OCTOBER 2015


24


You see a lot of fans dressed up really gaudy—they take turkey feathers, and paint their faces in green and gold and other colors to make a mockery of the ceremonies that we have. At a lot of ceremonies, when somebody’s gone to the spirit world [meaning they have passed away], they’ll put paint on the person just to have a good spirit journey and to be identifi ed. … It’s hurtful, to see somebody making a mockery out of our beliefs.”


The importance of cultural and spiritual renewal


“There was a federal policy against [practicing native ceremonies]. Anybody found participating in these so-called ceremonies were punished by withholding


of rations. The


very fi rst [policies] were in the 1800s—in 1874 came the banishment of the language in the Indian schools. But fi rst came the banishment of the ceremonies. And one of the last acts, when they couldn’t kill us all, then the boarding school


was their last campaign. They took kids—over 110,000 kids were taken that fi rst year. I was one of those that were rounded up … I was four and a half years old. I was taken to a boarding school 300 miles away. I didn’t see [my parents] for six years.“ “The total return and recall of our cultures is on the front burner right now. Immersion schools, language schools, art schools. As a matter of fact, there’s a white school in Remer, Minnesota, where they are teaching the Ojibwa language. ... So these white kids are


learning the language. So I see some dramatic changes coming about in the school systems. I think that’s where we’re going to tackle racism—we need to stay in the school system and do it.”


“I think with the emphasis on drugs I’m going to ask for major changes from whatever program that we start, that it be culturally based. And that it be spiritual. Those two things I


believe are so important


in recovering some of our children. I want us to go to another level.”


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