The Messenger Spring 2021

Council Robert Fowler | Chairman (920) 729-1033 [email protected]

Jessica Ryan | Vice Chair (612) 508-3364 jessica@ryanskeesucklaw. com

Tad Delude | Secretary (515) 770-8314 brothertownsecretary @brothertownindians.org Prepare to Vote in the 2021 Tribal Election! Michelle Wood |Treasurer The Brothertown Indian Nation’s annual elections are coming up in May! The (920) 602-0672 following positions will be included on ballots this year: Vice Chair position Brothertowntreas (incumbent: Jessica Ryan), Two Tribal Council positions (incumbents: Dawn Kraintz, @brotertownindians.org Seth Elsen), and a Peacemaker position (vacant). The persons holding the positions Skip Blanc of Secretary and Council Member shall be elected for a term of 3 years. The (906) 280-0565 persons holding the positions of Peacemaker shall be elected for a term of 5 years. [email protected]

Seth Elsen Brothertown members interested in running for Tribal office should contact the (507) 254-3411 Election Committee prior to the March meeting. The March General Membership [email protected] Meeting (3/20/21) will include a report from the Election Committee identifying Erin Farris-Olsen nominees for Council and Peacemaker as well as receiving nominations from the (406) 461-8530 floor. [email protected]

Austin Hammond Absentee ballots will be mailed to all members who are at least 18 years of age. (920) 538-0554 An election packet will be mailed by USPS in early April to all eligible members. Austinroberthammond The mailing will include a listing of all nominees for office, voting procedures, a @gmail.com voter verification form, an absentee ballot, and the ballot envelope. Dawn Kraintz (920) 979-9234 Ballots will be tabulated and counted on Saturday, May 15th. If you’ve moved Dmkraintz @brothertownindians.org recently, please ensure your address is up to date by contacting Linda Shady ------([email protected]). Please contact the Election Committee Peacemakers regarding Campaigning Policies in a Brothertown Tribal Election Greg Elsen Mike Elsen Renee Gralewicz By voting, it shows you care enough about the future of our tribe to elect Greg Wilson members to move the tribe forward. If you have questions regarding the election, ------please contact one of the committee members listed below. Office (920) 929-9964 311 Winnebago Drive Thank you, PO Box 2206 Elections Committee Fond du Lac, WI 59436 Brothertownindians.org • Linda Shady • Raven DeLange • Melissa Kavonius Update from the Chairman

Wow, it’s been a year since we closed the Community Center (BINCC) because of the COVID virus. Fond du Lac had numerous outbreaks and Bingo had to shut down which meant we didn’t have any income coming in. Members organized an online auction, drive up chili supper and we asked for donations from our membership who responded. All money raised for the general fund went to help pay rent and bills. Thank you to all who volunteered and donated their time, products, money and talents.

All indoor functions have been canceled or rescheduled but a few weeks ago our office volunteer, Linda Shady, received a call from Feeding America asking if the Brothertown would help. Linda organized, in the BINCC parking lot, some members, friends and Boy Scouts to hand out boxes of food to those in need. We are scheduled to do this again in May so if anyone is interested in helping, call Linda at the office. Good news after a year pause Dawn and Dan Kraintz have started Bingo again. They are following all of the safety precautions given to them by the FdL Health department and are limiting the number of people at each session. These first few weeks have had a good turnout and we hope it stays that way. If you want to help with bingo please contact Dawn or Linda.

As the year continues, with the help of vaccines and continued health practices we hope for things to get back to “normal” and meeting again at the BINCC. Stay safe.

Robert Fowler Chairman

Donations Needed to Help Cover Mailing, Operating Costs The ongoing pandemic has created difficulties for many of us, the Nation included. We’ve not been able to hold events like the Spring Powwow, and have not had a chance to meet and share Saturday mornings with you at Council meetings. If you have the ability, please consider making a small donation to the Tribe – whether it’s to help cover mailing costs for the newsletter, to help with rent payments for the BINCC, or something else, everything helps. Thank you for your consideration during this difficult time.

If you are still receiving the newsletter via mail, the Tribe would appreciate if you’d also consider subscribing via e-mail to help save on mailing costs. You can email Seth Elsen at [email protected]. To make a donation, you can send to: Brothertown Indian Nation PO Box 2206 Fond du Lac, WI 54935.

Help Us Reach You! Sign Up to Stream Meetings! As the Tribe continues its efforts to ensure we have Enrolled members can stream Tribal Council updated information, please alert us of changes to meetings in 2020. To sign up, email your contact info. Also, please send along marriage [email protected] or visit the website to find or death certificates to the Office. Thank you! the registration form. Join Calumet and Cross Heritage Society for Virtual Book Club! Calumet and Cross was founded by Brothertown members, Mark Baldwin, Megan Fulopp, and Amy Besaw Medford. They wanted to create a nonprofit that focused on Brothertown history and sharing it with others. Today, the board of directors includes a mix of Brothertown and non-Brothertown people, but the core focus on Brothertown history remains the same.

