Life fairly rough here in the 1960-1990s

Poverty on the reservation was in a similar condition as when many Vietnam veterans had left, and it too had worsened. The reservation was a classic example of how the wartime expenditures had affected the domestic program of the United States. Jane Priwer, a writer, gave a vivid description of the reservation condition in the 1970s: “They are not in good shape today. Their reservation is a desolate place, splintered by unpaved, muddy roads and inhabited by only a few of the oldest and poorest members of the tribe. The rest are in the cities. Average income is about $2,500 a year, unemployment around 50 percent and the high school drop-out rate 44 percent. “

In addition, the tribal government had a $6,450 budget for the year of 1972. This low sum was supposed to be enough to govern the affairs of the tribe. All of these financial figures translated into a period of abject poverty for the tribe, but not much different than the rest of the country. The United States and the reservation were all feeling the backlash of Vietnam, a war that cost $150 billion.

While this analysis of the tribal financial condition was true, the reservation was home, and, as so many times in the past, the tribal members made the best of the situation. Tribal members worked in the surrounding towns and cities in construction fields, packing houses, garden nurseries and whatever temporary employment was available.

In some family situations, as many as 12 children lived in a small four-room house with no running water. But those homes were relatively happy, and food was always available. It was a dire necessity for the children to leave home at an early age, so it was not uncommon for young people to get married at the ages of 18 or 19 and move into apartments in the surrounding towns and cities like Holton or Topeka. Marriages usually lasted a long time simply because there was no room back home if it didn’t work out.

Potawatomis learned self-sufficiency at a young age because of the economics of the times. But the reservation was always home, and young couples often came home to visit or to attend social events.

Grim statistics showed the Potawatomi had a death rate about twice as high as the state average and a birth rate three times the state average as well as an infant mortality rate two times the average during this period. Dr. Patricia Schlosser, who worked in the children’s clinic in Holton, noted how the infant mortality rate is one of the most sensitive indexes of the general health of a people. Another physician who worked with the tribe said the life expectancy was only 43 years of age. He said many Indians in the area had major nutritional problems.

Elizabeth Munoz stated, “Indians have every problem that the ethnic and low income person has plus their own cultural problems, including a sense of pride. It’s harder in many cases to admit they do need help.”

Where the average tribal member benefited the most was the new housing that came to the reservation in the late 1970s. The Department of Housing and Urban Development authorized the building of 36 homes in a housing site. A few were built on scattered home sites. In time, a total of over 90 homes were built on the reservation. Housing was desperately needed for the growing population. Yet there was opposition to this concept.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, many tribal members looked upon the new housing as another ploy to get the land. It was a fear that tribal members would be evicted for non-payment of rent (based on income), and non-Indians would then move in and own the tribal land. It was a justifiable fear, but something that did not transpire. Federal housing programs on many reservations have been resented because the houses are planned on the basis of Western values—geometric lots, houses close together and no place for animals while the Indian people strongly prefer their own traditional housing patterns: houses scattered over the land just within hailing distance or houses designed for small clusters of related families. This pattern was rooted deeply in the history of the tribe.

On the positive side, the new houses meant coming home to the reservation and no longer having to live in surrounding communities where discrimination was an accepted fact. Now the people had the opportunity to live among their families and friends. Yet, it was close to a self-imposed segregation.

All in all, jobs were scarce, housing limited, roads were horrible and adequate office facilities were non-existent, so it was fairly grim here in the 60s to the 90s.

A fast Potawatomi history lesson.

Over the years the Potawatomi have collected many captivating stories to tell, at every bend, twist and turn of our history.

The stories of old state that we were originally located on the eastern sea board and slowly migrated westward over the years - this migration was at times voluntary while at other times very much against our will. Nonetheless, we were an independent group and lived off the bountiful natural resources of the Great Lakes. What we couldn't catch in the lakes or hunt in the forests, we acquired through trade with other tribes and later with the non-Indians. For the longest time we enjoyed life free from outside influences and prospered.

After the first contact with non-Indians in 1641, land became a central issue that intensified with the expansion of the 13 colonies or "13 Fires." As this expansion started to happen the Potawatomi lost some of their autonomy and freedoms. Non-Indians wanted the land for mines, timber and the growing number of towns, cities and ports. During this time of advancing settlement, the Potawatomi people held no real concept of land ownership. Their beliefs taught them that land belonged to all living things alike. However, the U.S. Government, in its first treaties with the Indians, established boundaries for tribal land. In the numerous treaties that followed, known as "cession treaties," the Potawatomi agreed to sell land to the U.S. Government. Those early concessions soon led to more drastic policies.

