Mine begins with an invitation to a Chippewa round dance in Great Falls. The day started with a meeting of lateral descendants of Chief Rocky Boy, gathered to discuss tribal disenrollment.
Glen Gopher was one of the first to speak. He stood in front of Chief Rocky Boy's relatives and listed the grievances felt by many in the room, families not recognized as citizens of the Chippewa-Cree Tribe in northern Montana.
The chief arrived in Montana, reportedly from Wisconsin. He searched for land for several hundred of his followers. And in 1916, a congressional executive order set aside land for “Rocky Boy's Band of Chippewa” and “other homeless Indians,” who turned out to be mostly Cree from Canada.
Rocky Boy died in 1916 before the reservation was officially created by Congress. Leadership on the reservation fell to Little Bear, a Cree.
The 1909 enrollment list showed 120 of Rocky Boy's band members. In 1917, Indian inspector James McLaughlin sought a new list of tribal enrollees. When the new census was completed, two-thirds of Rocky Boy's band had been taken off the enrollment list, with as few as 45 Chippewa from the 1909 rolls showing up.
Today, the Chippewa have an insignificant presence on the reservation, where the Cree are the dominant force in culture and politics.
While the displaced and disenrolled Chippewa families haven't made headlines, disenrollment stories have become national stories in some of the country's biggest media markets.
The New York Times and NBC-4 TV in Los Angeles have reported on disenrolled Cherokee Freedmen in Oklahoma and ousted citizens of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in Temecula, Calif.
The Cherokee recently voted on whether the Freedmen - former slaves who lived side-by-side with the Cherokee - could be considered tribal citizens. The tribe voted to change its constitution to recognize only Cherokee who had relatives on the “blood” list, not the Freedmen list.
The Freedmen and supporters have called the decision racist, saying the Cherokee refuse to recognize Freedmen because they're black.
Tribal status is important. It gives members health and education benefits, a sense of belonging and voting rights. And in some cases, tribal citizens receive a per-capita payment. It's mostly the casino-rich tribes that make these payouts.
NBC4-TV recently aired a piece about disenrollments in the Pechanga Tribe, where 220 have been kicked off the tribal rolls. Some previously had been receiving as much as $20,000 a month from the Pechanga government, a benefit from a tribe-owned casino.
“Thousands of Indians are being kicked out of tribes,” the TV reporter said in her broadcast. “Critics say it's more about greed than anything else. The tribes say it's about preserving their lineage.”
But the real question is: Whose money and lineage is at stake, the tribes or individuals?
The reporter failed to say the Pechanga Tribe has voluntarily given some $10 million to charitable groups in the past seven years. And it has contributed millions more in revenue sharing to nongaming tribes in California.
Said Pechanga tribal chairman Mark Macarro: “The integrity of tribal citizenship has nothing to do with gaming or money.”
“In fact, disenrollments occurred at Pechanga long before we ever had a casino. Governments need the ability to correct past errors to protect the integrity of their citizenry; that is what Pechanga did.”
But many of the news stories fail to provide viewers with historical context.
Take the New York Times editorial, “An Unjust Expulsion,” that followed a story on the Freedmen.
“The Cherokee Nation's decision to revoke the tribal citizenship of about 2,800 descendants of slaves once owned by the tribe is a moral low point in modern Cherokee history and places the tribe in violation of a 140-year-old federal treaty and several court decisions.
“The Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has been curiously silent, should bring the Cherokee government into compliance with the law and require it to restore the tribal rights of the expelled members.”
The writer was apparently oblivious to the U.S. government's history of violating treaties. Also, the freed slaves in question were also owned by whites. Furthermore, tribes are complying with the law, as most of them operate tribal governments under the federally authorized 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. Also, a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court tribal enrollment decision asserted a tribe's right to decide who does, or does not, belong.
Back to Montana.
The disenrolled families of the Chippewa-Cree aren't seeking $20,000 monthly payments. Nor are they being questioned of their blood line. Most of all, they represent a classic example of tribes' historic willingness to accept - or reject - people in their community.
Glen Gopher and his siblings were born to Chippewa parents. Even though they aren't enrolled with their own tribe, the neighboring Blackfeet Nation accepted them onto their tribal rolls. And the Chippewa-Cree would do so, too, but like the Cherokee Nation, the final decision would rest with voters.
The displaced Chippewa - many of whom descend from Chief Rocky Boy's brother, Charlie Chippewa - aren't looking for a fight. They just want to be welcomed home.
Jodi Rave covers Native issues for the Missoulian. Reach her at (406) 523-5299 or jodi.rave@lee.net.
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