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:
“Freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society, and made by the legislative power vested in it; a liberty to follow my own will in all things, when the rule prescribes not, and not to be subject to the inconstant, unknown, arbitrary will of another man.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)
“I heartily accept the motto, “That government is best which governs least”; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe,—”That government is best which governs not at all”; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The newspapers, I perceive, devote some of their columns specially to politics or government without charge; and this, one would say, is all that saves it; but as I love literature and to some extent the truth also, I never read those columns at any rate. I do not wish to blunt my sense of right so much.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)