The 1830 Removal Act was a governing policy of the United States government. The policy revolved around a dream that the Indian "problem" could be eliminated forever by persuading the eastern Indians to exchange their lands for territory west of the Mississippi. Each band has their own story to tell about the removal and those stories are unique to them and are best told by them. As for the Prairie Band, we made temporary stops in Missouri's Platte Country in the mid-1830’s and the Council Bluffs area of Iowa in the 1840’s. The tribe controlled up to five million acres at both locations. After 1846 the tribe moved to present-day Kansas. Although the area lacked the beauty of the Great Lakes, the circumstances of removal left the tribal people little choice. At that time, the reservation was thirty square miles which included part of present-day Topeka. It is our contention that the land we lost during this period contributed to the greatness of this country. In the following years, land holdings dwindled further and life toughened for the Prairie Band. At times it seemed hopeless, but we persevered.

For the first part of the 20th century the Potawatomi subsisted on farming, hunting and trapping, wage labor, and leasing of their lands. The band suffered greatly during the Great Depression and accompanying drought during the 1930’s. Things didn’t get any better after the wars came along. Many tribal members went and fought in Europe and the Pacific during World War II. They went to Korea, Vietnam and fought in modern day battles in the Middle East. Some died, some were wounded and some suffered for many years after, but they have achieved a place of honor in our society. We are free today because of what those veterans have done for us. Again, it was a difficult time but members persevered and survived.

The tribes in the ensuing years struggled living with abject poverty and racism however, because of strong leaders, were able to survive something close to termination. It took time to regroup as a tribal unit. Government programs came and they helped, but never were the true answer. The introduction of gaming activities has initiated an improvement in social, educational and cultural leadership programs which has led to improvement in the quality of life among our people.

Lessons in Life

When I occasionally get to read the Kansas City Star, I make a point to read Jason Whitlock’s column. He’s a pretty opinionated black guy and I’m surprised he hasn’t been run out of town yet, but you don’t have to like a guy when he can write some great stories. One of these days I might send him an email and tell him that, but I probably will never get around to it.


Well anyway the other day, Whitlock wrote about Brian Waters of the K.C. Chiefs winning the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. Waters has done a ton of work for the KC community during his nine year career and is a respected man. The Chiefs have gone through some lean years lately so they fired their general manager and head coach and hired in some new people. That didn’t seem to help much.  I guess there's always next year. I personally don’t give a damn if they win or lose because of the way Indians are portrayed in their stands during games, but that’s just me.

Oh for the longest time I was a baseball fan.  We did our best to go to watch the KC Royals play every year.  It was always an adventurous drive going through Kansas City.  But I essentially gave up on the Royals because of the major league baseball strike in 1994. I’ve only gone to one game since and that’s because it was a free ticket. At the time the average major league salary was about a million dollars a year and that wasn’t enough for them, so I said they don’t’ need me hanging around Royals Stadium any more either. Again that’s neither here or there.

Back to the story: Waters, being a good guy, reached out to the new management and was greeted with a “breathtaking level of disrespect and contempt.” Why? Who knows and cares? Maybe, they felt a need to belittle the players who were losers in their eyes. Waters asked to be traded as a result but all that did was alienate the fans who wanted to “blindly believe in the new men.” He chose to ignore the treatment and devote his time to making the Chiefs better.

Whitlock said young people can learn a lesson from the Waters treatment, “If your goal is to rise above your circumstance, never answer disrespect with disrespect. Don’t answer at all. Another person’s behavior should not dictate your behavior. Someone –a peer, a friend, a teacher, a boss – might verbally assault you or challenge you in an unfair manner publicly/privately. Don’t respond, Whitlock said, it’s a trap, a ploy to prevent your elevation to higher station in life.”

Waters did exactly that and won a prestigious award and as Whitlock said “success trumps disrespect.”

KU basketball big on Potawatomi Reservation

On most reservations there are some real differences on topics especially political ones, but on the Prairie Band Potawatomi reservation there are some unifying aspects going on and that’s a die-hard fan-base for Kansas University men’s basketball.

