A Legacy of Broken Promises

NOT LONG AGO THE WISCONSIN state motto was changed from "Escape to Wisconsin" to "You're Among Friends." To a member of one of the 11 Indian tribes there, however, these words have a peculiar ring. During the past few years, for example, the simple act of "Goin' fishin'" -- popular with many people and practiced by the Chippewa before non-Indians came to what is now Wisconsin -- has meant putting your life on the line.

Spearfishing stories dominate the Wisconsin media every spring. John Benson, a Chippewa spearer of walleye and muskie, puts his boat in to fish, like 10 generations of spearers before him. More than a thousand people are out this night yelling racial slurs at him. He feels the steel ball bearings shot from wrist rockets hitting him; he hopes that the really big rocks won't.

Benson manages to keep his balance as non-Indians in motorboats try to swamp his fishing craft. Others are dragging anchors through where he is fishing. He knows his family is on the shore, and he can hear people calling them "timber niggers."

He tries not to look at the signs that say "Spear an Indian, Save a Walleye" and "Equal Rights not Treaty Rights." He hopes his children don't notice the effigy of an Indian mounted on a spear, carried like a banner by a bearded non-Indian in a plaid jacket. And he hopes the 200 deputies out that night are enough to keep everyone safe. He doesn't feel that he is "among friends." Six of the 11 tribes in Wisconsin are Chippewa. In treaty agreements signed in 1837 and 1842, the Chippewa ceded large tracts of land to the federal government, retaining some homelands, called reservations, and retaining the right to hunt, fish, and gather on all lands within the ceded territory. The northern third of Wisconsin, called ceded territory, is covered by these treaties. These rights were upheld by the Supreme Court in 1983 when it was apparent that the state had for years enforced its own laws on the tribes without the jurisdiction to do so.

Harvesting fish in the spring by the Chippewa is done by standing up in a boat and spearing them. The fishers spear at night using lights to see the fish, and the catch is then shared among tribal members. Chippewa fishers take approximately 3 percent of the walleye and muskie in Wisconsin each year.

STOREKEEPERS AND MILL WORKERS, politicians and housewives, northern media editors and school principals deny that racism motivates much of the anti-Indian activity.

They say it is not an issue of racism, that it is the method of fishing or spearing that makes them angry. Others say it is not racism but the economics of tourism that they are concerned about. Still others say it is not racism but the lack of education that is the problem. At least one of the protest groups claims it isn't racism, but that it's a matter of equal rights or, in this case, equal fish for everybody.

Someone once said, "When in Wisconsin you have to understand: There isn't racism north of Highway 29." You don't use the "R" word in northern Wisconsin.

However, Quincy Dadisman, a retired reporter from The Milwaukee Sentinel, the state's largest circulation newspaper, says, "When I stood at a boat landing one night and heard the gunshots, and a rock the size of a melon landed between me and the person I was interviewing, I came to recognize racism."

Education, the solution proposed by some, is woefully lacking in Wisconsin in terms of teaching about the culture, history, and sovereignty of Native Americans. Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, who vetoed previous attempts to increase state assistance to Indian community schools from $110 per pupil to $185 per pupil, now has the same proposal on his desk awaiting his signature. It would be the first increase in 11 years, and it would cost the state $47,300 annually. The state has a surplus of $329 million.

In 1979 the legislature passed a bill to teach Native American history and culture in the public schools. School boards successfully lobbied to make it a voluntary program, saying that most school boards were concerned and would take advantage of the option. Since that time only four out of 460 school districts opted for the program. Those four were Indian schools. The legislature has now passed a bill to make the program mandatory, but the funding was cut first from $800,000 to $600,000 and then, through the successful lobbying of a state senator from northern Wisconsin, cut again to $300,000.

School districts in Wisconsin have had several serious racial incidents against Native American students. The Crandon school district had to close two days last year because Indian parents pulled their children from school when pictures, posters, and T-shirts displaying anti-Indian slogans were displayed. In Park Falls a senior told a group of clergy gathered for a prayer service that classmates are going out to "yell at the Indians" for fun on prom night. In Wausau a young Chippewa had his car dismantled after school as classmates yelled racial slurs. He has transferred to live with his grandmother on the reservation.

