Mosinee must right historic wrongs
The opportunity that every citizen has right now in Mosinee is to celebrate the end of a troubled identity as "Indians." No matter how anyone feels personally, there is one certainty that will help define the character of this community for years to come -- the use of the Indians name will always be divisive.
Nothing can change that fact. The same is not true in communities that changed and adopted the Eagles, Wildcats or the Thunder.
The reason it will remain divisive has to do with understanding history. Even though no one in Mosinee intends to use "Indian" in a bad way, there is no doubt about problems with the identity.
A search for authentic information about Indians who have lived in this area is instructive. At Mosinee's Dessert Public Library, the largest source of information is a volume entitled "The History of Marathon County" by Louis Marchetti. The author explains, "The Indians ... have no history. Even their tradition is limited. ... The Indian, when first discovered by white men, was an untutored child of nature." As poor as this assessment is, educationally it is made even worse because nowhere on the shelves of the library will you find any books written by Menominee, Ojibwe or Ho Chunk authors whose heritage is at issue here.
Worse yet, go upstairs in the library. There you will find a portrait of Kah-be-nug-we-way, an Ojibwe from Minnesota. Only he is not called that. The caption under the picture calls him "Chief Mosinee," a complete fiction that was debunked in 1994!
A further recent search in the Mosinee High School library showed that their only source specific to Wisconsin Indians is a 1955 book, "Stories of Wisconsin Indians: Legends and Tales of She-She-Pe-Ko-Naw," where you can learn about (in the words of the author) "these simple people." Here you can also learn about thousands of years of Menominee history told in two-thirds of one page. How many of us could adequately tell even part of our family's history in two-thirds of a page? And how can we get the accuracy and authenticity so critical to education if there is not a variety of information from Wisconsin Indian authors?
So the fictions created generations ago are alive in Mosinee. They were not fixed by the continuation of the Indian nickname. They can only be fixed by the elimination of the stereotypical "Indian" identity and adding accurate and authentic information to the curriculum.
We must face the fact that it is impossible to fairly represent over 500 culturally distinct tribes with an identity as "Indians." A sound educational system knows that stereotypes, no matter how well intended, always create fictions about people that are harmful.
No matter what efforts are made, Mosinee will never serve all of its students if it retains the "Indian" identity.
Clif Morton of New London is an educator, author and officer with the Wisconsin State Human Relations Association. He can be reached at
clif@athenet.net.
SOURCE: WausauDailyHerald.com
Linear Mode
