Readers angered over board member comments
Click here to see the full story from the Jan. 26, 2006 issue of Bay Mills News.
• Biidassige
• Deleta Gasco Smith
• Lulu Beauchamp
• Irma Parrish
• Judith Puncochar
Biidassige
Aanii!
I travel around the U.S. and do presentations concerning our perspective of the history that has affected our lives. I talk about the boarding schools, reservations, relocation, sterilization programs, etc. for the purpose of creating a better informed public.
A friend of mine once said, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."
While I applaud Ojala's commitment to an academic process it appears that there are some things she wishes to remain ignorant of and include present and future public school students, who might not otherwise be exposed, to an education experience beyond textbooks, class periods, and test scores.
In a recent study by Washington University researchers it was found that racial discrimination is one factor highly correlated with suicidal behavior for American Indian youth.
I worked for the Keweenaw Bay Tribal Community Education Department. In 1978 we, in a contractual agreement with the public schools in Baraga County, introduced classes teaching language, culture and tradition, Native crafts and tutorial assistance. In 1983 in another study we had a six percent drop-out rate at grade 12. Within months of initiating the tutorial assistance our tribal student's grade point averages rose by nearly two grade points. The consensus was that, with the tutorial assistance and the recognition and sensitivity created by the cultural/traditional programs, a greater sense of personal validity and self confidence arose.
Any school system and school board should feel honored and privileged to have a pow wow event on their campus. In the colleges and school campuses I have been asked to come and present for, as I don my regalia and sing my songs with my hand drum, there is a heightened interest and consciousness that benefits those attending, as well as us as a people.
In conclusion, it is my hope that Ms. Ojala comes to a better understanding of the value of the pow wow event at the Brimley School. It is her responsibility as a school board member to ensure the students in the school system she presides over are offered the best education possible, as well as every opportunity to promote validity and confidence in the student body she is responsible to. This conscientiousness should include Native youth.
Miigwetch! For your time and consideration to my comments.
Dancing the Dream,
Biidassige
(Warren Petoskey)
Waganakising Odawa
Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians
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Deleta Gasco Smith
Aanii;
In a time when we teach our children and grandchildren about love and respect for each other and those around us it really disheartens me to see comments such as those made by Ms. Ojala. Is this really a person who sits on a school board and claims to represent all of their students, or just the non-native students? How can you deny a specific group of your students their basic rights and beliefs?
For years our people had religion crammed down our throats and literally beat into our heads. Nobody cared. Now at a time when our children and grandchildren are realizing it is OK to be who and what we are, racism and bigotry rears its ugly head and is alive and well in the Bay Mills Community. Not only is it alive and well but sitting on a school board that makes decisions that affect all of our children.
The residual affects from comments such as Ms. Ojala's spills over into every Native Community in this country. I will ask that the Creator take pity on Ms. Ojala and her ignorance to our ways. I will also pray for the healing for our communities to overcome this continued ignorance.
Miigwetch,
Deleta Gasco Smith
Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians
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Lulu Beauchamp
I am appalled at the words that this Cindy Ojala has voiced about our pow wows. What I want to know is what does the Bay Mills Indian Community propose to do about this situation? We are either part of the solution or part of the problem. I will be forwarding this piece to other Native American groups. What can we as Anishnabeg do to correct this? I personally feel if that is how this school board feels, then they have no business having an Indian Education program in that school. It is the funds from this program that pay for these mini pow wow's! How dare Ms. Ojala compare our social gatherings to Halloween! I am very upset with this, and you will be hearing more from the Native American Community which reaches many shores!
I truly feel Ms. Ojala needs to publicly apologize to the Native American people for her so- called personal opinion, especially when she has no clue about our traditions. Calling our pow wows "idol worship", is an insult to my people. Ms. Ojala may think she is an educated person, but she is obviously not very educated about the heritage, history, or traditions of the very proud and strong Anishnabeg people! I feel she has no business being on a school board with this type of tunnel vision and I hope the people over there remember this when it comes to re-election time.
Miigwetch,
Lulu Beauchamp
Escanaba
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Irma Parrish
To the editor:
I have just read the article in the Bay Mills News in which Cindy Ojala, a Brimley School Board member, expressed her personal opinion regarding the Brimley Area School's pow wow.
I am appalled that this woman who was elected to the School Board would be so callous as to question the ethnicity of Native American culture and liken a pow wow to "idol worship."
Does she not know that 50 percent of the students at Brimley Area Schools are Native American and because of them Brimley Area Schools receives thousands and thousands of dollars? Ms. Ojala should ask herself what would happen to Brimley Schools if there were no Native Americans. Could Brimley Area Schools function without the funds received because of the Native American population? Not only that, the Bay Mills Indian Community contributes funds to many functions in the school system.
There are many nationalities in this world, all with their own customs and traditions and they all contribute something to today's society. What a boring world we would have if we all looked alike, all had the same color skin, all had the same culture and traditions. We should be thankful that our Heavenly Spirit created us all equal and thankful for the diverse world that we live in. After all, diversity is the spice of life.
Ms. Ojala needs to get out of Brimley and see what the outside world has to offer. She would find a lot of different nationalities living in harmony and enjoying each other's ethnic practices. She needs to get a life! The Brimley Schools administration and Bay Mills educational staff, parents and Council have been striving for years to work in harmony for the good of all students. We do not need the likes of Ms. Ojala to set us on a backward spiral.
Irma Parrish
Bay Mills Elder
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Judith Puncochar
The Brimley School District's elected Board member, Cindy Ojala, needs to learn about American Indian education. Solid research evidence exists to support the inclusion of Native language and culture in educational programs serving American Indian students as a strategy for improving academic and other educational outcomes. Ojala's opinion of the school's pow wow as "an idol worship situation," no doubt embarrassed many people in the Brimley School District.
Judith Puncochar
Marquette
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