It is in that spirit that Calumet and Cross started the Brothertown Book Club meeting. Wednesday evenings, from 7-8pm Central Time, the Club discusses a reading related to the Brothertown Indian Nation. Generally, we read through a book one chapter at a time, such as Samson Occom, and the Christian Indians of New England by William DeLoss Love or To Do Good to My Indian Brethren: The Writings of Joseph Johnson, 1751-1776 edited by Laura J. Murray. But we’ve also read other materials, such as an excerpt of the Brothertown “Keepers of the Peace” or “Peacemaker” Court Records Book, 1797-1843 and just one chapter from Literary Indians called, “Fire and Chain: Samson Occom’s Letter, Anglo-American Missions, and Haudensaunee Eloquence” by Angela Calcaterra.

All are welcome to join and no experience is necessary! The Book Club is about supporting all the various levels of knowledge around the Brothertown Indian Nation’s history. Our goal is to explore with friends.

If you’re interested, please email Amy at [email protected] for more information.

Effort to Protect Brothertown Indian Burial Sites Moves Forward

Brothertown ancestors in New York will receive some extra care and attention. In August 2020, Calumet and Cross began fundraising for the Protecting Brothertown Indian Burial Sites project. The goal was to raise $2,500 to install a fence around the Nile-Occom cemetery (this also included clearing debris and working with a dowser and research materials to determine an appropriate boundary) and replace two broken headstones of Brothertown Indians in the Deansboro cemetery with flush granite markers.

The Marshall Historical Society and Calumet and Cross Heritage Society each contributed $250 to the effort, and the remaining goal of $2,000 was finally achieved in Dec 2020 (or Jan 2021?). Donations came from Brothertown Indians, friends from the Brothertown Book Club, scholars who have worked on Brothertown Indian history, and the general public.

We look forward to building on the success of this project to continue to honor our ancestors and their resting places.

Calumet and Cross Heritage Society Seeking Volunteers, Board Members Calumet and Cross Heritage Society, a 501(c)3 dedicated to the preservation and sharing of Brothertown Indian history and culture, is looking for volunteers to help us meet our goals. We welcome help in all areas but some of our most pressing needs revolve around social media and graphic design. We are also looking for Brotherton (enrolled or not) who would be interested in serving on our Board of Directors. To express your interest or to learn more, please contact [email protected]. Tribe, UW Madison Collaborating to Restore Waters

When the Tribe established its Environment and Natural Resources Department (ENRD) in the summer of 2020, it did so to assert its interests in restoring and protecting our natural resources. Since then, the Tribe and the ENRD have formed powerful partnerships, including one with the University of Wisconsin’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies (UW).

The Tribe has been working with UW faculty member Jessie Conway, PhD, and Ashely Gries, a graduate student, to explore the potential for wild rice restoration within Lake Winnebago. Historical data from Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources and traditional knowledge tell us that the Lake Winnebago watershed once had an abundance of wild rice that was harvested and traded in the region. Wild rice, or manoomin as its known in Ojibwe, has always been an important resource for Tribal nations in the Great Lakes. In addition to its cultural importance, wild rice also benefits waterfowl and provides habitat for fish. Despite its historical abundance, water quality impairments and water level fluctuation have contributed to a significant decline – including the loss of 36 acres of wild rice in Sunset Bay of Lake Butte des Morts in just the last 40 years.

Across the region, Tribes and partners have been restoring wild rice beds, including those within Green Bay, where more than 2,000 pounds of wild rice were planted last October. The Tribe and UW hope to build on these efforts through an intertribal project that will include the collection of traditional knowledge from Tribal elders in the region and water quality monitoring work over the next two summers. The end goal is to create a model that indicates where wild rice historically was abundant within Lake Winnebago, and where current water conditions would support its growth. This model would then provide a basis for the next phase of work, which would potentially include the planting of wild rice and additional habitat restoration actions.

Between funding applications and Intertribal meetings, the Tribe and UW hope that there will be much more to share soon – stay tuned!

ENRD Mapping Project Underway In the coming months, the Tribe’s Environment and Natural Resources Department will be working on a series of maps examining Lake Winnebago and our traditional lands. Through these publications, the ENRD hopes that members can learn more about the lands and watershed, and build a deeper connection to these areas, whether it be by accessing public lands, fishing the lake and rivers, or researching our history on this landscape. Once completed, these maps will be accessible to Tribal members on the Tribe’s website (www.brothertownindians.org). Call to Action: Raising Awareness for MMIWG Submitted by Renee Gralewicz, Tribal Peacemaker and member of Wisconsin’s MMIW Task Force

For far too many years, Native women continue to disappear, and many have been murdered. Turning grief to action, the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center strongly supports and calls upon Congress to address:

• the need for additional tribal victim services and tribal justice resources affirmed in several federal reports, including most recently the Broken Promises (more: bit.ly/3pyrXyD)

• the inadequate responses of the federal and state criminal justice systems that fail Native women. The issues surrounding missing and murdered Native women must be brought into the public's awareness to increase accountability of the justice systems.

