NATIVE NATION-BUILDING
Ogimaawiwin Enaakonigaadeg Gaa-waababiganikaag naagaanibii’igaadeg TRANSLATION: THE CONSTITUTION OF THE WHITE EARTH NATION
THE
LAST
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BUS H FO U N DAT IO N .ORG
rma Vizenor came home to White Earth Nation in 1991, returning from Harvard University with a suitcase full of books. A 1988 Bush Leadership Fellow with a master’s degree in community organizing, she planned to spend the summer writing her doctoral dissertation about administrative planning and social policy. Those plans changed, however, when a group of Anishinaabe elders came to her with tobacco—a traditional token of respect—and a request to speak for them in their fight against cor-
ruption in the tribal government. “I put my books away,” Vizenor recalls. “They stayed unpacked for five years.” With more than 19,000 citizens, White Earth is the most populous of the 11 tribal nations that share geography with Minnesota. At the time of Vizenor’s return from Harvard, citizens had growing concerns about their tribal government: Tribal officials were often elected without primary elections, winning with pluralities as low as 20 percent; the tribal council often overruled or controlled tribal courts, police,
PHOTO: BRUCE SILCOX
Left, White Earth Nation Chairwoman Erma Vizenor; right, citizens of the White Earth Nation harvesting manoomin (wild rice), food they believe is a gift from the Creator, in the traditional way.
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