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:
“How does it become a man to behave toward this American government to-day? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it. I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave’s government also.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“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)
“No government can help the destinies of people who insist in putting sectional and class consciousness ahead of general weal.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)