-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [L-I] The Strange, Beautiful Land of North Dakota -- and the UnsolvedMurders of Natives Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 09:36:52 -0700 From: Hunter Gray <hunterbadbear at earthlink.net> Reply-To: leninist-international at lists.econ.utah.edu To: Leninist-International <leninist-international at lists.econ.utah.edu>
I'm posting this very widely. Concern is now growing quite rapidly about the failure of law enforcement authorities to make any arrests in the last September murders of three Native men at Grand Forks, ND -- and various attendant issues relating to general racism. I've been posting on these tragedies and their setting since early October. This concern is now being reflected consistently in local and regional media to this very moment. First, a little about the strange, beautiful state -- which our family knows very well indeed:
It's the least urbanized of any of the states and has a population which has to reach to even get much beyond 600,000. Farming and ranching continue to make up the major economic foundation -- but there is some industry and related commerce in the several very small cities: Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck, Minot. Four large Indian reservations are contained within North Dakota -- and there are several on the borders [Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Manitoba. ] The Northern Plains has its own great beauty -- the Badlands and environs are truly spectacular. But winters are very long and cold in North Dakota: heavy snows, generally in blizzard mode; temperatures that can drop to a flat 35 and 40 below with wind-chills that go to 100 below; major disasters -- floods, tornadoes.
The state also has its share of racism and cultural ethnocentrism and related "isms." [Leonard Peltier's home town is Grand Forks. His framed-up Federal conviction occurred at Fargo, ND.]
In the old days, there were strong Left radical traditions: Socialist Party, I.W.W., Non-Partisan League. Now, especially in the tragic context of over 10,000 ranchers and farmers who have lost their land in the last generation, and a myriad of small and dying towns, economic vicissitudes and frustration are manifested generally by out-migration -- and sometimes in virulent right-wing "populism" with racist connotations.
There are interesting, intriguing twists. An effort a few years ago by some Democrats to reinstitute the death penalty in ND was quickly defeated by a prominent [moderate] Republican leader.
Our family knows North Dakota very well indeed. My Anglo Mother's [herself born at Everett, Washington] people were among the earliest non-Indians into Kansas Territory, Dakota Territory [statehood for both Dakotas came in 1889], and Indian Territory [Oklahoma.] My mother's Scottish grandfather came into Dakota Territory [now the ND portion] in 1870 and, through force and violence against other Anglos, established a very large ranch on which he raised horses. [He got along well with the Indians. He also wore consistently a black Stetson.] North Dakota abounds with relatives of mine -- the town of Hunter is named for the family. My wife's [Eldri] Saami/Finnish family -- with a Norwegian component -- also came early and was based both in northern North Dakota and later in Minnesota. Her father, who died several years ago at 95, was the oldest [and very liberal] Lutheran clergyman in North Dakota. Until his recent retirement, Eldri's brother was chair of philosophy at Moorhead State University, on the border near Fargo. My youngest son, Peter, hired by the state-wide Bismarck ND Tribune as soon as he graduated from UND Journalism in 1992, quickly became its State Editor [and is now City Ed of a very large sister newspaper in the same chain in another state.] His wife is from the region. My oldest son, John, lives in the area. A well-published writer, he was recently awarded a highly prestigious McKnight Writer's Fellowship and has a book coming out via a Southern press in a few weeks. Both sons -- and a large number of other people [former students, Indians, non-Indians] keep us closely posted on what's going on in North Dakota. One of those is Ms Lisa Carney, a former student and on-going Teamster activist -- and a consistently sparky discussant on our RedBadBear discussion list.
I, myself, taught in Indian Studies [and Honors] at the University of North Dakota for thirteen years [full professor and chair in Indian Studies], and was a member of its graduate faculty. As always, I was deeply and consistently involved in Indian rights, labor unionization, and civil rights and civil liberties -- an on-going fight within the University and in the vast region beyond. This is why, when I took early retirement from UND, I was not awarded the title of "professor emeritus" -- and this symbolic omission is right now a burning and open issue within and around the University. Anyone interested in this can check out this updated section of my large social justice website [ www.hunterbear.org ] and the specific link: http://www.hunterbear.org/undsituations.htm
As I've noted in earlier posts, the general situation at Grand Forks, ND has badly deteriorated socially -- and this very much involves the general realm of human relations. The unsolved murders of the three Native men at the Forks in September, 2001, are now of great concern. When no arrests were made, I wrote to the daily newspaper, The Grand Forks Herald, in early October -- and the paper [not always a friend of mine] did, to its great credit, publish my letter as a major editorial on October 12. http://web.northscape.com/content/gfherald/2001/10/12/editorial/GRAY1012.htm
Very recently, I wrote this up-dated summation of the murders of the three Native men and the general background. It's due to be published soon in an excellent anti-racist publication. Now, with the issue of the unsolved Native murders becoming more and more a matter of regional [and, in some quarters, national concern], I print it here. Please note that, among other fronts, we are continuing our efforts to solicit brief and polite e-mail communications to the North Dakota governor urging him to utilize his state offices in the situation and take quick and vigorous law enforcement
arrest -- and preventative -- action. His addresses are given at the conclusion of my following short article:
NATIVE MEN MURDERED AT GRAND FORKS, ND: CALLS TO ACTION
By Hunter Gray [Hunterbear] [Micmac / St. Francis Abenaki / St. Regis Mohawk]
Three Native American men were murdered in early September, 2001, at and around the small city of Grand Forks, North Dakota [about 50,000.] No arrests have yet been made. There is increasingly widespread concern that the official investigations are being pursued neither effectively nor vigorously.