In 1984 an ad hoc task force of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights held hearings on the reports of escalating racism against Native Americans and issued a report. It found that the racism being exhibited was considerable, widespread, and accepted as a norm by the larger society. In 1989, more hearings were held and the report, issued in February 1990, was even more disturbing.

"TREATY BEER, " CALLED "BIGOT BEER" by those who are boycotting it, is a visible symbol of racism. The label displays a fish on a spear and carries the phrase "True brew of the working man." It is being marketed in Washington state, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Two previous boycott attempts were successful, but promoter Dean Crist, a businessperson in the city of Minocqua and leader of the local organization Stop Treaty Abuse (STA), has found a new brewer, Dixie Brewing in New Orleans. The profits from the beer are used to lobby Congress to abrogate the treaties.

Posters advertising the "First Annual Indian Shoot" have been found in local bars and on bulletin boards of other businesses. It allocates points for shooting Indians. "Plain" Indians are worth five points, while Indian trial lawyers are worth 100 points. It is advertised as being open to all taxpaying residents of Wisconsin, with a note that blacks, Hmongs, Cubans, and those on welfare are not eligible.

Ed Bearheart, a St. Croix tribal council member, sees all of these issues as an attack on a culture, a way of life. The issue isn't fish, or gambling, or education, or the economy; it is a different perception about what is important and a lack of respect for any culture except the dominant one.

Bearheart says, "The attacks on our sovereignty and treaties are really attacks on our way of life, our way of viewing things. The environment is critical to our being. The same tactics to separate us from our resources and land are being used in Brazil, Alaska, and elsewhere. It's really racism, with many different names and faces."

Crist, one of the primary public forces here, was quoted in The Wisconsin State Journal on January 14, 1990, as saying, "You know, I was listening to David Duke [the Klansman elected to Louisiana legislature and former Populist Party presidential candidate] speak the other day, and he was good, very good ... What he was saying was the same stuff we have been saying. It was like he might have been reading it from STA literature." Crist does not heed pleas from law enforcement officials, the governor, area members of Congress, or the area Chambers of Commerce to keep his people away from the boat landings.

A second, less militant group, Protect American Rights and Resources (PARR), just voted to let members use their judgment about protesting at the landings and instead is holding daytime rallies. Both STA and PARR are members of a national anti-treaty umbrella organization in Big Arm, Montana called Citizens Equal Rights Alliance. Its purpose is to lobby Congress to change the treaties.

Locally, however, members of these organizations do more than lobby. More than 200 people were arrested at anti-treaty rallies in 1989. Dean Crist was arrested six times and fined three times for disorderly conduct. In another case an offender received a $50 fine, which included court costs, and remarked, "I've never had so much fun for $50."

THE ISSUES IN WISCONSIN ARE FAR more complex than the simplified rhetoric of the public debate, and the furor is not about fish. Prevailing attitudes and power structures are being challenged, and politicians are very nervous. Innumerable actors and agendas are present on the stage -- a stage that has drawn national and international attention.

Politicians at every level want the "Indian issue" to go away. But after six years of escalating strife, almost all of them realize that it hasn't and won't. Local and state officials blame the federal government for the "Indian problem" here. Federal officials point out that Wisconsin has jurisdiction over certain activities and crimes in Indian country and must solve the problem itself.

In March 1989 every member of the 11-member Wisconsin congressional delegation signed a letter to the Chippewa Tribal Chairs, which said in part, "... members of the congressional delegation will certainly have to take into account the tribes' lack of cooperation and their lack of sensitivity when assessing tribal requests for federal grants and projects." Not surprisingly, the tribes considered this a threat.

The letter was followed by introduction of H.J.R. 261 that would "interpret and implement the provisions of the treaties" in a way that was "more equitable." Actually, passage of H.J.R. 261 would cut the Chippewa fish harvest by 90 percent.

