The next installment in Community Conversations: Exploring What Matters to our Neighbors—a storytelling project of PerSisters and Leelanau Indivisible—features Patrick Concannon, a 44-year-old tribal member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians who lives in Lake Leelanau. With Indigenous People’s Day coming up on Oct. 12, and with a national midterm election in a divided nation looming in a few weeks, we found Concannon’s words to be meaningful.
Traverse Indivisible and Leelanau Indivisible are teaming up to hold a third No Kings national day of action in Traverse City on Saturday, March 28, as millions gather nationwide to protest the Trump administration’s policies and politics, at home and around the world. Organizers say they expect as many as 7,000 people to march in Traverse City “as small-town America pushes back against authoritarianism.” In a city of 16,000 people, that would make No Kings Day one of the largest protests in Northern Michigan history. The march begins at 1 pm at F&M Park in downtown Traverse City. Click here to read our coverage in the Glen Arbor Sun of the impact of the Trump administration’s politics and policy on Northern Michigan communities.
With daily reports flashing from major Midwestern cities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attacks on immigrants and communities of color, the Grand Traverse Band (GTB) of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians took the unprecedented step today of issuing an advisory to its tribal members to coach them on how to handle encounters with ICE agents. GTB chair Sandra Witherspoon told the Glen Arbor Sun that, while she has heard rumors of increased ICE activity in northern Michigan, she has no concrete evidence of a stepped-up presence in the coming days. Nevertheless, out of an “abundance of caution,” she said that tribal government decided to issue the advisory. Today’s advisory from the Grand Traverse Band encourages tribal members to carry their GTB Tribal ID card and to calmly identify their citizenship status if confronted by a federal agent. It also mentioned racial profiling practices now permitted under the Trump regime.
Emily Modrall drew an audience of 150 to Suttons Bay High School on Nov. 29 where she summarized the Kchi Wiikwedong Anishinaabe History Project and its work to give more space and visibility to the Anishinaabe past and present through signage and art on public land. A fascination with history led Modrall, who grew up in Suttons Bay, to a Ph.D. in Art & Archeology from the University of Pennsylvania and 15 years of field work in Italy. But upon returning home, this region’s own history seemed far away. Two years ago, Modrall ran across a marker at West End Beach etched “OLD INDIAN TRAIL” which she learned led south to Cadillac and was used by the Anishinaabek more than a century ago. Most of these trails are now lost to history—or paved over. Modrall describes herself in that moment unmoored, as she felt the history of her home and birthplace shifting beneath her feet. “What was this old trail?” She remembers wondering, “Who put up this marker? And what more can we do to preserve the past?”
What is Native American Dancing? This question was put to me and I was asked to explain it. What I will speak of is the Hank Bailey version of Pow Wow Dancing. … The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians holds their annual pow wow Aug. 19-20 in Peshawbestown. Visit GTBIndians.org for more information.
All are invited to join Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in dedicating their newly designated Wilderness on Friday, May 30, at noon at the breathtaking #3 Dune Overlook on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. A special program is planned which focuses all participants on the mission of preserving and protecting this special place now and into the future. The National Park Service is pleased to announce that Senator Carl Levin, Senator Debbie Stabenow and Congressman Dan Benishek will be among some of the special speakers at this event.
When I spoke on the phone recently with Derek Bailey, current chair of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and now Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress, he was crossing the Mackinac Bridge and returning home to Traverse City. The tires on his 2005 Saturn VUE hummed loudly as he passed over the rumble strips on the majestic arch that connects Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced funding for Great Lakes Restoration Initiative projects in Northern Michigan totaling $1.1 million. The projects will help to restore the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Grand Traverse Band watersheds and put people back to work, using a conservation corps model to hire unemployed workers to improve habitat and clean up shoreline.