Broken Lands: A Podcast About Reparations and Honoring Our Treaties

This episode's guest has a long, storied family history tied to the Osage Reservation which led to her playing an on-screen role in the new film Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese. As a descendant of family members murdered in this region, it was a logical step for her to be part of the screen depiction of these events. She shares about the filmmaking process and the care that the writer of the book as well as the film production team took to tell this story with respect and accuracy. Margo also shares with us her own history of working in criminal investigation and as an entrepreneur. Music by: Rick Mickey. Cover art by: Eli Yao @eli_yao_

This episode's guest, Holly Bird, has worked tirelessly throughout her career in a long list of advocacy roles. She is co-executive director of Title Track, an organization that focuses on youth empowerment, water protection, and racial justice. She also has served both as a Tribal Judge and Tribal Supreme Court Justice since 2008. In this episode, she shares about her work on the frontline, including the time she spent at Standing Rock, and also discusses the importance of learning to take care of herself amid this strenuous, sometimes dangerous, work she does. Music by: Rick Mickey. Cover art by: Eli Yao ⁠@eli_yao_⁠

In this introductory episode for season 2, we introduce a new co-host to our show. Leora brings to the table a long history of working in the field of intergenerational healing. She tells us about her work, and she and co-host Matthew Cobb begin discussions on how they are going to create a space for authentic conversation for this season of Native American guests spanning several vocational fields. Music by: Rick Mickey. Cover art by: Eli Yao ⁠@eli_yao_⁠

In our final episode of season 1, we are going to hear from two generations of Ojibwe women. Deacon Colleen Bernu (Director for Evangelical Mission and Synod Minister for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Northeastern Minnesota Synod of ELCA) and also from her high school daughter, Johanna. They share with us about what living together well might look like. Specifically, they reflect on the significance of the Duluth Reparation payment, their perspective of living between worlds, and what it's like to build community from this place. They also provide some additional context to the importance of bridge building, noting that in addition to mending the cultural divide between Indigenous people and settlers on these lands, we have another gap to cross–the divide of being both spiritual and human at the same time. We also look to the future from a young person's perspective: how Johanna views her place between her ancestors and the generations to come.

This episode features a dialogue between two women residing in the Northeastern Minnesota region: Colleen Bernu, an Ojibwe woman, and Randi Alreck, a woman of Norwegian descent. They share about their respective cultural backgrounds, and how they have learned to live well together by standing on the common ground that they share. By common ground, we mean both the literal ground of Northeastern Minnesota and the narrative ground of their common faith tradition of Christianity. They talk about how their relationship to the land and to their faith has helped them to learn to coexist within the diversity of their experience. We believe this can serve as a case study in how settlers and Native Americans can start to live together.

This is a special unabridged episode of Broken Lands for more advanced students of treaty rights and Indian Law. Three treaty experts–Dr. Joseph Bauerkemper, Samir Grover, and Professor Tadd Johnson–talk to us about the foundational issue of treaties. At the center of these treaties is the basic human relationship between the Native Americans and European settlers. The principle and foundation of these treaties are that they recognize that rights were granted to settlers by the Tribal Nations, not the other way around. When we talk about treaty violations, we also need to also talk about larger historical forces like the doctrine of discovery, manifest destiny, white supremacy, and progress. We will examine how these dogmas of Western Civilization help us understand how and why settler narratives often lack attention to the relationships spelled out by our treaties. And after this unabridged conversation, we also took time to circle Dr. Joseph Bauerkemper to have him  provide an overview of how he introduces the idea of treaties to white settlers who might not have thought about these issues before.

In this episode, three treaty experts–Dr. Joseph Bauerkemper, Samir Grover, and Professor Tadd Johnson–talk to us about the foundational issue of treaties. At the center of these treaties is the basic human relationship between the Native Americans and European settlers. The principle and foundation of these treaties are that they recognize that rights were granted to settlers by the Tribal Nations, not the other way around. When we talk about treaty violations, we also need to also talk about larger historical forces like the doctrine of discovery, manifest destiny, white supremacy, and progress. We will examine how these dogmas of Western Civilization help us understand how and why settler narratives often lack attention to the relationships spelled out by our treaties.

In the wake of our last episode, Thanksgiving: An Autopsy, we’ve observed an uptick in the number of heated conversations within some of our ELCA congregations. Specifically, we’ve encountered a lot of questions and debates around politics and how we reckon with our role as members of a nation-state while also being members of the Body of Christ.

Conversations surrounding how these two identities inform one another and can be difficult and emotionally charged. They touch on some of the most tender areas in our souls related to how we think about ourselves, our family histories, and our relationships with our neighbors. When proceeding on this sacred ground, we want to walk gently and with caution so that we can relate to one another in a healing way rather than in a way that does further damage.  Before we resume our more focused conversations around treaties, reparations, and bridge-building between Native Americans and Settlers, we are taking a pause to have a kitchen table-style conversation with spiritual faith leaders, Indigenous and Settler alike, to breathe into the work we are doing and ponder where we've been, where we're at, and where we're going.

So, what roles do our politics and our national identity have to play in our churches? We invited Kevin Kot (Ojibwe), Colleen Bernu (Ojibwe), Patricia Dickson, (Congregational Justice Team Chair) the Rev. Beth Pottratz (ELCA), and the Rev. James Muske (ELCA) to our kitchen table to wrestle with this question.

For more about the Duluth Reparations visit: https://www.togetherhere.org/post/the-stories-and-significance-behind-185400-100-1100

If we are looking at repairing our relationships, what do we do with Thanksgiving? How does the holiday's popular mythology obscure the realities of our history, and how do these misleading myths get in the way of connecting with one another and our Creator?  Host Matt Cobb gets into this subject with Kevin Kot, Ojibwe elder and member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Kevin is also the American Indian Education Coordinator for the Carlton School District in Minnesota. Kevin shares some of the harmful aspects of the Thanksgiving Myth, which he shares with his students and how he directs them to start thinking about American history in more accurate ways. Matt and Kevin also talk about how different interpretations of the Christian faith can both negatively or positively impact how settlers and Native Americans can live together.

Rev. Matt McWaters is chairperson of the finance committee that recommended to the Northeastern Minnesota Synod Council of the ELCA to offer reparations to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Our host, Dr. Matthew Cobb, asks Rev. McWaters about the motivating factors behind that decision and what it felt like in the room when that decision was made. They also delve into the theological basis behind offering reparations, and how Rev. McWaters' enthusiasm for this decision is informed by a deep connection to both land and scripture that he has experienced throughout his life.