{"id":1043,"date":"2021-04-16T21:04:22","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T21:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/?page_id=1043"},"modified":"2021-05-07T20:34:26","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T20:34:26","slug":"keepingthekeepers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/2021-home\/keepingthekeepers\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping the Keepers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Keeping the Keepers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Defending tribal knowledge by protecting elders<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Written by Jordan Unger, Photos by Sierra Cistone<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A wooden teepee stands tall, drawing attention in the otherwise vacant Pikuni Walking Park in Browning, Montana. More than a dozen narrow poles coalesce to form the framework of the skeletal structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For stability, a strand of rope wraps around the upper meeting point of the stakes and connects to an anchor point on the barren ground below. White ribbons with black cursive scrawling loosely cling to each leg of the structure, juxtaposing the lackluster hues of the wood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One ribbon reads, \u201cCynthia Kipp.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kipp was 84 when she died from COVID-19 on Nov. 13, 2020. A tribal historian and former Blackfeet tribal business councilwoman, Kipp was also a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another ribbon reads, \u201cElizabeth Lee Grant Edwards.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

For Edwards\u2019 niece, Amy Rae Grant, the passing of her aunt, a traditional Blackfeet dancer, felt surreal. \u201cMy heart still hurts. I cry about it every day,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In total, 48 ribbons are stapled to the structure. Each one honors the name of a Blackfeet tribal member lost to the pandemic.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the impact and loss from the deadly coronavirus across the country cannot be understated, its toll on Indian Country represented more: A direct threat to the preservation of tribes\u2019 way of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The virus disproportionately targeted Indigenous and elderly populations. This demographic in tribal communities holds an invaluable status as gatekeepers of language and traditions, helping pass the baton of culture and way of life from one generation to the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think over 3,589 elders passed away in this last year,\u201d said Larry Curley, the executive director of the National Indian Council on Aging, Inc., a nonprofit focused on addressing the needs of aging American Indians. \u201cThat represents over 233,000 years of traditions, customs, language and culture that we have lost. That we will never recover. Never will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Nationwide, the loss of culture, language and experience found in elderly populations was taken seriously by tribes and advocates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, the Cherokee Nation, the largest tribe in the country, prioritized Cherokee language speakers among the highest, right next to emergency workers, in its vaccine rollout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana similarly prioritized fluent speakers for the vaccine, an ever-pressing concern as there are only 12 fluent Kootenai language speakers and 13 fluent Salish speakers left among a tribal population of over 8,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confronted with a virus that threatened to attack elderly knowledge keepers, Montana\u2019s tribal nations \u2013 from Blackfeet to Rocky Boy\u2019s to Flathead \u2013 utilized CARES Act funding and grassroots initiatives to protect their people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Businesses closed. Schools moved online. Government services shut down. On reservations, borders tightened and curfews were imposed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the state, assisted living facilities and nursing homes went into lockdown with residents urged to stay in their rooms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These protective measures were echoed among tribal communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Blackfeet Nation utilized the $38 million they received from CARES Act funding with a keen interest in keeping their people safe and, after reaching an agreement with the National Park Service, closed the eastern entrance to Glacier National Park for the tourism season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside the Blackfeet Eagle Shield Center, a senior citizen complex in Browning, the building remains eerily quiet. The complex used the nearly $100,000 it received in CARES Act money to upgrade infrastructure in its housing units. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was very scared, and we did take caution,\u201d said Zana McDonald, the center\u2019s executive director. \u201cWe just absolutely did not let anybody in the building at all. Nobody. Except for us workers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Northwest of Browning, along the St. Mary River, the mountains of Glacier National Park penetrate the skyline of Babb \u2013 a small farming and ranching community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this remote area of the Blackfeet Nation, Charlene Bird Burns, a ceremonial leader, lives with her husband. They have more than 60 grandchildren and great-grandchildren together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe did our best to survive. My husband\u2019s 78, and I\u2019m 71. He has a lot of knowledge that we really have to protect, especially in our area out here,\u201d Burns said. \u201cHe\u2019s a historian of this area. And so, the knowledge that he has is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Burns recalls, Indigenous people have been through comparable, culture-threatening catastrophes before. Smallpox. Tuberculosis. The Dawes Act, which attempted to push Native Americans to adopt European American culture in the 1880s by criminalizing Indigenous cultural practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are mentally strong. We\u2019ve been through this,\u201d Burns said. \u201cThis history is still in our DNA. All the epidemics are raw in our memory.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

