were more dependent upon the state and other tribes when it was created. Now, with the onset of Indian gaming, the relationship has been redefined with tribes being more independent.
Buckanaga added that the council was important enough at one time that state commissioners, and even the governor met with the council. Now only department representatives meet with the council, and the governor is no where to be seen.
Buckanaga, who has worked with the MIAC for 20-plus years, said the state just doesn't understand that tribes are independent governments on an equal level with the state, if not the federal government.
"They don't understand we have a federal document called a constitution," he said. "The state imposes on us a lot."
For instance, he said, in White Earth's recent fight over its tribally issued natural resources green cards, the state again imposed its authority where it didn't belong.
For several years, the tribe has issued green cards to people of White Earth ancestry who do not have enough Indian blood in them to qualify for membership in the tribe. The green card allows them to hunt and fish on reservation land under tribal rules, but the state Department of Natural Resources has been ticketing people using tribal green cards without a state hunting license.
Buckanaga insists his tribe has the right to issue the cards, and this is the third straight year the DNR has hassled the tribe over the issue.
"Now, we have an issue that shouldn't be an issue. The state should stay the hell out of our business," he said. "It perturbs me that we have to have and adversarial relationship with the government constantly."
Red Lake's Whitefeather said they have a similar problem occurring in the Northwest Angle, a piece of Minnesota land that juts into Lake of the Woods, but is surrounded by Canadian territory.
For seven years, the tribe has fought the DNR over who has authority of the area's natural resources.
After a lengthy discussion, the tribal leaders urged MIAC Executive Director Joe Day to take more active role in establishing a more equal relationship with the state.
And the tribal leaders also agreed they needed to stop accepting the unequal relationship and educate state leaders of the sovereign status of the Indian tribes.
Whitefeather said the meeting between Gov. Jesse Ventura and the tribal chairs at the governor's mansion in September was a good start. Now the state needs to do more.
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