A Brief History of Honor The Earth Powwow

by Oshscabewis (Paul DeMain)

 

                The events leading up to establishment of the annual Honor The Earth Powwow have their roots in controversy.  While the Honor The Earth Homecoming and Powwow Celebration is 26 years old in 1999, its beginning was spurred by actions of the Federal Government against the Lac Courte Oreilles tribe that date back to the turn of the century.

                Edward Benton-Banai says he remembers Peter Larson calling him in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1969 to discuss a number of pressing issues regarding the LCO tribe, racism in the local public school district, racial relationships in the general community, and another issue that would have a huge impact on the future of the tribe, the upcoming renewal of the Winter Dam operating license by Northern States Power Company that would expire in 1971 after 50 years.

                Benton says Larson asked him to consult with members of the traditional community at LCO to get their perspective about the history of the Winter Dam, a dam that had been built over objections of the Ojibway during the turn of the century and officially put into operation in 1921.  He says the tribal council in 1969 was rather ambivalent to the issue, but over the next two years both he and Larson pushed the issue in the community and new members elected to the council, Odric Baker, Violet Hayes, Monty Diamond and Theresa Williams would change the political nature of the council and boost the issue to the front burner.

                In addition, because the tribal membership at large was beginning to understand the potential financial and land ramifications of the licensing process in which they would eventually be asked to comment, the relicensing was taking on more importance.

                A local chapter of the American Indian Movement comprised in part of  Mike Tribble, Marilyn Corbine-Tribble, Monty Diamond, Elmer Gouge, Jim and Mary White, Odric Baker and Richard Wolfe Sr., was formed in order to organize a community response to this issue and others.

                By the spring of 1971, the LCO tribe was asked to comment on the license renewal, but the tribe was moving to position itself into a stronger stance.  The development of the dam and Chippewa flowage has flooded thousands of prime acreage, blueberry fields, cranberry bogs and wild rice beds that had produced over 20,000 pounds of rice annually.  It had flooded three traditional Ojibway Midewin cemeteries, Odawa burial grounds and destroyed effigy mounds from the people James “Pipe” Mustache called the ancients.  The flooding also forced the removal of the village of Post, the Catholic church nearby and its cemetery, and uprooted families from their allotted lands.

                The tribe has also only discovered that what Power Company officials had been calling an “accidental” over flooding of lands, had been Okayed by some Bureau of Indian Affairs official over 50 years earlier.  The anti-dam passion at the turn of the century had been rekindled into a toughening stance by the tribe and its membership.

                Benton remembers that there was at least three distinct entities involved in planning a LCO/AIM convention and protest Powwow, the LCO Chapter of AIM, the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Governing Board and St. Paul AIM.  The conference and Powwow was to coincide with the Lumber Jack contests in Hayward, in order to capture the widest amount of publicity possible.

                It was during this period as well, that tribal members began noting that tribal positions appeared to be getting nothing from any federal entities but the brush of administrative paper shuffling.  The position in the community was rapidly becoming one that entirely opposed the relicensing of the operating permit.

                With events occurring at a rapid pace, the LCO tribal council in discussion with AIM and its chapters, and other community members decided to physically take over the dam and hold it until definite and positive negotiations were initiating by the Federal Power Commission, the licensing authority.  A LCO Tribal Council resolution officially turned the matter over into Benton’s hands and following a protest Powwow at the old Round Lake powwow grounds, a delegation of LCO members, with support from the American Indian Movement physically took over the dam.

                A five day stand-off took place at the Winter Dam in which many put their lives on the line, especially from a local threat of violence from non-Indians angry at the occupation.  After the LCO Tribal council received a definite guarantee of renegotiation the occupiers are asked to stand down, and national AIM supporters left.

                The renegotiation of the license is now history and assisted the tribe in recovering several hundred acres of land, compensation for damages and the development of a tribal Hydro generating project.

                As spring of 1972 approached, Benton said there was high interest in having a reunion of the people who had occupied the dam and attended the protest powwow.  And he also said it didn’t take him more than a few seconds to suggest calling the event, Honor The Earth when asked what the Powwow should be called.

                The 1972-73 powwow would be organized as contest powwows, sponsored in 1972 literally by a handful of individuals led by Edward Benton.  By 1973 the Honor The Earth was  hosted by LCO AIM, LCO Tribal Governing Board and the St. Paul Red School House, of which Benton was Director.

                Benton says that while his expertise was in organizing and fundraising, the event was pushed locally by the late Peter Larson and Monty Diamond, who continued to associate Honor The Earth, with the first protest actions of 1971, the protest over broken treaties and desecration of LCO land, people and traditional livelihood, and the willingness of people here at Lac Courte Oreilles to stand up for their rights.

                After 1973, the LCO community and the LCO  Governing Board became more involved in the event as organizers and financers, and in 1974 new grounds were broken for what would eventually become one of the largest traditional gatherings of tribal peoples in the region, with many prominent local names involved in running the event.

                Today, Honor the Earth continues to be enjoyed by thousands of people each year who join each other in celebration as their relatives did for hundreds of years previously each fall at Madeline Island before breaking for their winter camps.  The event is used as an opportunity to familiarize ourselves with old friends and relatives and their has been marriages, sporting events, naming ceremonies, giveaways, honorings and in general a thanksgiving for what the Earth provides to sustain us as Anishinabe people, but the story of Honor The Earth is basically one of people standing up for their rights, and a humbling beginning by a small number of LCO people who wanted a better future for their tribe and people.