This past week I was part of a mission trip from Central
Baptist Church to Grand Portage along the north shore of Lake Superior.
Grand Portage is an Indian Reservation near the border of
Canada comprised of a tribe of the Anishinaabe/Chippewa/Ojibwe. It is a
beautiful area on the lake and an area that is actually doing OK economically.
This reservation is one of the few that has more jobs than can be filled by
members of the tribe.
There is much I could say about the tribe and about the
church that we served and the work that we did, but I want to reflect on some
of the things that I learned on the trip.
One of the highlights was a conversation that we had with an
elder from the tribe called John. He was in his 50s and a man of great wisdom.
Our group spent about two and a half hours in conversation with him. He shared
his personal story, while also weaving in the bigger story of the tribe and the
country as a whole (basically the policies our government pursued and the
impact it had on the Anishinaabe people).
I will start by saying that I have read quite a bit about
the history of our country and what was done to the Native peoples. A good
resource would be this book:
That is to say, the stories that he shared and his
interpretation of what happened did not come as a surprise to me, I had heard
of the wars and massacres, the systematic destruction of a people and their
culture, the splitting up of families, the placing of children in boarding
schools, the poor land and governance of the reservations, and many other
atrocities that are too numerous to mention in this space. What really struck
me while listening to John was that it was pretty much the first time that I
could put a face to these atrocities. It was his people, his friends, his
families, that were directly impacted by our government policies. I can sense
his pain and anger, both of which are quite understandable.
Despite this, he was still a gracious man. He is not a
Christian, but he was certainly willing to meet with our group and give us the
benefit of the doubt, which is quite remarkable considering the role that the
church had in the damaging of the tribe and of the Anishinaabe people overall.
The historic church was an active and willing participant in the atrocities
that originated from the government. And while John is not a member of the
church on the reservation, he is supportive of what they are doing, but he is
understandably skeptical of a new group that visits. He was understandably
curious as to what our intentions are and what we helped to do on our mission
trip and subsequent trips.
For my part, I wanted to learn from him and others like him
in the tribe, and to see overall what
our church can do to support the people of the tribe. I do hope that he saw
that both in our conversation and in the actions and work that we engaged in.
We did not come in trying to talk to everyone and spread our faith in an
obnoxious way. Instead, we came leading with our ears, and doing work that
supported the church and some members of the community, while also spending
good quality time with people (especially children) of the church. I feel it
was productive in that sense, and there will definitely be a place for us there
in the future.
Another thought that I had from the conversation with John
was the idea of privilege. This is clearly a controversial issue and it is
admittedly something that I have not spent a whole lot of time considering, but
the idea of privilege became real in one sense. The privilege that I have, when
compared to someone like John, is that I don’t live in the reality of what the
government did to me and my family on a daily basis. For the most part I have
been left alone. This is a privilege that I take for granted. I surely have
some negative events that have happened in the past that impact me today, but
it pales in comparison to what the Anishinaabe people have gone through. It is
easy to say that some of their problems are self-inflicted (alcoholism, teenage
pregnancy, etc) and that is true, but there is some context to the source of
these problems and there is a lesson in the impact of generational sin, both
from within and without.
Being a part of the mission seems to be an opportunity. I am
happy that our church is willing to support this church and ministry, and I
look forward to return trips where we can continue to develop relationships and
perhaps do our part to help heal the wounds that have lasted for generations.
There is certainly hope in the new generation, as the most active part of the
church is the youth, and they have hopes for the future like that of anyone
else. I look forward to our church being a part of that.
Two last interesting points that I learned on the trip:
1. I found out that Abraham Lincoln is not that highly
regarded by the Anishinaabe. In fact, he might be considered the worst
administration for Indians in our country’s history. In the midst of the Civil
War he was brutal towards the tribes on the frontier and he ordered the largest
mass execution in the history of the country. Some things are not easily
forgotten.
2. The second thing, and perhaps more encouraging, is that
the opinion of the US (and state) Government has seen some slight improvement
of the last several years. The government has indeed done a better job of
honoring treaties and reversing some of the egregious problems. There is still
much work to be done but this is a start. Let’s hope this continues.
No comments:
Post a Comment