Tensions run high along the border

By Jodi Rave
The Missoulian

The color of our skin shouldn't dictate the way people treat us.

The danger lies in perception. If someone is perceived as being different, skin color can be irrelevant.

I'm three-quarters Native. I could go to three tribal governments - the Winnebago in Nebraska, the Cheyenne River Sioux in South Dakota, the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation in North Dakota - and enroll as a tribal citizen.

But I'm also one-quarter Norwegian. My grandmother, Ollie Benson, had some strong blood. My hair was nearly blond as a youth. Even so, I used to get called a squaw at my all-white grade school 60 miles from the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota.

The color of my skin didn't matter.

My schoolmates knew I was Native.

So imagine life for all the brown-skinned, dark-haired Native people who are much easier to target as different, especially those who live near towns that border reservations.

Hundreds of border towns surround the 300 reservations in the United States. These towns wouldn't survive without the millions of dollars pumped into the economy from nearby tribal governments and reservation residents.

But tensions often run high between Natives and non-Natives in these areas. A federal mediator from Denver recently arrived in Havre to quell tension between tribal citizens on the Rocky Boy's Reservation and Havre business owners.

Rodney “Fish” Gervais, who directs the Tribal Employment Rights Office for the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, has seen prejudice and racism erupt between whites and Natives who live and work near each other in border towns like Cut Bank.

Natives typically bear the brunt of being treated like second-class citizens. They get shabby service at restaurants. They get followed around stores. They get arrested more often. They get kicked out of school more often.

Gervais, also a bondsman, gathered records that show 37 Blackfeet Nation tribal police officers each averaged 44 tickets a year - compared to a single non-Native highway patrolman who issued some 800 tickets on the Blackfeet Reservation for the same time period.

The tribe successfully addressed the issue with the Montana Highway Patrol, an effort Gervais helped lead. But recognizing a wider problem, he decided to bring more attention to Native civil rights. So he organized the Border Town Racism Conference scheduled Wednesday through Friday in Missoula.

Representatives from federal agencies and civil rights organizations from around Montana are registered, as are Native people from the Dakotas, Colorado and Wyoming.

Gervais hopes the event will encourage tribal leaders to take a more active role in protecting their citizens' civil rights.

“Every Indian has a number of different stories,” he said. “Everyone has stories they could tell from their whole life. It's just overwhelming.”

My adopted Lakota sister, Melvina Winters, has her own stories.

Once, she and an elder went to Chadron, Neb., which borders the Pine Ridge Reservation. While there, they decided to get a milkshake at a now-closed burger joint. Cashiers seemed irritated they had to serve them.

One employee slammed the drinks on the counter. A lid popped off, splattering my sister's clothes and face with ice cream.

The burger girls giggled without apology.

Melvina didn't say anything. She went to a nearby Wal-Mart where she washed her face and bought a change of clothes.

I know a lot of Native people who never say anything. After all, it often comes down to a matter of perception. Were they intentionally mistreated? But most civil rights attorneys will argue that perception is everything.

If someone feels they haven't been treated respectfully, the odds are they're right.

The American Civil Liberties Union provides legal assistance to people whose civil liberties or constitutional rights have been violated.

This past Wednesday, the ACLU released a statement announcing a class-action lawsuit in federal court against the Winner School District in South Dakota, charging the district maintains an environment hostile to Natives.

Winner, a town of 3,000, borders the Rosebud Sioux Reservation.

“The treatment received by Native American students in Winner and throughout the region is completely different than that of their white counterparts,” said Jennifer Ring, executive director of ACLU of the Dakotas.

“These experiences demonstrate the reasons why Native American children so often fail to reach graduation - hostility of peers, discrimination of school officials and knee-jerk police involvement.”

Native students deserve a quality education. Is the color of their skin preventing them from getting one?

Jodi Rave covers Native issues for Lee Enterprises.