Smoke Signals 3
JANUARY 1,2007
RetfDecftiioinis Odd THIbaD Restoration), Panrft DD
If you missed Part I, see
the December 1, Issue.
By Angie Sears, Tribal Mentee
was born in the 70's, which was
nearly twenty years after termina
tion. As a' child I don't recall ever
knowing that I was part of a termi
nated Tribe. I grew up knowing that
I was Native American. When any
one asked of my heritage, I replied,
"I'm Sioux and Grand Ronde."
I'm not sure if I was able to live
my life as a Native person without
question because of the distance
I had between my home and the
Grand Ronde reservation, or if it
was simply the time that had passed
since termination.
It wasn't until I approached early
adulthood that I would realize the
effects termination had on my fam
ily. At that time, we had already
been restored as a Tribe and I had
begun receiving Tribal assistance,
mostly with medical benefits.
After termination the Grand
Ronde people faced many hardships,
including prejudice and identity is
sues. For some, these issues didn't
have a great impact on their lives,
but for others it was devastating at
times. It changed their lives. Many
families left the area searching for
a better life, some of them going so
far as attempting to conceal their
identity as a Native person.
Cherie Butler, 65, Rogue River
and Clackamas Tribal member,
recalls friends and family members
moving away after termination.
"It was during the depression.
My mother was working. She was
separated before termination, so
I lived with my grandparents or
other relatives. I think I was nine
years-old when we were termi
nated," said Butler.
Butler explained that she didn't no
tice the more serious effects of termi
nation until she got to high schx)l and
left the Grand Ronde community.
She remembers people telling her
that she wasn't Indian. "I always
yelled, well what do you do with the
skin then," she laughed.
Butler attended Willamina High
School. It was there that she began
to realize the prejudices people out
side the Grand Ronde community
held for Native Americans. She
missed a lot of school due to an
illness that required hospitaliza
tion. As a result of her absence,
the principal called her to a meet
ing with her teachers and told her
that she would have to repeat her
junior year.
"It hurt when he said that," said
Butler.
She explained that her grades
had improved during that time,
and that her teachers had asked
the principal to pass her because
she had done a really good job.
The principal refused and said,
"No, let one Indian through and
you have to let them all through,"
recalled Butler.
After the devastating realization
of prejudice, Butler went to Salem,
Oregon to live with her sister. She
began to look for work, only to find
that no one would even accept her
applications.
After a long search, she explained
her difficulties to the manager of a
restaurant near her apartment and
finally got a job as a waitress.
Prejudice was a big problem for
many Native people at that time, and
some families caved to the pressures
of society and turned their back on
their heritage in an attempt to fit in.
"People who were light-skinned
wouldn't admit they were Indian
anymore," said Butler. "Those of us
with darker-skin couldn't get away
from the prejudice."
"At that time it was not good to
be Indian," said Jackie Provost, 55,
Rogue River and Umpqua Tribal
member. "You could get further in
life by not being Indian, and that's
how things got messed up."
"Many families were separated.
Kids were sent to Catholic board
ing schools and weren't allowed
to speak their Native language.
They were forced to live the "white
way." They were called heathens
and made to feel ashamed to be
Indians," said Provost. "We had to
learn to walk in two worlds."
Jackie Whisler, 55, Rogue River,
Umpqua, Kalapuya, Clackamas,
Chinook, and Chasta Tribal mem
ber, spent most of her childhood
in the Grand Ronde community.
Whisler attended St. Michael's
Catholic School through the third
grade, when her family moved to
Brookings, Oregon for work. Life in
Brookings was much different than
the life she was used to in Grand
Ronde. The schools in Brookings
were much larger than the three
room school she was accustomed to,
and they didn't accept the creden
tials of St. Michael's. This meant
that she would have to attend spe
cial classes to make up all the work
she had done the previous three
years of school. This is also where
she would experience racism for the
first of two times in her life.
On the first day at her new school,
Whisler, a fair skinned girl with
blonde hair, who wouldn't typically
resemble an Indian, experienced
racism from her fourth grade teach
er. "My teacher said, "Class we have
a new student today; her name is
Jackie, and she's an Indian." I heard
gasps; I was toward the front of
the room, so I turned around to see
what had happened behind me, but
they were all looking at me," said
Whisler. "She was racist because
she said, "Jackie, tell the class, do
you have running water and elec
tricity on the reservation?" I was
stunned because nothing like this
had ever happened to me before, but
I replied, "No, not yet; they just got
us out of our moccasins." And from
that point on she hated me."
After the sixth grade, Whisler and
her family moved back to the Grand
Ronde community, where she would
rejoin the Grand Ronde kids at St.
Michael's. It was there that she
could feel comfortable and fit in.
During the early days of ter
mination there was a pattern
of prejudice and identity issues
forming that some of our Tribal
people couldn't avoid, but fortu
nately not all of our people would
share this pattern.
Mike Larsen, 58, Umpqua and
Chinook Tribal member, grew up
in Grand Ronde and was fortunate
enough to miss out on the preju
dices and racism against Indians
during early the termination era.
"I didn't really experience it, but
my brother and some of my rela
tives did," said Larsen. "I seemed to
be accepted into the clicks in school
because of my love for sports."
Larsen explained that he and
his friends didn't wonder who was
Indian and who was not. "Nobody
really talked about it," he sa id. "The
Indian and non-Indian kids just
kind of got along."
Look for Reflections On Restoration
Part III coming soon.
"We had to learn to walk
in two worlds."
Jackie Provost,
Tribal Elder
Tribal Canned Food Drive Competition Ends With Everyone A Winner
a-V'i 'W Y h 1,1
fMrft' J I fir 1
5 i m v c I
i w
'. 'N i -' iL
As part of their annual Christmas festivities, the Health & Wellness
Center conducted a food drive for two local food banks: Grand
Ronde Food Bank and Grand Sheramina. This year, they challenged
the rest of the Tribal Campus to beat them. The grand total of items
brought in this year was 1 0,071 compared to last year's total of
2,761 . The food drive went through the month of November and
ended on Monday, December 18. There were many events held
around the Tribal campus to help bring in canned foods. Grants
Developer Bob McEldery (I
to r). Healthcare Benefits
Administrator Allyson
LeCatsas and Human
Resources Specialist Mary
Leith smile for a picture during
a canned food luncheon in
which they helped prepare
and serve the food.