A few Ojibwe words and there meanings
Chippewa: What the white man calls us.
Ojibwe: What other tribes call us
Anishinaabeg: What we call each other. It means “Human being” or “original people”
Sagawadee- Anishinaabeg: Mixed blood indian
Shinnob: Slang, from whence lowered the male of the species.
Neegie: Friend.
Megwitch: Thank you.
Chimook-a-man: White man

An interesting article that was printed in our reservation newspaper.






The following views expressed here are how I see it and are mine and mine alone. I am not a spokesman for “The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe” or “The White Earth Band of Ojibwe”

Native American vs. American Indian
I have never been much for being politically correct. The term “Native American” is Farley new and was coined and is used, mostly, by “city Indians” and the Chimook-a-man.
I remember a few years back I was in Natahwash (a small village on the White Earth Indian Reservation and my home town) and was talking with a tribal elder. He said “ ya know something Scottie, I just found out that I’m not an Indian” I asked him what he meant, he continued, “a young Chimook-a-man from the cities came up to me and told me that I was not an Indian That I was a Native American. And here all these years I thought I was an Indian and now the white man tells me I’m not” Most Indians that grew up on the rez prefer, and refer to themselves as “American Indian” i.e. AIM.

Blood quantum and tribal enrollment
Although I am only ¼ Ojibwe the federal government classifies me as Indian. It's strange that American Indian is the only “ethnic” people that needs an enrollment number to prove who they are or there heritage. Some may think that this is for monies received for land taken or for casino monies but we, White Earth Band members, do not receive a monthly check from the federal government or our casino. When our ancestors were relocated to our rez the Chimook-a-man wanted to turn us into farmers and it was at that time that blood quantum of individual Indians were determined and enrollment numbers were issued to tribal people. Such methods as the measuring of cheek bones and nose or foreheads were used to determine the blood quantum of each person. Then the land was divided up into sections and deeded to each family. The idea of land ownership was a strange concept to American Indians. After all this land has been here for billions of years before us and will be here for billions of years after we are gone. Compare that to the human life span and the Idea of land owner ship seems ridicules. So when the Chimook-a-man realized that the land they had deeded to us was rich with white pine and other valuable timber land grabbers and timber barrens came and offered trinkets and pennies to the Indians if they signed over there deeds. Sure that’s a good deal we don’t own this land anyway and that’s just a peace of paper. In some cases land was handed over for a bottle of booze. Thank god our tribal elders knew better and treaties were made such as health care for all enrolled Indians for timber rights and we should retain all hunting and fishing rights through out the entire reservation.

Treaties
Promise them anything, after all we issued them enrollment numbers and since the minimum blood quantum is ¼ in time there will be no Indians and then the treaties will be a “moo-point” (moo-point = a cow’s opinion, doesn’t matter) I once told my grand mother that I felt that I did not deserved any the benefits from treaties as I am only 1/4 blood. She straitened me out on that. When my grandmother was a small child medical students from Rochester school of medicine in Rochester MN, came to the reservation and took her along with other all other Indian children her age and removed there tonsils whether they needed them removed or not as part of there medical training. She was then sent to Indian boarding school. My mother, who is half Ojibwe and her sisters were not sent to boarding school however they were sent to work in sewing factories in Chicago Illinois during the summer. My grandmother also told me that our ancestors made these treaties for future generations and to not take advantage of the treaties made would be an insult to them.

Language
My grandmother could speak fluent Chippewa (Ojibwe) but never passed the language down to her children so my mother only knows phrases. At the time my mother and her siblings were growing up in the 1920’s and 30’s it was thought that the children would have a better chance in the outside world if they assimilated more with the “white” world, left the reservation and only spoke the Chimook-a-man language. American Indians and anything associated with Indians were looked down upon at the time. Today, fortunately that’s not the case and the Anishinaabeg language is being taught to the young people on the rez. I remember when I was a small child at night listing to my grandma and other Ojibwe women speaking the language and laughing while playing cribbage. My grandmother and here sisters would speak Ojibwe when they didn’t want us kids to know what they were talking about. Another memory that I have is being out in the garden with her and a three legged would be digging up here plants she would yell “giee-gaagaa-win aniemush” (get out of here you stupid dog) then mutter to her self dam neighbor and his three legged dog, I guess you cant eat a good dog all at once. I miss my grandmother so much.

Megwitch Neegie for taking the time to read this.
-scotto

This post has been edited by scotto: December 13th 2007 7:12 PM

Interesting.

I think all of us who had elders whose first language was not English can identify with speaking so the grandkids don't know what they were saying.

Interesting articles.

A friend of mine is married to an Indian. I cannot ever remember the tribe(very hard to say the name anyway), but it is a small tribe in Arizona. She is 100% as far as she knows, spent part of her childhood on the reservation. Hearing the stories of life on her reservation are kinda depressing actually. Lots of drug, alcohol abuse along with domestic violence. It sounded like a housing project in all honesty. She spoke their language fluently when she was a child but her mother left her father due to alcohol and she married a white guy so her mother pretty much made them quit speaking the language. Everyone once and a while she can remember enough to say some things, hard as hell to speak too. Last I talked to her about it she was still trying to practice and remember how to speak it to pass on to their children.

I've got some Crow in me. One of my great great grandmothers was 100%(makes me what like a 1/16th or 1/32nds) and married a half Irish-half coon ass alcoholic from Louisiana

It's funny how big of mutts Americans really are. I'm primarily English with some Scotch, Irish, German, Welsh, French(Acadian) and Indian. If I ever had kids they would take some Dutch and Irish from my wife.

This post has been edited by ManiacRat461: June 3rd 2007 2:17 AM

I have some Cherokee from my dad's side and Black Foot from my mom's side. I had an American Indian professor in college (a real one, not a Ward Churchill). Every once in a while someone would ask him a question and he'd answer, "Honest Injun." One day he said, " Honest Injun. I know 'cause I'm the last one." He was a good guy and a good professor. He was Choctaw.



TS

Back in the late 1800's and through the early part of the 20th, my grandparents would only tell us of the "white" ancestry. Even until the day she died my aunt would not admit that she might be part Indian. My grandfather told me many times that his mother was Cherokee, and his father was German. I found out that most of the tribes that were sent to Oklahoma's Cherokee reservation were called "Cherokee", no matter what they really were.

One of my Aunts and one Uncle were of the same mother who was full blood of a tribe I have been unable to determine, mostly because nobody talked about it or wrote it down. Even the White ancestry of the era is lost for the most part. Connections from other families records are pretty close, but little or none is available on the Indian side.

We move on, but a huge part of our culture and history is lost to future generations of "Americans" as we become more disjointed, drifting farther from our families and traditions.

interesting stuff scotto. my grandmother was full cherokee. you could not tell it by my blonde hair and blue eyes though. both of my parents are from sylva NC, which is just outside the cherokee indian reservation. that is where we go back to bear hunt, is just outside the reservation. for whatever reason, no idian values or history was every taught. my parents have taken me to the reservation before, several times actually.

Some images from our Rez..








This post has been edited by scotto: June 4th 2007 8:54 PM