.a n
3
THE CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF THE
GRAND RONDE COMMUNITY OF OREGON January mi
Indians Finally Again See
Bountiful Harvests
By Robert H. White
The only news to travel from Indian country to the
major media in 1990 has been news of disaster: a
violent standoff between Mohawks and government
officials in Quebec; fatal gun battles over casino gam
bling at the St. Regis reservation in New York State; the
ignoble fall of Peter MacDonald from the helm of the
Navajo Nation.
America has been saturated with images of incompe
tent Indian leadership and hare-brained business
schemes.
As much as Native Americans seek understanding, this
has been a year when many would just as soon the press
had ignored them.
Many, if not most, Native Americans remain America's
internal exiles, living within confines established by their
conquerors. Of 2 million Native Americans, 400,000 at
last count lived below the poverty line. On and near res
ervations, one of every seven people lives on less than
42,500 a year.
Federal statistics (not always the most accurate)
measure American Indians as our least educated, most
addicted, shortest-lived citizens.
Are all American Indians doomed to failure? Is the
future of Native America to be an endless story of
demeaning, mismanaged federal wardship? Will
American Indians be forever alienated in their own
land?
Not if the remarkable success of a small but growing
number of communities is any indication:
r Thc Passamaquoddy
In 1980, the Passamaquoddy Indians won $40 million in
a federal settlement of their land claim against the state
of Maine. Most non-Indians expected the very poor
tribe to squander its windfall on new cars and booze
binges.
Instead, the Passamaquoddies hired investment
bankers, whose advice helped boost the value of the
tribal portfolio to $100 million.
The tribe earned $60 million last year from the sale of
a cement company purchased in 1983 through a lever
aged buy out: the deal is now taught as a case study in
financial acumen at Harvard.
With these and other earnings, the Passamaquoddies
have built a network of businesses that employ Indians
and non-Indians alike in farming blueberries, stitching
apparel and turning discarded plastic bottles into trunk
liners for luxury cars.
An invention patented by the Passamaquoddies may
soon allow the rest of us to breathe more freely: A
smokestack scrubber that transforms coal smoke into
fertilizer and distilled water. (Continued on page 3.)
General Council Meeting
January 6, 1991
Meeting at 11:30 a.m.
Potluck Meal Following
.4
Maintenance crew member Greg Leno(right) works with his uncle Russ Leno on the senior meal site. The site
serves hot lunches to Grand Ronde Tribal elders Tuesday through Thursday from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
r;':M'vXA . " Mllllli iiiiiiiiIii'""""'1' ' "i "T ' f:'
f - r, " m o 11 , it-
I I ..;, . - ' y - 4 ' ''.-. ' -' - it I
llM'j Z "Ki,um!? t . ........... .. . . .... .. -. ,
This picture of the Grand Ronde senior meal site was taken just before its completion in early December.