DULUTH, Minnesota — Should Native American blood continue to be a tribal citizenship requirement?
That's
the question facing the 34,000 adult citizens of the Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe (MCT) who are being asked whether to amend a critical piece of
the tribe's controversial Constitution. It's a document that dictates
its citizenship, rights, elections and governing body that was forced
upon them by the federal government more than 60 years ago.
The
vote is decades in the making as tribal leaders studied the issue.
Ballots are set to be mailed for what's known as a blood quantum vote on
June 14. (see update below)
Since 1961, membership in the six-nation tribe
requires a minimum of 25% Minnesota Chippewa Indian blood, or blood
quantum, stemming back to 1941 membership rolls kept by the federal
government. The requirement has had the effect of shrinking the tribe's
enrollment, with many children not considered members despite parents
who are.
"We
need to do something soon, as the end of the line is very near," said
Wayne Dupuis, a member of the Fond du Lac band who has worked on
Constitution reform for more than 40 years. Dupuis' three children were
denied Fond du Lac citizenship nearly two decades ago because of the
blood quantum rule. Dupuis said membership to the tribe should reflect
its values and customs, not a calculation "determined by a law of
diminishing returns.
Not
everyone agrees. Some worry already limited federal funds will have to
be spread thinner or that more people taking advantage of treaty rights
for wild ricing or hunting will make resources scarce.
When
the blood rule was adopted in 1961, the Bureau of Indian Affairs
equated Native Americans with "horses and dogs," said Melanie Benjamin,
chief executive and chair of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.
"We
as tribal leaders have to make sure we correct all of these terrible
policies that were intended to wipe us out as American Indian people,"
Benjamin said.
Today,
just 15% of MCT membership — about 40,000 people — is under age 18, a
low figure directly related to the blood quantum rule.
Talk of removing the blood
quantum criteria, as the Cherokee, Seminole and many other tribes have
done, has swirled for decades. In recent years Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
leaders, comprised of those from its six reservations, convened a group
of delegates to study constitutional reform. The group recommended an
initial vote meant to guide tribal leaders in the reform members want
related to blood quantum, its biggest issue. A binding vote could
follow.
Another question is on the ballot: Should the six reservations be allowed to determine their own citizenship requirements?
For
some, the questions are complicated and wrapped in a history of the
federal government's quest to shrink the number of Native Americans
while eradicating their cultures, issues of identity and inclusion, and
practical matters like services and funding.
The
vote signifies reclaiming control of what was "imposed on tribes by the
federal government," said Karen Diver, former chair of the Fond du Lac
Band of Lake Superior Chippewa who also worked for the Obama
administration on Native American issues.
"The ultimate exercise in tribal sovereignty is how you determine citizenship," she said.
Members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe have voted in a historic
advisory referendum to eliminate a requirement that enrolled members
must have 25% tribal blood.
Out of nearly 7,800 ballots cast, 64% of voters said the “blood
quantum” requirement should be removed from the tribe’s constitution,
which was adopted under pressure from the federal Bureau of Indian
Affairs in the early 1960s.
In a second referendum question, 57% said individual bands or
reservations should be able to determine their own membership
requirements. The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe is made up of six Ojibwe or
Chippewa bands in northern Minnesota, the Bois Forte, Fond du Lac, Grand
Portage, Leech Lake, Mille Lacs and White Earth reservations. Red Lake
Nation is not part of the MCT. More👇
Lasting effects
In the early part of the century, the legal ability of Ojibwe people to sell land was tied to blood quantum.
"Anthropologists
performed physical examinations, including measuring heads and
analyzing hair samples," said Jill Doerfler, a University of Minnesota
Duluth American Indian studies professor and author of a book on blood
quantum. Doerfler grew up on the White Earth reservation and her mother
is a citizen, but Doerfler herself doesn't meet the blood requirement.
Those
deemed by anthropologists to be Anishinaabe, or Chippewa, were listed
on "blood rolls" that were accepted in U.S. courts, Doerfler said.
In
the 1940s and 1950s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs pressured the MCT to
adopt a blood quantum requirement for tribal enrollment. It was done
with the hope that, over time, fewer people would meet the criteria and
Native American nations would eventually disappear, relieving the U.S.
of treaty obligations, Doerfler said.
Tribal
leadership resisted a blood quantum, but eventually adopted it because
of threats to terminate the tribe. Those on a membership roll from 1941
remained citizens, along with their children born before the 1961
change. Those born after needed to meet the 25% requirement. As a
result, in a single family, some children were citizens and some were
not.
"Blood
quantum isn't a real thing and really can't be measured," Doerfler
said. "When people say the rolls are inaccurate, they are referring back
to the physical methodology of determining blood quantum."
About a decade ago the MCT asked
St. Paul-based Wilder Research to study population projections using
different scenarios. It concluded that under current enrollment
criteria, each member nation and the tribe as a whole would experience
"steep population declines" throughout the century, and a "substantial"
number would be over age 65 toward the end.
Using
lineal or direct descent criteria to enroll members, used before the
1961, enrollment among the six reservations would rise between 120,000
to 200,000 by the end of the century, the study says.
People
think blood quantum identifies them, said Sally Fineday, a member of
the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. "But once you are Ojibwe, you are always
Ojibwe."
'Recognizing our children'
Tribal citizenship is tied to treaty rights,
including those for hunting, fishing and gathering, and some bands
offer payments to members based on casino revenues. Some worry about how
more citizens would affect resource availability or their portion of
casino proceeds. Federal funding for certain types of health care or
housing, for example, may also be spread thinner. Grant funding,
however, which tribes increasingly rely on, could grow with more
citizens.
It's
a "contentious" issue on the White Earth reservation, which has the
largest membership of the six, said White Earth citizen Patty Straub.
"It's difficult enough to receive some of these services," she said, and some are worried that would worsen.
Still others see it as righting a wrong.
"We're
recognizing our children — because what parent doesn't recognize their
child as their child?" asked Cheryl Edwards, a Fond du Lac citizen
working on reform.
The
two things — access to resources and recognizing kin — shouldn't be tied
together, Diver said, but that's how the government arranged it.
"Fundamentally,
this ends up being about identity; the right to claim your identity and
your community and your kinship," she said. "But it doesn't mean it
won't have practical day-to-day impacts and I think that's what people
are struggling with. If you take one away from the other it ends up
being an easier question, but there is no way to do that."
A time for change
Results
of the vote will give tribal leaders direction, but it won't
necessarily dictate removal of the blood quantum requirement. Change
could mean broadening the base of inclusion to all Chippewa, or lowering
the quantum further.
But
something needs to be done, said Cathy Chavers, chair of the Bois Forte
Band of Chippewa and president of the MCT Tribal Executive Committee.
Because
of differing opinions among the six reservations, it's taken decades to
get to this point, she said, and this vote — even in its advisory role —
is "monumental."
A
potential citizenship amendment is only the beginning. Proposals for an
amended Constitution will represent who the Chippewa are, their culture,
vision and origin story.
"It won't look anything like it looks today," Edwards said of the Constitution, "never written by us or for us."
