My son Jim’s job as a Cultural
Specialist was eliminated by the Reservation Business Committee. The
letter stating this said: "Recently a decision was made to
eliminate the Cultural Specialist position." It further states:
"As you are aware, we have had a difficult time defining your
scope of work in the context of our current Resource Management
department. It has become apparent the type of work you do is best
handled under a personal services contract that focuses on specific
cultural activities. The Band recognizes your commitment to
preserving the culture and sharing your knowledge with the community.
I have received many good reports about your work and you can be
proud of all you have achieved over the past two years. We value the
unique experiences you have to offer."
This was a polite way of firing him
since they had no grounds to justify a firing. In my opinion he was
treated like, (as the old saying goes) a redheaded stepchild. He
would ask for tools to do his job like a shovel or ax. His boss
Reggie Defoe, would tell him to borrow one somewhere since there was
no money in the budget. He was given the runaround on every thing he
asked for to do his job. In spite of the bureaucratic swamp he worked
in, he was able to build various camps through various seasons for
two years. He set up fishing camps, maple sugar camps, and manoomin
camps to show people how the Anishinaabe used the natural resources
around them. His last manoomin camp at Perch Luke was a success with
over 1,000 visitors. Sadly, only one member of the RBC came to the
camp to see what he was doing, it was Kevin Dupuis, the Brookston
Representative.
With the above topic in mind, my
wife and I have agreed not to work on this year’s language camp for
the Band.
Just coincidentally we heard the
Reservation was going to create a language and cultural resources
division. We saw one proposed budget for this new division and
learned the Director and Assistant Director would be each paid
$80,000 in salary and fringe benefits. The total budget for the
Division was $213,000. There was no mention of a language table or a
language camp in the proposed budget. People should contact the
Reservation at 218-879-4593 to see if there is going to be a language
camp at Kiwenz campground this coming summer or anytime in the
future.
This is being written on December
26th so it is time for my annual anti-Christmas rant. I believe
Christmas is used as an assimilation tool. Christmas is used to make
us forget we are Anishinaabe and turn us into brown-skinned American
consumers. It seems to have worked quite well. Instead of saying or
writing Christmas I shall use the word Assimilation.
We didn’t attend this year’s Elders
Assimilation Party at the Black Bear Casino. Last year I complained
about a Catholic nun praying for the food at the feast. I thought the
party planners should have found an OJibwe language speaker to pray
for the food since Ojibwe is the Official Language of the
Reservation. They brought the nun back again this year to pray for
the food proving how much they wanted Americans to like them. We
weren’t there so we couldn’t sign up for the Assimilation Basket
drawings. We didn’t get to wish anyone Merry Assimilation, didn’t
have to get an Assimilation tree or Assimilation presents to put
under it. It was difficult to get through December without hearing
Assimilation songs. I am glad we didn’t have to put up Assimilation
lights around the roof of the house.
This isn’t Bah Humbug, this is Bah
Assimilation.
As it stands right now I shall be
jetting to Budapest, Hungary during the first week of February. Here
is a little back story, some years back a man named Gabor came to
Sawyer on the Fond du Lac Reservation to learn about the Anishinaabe
people. It was the sugar bush time of the year so we put him to work
collecting sap and helping with boiling it down to syrup. He
translated some of my poems into Hungarian. In the following years
Gabor created a manuscript using my poetry that was published. The
book is now out and I have been asked by the US State Department to
travel to Hungary for a week in a cultural exchange program. I said
yes. I only know two words in Hungarian, one is Buda and the other
one isn’t. I am sure I will know a lot more by the time I come back
to the Fond du Lac Reservation.
I only need 13 words to make this a
complete Fond du Lac Follies Column.
The views expressed in this column
belong to the writer alone. They are not meant to represent this
newspaper, this Reservation, the RBC, or Gabor Gyukics, or anyone
else. Comments and bingo packs can be sent to FdL Follies, PO Box 16,
Sawyer, MN 55780-0016 email: jimnorthrupfdl@gmail.com, Facebook
name: Jim Northup.
