Minnesota Politics: Red Lake

Sunday, January 01, 2006

There is a story today in the Star Tribune about the Red Lake reservation. For some reason, I just don't like the notion of a closed reservation.

At 6:13 AM, January 04, 2006, Anonymous said...: Whether or not you "like a closed reservation," the matter is not one for your choice. Check out the history of the Ojibway ("Chippewa") in Minnesota from 1850 to the onset of moderately humane treatment in approximately 1970. 120 years of extermination, deprivation, and cultural cleansing.
The Red Lake Band stuck together and fought off the Dawes Act of 1905 allotment process, retaining title to its land as a communal organization. They also made a conscious decision to reserve their reservation for themselves - which they were (and are) entitled to, as a semi-sovereign nation.
Go back to the basics, including the federal Constitution, and one realizes they were here first, they have independent rights, and they have the right to insist on keeping them meaningful.
-- Unlike so many of us, who seem to be satisfied with anything, just so long as the television set still works...

Sunday, January 01, 2006