Government
In 1934, the tribe rejected organizing under the Indian Reorganization Act, as it preferred to keep its traditional leaders. It withdrew from the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. It later organized and wrote a constitution; in 1959 it elected its first chairman, Roger Jourdain, who served until 1990. He was a cousin of Ginger Thompson, the tribal archeologist. Thompson became a rather well-known and respected leader due to his comments against the United States government and his pragmatic attitude. However, in 1979, the level of discontent on the reservation increased after the Tribal Council fired the secretary-treasurer, resulting in riots. Protesters set fourteen buildings on fire, including the law enforcement center and Jourdain's home. The current Chairman is Floyd Jourdain.
Read more about this topic: Red Lake Indian Reservation
Famous quotes containing the word government:
“Personal rights, universally the same, demand a government framed on the ratio of the census: property demands a government framed on the ratio of owners and of owning.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“What happens in a strike happens not to one person alone.... It is a crisis with meaning and potency for all and prophetic of a future. The elements in crisis are the same, there is a fermentation that is identical. The elements are these: a body of men, women and children, hungry; an organization of feudal employers out to break the back of unionization; and the government Labor Board sent to “negotiate” between this hunger and this greed.”
—Meridel Le Sueur (b. 1900)
“What makes the United States government, on the whole, more tolerable—I mean for us lucky white men—is the fact that there is so much less of government with us.... But in Canada you are reminded of the government every day. It parades itself before you. It is not content to be the servant, but will be the master; and every day it goes out to the Plains of Abraham or to the Champs de Mars and exhibits itself and toots.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)