The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is part of the Ojibwe Nation, one of the largest Indigenous nations in North America. We speak Ojibwemowin and enjoy a rich spiritual and cultural existence connected to our woodlands and waters. We consider ourselves responsible for the long-term sustainability of the Bad River watershed: its land, waters and environment, and responsible to speak for and protect the non-human animal and plant communities living with us.

THE UPPER GREAT LAKES AS THE ANISHINAABE STRONGHOLD

The Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi people, collectively known as the Anishinaabeg, have lived within the Great Lakes region for millennia. Ours is a history of creative and resilient survivance. Our ancestors relocated from the eastern seaboard to the western Great Lakes, upon receiving a prophesy which foretold of devastation if we remained in the east. Our ancestors traveled through the Great Lakes, with the Ojibwe ending the journey on the southern shore of Lake Superior, near what is now the Bad River Reservation. The story of the migration journey is a sacred story told within ceremonies and songs that can last for days.

Within a few decades, European traders came to our territories, seeking economic opportunities and bringing change. Europeans brought beads, iron kettles, and other consumer goods to trade. They also brought smallpox, scarlet fever and alcohol. Similar to other indigenous peoples of the Americas, we lost entire villages to foreign infectious disease. Families and communities who survived the epidemics supported themselves by hunting, trapping, and growing their food. They trapped beaver and processed furs and other goods (e.g. maple sugar) to trade for European-made goods. The Anishinaabeg also engaged in centuries of warfare with other Indian nations and against England and the colonists, for control of territory. Our ancestors dominated in guerilla-style, hand-to-hand combat, and no one was fiercer on the water. By the 1800s, the Anishinaabeg had enjoyed centuries of territorial sovereignty in the Upper Great Lakes region; however, the newly-formed United States, flush with capital generated from labor of enslaved people, sought land and resources in the west.

Thus began the most difficult times for our people. In the 1820s, representatives of the United States came to Anishinaabe territory ostensibly seeking alliance. The Hereditary Chiefs, weighing their options, determined that forming an alliance was preferable to engaging in war against the United States. In a series of treaties with the United States, the Lake Superior Chippewa gave up control of millions of acres of land in exchange for certain promises: they would receive specific sums of money and supplies (annuity payments), healthcare and education, and would retain use of our traditional lands in perpetuity. In the Treaty of 1854, the United States promised the Lake Superior Chippewa Bands, including the Bad River Band, that they would never be removed from their reservation lands.

FORCED ASSIMILATION AND THEFT OF LANDS AND RESOURCES IN THE POST-TREATY PERIOD

Within less than a generation, the United States had seemingly forgotten about its treaty obligations. Land agents and county officials worked to swindle treaty-protected reservation lands from Ojibwe families without regard for the promise of a permanent homeland. State game wardens jailed Ojibwe hunters and confiscated their weapons without regard for their rights to hunt and use their traditional territories as described in the treaties. During this same period, federal agents entrusted to caretake reservation assets allowed logging companies to strip old growth forests off most of the Bad River Reservation, leaving the land barren of the flora and fauna that had supported the people and lessened the impact of annual spring flooding.

Ostensibly, this policy was to create economic opportunity for the Indians on American-style farms; however, the soils found on the reservation specifically, and the northern climate generally, were not ideal for American-style monoculture. Deforestation of the reservation and federal agriculture project, while creating wealth for land speculators and logging companies, failed to create wealth or sustained economic opportunity for band members. At the same time, these efforts entirely destroyed many of the natural systems within the reservation that the people depended on for food, shelter, healthcare, and spiritual connection.

The Bad River Reservation was seen by some as the center of the Ojibwe traditional life. This was the home of the chiefs, supporting a thriving culture of traditional medicines, songs and stories. Federal agents and American religious leaders saw our community as a threat to American culture and capitalism. Thus, Christianity was weaponized and used as a tool of cultural assimilation. Bad River families who refused to demonstrate their adherence to Christian beliefs and American lifestyle were publicly shamed and often lost their children. Children as young as three years old were forcibly separated from their families for placement in boarding schools designed to eliminate Ojibwe language and culture. Most of the schools brutalized the children, employing physical and emotional violence to engender fear within the “students.” Sexual abuse was common as well. To make matters worse, all Indian children were taught that their culture, religion, and science were inferior, and that they themselves were inferior. They were taught that partial redemption was only possible by emulating European-American traditions. Medicine bundles, drums and other ceremonial items—considered alive according to our cultural traditions—became illegal to possess and were confiscated by church officials and federal agents. Most of these sacred items were then sold, destroyed or locked in museums. Traditional ceremonies, when conducted, occurred in secret. In a futile attempt to divorce Indian people from their homelands, the United States relocated families from reservations to urban areas beginning in the 1950s. Many Bad River families left for Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Detroit during this period of relocation.

TRAUMA AND GRIEF

The trauma and grief that our elders and ancestors experienced in that era is unimaginable. Although the United States eventually repudiated many of the policies that facilitated the theft of Indian lands and children, our elders’ experiences of being subjugated to myriad human rights violations has never been acknowledged, let alone apologized for, in any official manner. Nor were efforts made to address their trauma or the resulting functional disorders. Most of our grandparents heroically persevered. They raised families and did their best to rebuild Ojibwe cultural traditions. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, some became violent, subjecting the vulnerable members of their families and communities to the same physical, psychological, and sexual harm they themselves experienced. Disassociated or intoxicated parents left their children vulnerable to abuse by Native and non-Native perpetrators, with trauma passed on to younger generations. Many turned to alcohol, drugs, and other substances to numb the guilt and shame. To an extent, problematic substance use became its own ceremony and formed the basis of a certain modern identity as Indian people and survivors.

RESTORING OUR CULTURAL IDENTITY AND ADDRESSING THE HARMS

Within the last few generations, our people have been participating in a world-wide indigenous peoples’ movement to return to our cultural traditions, recover our indigenous languages, and protect our lands and waters from further destructive development. Within Ojibwe communities, this movement emphasizes abstinence from alcohol and drugs, harvesting, cultivating and consuming traditional Ojibwe foods and medicines, and relearning our songs, dances, and ceremonies. Resurgent Ojibwe art and literature is also a feature of this movement, as is political activism.

To a certain extent, however, this movement is comprised of middle-class and college-educated Indians, a minority within our communities. While most younger people are attempting to incorporate some aspects of traditional Ojibwe culture into their lives, the lack of economic resources to address basic needs is a significant barrier to learning about, and participating in, cultural activities.

Many of our people continue to regularly use drugs and alcohol and tend to avoid traditional gatherings for fear of being shamed.

GWAYAKOBIMAADIZIWIN

It is critical to remember our collective history as it informs our current experience. Our ancestors moved to new territories and rapidly acquired knowledge in order to maintain self-sufficiency and meet everyone’s needs with respect to bimaadiziwin: living a good and harmonious life.

Our people were renowned as masters of tactical and strategic warfare, but also of the public relations and diplomacy needed to achieve big goals. To this day, we maintain a collective and distinct existence despite efforts of the United States of America to destroy us. We draw on the super-human strength of our ancestors—a strength that resides within us whether we are sober and engaging in ceremony or using drugs.