INTERTWINED Stories of detachment and connection from Montana’s reservations University of Montana Native News 2015 nativenews.jour.umt.edu School of Journalism BREAKING BARRIERS BUILDING BONDS HERE’S A TENDENCY in relationships that bind people to one We see the tenderness and support better serve their tribe. TAmerica to romanticize Native another, to a tribe, to a vision of the of family as young people fnd and claim We see neighbors on the Flathead Americans. Tey’re often portrayed future. Teir stories are ones of give their sexual and gender indentities — reservation turn against each other when as living close to the land in tight- and take, as varied as the cultures from minorities within their own minority faced with hard decisions of ownership. knit communities, sharing a privileged which they spring. group — on the Blackfeet Indian And we see schools on the Rocky connection with the physical and What we see in these stories Reservation. Boy’s reservation struggle to ensure that spiritual world around them. Despite its about Montana are bonds between We see friends, connected by the each child has a successful education. beauty, the notion speaks more to what generations, made stronger by shared shared experience of growing up Native In the tangle of these relationships, Americans want for themselves, rather experiences, like ones of trauma and American in Montana’s mostly white there is both connection and detachment. than the reality of modern-day tribal resilience on the Fort Peck reservation. cities, navigate their identities together. Life is defned by them, shaped by their culture. We see residents of the Northern We see outsiders forge inroads to messiness and beauty, their agitation and For the 24th edition of the Cheyenne reservation drawn together people on the Crow reservation, fnding strength. With these stories, we hope to University of Montana’s Native to fght the tethers of state and federal commonalities in worship and faith weave a more nuanced narrative and see News Honors Project, our reporters government, and then pulled apart by We see women in Fort Belknap tribal culture as it is: varied, complex and and photographers explored the their equal distrust of each another. change the face of healthcare so they can intertwined. “We’ve always been a “He busted out the “They are just challenging “Usually it’s the kids that spiritual people, but when basement window and what an authentic Indian are here everyday that Christianity came to the he helped me go. I got out is. You’re not authentic if do very well, they’re reservation, we became a and he said, ‘Run and don’t you didn’t grow up on the successful. Once they start people of faith.” look back, just keep going. rez, I suppose.” missing a lot, they start So I did.’” having problems,. FEATHERS AND THE CROSS A BRUTAL TRADITION EVOLVING IDENTITY LATE START Crow Fort Peck Urban Rocky Boy’s 4 10 16 19 COVER PHOTO: CELIA TALBOT TOBIN MONTANA’S RESERVATIONS CONNECT WITH US Rocky Boy’s Fort Belknap @NativeNewsMT Blackfeet Fort Peck @NativeNewsMT Flathead Northern Cheyenne Montana Native News Project Crow For iBooks edition and multimedia peices, visit nativenews.jour.umt.edu. “I looked at him and I said “When you’re treating an “In my perfect world, as “I can’t live on my ‘Those are girl clothes individual in the American long as the tribe is allowed land and take my Dale,’ and he was like, ‘I Indian community, you’re to protect ourselves and medicine.” know and I want them.’” treating the whole family.” our homeland, we reserve ourselves that water.” GROWING UP, COMING OUT GROWING OUR OWN TROUBLED WATERS LEGALIZATION Blackfeet Fort Belknap Flathead Northern Cheyenne 25 31 36 41 4 FEATHERS AND THE CROSS Church and tradition harmonize on the Crow Reservation Story by Sam Waldorf Photos by Bethany Blitz ST. CHARLES MISSION and Native Americans make up 95 per- Parish, a Catholic Church and school cent of the St. Charles mission, said Fa- on the Crow Indian Reservation, has ther Randolph Graczyk, who has been fully incorporated Crow traditions into the Father at St. Charles since 1975. Data its services. From art-to-prayer; recto- sources estimate 51 percent of people in ry-to-sweat lodge. Big Horn County, the county that makes Inside the building there is a statue up the majority of the Crow reservation, of Mary next to a miniature tepee. On the identify as Catholic. wall is a purple blanket with a geometric Christianity and Catholicism came design, green, orange and red triangles. to the Crow reservation in the 19th cen- In front of