While Congress has the power to abrogate treaties unilaterally, precedent and simple decency have so far precluded it from doing so. Notwithstanding that, Rep. James Sensennbrenner (R-Wis.), at the urging of local officials, introduced legislation to abrogate the off-reservation hunting, fishing, and gathering rights of all Indian tribes in Wisconsin.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, chair of the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, recently came to Wisconsin at the invitation of the governor to help negotiate a settlement and restore peace. Inouye suggested that former Washington state governor Daniel Evans be appointed by the president to be a federal observer at the boat landings this spring. STA opposes Evans because of his involvement in peaceful conflict resolution after similar situations occurred in Washington over fishing rights.

Inouye also commissioned an independent report of the situation by two University of Wisconsin-Madison law professors, both experts in American Indian law and history. That report, released on April 23, 1990, criticized Gov. Tommy Thompson for fueling the treaty rights conflict by repeatedly saying "he sees no sign of racism in the protests of northern Wisconsin. "

The report cites several examples of racism within the anti-treaty movement and states that Thompson's frequent meetings with the leadership of STA and PARR give them legitimacy. Thompson's April 24 phone call to STA leader Dean Crist, for example, caused Crist to call off a planned civil disobedience action when Thompson promised to fly to Washington, D.C. to meet with Inouye and present the protesters' case.

Thompson, up for re-election this year, has been trying to stamp out brush fires on this issue for the last three years. During his election campaign in 1986, he even made his opposition to the treaties part of his platform. Now, as the courts determine how the rights will be exercised and resources divided, the governor has urged the protesters not to do anything that "might be interpreted as racist, because it could hinder our court case."

"Crisis management" is the best way to describe the approach of both the Republican governor and the legislature, which is controlled by Democrats. To say there is no consistent, comprehensive, positive policy on how to work with the tribes in Wisconsin would be an understatement. Official recognition of tribal sovereignty has not even entered the discussion.

Meanwhile, northern county officials prompted the Wisconsin Counties Association to organize a meeting in Salt Lake City in February, with delegations of county officials from other states that had "Indian problems." The stated purpose of the meeting was to form a coalition of states whose county delegations would press Congress to "modify" the treaties. Thompson sent his representative, Exxon lobbyist-on-leave James Klauser, ostensibly to "listen and learn."

When the tribes learned of the meeting, Indians from 10 different states picketed the site, the Montana delegation walked out, the Utah governor repudiated the meeting, and great turmoil erupted over who would and would not be seated. A subsequent meeting in Salt Lake City, attended by 25 tribes from around the country, resulted in a mutual aid pact between the tribes against efforts to erode treaty rights.

THE ISSUE GENERATING THE MOST concern in this Wisconsin standoff is who controls the natural resources, both on the reservations and on the lands ceded by treaty -- and not just Chippewa treaties but others as well. There is a behind-the-scenes battle going on over management and access to mineral rights, timber rights, water rights, and fish and game rights. Corporate interests seem to be a major factor in the controversy, with the treaty issues being used as a means of getting at the resources.

Exxon, Kennecott, Amax, Kerr-McGee, Chevron, Amoco, and Western Nuclear have leased more than 500,000 acres in northern Wisconsin alone, where uranium, copper, and zinc lie just below the surface on many reservation or ceded lands. Kennecott's proposed open-pit copper mine on the Flambeau River in Wisconsin, for example, and the state's effort to lease the treaty rights, seem like more than coincidental occurrences to many.

In 1985 an alliance of environmentalists and Indians prompted Exxon to delay plans to open a mine after the Sokoakan Chippewa band asserted that Exxon fencing of land promised to them in an 1854 treaty was illegal occupation and interfered with their fishing, gathering of wild rice, and trapping. The companies are not unaware that courts have consistently found that treaty Indians have an "environmental right to fishing habitat."

One local government, in an effort to stop a mining project in its community in northern Wisconsin, passed a moratorium against mining, only to be overruled in court. For environmentalists, it seems that the treaties may be the best tool for saving the resources.

The designated guardian of the resources, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) -- also cited in the Inouye report for contributing to the crisis -- has not gained the trust of environmentalists or the tribes. At a conference attended by tribes, legislators, environmentalists, and DNR officials, personnel from the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission in Washington presented their story of how the fisheries there have been improved through a "co-management" arrangement.

