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As part of KCCM's Our Home Town series, this program is a sound portrait of Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. Highlights discussion on acceptance within the community. Also includes interview with Carol Davis and other residents on what makes a place home; a mixture land forms, memories and names.

About Our Home Town series: KCCM Radio in Moorhead, in conjunction with the North Dakota Committee for the Humanities and Public Issues, produced a series of twenty-six half-hour programs that documented attitudes and character of life in five North Dakota communities (Strasburg, Belcourt, Mayville, Mott, and Dunn Center). The programs were produced as sound portraits with free-flowing sounds, voices and music, all indigenous

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I told him out in the South. I got the name. Her name c a day figure. The East part is a tail. They named dr. Sultan in shipway and out west I know I know torza North by Northwest about know that they call it the one that means that they had part. So the rest of it out the body they call the turtle Mountain Indian Reservation our hometown one in a series of programs exploring the values and character of life in small communities produced by Minnesota Public Radio Station k c c m with funds provided by the North Dakota committee for the Humanities and public issues on today's program, Carol Davis and other residents of the reservation tell what makes a place home a mixture of landforms memories and names. Later, we hear that for some homo so means acceptance by the community, even if one is an alcoholic. the interviewer is John gets d your paper that you remember. When they want to go to Rolla dating over Saturday to go to go to Rolla. What's up with that? We're going to show. That's the tail. That's where all I was located and you know, they've changed names at everything here. Now like that Belcourt. Creek runs through Belcourt there today is called. Along the ground called in French and that's a Grand Coulee and out today. It's marked on the map is off trick. And not quick of hours here and then see if they call it Boston or Oak Creek come back here because they were born and raised. This is our home and we got no place else to go location with different bases. We could get jobs. We live our jobs with little people. Did you ever relocate did you ever go anywhere or y'all went to San Francisco? I stayed real what I bought a year. I got wrong something for my friends, you know. You're going to see the like that didn't you put an Indian in the city you don't see you. One last before they had this discrimination unit born a boy there. They all look at you go to the bar. So that's why I came home and I just stayed there one year. I'll come back with my friends here and I'll look how I can go to Belcourt there and have the same funny or we're just a bunch of Indians were contented. We hate to have anybody come disturb us like staying in one place for me would be that my children would also have have roots. I think of some of my own relations who are living in cities and so forth for the parents themselves move around I often wonder, you know, where are these kids going to end up when they get old for example, they've had no ties to this reservation other parents themselves haven't had any ties to any one Community. The kids are scattered throughout the 50 states. Where would where will they go to Nest so to speak and I I don't know myself. I feel like When my family is growing, I think that I should be the anchor for that family and shouldn't offer them one place to to return to feel comfortable to feel that they belong to and I know if if I had moved to Fort dates in my parents had moved off to California. I think this would have been really a big hardship on me because I always felt the Belcourt this my home and if I wouldn't have had parents are if I wouldn't have had something to return to hear like the roots that they did give us by letting us live here and bringing us up on the reservation that you know, I would have really been missing out on something. It's it's not really describable. It's something within and I don't really know how you how you pull those feelings into words, but it's it's I guess the sense of belonging, you know, when you drive over those heels like from 48, the first thing you'd see was the Landscaping, you know, he would feel good about that. So I imagine it's a combination of both Like I say family friends and so forth. It's probably the biggest Factor but still it has to be the place because I suppose we could have moved this a family somewhere else, but I would doubt that we would have really felt to know me the ties would like the the land where we live now. My mother was raised on this on this piece of land and it was given to her by her father and now we're all scattered there. So I imagine there are some ties to the to the place itself. I know one of the one of the feelings that that we've expressed this as a group as a family was that we hope that our little spot of land would always remain with one of the family with one of the kids probably one of the grandchildren and that they've been touring would pass it on and how nice it would be saying a couple hundred years if they're still a world that you know, they could look back and just tie the song back into that one reply to land. So I imagine there is a lot of feelings in that respect to something. We've identified with I'm a family of 10, and I'm the only It's nutts. It's back here. But I am in business back in business again and tell you the truth. I really enjoyed. Because I live a day at the time and it's just problems every day, but I seem to survive through him. Some days. I'd like to put my head on waughtown and State Highway and keep walking, but I'm still here. So I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. It's all been a great experience the whole thing all my life. I think it's been a great experience. I think I've lived a fully and I don't think I change any of it and everything has did all my experiences have good me for what I am and I'm satisfied with what I am. I think you can point to any one incident that played a role or is a factor contributing to anything. But all these put together have made me Who I am today, and I'm satisfied. I mean others may not be but I personally am satisfied and I think that's all that's all about. Don't know how to cope with her father. He will sit down and face the reality like she says and look at him and actually were able to we to live and I can go on the outside and get along beautiful never have problems. Because I've I've been out then I've been back in the reservation both places. I've lived both places and I've never had problems. Maybe you know what I'm speaking about financial problems. Yeah. I've had a lot of financial problems and