Restoration Issue
3i
4 NOVEMBER 1, 2003
bered the bake sales and garage
sales and passing the hat at meet
ings, all ways that Tribal Elders
raised funds for travel expenses to
lobby the likes of Senator
Mark Hatfield, Congress
man Les AuCoin and Con
gresswoman Elizabeth
Furse; all, as Kathryn
Harrison said, "to take our
rightful place in the com
munity of nations."
"I was raised as an Indian," said
Tribal Council Vice Chairman Reyn
Leno. "That was the idea that drove
Restoration."
"We never let die the
knowledge of who we
were," said Tribal Coun
cil Chairwoman Cheryle
Kennedy, "what it
means to be a nation of
people."
But neighbors re
mained hostile to the
idea. Historian Stephen
Dow Beckham, Professor
of History at Lewis &
Clark College in Port
land, was active in the
effort. "I have vivid
memories about the
events prior to Restora
tion," he wrote by email.
"I was teaching at
Linfield College in that
era and often was called
upon to answer ques
tions in Yamhill and
Polk Counties such as :
1) Are these people tied
in with the American
Indian Movement
(AIM)? 2) What more do
these people want
they got citizenship? 3)
What will it cost if they
are restored?"
As early as 1973, Beckham went
to Washington, D.C. on behalf of
the Terminated Tribes in Western
Oregon along with representatives
from the Small Tribes Organization
of Western Washington "to try to
'get the ear' of any Congress mem
ber who would listen."
"The more we worked," said
alive.
"I don't know that there was a real
turning point," said Reyn
Leno, Tribal Council Vice
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Kathryn Harrison, "the more we
could see what we could provide to
future generations. A lot of people
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contacted us. They wanted to come
home."
As the struggle for recognition
continued, Tribal members found
small grants government and
charitable that kept the effort
Chairman. "A lot of people
stayed in Grand Ronde
and kept the idea of the
Tribe alive."
"That's the legacy we
wanted for our children,"
said Cheryle Kennedy, "not giving
up."
The effort might not have moved
forward without powerful friends in
high places. "We can never thank
Congress enough," said Kathryn
Harrison. "Thank God for Susan
Long (aide to Senator Mark Hatfield
and strong supporter of Restora
tion)," she added. "After testimony
(in Congress), "there was always a
markup period. Elizabeth (Furse)
stayed behind for the markup ses
sions and to answer any questions.
She was very thorough."
"I remember that we did not have
any pattern for Restoration," said
Senator Hatfield. "Each became a
case of a problem within itself." But
"the time came finally to make good
on our commitments to Indians."
To get an idea of what an uphill
battle this fight was, Furse noted
that only 500 of some 10,000 bills
introduced in Congress each year
become law.
Grand Ronde was only the third
Restoration bill passed, but Hatfield
credits four features of "the
groundbreaking models" that went
before for the success of bills for
Grand Ronde and others: recognition,
a land base, revenue flow and oppor
tunities to restore Native culture.
On November 22, 1983, President
Ronald Reagan signed HR 4143
which became Public Law 98-165,
The Grand
Ronde Res
tor ation
Act.
"The day
the Presi
dent signed
the bill,
health care
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id was re-
o
stored to all
3 Tribal
members,"
o Furse said.
2 And the
benefits ex
panded from there.
It made possible the restoration of
9,811 acres of the original Reserva
tion to the Tribe, and began what
has become the development of one
of Oregon's strongest Tribes.
The meaning of that law was
simple. For Reyn Leno, "Restora
tion allows you to bring your people
together as a family."
It opened the door to self-sufficiency,
but the struggle continued.
Cheryle Kennedy was one of the
Tribe's first three employees, and in
those days, she worked out of the
cemetery building, the only build
ing the Tribe had at the time.
"I felt (the cemetery) was like sa
cred ground," she said. So, as soon
as feasible, the Tribe purchased the
local depot building to use for office
space. Out of the struggle came
strength, and it fostered the devel
opment of the wide range of projects
we see today, in the areas of gover
nance, social services, cultural re
sources, housing, education,
healthcare and the protection of our
natural resources, all leading toward
self-sufficiency for the Tribe and its
nearly 5,000 far-flung members.
The lesson of Restoration is re
membering, according to Cheryle
Kennedy: "to bring all of our ways
back again."
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9- 1
Table Rock Today The people of as many as 25 Native American Tribes were rounded up by the Cavalry and walked under armed guard to Table Rock in 1 856. The area was
then known as the Table Rock Indian Reservation and was used a temporary gathering place for Native people before the 33 day journey north to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation
on February 23. Today, Table Rock is the site of a park and visible from I-5. In February of 2002, Tribal member Steve Bobb walked the 265 miles from Table rock to Grand Ronde
as part of a fundraiser for the Tribe's Veterans' Memorial in Grand Ronde. Bobb completed the walk in 14 days and averaged about 20 miles a day.