Frank Boyle, one of the Wisconsin legislators to visit Washington to see the program firsthand, and a few others are strong advocates for co-management. However, George Meyer of the DNR states flatly, "Wisconsin will never agree to co-management. Cooperative management, coordinated management, perhaps, but co-management ... never."

Timber interests, with strong ties to the lumber and paper industry, also have a vested interest in co-management. The Wisconsin paper industry, which uses tons of pulpwood from the forests, is one of the largest in the world. If the tribes have a say in timber management and, under the next phase of court allocations, are allowed to harvest timber on the public lands in northern Wisconsin, it will mean not only a sharing of resources for the companies but a different philosophy of forest management.

The Menominee Tribe, not covered under the Chippewa treaties, has already proven its ability to manage its timber resources well and in an environmentally sound way. If the Chippewa begin timbering, and co-management practices are used, the northern counties will feel the impact. Huge tracts of county forest land there are now leased to logging companies and paper mills for a substantial profit.

The difference in philosophy over resource management is evident. Tribes want to preserve the resources for future generations, while the U.S. Forest Service and the DNR have been more responsive to the economics of the timber and tourist interests. A logger that I met in a coffee shop one day said, "You think there's trouble now. This will look like a Sunday school picnic [by comparison] if the Indians start logging. "

THE SIX CHIPPEWA TRIBES are the most visible targets of the latest round of "Indian bashing" in the state. Located on six reservations in northern Wisconsin, each governs itself. Their economics and relationships with their non-Indian neighbors vary. In most tribes there are two factions, a tribal council or governing body, and an opposition group -- quite similar to political parties in non-Indian politics.

The Lac du Flambeau Tribe, which does the most spearing and attracts the most attention, is very divided. There is a split between Tom Maulson, the most prominent spearer in Wisconsin, and the Lac du Flambeau tribal council. Maulson and a treaty support group called Wa-Swa-Gon helped defeat a "lease-out" agreement that was negotiated and favored by the tribal council.

The Attorney General of Wisconsin, on behalf of the state, had spent months negotiating the lease-out with the Lac du Flambeau band of Chippewa. The settlement would have given the Lac du Flambeau about $10 million in economic development provisions, a new school, and individual per capita payments for a 10-year period of time. In return the tribe would agree not to exercise its treaty rights for 10 years.

This "lease of rights" provision, voted down in October 1989 at the tribal referendum, is a new wrinkle in negotiations by the state. Previously, some "selling of rights" measures were suggested to another tribe. The issue was clouded by confusion over the actual terminology, and the Mole Lake Band of Chippewa voted that proposal down in 1988. State legislators have threatened to withhold state assistance for "Indian programs" if the Chippewa do not negotiate "in good faith."

The two tribal factions are again in disagreement over the policy of inviting supporters -- people who would counter the anti-Indian demonstrators -- to the boat landings. Mike Allen, tribal chair of the Lac du Flambeau, has, along with other Chippewa chairs, the governor, members of Congress, Chambers of Commerce, and law enforcement officials, urged everyone to stay away -- including supporters. Tom Maulson, who it was rumored last year had a $30,000 bounty placed on his head by supporters of STA, wants supporters to come to the landings. This year he was warned to wear a bulletproof vest.

More than 50 treaty support groups -- local, regional, and national -- have sprung up. Some are Indian, some are basically non-Indian. They have different ways of showing support for the treaties, ranging from producing educational materials, witnessing at the landings, running radio ads, holding prayer vigils, conducting letter-writing campaigns, doing public education about treaties, and sponsoring forums, rallies, and marches.

HONOR (Honor Our Neighbors' Origins and Rights), Midwest Treaty Support Network, Wa-Swa-Gon, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Madison Treaty Support Group, and Witness for Nonviolence are some of the major actors centered in Wisconsin. The American Indian Movement (AIM) from Minnesota and the Indian Treaty Support Committee from Chicago also have a significant presence in Wisconsin. Some groups take their cue from tribal governments, others are "movement people" who respond to needs as they see them. The groups have signed an accord to be mutually supportive and not be divided as they all support honoring the treaties.

