American Indians and reserves (Dakota: sales, credit, cinema)

[Auntie Bob]

Originally Posted by Newbauer

It's stupid though... no race should get more rights than others. I'm for MN building a state casino, and I hope it puts the indian ones out of business. It'll be funny!!!!!!

As bad as Government screws up most things they do, you want them running a casino?
Frankly, I think the casinos are great for the Indians. Our Rez here has never looked better and everyone from there that wants a job, has one.
I never want to go back to where the Rez looks like a dump and all the people are unemployed.

[MidniteBreeze]

Open vs. Closed reservations:

With the exception of Red Lake, all reservations in Minnesota are "open", meaning you need to think of the land more as a "patchwork" with some tribal land here, some private land there, etc. We live near the Leech Lake Rez and there are plenty of non-Natives who live and/or own property within the "boundary" of the Rez (lots of wealthier white folks who own lakefront vacation homes and that sort of thing). Most of the Native people live in certain Native-majority communties located on the Rez. Some of these communties are actual towns with businesses, etc., while some are more like rural "villages", often in the form of government housing and/or trailers. As others have said, if you're just driving through on the public highway, you may not even know you're there.

On the other hand, all of the land within the Red Lake Reservation boundaries is owned by the Native people and non-Natives are not allowed to live there. Non-Natives are also not allowed to hunt or fish there unless they have permission from the tribe. (On the open reservations, hunting/fishing rules are the same as anywhere throughout the state.) Non-Natives can TRAVEL through the Red Lake Rez on the public highways, go to the casino, etc, but that's pretty much it. Some non-Natives do work there (i.e., in the school district) but again, they are not allowed to live there.

Yes, there are cultural events (pow-wows, drumming, etc.) that are open to the public. There are also Native-only ceremonies and events, but if you're not Native, you wouldn't know about them anyway.

[Eurogal]

Thank you MidniteBreeze,
That's was the kind of explanations I was looking for.
A few weeks after coming to MN, I went for a tour of the Fond du lac reservation and found nothing particular.

Now, my question is:
How native Americans and non-native coexist? I see American Indians on the street, I share some places/activities where some of them come to but I cannot figure out how actually all people live together.
Like, with so many "tribal" this and "tribal" that: schools, tv programs, colleges, pharmacy, medical care... Do you actually feel like you live in unity altogether or there is like 2 worlds that coexist but rarely mingle?

[MorningGlory]

Originally Posted by Newbauer

There really isn't alot of areas like that. Way up north maybe, otherwise just around the casinos like Mystic Lake. It's stupid though... no race should get more rights than others. I'm for MN building a state casino, and I hope it puts the indian ones out of business. It'll be funny!!!!!!

Yeah right. Apparently you missed American history 101.

Apparently stealing an entire nation and commiting centuries of genocide is not enough for some people!!!!

[MidniteBreeze]

Originally Posted by Eurogal

Thank you MidniteBreeze,
That's was the kind of explanations I was looking for.
A few weeks after coming to MN, I went for a tour of the Fond du lac reservation and found nothing particular.

Now, my question is:
How native Americans and non-native coexist? I see American Indians on the street, I share some places/activities where some of them come to but I cannot figure out how actually all people live together.
Like, with so many "tribal" this and "tribal" that: schools, tv programs, colleges, pharmacy, medical care... Do you actually feel like you live in unity altogether or there is like 2 worlds that coexist but rarely mingle?

Overall, I would say that it's more like two coexisting worlds as opposed to a united community, especially up here where most of the Native population is concentrated on the reservations. As you mentioned, they have their own tribal government, social service agencies, healthcare facilities, schools, etc. Of course Native people are just as entitled as anyone else to use any of the public services, schools, etc. that the rest of us do, but the reservations often offer them another set of "Native-centric" choices. For example, I work in a public school district that serves part of the Leech Lake Rez. Native kids who live in our district are entitled to attend our schools just like anyone else, but some opt to go to the tribal K-12 school. Same thing with college. Some students go on to "regular" colleges and universities, but some choose to go to one of the tribal colleges. (BTW, you don't have to be Native to go to the tribal college--at least not the ones I know about--though Native students are the majority. Most other reservation services, however, are only available to Native people.)