I think that makes a lot of difference really asking someone in Dickinson's Fargo-Moorhead or anyplace this town. Done for you. Actually, what does the home do for you? But give you a home either a sense of belonging or sense of frustration or what have you and this is what the reservation is means to us at our home. This is where we're from this where we grew up good bad or indifferent. I think, you know, everything is been in influencing factor and it either makes us what we are today or we'd probably end up suicides or something like that. So, I don't know. What's really how do you explain home? That's what it is. It all goes back to that how you cope with it how you handle it? You can go into cheers and everything else, but that isn't going to help you. In other words, we've all grown up with it. But the first thing I remember but growing up here in reservation. We were living on a tribal Farm out north. I'd say it's about five miles north of Belcourt and the farm itself was not anything big we had maybe 20 20 30 head of cattle feed horses to pigs few chickens, and I remember Helping with the family taking care of the farm and it just kind of a simple free life. I guess you'd say we lived on a farm for about oh, I'd say first 12 years of my life. Just yesterday. We were talking with my mother about how simple life what was then and she said she really wish for the good old days to she said even though there was no money in it was a lot of hard work. It does seem like it wasn't so hard on the I guess what you'd call in the brain and always worrying about where the next dollars going to come from now and how you're going to make ends meet at that time. It was everybody was in the same boat. It seemed that we were all struggling and my dad sold wood in exchange for groceries in the store from people who were burning wood and we're getting groceries in the store. I guess. It must have been a welfare program or something where they had something similar to food stamps cuz remember he's to bring home. They still stamp books. And no he would he would get so much money in the store from different people in exchange. And that's kind of how we made our living every now and then he would take out a load of post and they would maybe three four guys to get together and then Chapo pickup load of post and head out to different parts of the state sometimes Montana and sell their posts. Bring home groceries and you name it anything that we needed to survive for the winter. I guess you might say. We're pretty hard is a little girl then on the farm was a combination of things. I guess we didn't really look at it as work because we kind of grew up with it. It was something we accepted. I know I was milking cows at the age of 5 and my brothers really help my dad take care of the whole place. There were six of us children in the family and we all had something to do. I know we used to go to school up here at Saint Anne's and the bus would stop a mile from the From where we live because we were in another school district and I don't know why it that time. It made a difference but the bus used to let us off on this about a mile from home and we used to run over the hills and we get home from school and we knew we had to get them cows to the barn by for 5. So we'd have a quick lunch if whatever was there and we would head off into the woods and look for the Catalan bring milk them feed the pigs the Cavs get the calls back off to the pastor next morning. The girls didn't have to get up and do chores in the morning something I have to say, but my brothers did and dad used to send them out and get the cattle. I hope I don't even want to guess what time do you say he used to get them up, but he kept us all busy. I can remember when we used to trap and I don't remember how much we used to make but we used to trap muskrats. And it seemed that in our area where we live right in that little Community. We used to our pride ourselves with who couldn't come up with a good mink dog because mcgreer with mud on my supposed 10-15 times more than a muskrat, but we'd go out and check traps with my dad out on this little legs all around where we live and then we would bring them home and in our living room we would get no text muskrats and whatever else we came up with and dad used to sell them in. That was another thing that we are. We really get a big charge out of when we sit around and talk about the what you call the good old days because Mom said I can just imagine what we must have smelled. in some of the communities I've Good night. I ask people questions about family and how important the unit that is to the life the community. It is important to urine and go kart. The Family Ties here on this reservation, I think card as strong as you find them anywhere families are very close families are big. if you would check into like our tribal rose CT real big family and you meet those families and Just sit down and visit with him. I think you'd sent the closeness of family units of families. Like I stay with the intermarriage specially I know where they get big. You'll find people calling themselves cousin to this guy and cousin to that guy. He's my uncle when actually there's no close blood relationship, but they still identify as family I guess because of the clan relationship. He might say to spend a lot of time with your family and extended family would definitely my parents and their three girls in a family of three girls all live on the same 80 acres. And you can look over the hills and see anyone of us walking over to my mother's anytime for the day so I can see if they were real close. What do you think are the advantages of that kind of close family life? Well, I think we kind of maintain this closeness. Like I said, bring it comes about a lot to our little crisis that we have and we always have somebody to turn to and it's not just a husband or wife. Although we do have you know that relationship to turn to but we have a lot more people to involve if we need something or if we feel good about something, you know, there's always somebody to either Rejoice with our, you know be sad with whatever it might be but it's kind of a sharing thing between us. I just saw the five apples and chokecherry. strawberries raspberries handheld aerator stuff that you can find the woods around the place that stuff got a few little camps in the Woods Elementary. Is one up on the hill up there? Has one just across the road, but they doze it down. Make a yard. A bunch of other ones are there was one up there in the woods and one down the pastor. That's good. What can chicks? That does that trick mind if you love me. Oh, they don't like to be you. There's always that fear of racism. Let's face it. We've got it here. And I might add it's bad in certain areas the neighboring towns that surrounding communities around reservation. We were docked on the relocation in Oakland, California