Chief Menominee was born in 1791 and passed in 1841. He was a Potawatomi Chief, Spiritual leader and Holy man.
Story: His Village near Twin Lakes in what is commonly known today as Indiana became a gathering place for Potawatomi people who refused to leave their lands. He urged Potawatomi people to abstain from drinking alcohol and other vices.
Trail Of Death: When colonists wanted land, he gave it to them. His name appears on the Treaty of St Mary’s in 1818 the Treaty of Mississippi was in 1828 and the Treaty of Tippecanoe In 1832. Potawatomi leaders had decided they had given up enough land and decided not to sign the Treaty of Yellow River in 1836 that would directly lead to forced removal and the trail of death March. Despite his efforts to resist colonialism Chief Menominee was among nearly 900 Potawatomi people’s who were put on the trail of death march from Twin Lakes Indiana to what is present day also what told me Kansas. Later colonists would decide that Kansas was too good for a Potawatomi people and move them again to what is commonly known as Oklahoma. Numbers are inconsistent but it has been said that No children under the age of three survived the march of death. No Elders over 55 survived the march of death. The march of death covered 660 MI in around 60 days.
Contemporary History: Back in the old American Indian Movement days Dennis and them used to tell us that the walks they did partly were to remind us of what our ancestors went through on forced marches like the Trail Of Tears and the Trail Of Death.
Forced March Continued: Chief Menomonie started the march as a prisoner in shackles and survived the march to Kansas but died Less Than 3 years later. Menominee took up the colonizers religion which seemed to slow them down a little bit but ultimately this proves that colonists don’t care if you adopt their religion.
The Indian Removal Act would continue to pressure indigenous peoples west of the Mississippi. At some point Menominee would refuse to sign any more treaties. It is said that he never signed the treaty for removal west of the Mississippi. Chief Menominee and 17 of the Yellow River Band who were living near Twin Lakes did not take part in the negotiations and refuse to recognize the treaties authority over our land. They refuse to sign the Treaty of Tippecanoe which seed it all lands around October 1832. Menominee and other Potawatomi leaders would submit a petition of protest in November of 1837. The petition stated that their signatures had been forged on the August 5th 1836 treaty at Yellow River and that Chief Menomonie’s name was omitted and the names of other individuals who did not represent the tribe had been added. There was never a reply to the petition of protest. Petitions were also sent to President Martin Van Buren and the Secretary of War Lewis Cass in 1836 and 1837 and again the federal government refused to change their position. Even some of the Catholic missionaries would call the Treaty of Yellow River a fraud. And were threatened and harassed for interfering.
Our lands were opened up for settlement many Potawatomi moved West and Chief Menomonie’s Village in Yellow River became a place where natives who refuse to leave would congregate. A deadline came in 1938 and chief Menominee and his loyalists refused to leave. Chief Menominee and his loyalist continued to say that they had been swindled and the treaty was undressed. A reminder to us now that protesting doesn’t work.
“I have not sold my lands and will not sell them. I have not signed the treaty and will not the treaty. I am not going to leave my lands and I don’t want to hear anything about it”.Chief Menominee
Non-cooperation as a tactic: This powerful Act of non-cooperation. Would soon lead to fighting and Potawatomi Warriors destroyed the shacks of white colonists and the white column is retaliated by burning the cabins of indigenous peoples. General John Tipton was authorized to mobilize and militia of 100 volunteers to forcibly remove Potawatomi peoples from the Indiana Valley. This became known as the Potawatomi Trail of death. It started August 29, 1838, At The resistance camp at Twin Lakes followed by 100 soldiers and a missionary. The food was barley edible. A typhoid epidemic broke out. Many that died were children. Some were able to escape possibly around 40 people. The numbers are inconsistent when i look them up. The escapes are an important reminder that our ancestors resisted and never went along willingly. The trail of death ends on November 4th.
Token gestures, lack of materialism: The statue was erected by the government the first and only statue of an indigenous leader erected by the government. Weve had a lifetime of token gestures having been made tokens ourselves. We don’t recognition by colonizer society, we want our land back. The death march was said to be a testament to our ability to endure suffering and our resilience. But we don’t want to have to endure suffering anymore nor be resilient we need justice in the material form of land. Nothing can replace what was taken.
Potowatomi today: I think it could be that Menominee reservation still gets picked on because of the resistance to Forest removal I recall being in a sweat lodge ceremony in Menominee that was broken up by police for now reason just harassment this was in 2012. Today we make up some of the largest tribes Citizen band Potawatomi is now the fifth largest tribe. For what its worth we have two billion dollars in our bank.
Politicized: Colonists need to be reminded of this of their own role in this ongoing genocide because they seek to minimize their cruelty and greed and have difficulty acknowledging their role in what is the largest land theft scheme in the world. They suffer from a collective amnesia and with genocide spreading around the world there is no better time to remind them of their obligations to indigenous peoples and also to their own humanity.
Written By: The Invisible Warrior. War Chief Mko.
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