A National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls will:

• honor their lives of our Native sisters, • help shed light on the countless tragedies involving our Native sisters • highlight the need for ongoing grassroots advocacy and organizing for change of laws, policies/protocols, and allocation of resources at the tribal, federal, and state levels to end these injustices, and • create the sharing of information needed to understand the changes needed.

You can show your support by visiting rb.gy/69d2h0.

Meet Your Council and Peacemaker Candidates!

On Sunday April 11 at 6pm CT/7pm ET, Brothertown Forward will once again host their annual “Meet the Candidates” forum via Zoom. Through a series of questions answered by those running for Council or Peacemaker, citizens can learn each candidate’s stance and goals and will be better able to make informed voting decisions.

All candidates are invited to participate and all Brothertown are welcome to attend. To participate, please email [email protected]. Aquy! from the Brothertown Indian Nation Fundraising Committee Please see below a few updates for our community.

We now have Brothertown Proud COVID Masks! Sizes and colors vary, check out our Facebook page to review the inventory. Masks were crafted by Jeanie Church. Jeanie is an enrolled Stockbridge and her granddaughter Aimee Footit is an enrolled Brothertown member. Three generations of women, Jeanie, Kathryn, and Aimee are pictured below.

Inquiries about purchasing can be made to [email protected]

For more info on masks, crafts, and more, visit our Facebook! www.facebook.com/BrothertownIndianNation

Tâput Ni (Thank you) for your continued support and we wish you and your families well this season.

If you have additional questions, suggestions, or an interest in putting your connections and skills to work for the Nation’s Fundraising Committee please reach out to the Committee Chair, Erin Farris-Olsen (406) 461-8530, [email protected]. Committee members include Faith Ottery, Trevor Noonan, and ad hoc members Dawn Kraintz and Michelle Wood. 2021 Brothertown Calendar of Events (subject to change due to COVID-19)

Date Event Time Location 3/20 Tribal Council Meeting 10:00am BINCC/Virtual 4/10 Peacemakers Meeting 11:00am Virtual 4/18 Tribal Council Meeting 10:00am BINCC/Virtual 4/24 Minnesota Meeting and Culture/Crafts 10:00am -4:00pm Fort Ripley, MN 4/25 Crow Wing Lake Water Walk and Feast 10:00am- 1:00pm Crow Wing Lake, MN 5/8 Peacemakers Meeting 11:00am Virtual 5/15 Tribal Council Meeting and Election 10:00am BINCC/Virtual 5/16 Roadside Cleanup 9:00am Meet at Brothertown Marker 5/16 Cemetery Clean Up 1:00pm Meet at Dick Cemetery 6/5 Menominee Clans Story Powwow 12:00pm to 5:00pm Oshkosh Museum 6/12 Peacemakers Meeting 11:00am Virtual 6/17-6/19 Lake Winnebago Water Walk 6:00am daily Lake Winnebago 6/19 Tribal Council Meeting 10:00am BINCC/Virtual 7/10 Peacemakers Meeting 11:00am Virtual 7/17 Tribal Council Meeting and Picnic 10:00am BINCC/Virtual 8/14 Peacemakers Meeting 11:00am Virtual 8/21 Tribal Council Meeting 10:00am BINCC/Virtual 9/11 Peacemakers Meeting 11:00am Virtual 9/18 Tribal Council Meeting 10:00am BINCC/Virtual 9/19 Roadside Cleanup 9:00am Meet at Brothertown Marker 9/19 Cemetery Clean Up 1:00pm Meet at Dick Cemetery 10/9 Peacemakers Meeting 11:00am Virtual 10/16 Homecoming Celebration TBD BINCC/Virtual 10/17 Tribal Council Meeting 10:00am BINCC/Virtual 11/13 Peacemakers Meeting 11:00am Virtual 11/20 Tribal Council Meeting 10:00am BINCC/Virtual 12/11 Peacemakers Meeting 11:00am Virtual 12/18 Tribal Council Meeting 10:00am BINCC/Virtual For the latest information, visit www.brothertownindians.org.

March and April Bingo Calendar

Brothertown Nation Incorporated 311 Winnebago Drive Fond du Lac, WI 54935-2541 Return Mail to: PO Box 2206 Fond du Lac, WI 54936-2206

The mission of the Brothertown Tribe is to continue a stable and dynamic government which will promote and maintain the spiritual, physical, intellectual, social, and economic well being of our citizens; to restore and preserve our unique historical, cultural, and traditional beliefs; to preserve and protect our sovereignty in order to achieve self-determination and self- sufficiency; to promote a positive image of integrity, honesty, respect and fairness when pursuing cultural, economic and social initiatives; to promote peace and harmony for the fulfillment of our vision as community where all people can prosper and grow in mind,body and spirit.

The Brothertown Tribe recognizes and accepts the relationships which must be forged between all who will be affected by our sovereignty. It is in faith we undertake these tasks and it shall be with a spirit of cooperation and friendship that we reach the goals which we have set