where their little over a year and I made good money. I work for General Motors Assembly line, but I don't know I guess life was just too fast. I have time I'd say noise. I hope to believe that I have a good personality and I like talk to people. But I found out in a darn hurry that it isn't everybody that wanted wanted to talk. You know, if I try to strike up a conversation people to walk away from me and this was disturbing to me. and my wife she's the baby in her family and she got pretty Lonesome while we're up there. I got to a point where she wouldn't eat and she took sick. And I had to take her to the hospital. And rather than jeopardize our health. I decided to bring her back. After we got back here. We were here two weeks. We stayed with her folks. We didn't have no home. We left for Williston Williston North Dakota to go look for job. Fortunately I Pawn One the same day. We made a round-trip come back loaded up our luggage back to Williston. We went. And I said we stayed there for 11 years. We come home all welcome to it than the first year we come home. They just about every month. Then it started expanding, you know till we started coming home only maybe two or three times a year. And sometimes it wouldn't come over but as long. I don't know what's in this reservation people can leave for years and they will eventually come back here. The what? I don't know. It's at probably. Their birthplace I would say because that and that's the way I feel. I think it's a wonderful place to learn about life. I think the very cultures has contributed a lot to know if you want to be personal about it to my personal growth. but personal knowledge about people would have been different if I'd I lived in whatever Chicago I might never have survived and maybe you know. I think there was an element of protectiveness on the reservation. That's a knowledgeable, you know. Say hi. I know everybody I know. And people except me. And when I say except me, I I say it with a sense of gratitude because there's money to accept, you know, I've been an alcoholic. I've been convict. I've been many many times to use a war. And they've accepted the fact that first can make mistakes can live a different kind of life. Yeah. Okay, I didn't have to leave for 50 years before they say okay, you're okay. You know, you're good fall on Glenn do you think are here and I'll give you the job. I was sober think 6 minutes and I said hey, you know, you're going to work for me. I need to help. Okay, I'll take it. And I think that's the thing. I appreciated most about this. Can I do with the fact that didn't? Say to me, you know, you're an ex-convict so you can twerk are you an extra? I don't want you around, you know, they didn't say that. actor never has been. no cursing I'm going to the Heights community and looking for a job. You always have these questions, you know, okay, I was in the pain is to drink in your eyes and you never got the job now. Are they just accepted it and said it's alright. You don't do better. Before I left here to go to the service. I could not go into a liquor is Debra Schmidt than ordered a drink? No, unlike any other. The Caucasian said what I had to do. With spay and it anywheres from 1 and a half to double the price of the cost of liquor in order for me to have a drink. And it's created problems for me. Then when I went when I went in the service. I was treated like a Caucasian. I could go in the anywheres and drink as much as I pleased and what really hurt me. When I come back I was discharged. I got off the train in Rolla. I walked in the bar not thinking, you know, I ordered a beer. How is my uniform all decorated up? Bartender looked at meeting, but no I cannot serve you. your minion and that was it I was right back. in the same old vicious cycle that I left behind and I guess that this is what cause me to drink to excess because of the Hostile feelings that I have built up. Toward the nun Indian people. I felt that I was not being treated equally. and by that time I had created problems for myself. To excessive use of alcohol after a while. I began to realize that the problem didn't lie with the people. That the problem was me myself. I guess I come to the conclusion that I couldn't blame everybody for what was happening to the Indian people mean particular and this relay brought me out of my to my senses, you know, and this is what got me out of there. This is an alcoholic situation. You've dealt him. For the last few years now with the alcoholism problem here on the reservation. Can you? Tell us a bit about the extended that problem and why there is that problem here from comments throughout this community. again is lack of employment nothing to do and The Indian people are proud people. and nah I guess a woman. Can get a job easier in the man camp. Francis h on down here most of them are women and the laughing part about that is from the nun Indian people laughing at the Indian male. about the Indian male parking around 8 Ron on check. Do you know picking up their wife and their paycheck and going on and have a celebration? You don't boozing it up and this really hurts the the male population. Are really it's not their fault if they can get a job. They have to survive somehow. Is there a high rate of alcoholism in in this community than normal Community? Definitely? Desertification is only 6 by 12 and there are within the reservation there are approximately 7500 people. It is known as the most thickly populated area in United States. A survey was sticking in this particular Community about 2 years ago. And they figure about 80% at the population in this area RF having alcohol problems You take one alcoholic. Well effect anywheres from 10 to 13 people and being alcoholism is a family problem. It will affect the whole family. If you have a family of 8 like I have okay with my wife and I would you would make 10. I think there is a maybe a smaller portion. Of true alcoholics, you know in this community. Or any time you leave here drift off into Skid Row in the cities. There are few of these kind of guys are not considered as the true alcoholics. reservation I think most of the people here who are problem drinkers are drinkers because of the social system and just become accustomed to that way of life. That was kind of Grant director of the turtle Mountain Counseling Center at the turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. Our hometown. This is one program in a series of sound portraits of small North Dakota communities produced by the Minnesota Public Radio station kccm with funds provided by the North Dakota committee for the Humanities and public issues producers of the series are Johnny and Steve Dennis Hamilton and Bill Sebring. You may purchase a cassette copy of this program by contacting kccm, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota 56560.

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