Of course within every group there are individual variations as far as "assimilation" goes. Some Native people have accepted the "dominant" culture and their "Native-ness" isn't a big factor in their lives. Some sort of straddle both worlds and do what they need to in order to succeed in the "white" world while still holding on to their Native identity and traditions. Still others sort of withdraw from the "white" world and choose to interact with it as little as possible (kind of a marginalized learned helplessness, I suppose). Then there are some "activist" types..a few of these might be considered "militant" while others may use more conventional means (i.e., education, politics and law) to fight those things they find oppressive in the dominat culture.

As far as the prevailing "white" perspective on Natives (again, there's always going to be individual variation), I think the general feeling is that mistrust, misunderstanding and a lot of times, fear. This can range from outright racism to people who are well-intentioned/curious but afraid of offending, thus they err on the side of non-interaction.

Sadly, I see a lot of missed opportunities for what could really be a wonderful cultural exchange. My husband worked at the Leech Lake Tribal College for a while and we have become good friends with some Native people he worked with, but I think we're in the minorty...you really don't see many Natives and non-Natives "hanging out" together like we do. The first time we had a get-together at our house with our Native friends and some of our white friends, it took a little while for our white friends to let go of some of the stereotypes they had about Native people....they just weren't used to the idea that there ARE articulate, educated Native American people out there.

Anyway, that's just my .02 based on my (non-Native) experience and observation.

[Ketzalitzli]

I had NO idea that non-natives were allowed to live and buy land on "open" reservations.. I found it disturbing! The reservations are the little of whats left of the entire continent that used to belong to First Nations people and yet, now even that is bought piece by piece.. its quite sad to me..

[Auntie Bob]

Originally Posted by Ketzalitzli

I had NO idea that non-natives were allowed to live and buy land on "open" reservations.. I found it disturbing! The reservations are the little of whats left of the entire continent that used to belong to First Nations people and yet, now even that is bought piece by piece.. its quite sad to me..

I don't know about everywhere but here, the land on the reservation was sold to whites a very long time ago. These days, when a parcel of reservation land goes on the market, the reservation itself is usually the one to purchase it.
The land on reservations was at one time deeded to the individuals or families that lived there, much like the whites homesteaded land. If they chose to sell their land, that was their right.

[MidniteBreeze]

Originally Posted by Auntie Bob

I don't know about everywhere but here, the land on the reservation was sold to whites a very long time ago. These days, when a parcel of reservation land goes on the market, the reservation itself is usually the one to purchase it.
The land on reservations was at one time deeded to the individuals or families that lived there, much like the whites homesteaded land. If they chose to sell their land, that was their right.

Yes, I believe that's the way it is here as well. (Individual Native people selling their land to white people, usually a long time ago.)

I'm not sure about this, but I think Red Lake opted to own their land "communally", thus individual members weren't allowed to "sell out".

[Minnehahapolitan]

Originally Posted by Newbauer

There really isn't alot of areas like that. Way up north maybe, otherwise just around the casinos like Mystic Lake. It's stupid though... no race should get more rights than others. I'm for MN building a state casino, and I hope it puts the indian ones out of business. It'll be funny!!!!!!

Yeah, watching American Indians die of alcoholism and diabetes on the Reservation sure makes me giggle. Watching them try to pay for college without casino revenues, well thats hilarious. You must be a very funny person, or disgustingly naive. It doesn't matter, the end-result is the same.

[newcastle]

I grew up near the Fond du Lac Indian reservation near Cloquet and I am actually excited to see the changes to the reservation. They have a new school, medical clinic, a very successful community college, and are building a monster of a new casino off I-35. As far as Fond du Lac, the reservation is also a patchwork of land owenership between natives and whites.

As far as the Duluth-Cloquet Area, Duluth has a small population of American Indians living in the city. The YWCA is refurbishing 26 rooms for low income housing for American Indians. It still appears that there is a huge uphill battle to level the playing field economically for American Indians in this part of the country.

The College of St. Scholastica has a strong Ojibwe Language and Culture Program which works with a linguistic program in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. My high school even offered Ojibwe as a language option. There has been talk of building some sort of American Indian heritiage center in the Duluth area. I haven't heard mouch more about that in the last few years.

After living in Seattle, it is plain to see that Native language, art and culture are appreciated much more out there than back here,just my opinion. The Vancouver, BC area has a magnificent museum devoted to First Nation art and culture. It was awesome.