“Recall petition spokesman Harvey Bonga at Camp Justice 2010”

Not guilty on all counts

By Jeff Armstrong
Contributing Writer

Months before pro-democracy movements swept the Middle East, a very similar popular upsurge (on a much smaller scale) emerged on the White Earth Anishinaabe reservation in northwestern Minnesota. It began with a legal petition under the tribal constitution last year to compel a reservation vote to recall White Earth Chairman Erma Vizenor, who had herself risen to power on the heels of a popular insurrection against former Chairman Darrell (Chip) Wadena.

Vizenor not only refused to submit to a recall vote, but organized a small army of tribal, state, and federal law enforcement officers to disperse a protest camp outside reservation headquarters. Only two demonstrators were arrested on criminal charges in connection with the July 13, 2010 raid, Martin Seeger and his brother Darwin.

Apparently targeted in part for posting videos on YouTube of confrontations between protesters and White Earth officials, Martin Seeger was charged in Becker County with unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct, and obstructing legal process.

On April 12, a jury of six found Seeger not guilty of all charges after less than an hour of deliberation.

Seeger attributed his acquittal to conflicting testimony and outlandish claims by tribal officers, including that he had hoisted a giant boulder on to a road and attempted to incite a riot after his brother Darwin was repeatedly tasered while held down by tribal police.

“They couldn’t keep their stories straight,” said Seeger.

Darwin Seeger is scheduled for trial in Detroit Lakes on May 10.

The White Earth demonstrators were well within the tradition of tribal protest movements dating back to the late 1980s, when Anishinaabeg demanding a constitutional convention occupied tribal headquarters in Cass Lake. In the past, however, tribal officials had to rely on state police to remove protesters occupying government buildings, while leaving support camps untouched. The difference in 2010 was the presence of a sizable reservation police force viewed as illegitimate by protesters. Rather than waiting for tribal members to occupy White Earth offices, reservation officials struck first and forced the Anishinaabeg off their public lands.

Erma Vizenor was once on the other side of the barricades.

In 1991, Vizenor was twice arrested as a member of Camp Justice for occupying the governing Reservation Business Committee (RBC) offices and was threatened in 1992 with assault charges for participating in the seizure of White Earth election ballots in an attempt to force a new election with external monitors. Since taking office in 1996 in what former Wadena supporters characterized as a federally-backed coup, however, Vizenor has been even less tolerant of dissent than her predecessor.

Instead of leading the charge for constitutional reform within the six-reservation Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (MCT), of which White Earth is a member, Vizenor’s RBC sought to break from the tribe and led the way for the MCT in establishing reservation courts and police through agreements with the state of Minnesota and federal COPS grants. While parroting Wadena’s claim of overwhelming majority support, the White Earth RBC never once consulted the people through a referendum vote or constitutional amendment. 

“She went ahead and implemented what Chip (Wadena) was trying to do,” said longtime tribal activist Ray Bellcourt. “We don’t want to be governed by an unconstitutional system.”

While former Camp Justice members and Wadena supporters attempted to form a strategic coalition in 1998, their efforts fell short in forcing an independent election through the seizure of absentee ballots and the occupation of White Earth offices. A losing vote on the reservation for Vizenor led to a new absentee vote limited to those who had cast absentee ballots the first time (of which only the RBC and its election board could have knowledge), allowing for selective mailing of ballots impossible to monitor or challenge. Vizenor did not win the on-reservation vote until her 2008 election.

It would fall to a new generation of activists last year to finally bridge the divisions of the past and challenge the new foundations of RBC authority: reservation police and courts.   

Last April, nearly 600 White Earth tribal members, well over the 1/5 reservation residency requirements of the tribal constitution, signed a petition calling for Vizenor’s removal. The recall effort was sparked by the RBC’s efforts to implement a White Earth Constitution that would break up the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and open enrollment to descendants of tribal members, including, ironically enough, Martin and Darwin Seeger. The petition also charges Vizenor with violating the MCT Constitution by establishing a police and court system without the consent of tribal members. 

The acquittal of Martin Seeger in state court will likely lead to the redoubling of RBC efforts to expand its legal authorities, with uncertain consequences. Two days after the police raid on Camp Justice, the RBC enacted a Prohibited Conduct Code that could either lay the legal foundations for an absolute dictatorship or spur a more concerted resistance movement.

The White Earth code is a remarkable document. Applicable only to “Indians,” the code is reminiscent of similar regulations issued by 19th century Indian Agents, who ruled reservations at their whim. “Unlawful Assembly,” for instance is defined as follows: “When two or more Indians assemble, each participant is guilty of unlawful assembly, which is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500.00, up to one year in jail or both, if the assembly is a) With intent to commit an unlawful or lawful act with force, or; b) with intent to carry out any purpose in such a manner as will disturb or threaten the public peace, or; c) without unlawful purpose but the participants so conduct themselves in a disorderly manner as to disturb or threaten the public peace.”

Other offenses punishable by a year in prison include “an attempt to expose any person to public disgrace or ridicule,” “rebellion or insurrection against the White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians or laws thereof or gives aid or comfort thereto,” or “disturbs a meeting, not unlawful in its nature.”

The outcome of the political struggle on White Earth is likely to be shaped in large part by the federal government’s responses to competing claims. Camp Justice supporters have filed litigation seeking to compel the Interior Department to hold a recall election in accordance with the tribal constitution, while the RBC has requested of the Justice Department authority to expand tribal sentencing powers to three years for any one offense and up to 9 years for concurrent offenses under the 2010 Tribal Law and Order Act.

Justice’s Office of Tribal Justice failed to answer or return calls from HPR, but Attorney General Holder would do well to consider whether he wants the Obama administration’s first major initiative in Indian Country to be identified with expanding the authority of a tribal judiciary bitterly contested by a sizable percentage of its constituents. He might also contemplate the prospect of obligating the federal government to hold tribal political prisoners in federal prisons. 

Questions or comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)