Churches too are getting involved. Walt Bresette, a Red Cliff Chippewa activist and lecturer quipped, "Things are so bad in the north that Unitarians are burning question marks on their lawns."

Both the Wisconsin Conference of Churches and the Wisconsin Catholic Conference have issued statements that recognize the legal status of the treaties, oppose the violence, and call for peace. Bishops and judicatory leaders of most major denominations wrote a joint pastoral letter denouncing the racism and calling for peace at the boat landings.

Some parishioners, especially those in the north, are angry that their pastors and bishops are getting involved, but Episcopal Bishop William Wantland of Eau Claire, himself a Seminole Indian, says, "Justice is always a concern of the religious community, and this is a matter of justice." Some pastors who can be removed by a vote of their congregation feel threatened. One minister said, "Look, the big givers in my church are PARR members, and [I feel] I must say I agree with them." At an ecumenical retreat for religious leaders last December, treaties and sovereignty were the number-one issues.

Joe Bresette, a Red Cliff Chippewa and executive director of the Great Lakes Indian Tribal Council, says, "I don't know who is in charge of the moral attitudes in this country, but someone needs to address how people act."

This spring for the first time, the Chambers of Commerce of northern Wisconsin have spoken out. Eleven chambers have issued a statement recognizing treaties and asking people to stay away from boat landings.

WITH THE MEDIA GIVING much-needed attention to the Chippewa spearfishing controversy, the problems of the other five tribes in Wisconsin should also be highlighted.

- The Potawatami are trying to place in trust two parcels of land in Milwaukee for an Indian community school, and for a bingo hall to fund the school. To do so, the Potawatami have cleared every legal and community hurdle and have in hand approvals from all appropriate local jurisdictions. However, two Milwaukee congressional representatives, Gerald Kleczka and Jim Moody, have intervened, insisting the decision be made by Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan. Ordinarily the regional office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs would handle the final decision.

- The Winnebago tribal chair, Gordon Thunder, is concerned about the overall impact on the tribes' relationship with state and federal legislators. He says, "Some of the things we are concerned about are national issues, the matter of religious freedom and preservation of sacred sites, for instance." The Winnebagos were involved recently in an effort to preserve a historical tribal mound site in Madison, where a developer wanted to build condominiums.

- Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Vice-Chair David Besaw, who is also administrator for his tribe's health services, says, "Threats by members of Congress and state legislators to cut off money for all tribes because they are upset with the Chippewa really concern us ... We have elders waiting for critical services."

- The Oneida Tribe is under attack by Brown and Outagamie counties, which have filed a lawsuit to disestablish the tribe and erase the reservation boundary lines. The Oneidas, who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to benefit the entire community by bringing museum exhibits and cultural programs to the area, are now being forced to spend money to defend themselves.

- The Menominee Tribe, along with a number of the other tribes, has forged separate gambling compacts with the state. New federal legislation requires tribal-state compacts to be bargained in good faith. Yet the Menominee finds itself caught in politics. Attorney General Hanaway represented the state in negotiating the gambling agreements. Then, after the Lac du Flambeau tribe voted down the proposed lease settlement, Hanaway issued an opinion saying that some of the provisions covered in negotiating gambling pacts with other tribes were illegal.

According to Bob Deer, member of the Menominee tribal legislature, another issue of tribal jurisdiction that looms on the horizon is over the navigable waters within the Menominee reservation boundaries. He says, "The state simply does not respect the sovereignty of the tribes. The animosity generated over the spearfishing of the Chippewa has threatened the treaty rights of all tribes because of negative attitudes at the highest levels of state government."

The uneasiness all the tribes feel is quite understandable. The ever-present bargaining table has been for centuries the place where more rights are given up, sold, or -- using the new wording -- "leased."

Sharon Metz was executive director of the Lutheran Human Relations Association of America in Milwaukee, a member of the HONOR steering committee, and a former Wisconsin state legislator when this article appeared.