4 JANUARY 15, 2012
Smoke Signals
Spirit Mountain Casino
hosts Winter Talk event
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
The history of the Doctrine of
Discovery received an airing on
Saturday, Jan. 7, in a meeting room
at Spirit Mountain Casino.
Province VIII of the American
Episcopal Church brought in a
panel of experts, including Grand
Ronde Tribal members, to examine
the doctrine from many angles for
its third Winter Talk.
After 500 years, the Episcopal
Church repudiated in 2009 the doc
trine by which European monarchs,
sanctioned by the major churches,
took lands inhabited by aboriginal
peoples. They did it worldwide,
from Australia and New Zealand
to North America and from Africa
to South America.
The doctrine made it possible for
European explorers to plant a flag
to legally occupy aboriginal lands
in practical terms whether the land
was already settled or not.
There are countries that are at
tempting to make the idea work still
today, according to Robert J. Miller,
professor of Indian Law at Lewis &
Clark Law School in Portland. He
presented a wide-ranging history of
the doctrine for the group.
Miller also is chief justice of the
Court of Appeals for the Grand
Ronde Tribe. He sits as a judge for
other Tribes and is author of two
books discussing the Doctrine of
Discovery.
He pointed to countries now
rushing to put their flags on land
exposed by melting glaciers and
at the bottom of newly passable
waterways. The thinking behind
the doctrine, he said, can be seen in
the United States invading Iraq to
install American-style democracy.
The doctrine rests in part on the
idea that Christians are superior
to aboriginals.
"There is no question," Miller
said, "that Europeans used Chris
tianity to claim superiority."
When Indians were hit with
plagues, he added, many Europe
ans in America at the time believed
it was God's plan.
Scholar Jonathan Merritt of the
Earth & Spirit Council of Portland
said, "The Doctrine of Discovery
codifies our separation from God."
In addition to the assumed supe
riority of Christianity, the 1823 Su
preme Court case that accepted the
Doctrine of Discovery in America,
Johnson v. Mcintosh, limited Tribal
land rights for Natives "without
(Native's) knowledge, consent or (re
ceipt of) payment," Miller said. He
also argued that the American idea
of manifest destiny was the continu
ation of the Doctrine of Discovery.
Though the doctrine requires that
the land claimed be empty, James
Cook in 1770, Miller said, claimed
Australia. "The aboriginals were
throwing spears at him and he
claimed it as empty land." The story
everywhere was similar.
As morally flawed as the doctrine
is, it was "one of the first principles
of international law," Miller said,
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Tribal Attorney Rob Greene told
a story from his recent vacation.
He had climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro
in Africa and planted the Grand
Ronde Tribal flag at the top. "Are
you telling me," he asked Miller,
"that that was not valid?"
Greene described a federal gov
ernment working against Tribal
interests at every turn. "There is a
record of the federal government fa
voring miners and timber interests
over Native Americans," he said.
Tribal Historic Preservation
Officer and Tribal member Eirik
Thorsgard described institutional
racism and violence against ab
original peoples.
"I was watching the faces (in the
room) when the Doctrine of Discov
ery came up," he said. "Everyone
cringed. They know violence when
they see it."
He discussed situations both at
work and in his professional expe
riences where he saw institutional
violence and development on Na
tive grave sites.
Portland Attorney Ken Kahn,
who practices Indian law, described
some of the other challenges that
pushed the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatria
tion Act into law.
The question before the group, ac
cording to the Rev. Albert Krueger,
pastor of St. Andrew Episcopal
Church in Portland, Native Ameri
can Missioner for Province VIII
and organizer of this year's Winter
Talk, is how to bring about healing
from the damage caused by the
doctrine.
The short answer was for indi
viduals to do things that lead to a
stronger community.
"How do you change property
law that's 400 to 500 years old?"
said Miller. "The Supreme Court
is not going to reverse Johnson v.
Mcintosh."
"We have to look to ourselves,"
said Greene.
"It's about education and outreach
in the beginning," said Thorsgard.
The Rev. Reynelda James, a
Paiute from Pyramid Lake, Nev.,
brought water from Pyramid Lake.
The water has spiritual importance
to the Tribe, she said.
The Rev. Debbie Royals, a Pas
cua Yaqui from southern Arizona,
smudged the group one by one.
The 40 or more in attendance in
cluded church leaders from western
states as well as other interested
parties.
They included Milt Markewitz of
Portland, who sees the issue from a
Jewish point of view, he said, from
the point of view of the Exodus;
whereas aboriginals, he said, as
the world's original peoples, see
the issue from the point of view of
Genesis.
The group also included Rocco
Tedesco, area director for the Epis
copal Order of St. Luke the Healer,
who had been gifted some Grand
Ronde artifacts many years ago and
during lunch with Tribal Elders
offered them back to the Grand
Photos by Ron Karten
Tribal member and cultural
consultant Greg Archuleta described
features of the Tribal plankhouse
to guests from the Episcopal Winter
Talk conference held at Spirit
Mountain Casino on Jan. 6-8.
At left, Tribal Elder Claudia Leno
and the Rev. Reynelda James of the
Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe in Nevada
speak following lunch for the Winter
Talk group at the Elders' Activity
Center.
Ronde people.
Tribal Elders Kathryn Harrison,
Marilyn Portwood and Kathleen
Provost, chair of the Tribe's Culture
Committee, attended the session.
Buses took all of the attendees to the
Elders' Activity Center for lunch ca
tered by Spirit Mountain Casino.
Tribal member and Cultural
Resources Manager David Lewis
gave the lunch group a brief Tribal
history while Tribal members Jon
George and his sons, Trey and
Tynan, Greg Archuleta and Tribal
Elder Vernon Kennedy (Burns
Paiute) welcomed the group with
drum and song.
Public Affairs Director Siobhan
Taylor led a tour of Tribal facili
ties before arriving at the Tribal
plankhouse, where there was more
history, a fire and drumming.
Portland Bishop Michael Hanley
said that he had been made aware
of Native American issues "because
of Native American people who were
no longer going to remain silent."
"If we don't remember, we risk hav
ing things slip back into the way they
were in the past," Hanley said.
Markewitz said at lunch that
the difference between the Native
American and current ways of deal
ing with the environment are the
difference between "balance and
harmony" and "cap and trade."
"It will take a new way of think
ing to turn this around," said
Krueger.
"We've got a long way to go," said
Provost.
The conference ended with a Prov
ince VIII resolution to strengthen
ties with Native American com
munities. B