Native Americans Fight Cultural Submersion

click on photo to expand

(l to r) Big Crazy Bear, Snow Wolf and Raven Two Feather

Photo by Jay Thompson

(posted Dec 13)

You don't have to be a Native American to attend the monthly Nimkii Band Meeting at St. John's Episcopal Church. The meetings, held on the first Thursday of the month, are to educate and to retain the Native American culture by drumming, storytelling, crafting, and talking in the native language.

Snow Wolf, Harry Raven Two Feather Haskett, and Big Crazy Bear shared their stories of the cultural fear of what life is like to be a Native American. To this day, many natives are afraid to claim their heritage for fear of "removal."

Big Crazy Bear also goes by Jim Dixon. "My parents did not acknowledge our Indian blood because they told me they didn't want us to go through the prejudice they had, and the prejudice my grandparents went through." He did not know about his Cherokee blood until he was 37 years old. Since then, he has claimed his heritage and studied the Cherokee language for two years. Now in his 60s, he teaches the language at the Indianapolis Marion County Shelby Street Branch Library. The language has 85 characters and often the same word has as many as ten meanings. He bragged that the language has no curse words.

Haskett said he received his name in 1987 when two Ravens dropped two feathers within two inches of each other in front of him. It was a sign that the Ravens were inviting him to enter the family. He explained that a person can have multiple names, depending upon how many names a creature gives. Many Indian children are called "Little One" until they receive a name.

Snow Wolf Wagner explained that Indiana does not have reservations, but it was one of the removal states where families were separated to destroy the culture. Snow Wolf lived in a cabin on a reservation in Canada, but when his family moved off the "res" they took an English last name. The cabin did not have an indoor water pump until he was eight years old, and this was in the 1970s. "If you didn't bathe every day, you didn't get back in the cabin." This meant chipping away at the ice during the winter. "We had a hard life." "No electricity, but they were happy times of sharing stories."

The unemployment rate is usually 70 percent on the reservation. He said there is no incentive to finish high school because of teaching skills that were not applicable to the 20th century. They were taught leather skills for horse saddles. Snow Wolf, like many natives, joined the armed forces to escape reservation life and to obtain an education.

He shared some dark times in his life while attending a boarding school in Montana. He was removed from his parents and forced to go a boarding school at Ft. Belknap, Montana. "My father's reservation was in Wisconsin."

"They shaved your head. They take away any of your religious items and medicine bags." The goal was to eradicate the native culture. The school uniforms were surplus civil war uniforms.

"Boarding schools were one of the worst atrocities done to our people. You literally would get knocked down (for saying Indian words.)"

Raven agreed about the abuse. He said "they would cut your pony tail and burn it in front you," and confiscated all personal native possessions. Snow Wolf said there was emotional and physical abuse at the boarding schools. Siblings were divided and sent to different schools. It was not a place of education, it was place to eradicate the culture.

It has only been within the last 20 years that conditions have begun to improve for natives, due in part to the American Indian Movement (AIM). However, Raven Two Feather said that indoor water is still not available on some of the reservations in Oklahoma because the government has not provided funding to drill for wells. It is his dream to win the lottery to fund well drilling so the natives do not have to haul in 55 gallon barrels of water.

The Native Americans worked hard to be fairly represented in the 2000 census and plan to be involved in the 2010 census. There are about 43,000 natives residing in Indiana "that are willing to say their name," Raven Two Feather said.

Big Crazy Bear said there are about 15,000 living in Marion County.

Native Americans changed their names to avoid being removed. Raven Two Feather explained that many Indians adopted a white man's name by adopting names seen on graves in cemeteries. Many also fled during the Trail of Death, taking on European names to avoid the reservation.

Raven Two Feather explained the marker of an Indian encampment can be found near Shelby Street and I-70. The area does not have a historical designation because it is outside the historic district's boundaries.

Big Crazy Bear and Raven Two Feather helped lobby to establish Indiana's Commission for Indian Affairs, so they would have a voice in government. The two men were among those at the State House beating the drum in the Rotunda. They were also permitted to smoke the traditional pipe indoors and conduct a prayer on the Senate floor. Raven Two Feather explained they were also the first native Americans to perform a prayer in the State House.

Raven discussed the importance of the pipe in Native American culture. The pipe is a visible sign of prayer. The smoke carries prayers to the Creator. Raven said "it is great responsibility to be a pipe carrier." Prayer over the pipe is prayer for all of creation. Raven is called upon to use the pipe at funerals and at healings.

Pipes are made from Red Catlinite, also called Pipestone. Most of the red clay material can be found in Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota. Only federally recognized tribes can obtain permits to quarry the stone. The waiting list to remove Pipestone from one of the 54 quarries is four to five years.

Big Crazy Bear said the pipe is not inhaled. Tobacco is native to the land and is used for ceremonies. The word "peace pipe" came from the white man. Raven Two Feather said what it really meant was piece pipe, because whites "kept taking pieces" of tribal land.

Raven Two Feather discussed the continuing injustices Native Americans suffer today. They are the only ethnic group required to have a card issued by the federal government stating they are from one of the 561 recognized tribes. He pointed out that people who claim to be African American are not required to prove African ancestry. He also noted Native Americans are still the only native ethnic group required to live on a reservation today.

He contended the federal government is still not comfortable with Indian dances and consider them to be some sort of voodoo dance. He said the Ghost dance is one of them. He said it requires approval from local tribal council and the government to move off the reservation.

Snow Wolf explained myths still need to be broken about the Native Americans as savages. He referred to an incident that occurred five years ago in an Evansville school. A student was sent to the principal for disagreeing with the teacher that Indians no longer live in Indiana. "He is a Sioux."