The Importance of Knowing the History with Leander “Russ” MacDonald

Not to bring it back to essential understandings peace is that’s why that is so important that’s why we have to have everybody knowledgeable on regard to have an accurate history of what happened to American Indians here within our state because for a long time the history within our history books here or is lacking you know there’s one of the courses I think here for required courses for the K through 12 system I think it’s a middle school you had to take that the course of North Dakota and so I don’t remember a whole lot of this it talks about American Indians but it was a sort short piece and it didn’t tell about the breaking of treaties didn’t tell about the high poverty population that resulted in regard to this it didn’t tell that here’s here’s Harry gold spare link folks here’s your reservation and it doesn’t tell that they wasn’t sold off you know seventy five percent of that land that were a mine and for five cents an acre when it was supposed to all be an inland you know so and so now you have a checkerboard reservation you know and so a meaning a checkerboard meaning that white land or an extended land and so and so those things like along those lines is that needs to be a part of this it’s not just the culture piece it’s not just a romanticizing of what happened to American Indians but the history piece of this in regard to happen to the really the ficial I think I think that I think there’s stability within land if you own land here’s my if we owned land I am and me my wife old thirty acres were sovereign in the ownership of that land because nobody can come onto land do anything on that land without our permission if they’re gonna come across it than any of the easement you know so we’re in control of that and I and that’s what could have happened had the tribes retain ownership of the entire land bases within their reservations but that didn’t happen with the Dawes Act and allotment act and understand it was initiative by the federal government to really I think they attacked the sovereignty of the tribes and their ability to govern themselves had they retained ownership of the land of the within with land within the reservation boundaries they would have had land and record that even if they didn’t farm it they could at least the entire land base and able to had an income that would have helped their tribe to supplement what the what the federal government must be providing in regard to the building of schools and healthcare systems and law enforcement and housing and everything else that you know that thing that needs to be done with all of our communities you know so you know so I think there’s a I think there’s these things it’s important for everyone to know not just us as tribal nations but for all or people within our within our journey population in North Dakota