Transcripts

JEANINE SALISBURY: To the Anishinaabe culture, the Ojibwe people, so what we're going to be doing for the next half an hour is we are going to be reading your comic book. All right? Are there any questions at all?

LEIF ENGER: Jeanine Salisbury's fourth grade class at suburban New Hope Elementary has been discussing heroes the last few days, different types of heroes from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Superman. So the bright comic books in everyone's hands this morning don't look entirely out of place.

JEANINE SALISBURY: Let me give you a hint. Some of the words in this comic book are a little difficult.

LEIF ENGER: The hard words, Ms. Salisbury explains, are Ojibwe. They've been sneaked into the dialogue, a word here, a word there. The comic, A Hero's Voice, centers on a boy, Georgie, who thinks a hero is someone with superhuman powers until his Ojibwe grandfather tells him the stories of several tribal leaders straight out of Mille Lacs history. The comic touches on spiritualism, treaties signed and broken, and episodes of violence.

JEANINE SALISBURY: People who fought to keep their land were run off with torches. Migizi would not stand for it. Migizi went to Washington to demand that the non-Anishinaabe stop terrorizing his people, that their claims to the land around the lake be recognized, and that they be paid for the trees cut down from their land.

LEIF ENGER: It's a fairly fast-paced story with some pre-teen humor and a few menacing-looking illustrations. Still, it is almost lunchtime. Eyes are on the clock.

JEANINE SALISBURY: OK. Now, I want you to think about which kind of hero this book talks about. And I want you to think about some of the things that these gentlemen did for their people. All right, ladies and gentlemen, let's go ahead and get ready for lunch.

LEIF ENGER: A Hero's Voice comes at a time when sensitive treaty rights issues, including control of fish and wildlife, are again simmering around Mille Lacs. Though Jeanine Salisbury's class includes Black, Hispanic and Asian children, she says American Indians are probably the smallest minority at the school. She was delighted when a sample copy of A Hero's Voice showed up unsolicited in her mailbox.

JEANINE SALISBURY: First thing I did was read it. And I thought it was wonderful. I really, really liked it. Children often ridicule things they fear. And if they know about other people, if they know-- if there's a base of knowledge, the ridicule won't happen because the fear isn't there. You make fun of things that you're afraid of.

As the kids grow up, as we go to different schools, as we move into different apartments or houses, we are going to have friends that are Native American. I don't want them to be frightened. I don't want them to say, that's something I don't know.

LEIF ENGER: The comic book is the latest in a series of attempts by the Mille Lacs Band to put its history on public view. In 1994, the band commissioned a video documentary, which was distributed to high schools and colleges across the state. Earlier this year, a new museum opened on the reservation, offering a look at early Ojibwe life. Jocelyn Wedll, who manages the museum and helped organize the content of A Hero's Voice, says the comic has a twofold purpose-- to teach kids the heritage of Mille Lacs and to prod them toward a fresh look at their own.

JOCELYN WEDLL: For people to take an interest, especially young kids, to take an interest in their own history is really important because for so long, our heroes were George Washington because that's all we knew. And then growing older and stuff and not really hearing anything about our own heroes within our own community and stuff, we do need our own heroes.

JEANINE SALISBURY: Get your Wiggles out. Get your Wiggles out.

LEIF ENGER: Back in Ms. Salisbury's class, it's discussion time.

JEANINE SALISBURY: Something's going on that were not really fair to his people, right? So he tried to change them. But he reminds me of another guy who has his own holiday. Does anybody know who I'm talking about? We must push aside hate and fight for our families through peace. Who does that sound like? Jesse?

JESSE: Martin Luther King.

JEANINE SALISBURY: That's right.

JESSE: Or Dr. King.

JEANINE SALISBURY: Or Dr. King, that's easier, isn't it? Why are they similar?

LEIF ENGER: The band has printed 20,000 copies of A Hero's Voice. Orders have come not only from elementary schools, but from colleges and group homes. A spokesperson said other reservations have been asking Mille Lacs for advice on how to produce similar books. And the band is looking into putting the comic on the World Wide Web. Leif Enger, Mainstreet Radio.

JESSE: Not this-- like Batman comic book is teach you stuff.