MPR’s Kevin McKiernan reports on continued occupation of the Gresham Novitiate, which is in it’s in twentieth day. Issues and demands of Indians inside are starting to escalate. At this point, 350 National Guardsmen surround the abbey, and tensions remain high.
Possession of abbey appears as a vehicle for exposing problems seething for many years. In towns near the reservation, families supporting occupiers have had phones disconnected. There are numerous charges of racial prejudice. There is a public unease, racial epithets, and angry whites displaying guns, as Shono residents are mad at prolongation of takeover. A department store plays CB radios and John Birch literature is being sold at gas stations. Despite Alexians not wanting to press charges, DA says multiple prosecutions will be made.
The standoff remains with no word as to acceptance or rejection to sell for $700,000 in return for peaceful vacation of novitiate. Government office has not responded to the latest Warrior Society amnesty request.
Menominee Restoration Committee leader Ada Deer says, “We’re sensitive to the frustrations and tribal members in the novitiate. Working together is necessary, let’s not fight among ourselves. We need all the help we can get. This includes the Warrior Society and the American Indian Movement.”
Transcripts
text | pdf |
KEVIN MCKIERNAN: This is the 20th day of the occupation at the Gresham novitiate. And while a negotiated settlement of the takeover has seemed imminent since late last week, issues and demands of Menominee Indians inside and outside the Alexian Brothers monastery are starting to escalate.
At this point, 350 national guardsmen surround the abbey. Plans for an agreed upon sale of the property are in progress, but tensions still remain high, especially in the two towns near Gresham. In the reservation town of Keshena, six families supporting the occupiers have had their telephone service disconnected from their homes. The local telephone company claims the disconnections relate to payment problems. Menominee clients charge the phone company with racial prejudice.
In the nearby all white town of Shawano, the county seat near both Gresham, which borders the reservation and Keshena on the reservation, a volatile atmosphere continues to build. Public places like cafes are thick with talk of the occupation, racial epithets abound. At several open meetings in Shawano, angry whites displaying guns have vowed to storm the novitiate of, quote, "the National Guard doesn't clean those Indians out of there," unquote.
A white-owned print shop in Shawano has refused to accept print orders which bear the insignia of the American Indian Movement. AIM has announced the intention to file a civil lawsuit. In Shawano County alone, over 30 Indians have been arrested in the past two weeks by the Sheriff's Department. Not all the arrests are incident to the occupation itself.
Indian security advisor, Artley Skenandore, who the state has hired as chief Wisconsin mediator in the dispute, recently told me, quote, "Indians are free game. It's pretty easy to commit a violation right now," unquote.
Shawano citizens are enraged at what they feel is a prolongation of the takeover. A local judge requested the Justice Department to appoint six special prosecutors for assignment to the county district attorney for the large package of anticipated court trials. The request has been granted.
And despite the fact that the Alexians do not wish to press charges, the DA has announced that multiple prosecutions will be made in the takeover. Local residents in the area are following developments closely. Shoppers in a town department store can hear broadcasts of radio transmissions, both from the National Guard and from the abbey, received over citizen band frequencies and carried on the store's public address system.
John Birch literature entitled, Renegade, condemning the so-called militant Indians as communist dupes, is available at several gas stations in the community. While all these developments take place, there now emerges the strong voice of two Indian groups outside the surrounded abbey. The first is that of the Menominee Restoration Committee, a group trying to regain federal trust status for the tribe. That trust status was terminated 20 years ago when the relationship between the Menominees and the Bureau of Indian Affairs was severed.
Heading the restoration committee, which is seen basically as a reformist group, is 39-year-old Ada Deer. Ms. Deer, who participated in the move for retribalization begun in 1958, has condemned the novitiate occupation as something generated by anarchists and political malcontents. For the most part, she remained out of the limelight until her announced press conference Sunday. That conference took place in Shawano in a motel lobby where Khaki fatigue National Guard officers have a communications center established.
About 100 opponents of Ms. Deer's positions, as well as other curious onlookers, crowded around the National Guard desk. Her statement first attacked what she called the racism and judicial inequity in Shawano County. Then she attacked public law 280, the 1953 termination legislation, which she said took away self-determination from the tribe and forcibly imposed Wisconsin State jurisdiction.
The tribal leader pointed to these factors as roots of the monastery seizure. While not repeating her condemnation of the occupation itself, she failed to endorse it. And that failure was met by jeers and catcalls from the audience, many of whom carried signs saying, "save Menominee lives."
ADA DEER: Those of us in leadership positions in the tribe are aware of and are sensitive to the frustrations and the feelings of those tribal members who are in the novitiate. It is time for all tribes to examine their governmental structures to be certain that all tribal members are represented, from the youngest to the oldest.
We Menominees will address these issues as we draft our constitution and bylaws. As the members of our tribe leave the novitiate, we welcome their active participation and the governmental processes of the tribe. The MRC pledges itself to that goal.
Criticism is proper, but working together is necessary. Let's not fight among ourselves. We need all the help we can get. This includes the Warrior Society and the American Indian Movement. We will create a system built on Indian principles and ideas that will respond to the social, cultural, and legal problems we now face. All Indian people will understand me when I say respect your brother's vision.
KEVIN MCKIERNAN: It's obvious the issues and demands here have escalated. The possession of the Alexian Brothers estate more and more appears merely as a vehicle for exposing problems which have been seething beneath the surface for many years. On a strictly tactical level, in the monastery confrontation at this time, there has been little progress.
It's a standoff with no word from the Warrior Society inside the estate as to acceptance or rejection of the latest Alexian offer to sell the estate for $750,000 if the armed Indians peacefully vacate the premises. But Indian funds for purchase of the building have not materialized, nor are they assured for the purchase of that proposed health facility.
The Governor's Office has not formally responded to the latest warrior society demand of amnesty, amnesty for those involved in that seizure. Women and children were evacuated last Saturday from the building. A third National Guard unit has now been rotated into position surrounding the abbey, replacing the second contingent, which left last night.
At this point, all seems quiet in Gresham. In the surrounding communities, it is true that some factionalism within the Menominee tribe does exist. But it seems really only a disagreement as to methods, not goals. Near Gresham, Wisconsin, this is Kevin McKiernan.