A few games back, KU lost to Tennessee in their house and yes they did take it on the chin, but they slowly started to develop and went through some growing pains. Before that loss, KU barely get by Cornell in one game 71-66. It was a damn good thing that the boy from the streets of Chicago decided to show up those rich kids from the Ivy League or KU would have went down for the count earlier. The other night they beat Baylor, a pretty fair team. Sherrod Collins is real, the twins are asserting themselves and as soon as that thing called chemistry starts clicking watch out America.

In the daily rag, the writers were saying KU escaped being beat by KSU in another game. Hell, that ain't the way I saw it. They gutted out the win and were tougher in a tough game. KU has to win games like that to be fully appreciated on the national scene, because it ain't all east coast basketball and if we don’t watch out KU will put Kansas on the map. KU won, but the difference between KU and KSU is Sherron Collins. It was a hell of a game. KU did their damndest to throw the game but straightened up in overtime. They had all the big-time announcers for this game including Erin Andrews on the courtside mike.

KU also struggled against Colorado, missing free throw after free throw and throwing the ball away at crucial times. That cussin you heard on the reservation was me, but they decided to play ball in overtime and beat those mountain people 72-66.

Later KU put it on Nebraska in a tune-up for those Texans. KU and Texas think about each other so much that they almost forget to take care of the business at hand, and that’s why in my estimation, KU has had flat games and Texas has taken it on the chin regularly. Oh, well it could be worse -what about those Tarheels, already losing ten games this year. Ol Roy is probably crying in his spilled milk and wondering why he snuck out of Lawrence on that jet plane a few years back.

But KU during this time finally started to look like the team everybody said they would be. It really helps when those McDonald All-Americans come off the bench hitting all those threes, plus that defense is clamping down. X Henry is looking good. If KU would turn him loose then you would see a tremendous player reach his potential. I don't think he will be a "one and done" player because he could use some more experience. With that said, this is Sherron Collins team, but it will only get better for KU, when the rest of the bunch decided to help like they are starting to do now.

And the stepping stone to greatness happened at Texas. KU established itself as the big dog in NCAA basketball last night whipping those Texas pretenders 80-66. Their “stifling”defense was huge factor and made the game a runaway. I believe it was the best overall game KU has played this year. They are back in the national discussion, for sure!

The experts are predicting KU to be the #1 seed in the St. Louis region with Kentucky, Villanova and Syracuse as the other #1 seeds. The other night the announcers said Syracuse is playing the best in the country now, but I guess they haven’t seen KU play. KU, under this format, would play their first games in Oklahoma City.

In a nut-shell this is what occupies the time of many on the Potawatomi reservation during this cold snowy winter.

Winter Storms

The winter storms of 2010 spared our reservation. They hit south and north of us. Those folks were without electricity and had to deal with ice galore and snow, but we are no strangers to natural disasters. Back on December 12, 2007, the reservation, or a good portion of it, did not have any electricity. In the area, there were 21,442 Westar Electric customers out of electricity.

Before that day though and with the storm fast approaching, we got a room at the casino. Our daughter Martie and the grandchildren went over and stayed, but Voncile and I stayed at our house. I woke up a couple of times during the night and seen that we had lights yet, but in the morning it was dark so I knew it had gone out and it did at 6:15 a.m. It lasted six longs days and some went 11 days without electricity.

We stayed at our home, using the heat off the kitchen stove during most of that time. It sure was an inconvenience for sure. We modern Indians have become used to creature comforts such as propane heat, lights, showers and television. It sure is rough going with electricity. I’m guilty too! In the old days, you had to get out and cut wood or you would freeze or you had to put up food from the garden or you would starve in the winter.

Anyway, outside the ice had formed on the trees and branches started to break off. It sounded like a gun going off. I stood in front of the house and that sound repeated many times, mostly because we live near a large timber. Then the trees in my yard started breaking off and that made me feel bad. I’ve planted many trees over the years and now they were damaged. The only thing left to do was to pick up the branches when this storm broke, access the damage and start over. In Sabetha, up the road, some trees 3-4’ thick were up-rooted, so I guess it could have been much worse.

All of the senior sites were without heat since their systems are all electric. Eventually, over 300 people from the rez stayed at the casino and another 100 stayed at the bingo hall. Many didn’t have any money. They should have delivered the per-caps there and the casino would have profited off this natural disaster. Tribal funds picked up three meals a day and the rooms for the people, which was good. It eventually worked out on our reservation that year as it will for people having it rough this year.

Thoughts on Indian gaming

I view Indian gaming as a historical accident. In our case, we were “poor as the day is long,” and in retrospect that’s probably an understatement.