the blanket hangs a crucifx. tury through missionaries. Te Crow res- In the hallway is a map of the Crow Indi- ervation has become iconic in the way its an Reservation. On it, four words: What people have managed to maintain a frm would Jesus do? 5 ABOVE: Nathaniel Garcia, 12, puts away the burning cedar used for a cleansing ritual at St. Charles Mission. Garcia decided to become an assistant for Father Randolph Graczyk after he saw other boys doing it. LEFT: A cross stands at the top of a hill overlooking Crow Agency. Missionaries brought Christianity to the Crow Indian Reservation in the 19th century. grasp on their tribal traditions even as traditionalists, but most of the Crow ate the sign, which upset some people his family could move in. He has lived organized religion found a foothold. people have adopted Christianity into on the reservation, but the message is there, of and on, since 1946 when he “Christianity has really taken hold their culture in a way that works. something almost everyone agrees with. lived there with his grandmother and on the Crow reservation,” said Mark Earlier this year, the Crow legis- For a majority of people, Jesus about 20 others. Clatterbuck, a professor of religion at lative branch passed a bill to create a Christ is the Lord on the Crow Nation. Pryor is a small town less than two Montclair State University who has 33-foot tall sign next to the interstate hours away from Crow Agency, the hub studied Native American encounters in Crow Agency, which states “Jesus It only takes two turns to get from of the Crow Indian Reservation. Goes with Christianity on the Crow reserva- Christ is Lord on the Crow Nation.” the St. Charles Mission to the home of Ahead travels to Crow Agency most tion for the past seven summers. “Not Te blue, pink and red sign replaced, if JR Goes Ahead: a right turn onto the days of the week for work as game war- just in a religious way, but socially and not reinforced, an old plywood version highway, passing through Pryor, and den. He is a third generation game war- politically.” that was created by the Crow Revival then a left onto a dirt road to his ren- den in his family. Tere is confict between some of Center more than 20 years ago. ovated cabin. Goes Ahead is a congregation the more extreme Christian groups and Te bill used tribal funds to cre- Goes Ahead fxed up the cabin so CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 6 JR Goes Ahead and Dorothy Spotted Bear waft cedar smoke onto themselves A group of hymn singers perform for Robert “Sonny” Chandler at his memorial as a purifying ritual after mass at St. Charles Mission. Wafting cedar is a Crow service. Sonny passed away on March 28, 2015. tradition integrated into the Catholic Church on the reservation. FROM PREVIOUS PAGE regular at St. Charles. He has black hair hat. “But I am not like some of the men belief in spirituality as something sim- a quarter of the way down his back, a that came before me.” ilar to that of their own. black collared shirt and cowboy boots. Goes Ahead joined the Army in Goes Ahead said people see a At the age of 11, Goes Ahead lost 1975 and returned in 1982. Te experi- similarity between Catholic saints and his mother. Te Crow have strong fa- ence seemed to strengthen his faith. He the historical chiefs and animal spirit milial ties, and as his relatives stepped had something higher than himself to guides in the Crow tradition. in, Goes Ahead felt like he gained four turn to in dire times such as battle. It “We’ve seen other religions come mothers. No one was more instrumental reafrmed the idea of God and higher and go, but we have stayed Catholic in his upbringing than his grandmother, powers in Goes Ahead’s mind. because it assimilates so well with our Sarah Goes Ahead, a devoted Catholic. “When you are in a fox hole, in the beliefs,” he said. “In the past the Crow It was a formative age for a dra- cold, I would get down and ask for spir- people have been given religion and ed- matic shift. Goes Ahead’s father ex- itual guidance,” Goes Ahead said. “And ucation. In the future, we need to make plained the form of religion he practices there is something protecting me.” sure to teach them who they are.” is his choice, but that he will always be Te Crow beliefs he had practiced Crow. growing up and his belief in Christiani- Goes Ahead is Catholic and has ty, are and were, something he could fall As the Crow hymn ended at a fu- grown up with both Christian and tra- back on when things got difcult. neral in Crow Agency all that could be ditional infuences.