On September 7, the bodies of Robert Belgarde [40] and his son Damian [19] were found shot to death six miles south of Grand Forks. This falls into the jurisdiction of the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Department. The body of the third victim, Jerome Decoteau [50], was found with evidence of profound and deliberate physical injuries at his apartment in Grand Forks on September 24. But he had been dead for as much as two weeks -- and it is felt he may have been killed as early as September 8, the point when a neighbor began noticing daily newspapers piling up. [I personally knew and appreciated Mr. Decoteau.] This falls within the jurisdiction of the Grand Forks City Police Department.
All of the victims were members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa -- a tribal nation located in northern North Dakota.
It is possible that all of the murders, given the date of the Belgarde deaths and the probable date of Mr. Decoteau's death, are related. There have been other relatively recent multiple murders -- unsolved -- of Native men in the general Northern Plains region. Whether these Grand Forks/environs killings are related to those is, at this point, speculative.
What isn't speculative is that three Native men have been murdered and the killers are still at large.
This situation has occurred in the general context of significantly deteriorating lawmen/ minority community relations.
When the Belgarde bodies were found, an official from the Sheriff's Department made publicly disparaging remarks about the two men.
The general atmosphere in the region -- and certainly at Grand Forks -- has always been plagued with racism and cultural ethnocentrism. A number of Indian reservations are close at hand and much of this has been directed against Native Americans.
In 1983, while an Indian Studies professor at University of North Dakota [UND is located within Grand Forks], I took the lead in an intensive campaign which subsequently ousted a very poor police chief and installed a person quite sensitive to the full range of human rights and human relations concerns. As a result of all of this, and the accompanying reforms, police/community relations improved very substantially on all fronts -- and certainly very much so with respect to Native Americans. I, myself, served for many years as Chair of the Grand Forks Mayor's Committee on Police Policy -- and I also served as Chair of the Grand Forks City Community Relations Committee.
All of this also had a positive impact on the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Department.
I continued my active involvement in the Grand Forks police and general human relations situation past my retirement from UND in 1994 and to the very moment we moved back to my native Mountain West in July 1997.
Not much later, the good police chief retired. And then things, with respect to the general law enforcement/community relations situation in and around Grand Forks, began to go rapidly downhill. And down -- 'way down -- is where things are now at. The deterioration in this very sensitive and critical realm has been extremely substantial.
Although in Idaho, I continue to be much involved in various North Dakota matters. When several weeks passed with no arrests in the Native murders, I wrote a long letter to the local daily newspaper, The Grand Forks Herald. After discussing the murders and the lack of effective official action, I delineated our successful campaign of years before to substantially reform the police department, and I covered the massive setbacks that have recently occurred. In conclusion, my editorial called for a swift return to positive law enforcement/community relations, and I said:
"And it's time to apprehend these killers of Native people and to vigorously endeavor, with every ethical resource, to prevent these tragedies from happening again -- to any people."
The Herald asked the police several times to send a statement giving their side. The police declined to do so.
The Herald then ran my full letter as a major, formal editorial on October 12. It received, from the community and well beyond, much favorable comment.
For our part, we moved to activate, locally and regionally, a wide range of positive individuals and systems. When, two weeks or so after my editorial, a UND student of Arab ethnicity was brutally assaulted, Grand Forks police made an immediate arrest. A long-standing campaign to secure a state-level human rights agency has been rejuvenated.
But there have been no arrests in the murders of the three Native men.
DSA Anti-Racism Commission passed a very strong resolution in late October calling for swift action in the Grand Forks situation, It has been widely disseminated. In November, we began a campaign which has successfully generated a large number of e-mail communications to the North Dakota governor -- asking that he use his good state offices immediately to ensure a thorough, effective investigation and the swift arrest of the killers.
In mid-December, the police -- in a statement notable for its emptiness -- said only that they didn't feel the Decoteau murder was connected to the Belgarde killings. They offered nothing whatsoever to substantiate that conclusion -- which many of us do not at this point share.
It is now Christmas season, 2001. Heavy snow and bitterly cold weather have come to the Northern Plains. Jerome Decoteau, Robert Belgarde, and Damian Belgarde are almost four months dead. No killers have been apprehended. Many other Native people are at risk.
We need solid and effective arrest -- and preventative -- action on the law enforcement front. Concerned people should contact the Governor of North Dakota and ask for such fast and effective action. Addresses are:
Honorable John Hoeven Governor State of North Dakota Governor at state.nd.us State Capitol Bismarck, North Dakota 58505
We very much appreciate your support.
Hunter Gray [Hunterbear]
hunterbadbear at earthlink.net
www.hunterbear.org
Hunter Gray [Hunterbear] www.hunterbear.org (social justice)
Left Discussion Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Redbadbear
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