There were a few circumstances that fell into place to make it easier for gaming to come to our reservation. In the early 1990s, the State of Kansas built a new $55 million dollar four lane highway that went right by our reservation. This made it only a 15-minute drive from Topeka, Kansas with a population base of 150,000 people and a 1.5 -hour drive from Kansas City, which has a population of over a million people.

In 1995, the State of Kansas approved a Tribal/State Compact but only after years of litigation that was costly to both sides. Fortunately for us, it passed without a sunset provision. The good thing is that we don’t have to renegotiate the terms every few years and give the state a cut of the action, as is the case with many tribes.

The tribe started a small casino shortly after this compact was approved and now we have a top of the line casino –1,043- machine facility - capable of creating significant wealth for the tribe to use in righting the wrongs of the past. We went through a couple of expansions to our facility and are debt-free. We all know gaming may be only a short window of opportunity and we have taken full advantage of this economic windfall. I’ve been around for a long time and have seen the poverty on our reservation, so the transformation is gratifying to witness.

To give a few examples of this transformation consider these improvements: We have concentrated on improving our infrastructure. We have poured millions of dollars into our people with jobs and services, buildings, roads, housing and park development. Today, we have a new government center, clinic, a new senior citizen center, Boys and Girls Club, Police Station, water treatment plant, a new Fire Station and state of the art equipment. In addition, we funded a new addition to our Childcare center. Gaming money has made it possible for more tribal members to attend the college of their choice. It’s an investment that will pay dividends in the future.

Once we had horrendous roads where we would literally get stuck in the middle of the main- road during rainstorms, but today we have many miles of blacktop road. In addition we have built many houses, 16 apartments, and duplexes for our people –both young and old. This will improve the living conditions of our tribal members. The last homes built on the reservation were with HUD development money in 1977 and 1985. A recent article said the only way tribes can make lasting change on reservations is to provide housing for its people and how can you not agree with that statement.

I’m a student of history and have seen many federal programs come to our reservation and nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, has had the impact on our reservation as gaming has done. I don’t mean to paint a perfect picture because we have had dissent on our reservation, just like all reservations, and we will have it in the future because people’s opinions and individual priorities can vary. We can live with arguments about money rather than one about having none to help our people.

I think how a tribal member who hasn’t been here for years would be amazed at the total transformation of the reservation and it is a direct result of the gaming revenues we have coming in today. We know it won’t last forever but we can show positive change to what once was a poverty-stricken area. My closing advice is for all tribes to tell their economic success stories because no one else can convey the true positive impact gaming has had in Indian Country.

Eli

Many years have passed since the Vietnam conflict, but the passage of time doesn’t diminish the memories for many veterans.

As a young man, Eli Wabnum wanted to join the army to participate in the Korean War. His mother, Edna, discouraged the idea of her son going to war. Eventually despite his mother’s protests, Eli joined the army. He completed two tours in Germany and one tour in Korea, before serving as a sergeant to 33 men in the Vietnam conflict. Before leaving for Vietnam, he told his mother he would still serve in wartime.

Experiencing the horrors of war are part of the inner workings of a veteran and unimaginable for the rest of us. But listening to Eli describe his harrowing past paints a clear picture of the pain and hardship of war.

Eli tells of an event he remembers from the Vietnam Conflict - he stepped on a land mine. “The only thing I remember is a flash of white as I got blown into the air. When I came to, I looked and saw another man lying nearby. I crawled to him to see what I could do to help. My men said, ‘Eli, you’re bleeding.’ Blood was coming out from the bottom of my shirt. They tore off my flak jacket and saw that I was hit in several spots with fragments from the mine.”

Eli was flown out in serious condition and underwent surgery. Post surgery, the Doctor told Eli he was going back to the United States. Eli had another agenda. He wanted to go back to his first responsibility - his men. After he recovered he was allowed to return to the battlefield. Looking back he proudly states, “Of the 33 men I led as a sergeant, 30 returned to the United States alive.

Even so, his accomplishments on the battlefield will never be fully told. Eli for the most part remained a private man who kept so much inside. But if you ask him about his musical background, he’s quick to share. He played the steel guitar while attending Haskell Institute and later while stationed in Germany. Eli smiled and said, “The girls hollered for me before they hollered for Elvis!” He was a descriptive story-teller.

Eli remained a respected member of the Potawatomi reservation until his death May 31, 2007. The war will no longer torment this old veteran.