MPR Archive presents a collection of varied Native topics in and around Minnesota. Stories include interviews, commentary, events, speeches, documentaries, and reports.
February 27, 1998 - MPR’s Cara Hetland reports on 25th anniversary of Wounded Knee, a 72 day stand-off between members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and the tribal and federal governments. Some regard the incident at Wounded Knee in western South Dakota as the beginning of an era of increased Indian activism; others see it as the end to progress on the reservation.
March 2, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger profiles the Red Lake Warriors, who after a tragedy, are regrouping and preparing for another run at the state title.
April 1, 1998 - MPR's Bob Kelleher reports from Duluth, where one of the Ojibwe Bands that had staked its fortunes on a casino at Hudson, Wisconsin is now struggling under a new financial crisis. Northern Wisconsin's Red Cliff Band was one of three whose joint application to build a new Casino near Minnesota's border was rejected by Interior Department Secretary Bruce Babbitt, triggering a federal investigation. The Red Cliff Band has declared a state of emergency after discovering a huge shortfall of cash intended to support social programs. Now it is trying to keep services in place.
April 16, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio's Leif Enger speaks with Mille Lacs Band member Vince Merrill about gillnetting, the warrior society, and whether tradition can survive as written law.
April 16, 1998 - Marge Anderson, chief executive of the Mille Lacs Ojibwe Band, comments on treaty rights. She says her nation has waited a long time for the word "sovereign" to gain meaning.
April 17, 1998 - As part of Mainstreet Radio’s Treaty Rights and Tribal Sovereignty series, Catherine Winter presents report on the concept called tribal sovereignty, and a look at the where this complex set of rules comes from, and how it affects Indian people today. Report includes various interviews with tribe members.
April 21, 1998 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from Mille Lacs Indian Museum, highlighting Indian treaty rights and Native American sovereignty. Rachel Reabe interviews Don Wedll, Commissioner of Natural Resources for the Mill Lacs Band of Ojibwe; Doug Sam, tribal elder; and Henry Van Offelen, treaty biologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Group discussion includes spearfishing topic and answering audience/listener questions.
April 21, 1998 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from Mille Lacs Indian Museum, highlighting Indian treaty rights and Native American sovereignty. Rachel Reabe interviews Henry Buffalo, a Minneapolis attorney, sovereignty expert, and member Red Cliff Band of Ojibwe; Chief Tribal Judge Mary Jo Brooks Hunter, of Ho chunk Tribe; and Jim Genia, solicitor general for the Mille Lacs band of Ojibwe. Discussion topic is tribal sovereignty and how the rules are different on the reservation.
May 19, 1998 - MPR’s Chris Roberts profiles Native American blues band, Indigenous.
May 21, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio's Catherine Winter reports on Cass Lake-Bena school district, a small district on the Leech Lake Reservation that has struggled with racial tension for years. The district is trying to serve its Native students better, but the case is still not settled.