In a twist of incongruity, elders\u2019 vulnerable status often served to push them into further isolation. Yet, for Burns and her husband, it was evident what was necessary to get through the pandemic: simply sit still and wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their home normally functioned as a social hub for the Babb community, a phenomenon put to a screeching halt with the onset of COVID-19. Noteworthy events, like the family\u2019s New Year\u2019s Eve karaoke party and a baby shower, were pushed online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tribe, as well as family, stepped up to deliver necessities such as food, household items and medicine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Burns and her family were not immune from hearing the news of the 48 Blackfeet deaths attributed to COVID-19. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor us, every one of those losses is personal because we think collectively,\u201d Burns said. \u201cWe\u2019ve learned how to survive by helping one another. And in this case, we had to help one another by staying put and not being part of carrying the germ to one another.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year defined by the pandemic, overall, translated into a year of strict isolation. But in the face of physical restrictions, the Blackfeet, and other Indigenous communities, found innovative ways to continue sharing their culture throughout the pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Blackfeet language class taught over Zoom by a North Piegan Blackfoot member in Canada, Leonard Bastien, boomed in popularity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had like 500 people sign up for it\u201d said Wendy Bremner, one of Burns\u2019 daughters. \u201cJust people from all over the place. Blackfeet live everywhere. And so, a lot of them are tapping into it. We found a way to really connect with each other even though it was during a pandemic, and we\u2019re all isolated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Burns, the language class and pandemic served to highlight how valuable everyone in the community is to one another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne elder was teaching us the word how you say, \u2018I love you.\u2019 And then how to say, \u2018I love you too.\u2019 You know, how to say it back. And she told us [to] use this word daily. This is the one that you need to say daily,\u201d Burns said. \u201cAnd so, I would say even though it separated us, it brought us closer together as far as how we value one another.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first doses of the vaccine arrived onto the Blackfeet Nation toward the end of December 2020, the first sign that the long phase of isolation might slowly recede. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the vaccine needle plunged into Burns\u2019 arm, it was a moment of instant relief. She compared the significance of the moment to acquiring a shield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe believe in our spiritual ways of putting on a shield,\u201d Bremner said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we smudge. And a lot of the things we do is like putting a shield over ourselves. And so, they [elders] were equating the immunization to putting on a shield to protect yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

A report from April 2021 released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed the Blackfeet Nation\u2019s strict stay-at-home orders and face covering mandates with a 33-fold reduction in coronavirus cases between September and November of 2020, pointing to the effectiveness of the tribe\u2019s mitigation measures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of late spring of this year, an estimated 95% of tribal members of the Blackfeet Nation have received the vaccine. The tribe has stepped into Phase 3 of its COVID-19 plan, dubbed \u201cNew Normal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Normalcy indeed seems to be crawling back after the emotional year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a sunny, mid-March Sunday at Burns\u2019 house, family members crowded around a kitchen table while others occupied various seats in the living room. Burns, in the heat of the kitchen, was busy cooking pancakes and bacon for breakfast. A commonplace gathering like this had not happened in about a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the state, on the remote plains of north-central Montana, the <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chippewa Cree Tribe on the Rocky Boy\u2019s Indian Reservation enacted similar safety precautions to protect the elderly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chippewa Cree Tribal Business Committee declared a state of emergency due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus on March 16, 2020. Days later, Rocky Boy\u2019s became the first community in Montana to place checkpoints at the entries to its borders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The emergency declaration, however, was the second issued within a year\u2019s time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2019, months before COVID-19 emerged, the business committee had declared a different state of emergency addressing the loss of the Chippewa and Cree languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To protect those at risk in their community, the tribe utilized over $20 million they were allocated through the CARES Act to combat the pandemic and its life-altering reverberations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A public safety enforcement program utilized $2.24 million to address COVID-related public safety challenges and hired extra security personnel to maintain borders and enforce the stay-at-home mandate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With $163,000, the tribe offered extra firewood to elderly tribal members to provide a lifeline during northcentral Montana\u2019s harsh winters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tribe also used $179,000 to help ensure low-income seniors and those on Medicare received care through a senior citizens health and safety program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Due to their remote location, another $112,000 was directed to install an emergency fuel station in an attempt to limit travel outside the tribal territory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, like mold proliferating in a concealed container, the microscopic virus permeated the tight safety measures, targeting those holding onto already threatened languages and traditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At his Rocky Boy\u2019s residence on Aug. 5, 2020, Merle Tendoy, 63, passed away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A respected elder and cultural advisor, Tendoy also held an important role as powwow emcee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Murie, one of Tendoy\u2019s brothers and a language instructor at Stone Child College, recalls his brother\u2019s good heart and knowledge as among his most prominent attributes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe really had a lot of good, wonderful stories about the creation story,\u201d Murie said. \u201cHe was gifted that way.\u201d  Tendoy was well respected for his knowledge and because he lived his life around ceremonial teachings, Murie said. \u201cHe walked that road of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is Tendoy\u2019s voice, though, that Murie particularly remembers when thinking of his brother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe knew a lot of cultural songs, beautiful songs. Never did I see him mad, screaming out of anger. I never did,\u201d Murie said. \u201cThe only time I heard him using a voice kind of loud was his singing. He had a beautiful voice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dustin Whitford, the executive director of the Mahchiwminahnahtik Chippewa and Cree Language Revitalization nonprofit on Rocky Boy\u2019s, believes Tendoy was the first COVID-19 fatality to hit the Chippewa Cree tribe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a major loss because of his knowledge that he had about traditions, customs, ceremonies and the language,\u201d Whitford said. \u201cHis presence is really missed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tendoy was one of less than 100 fluent Cree speakers remaining, according to Whitford. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of February 2021, tragedy would strike again on Rocky Boy\u2019s with the passing of Duncan Standing Rock Sr., an elder who worked with the Chippewa Cree Tribal Cultural Preservation Department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standing Rock Sr. was one of only an estimated two or three fluent Chippewa speakers left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Clyde Brown, the language revitalization center\u2019s treasurer, these two emergencies coalescing have been nothing short of an existential threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew numbers [of fluent speakers] were low, throw in COVID and it kind of sped everything up,\u201d Brown said. \u201cSo, not only were we in a state of emergency before COVID, now we\u2019re really in a state of emergency, not only health wise. Right now, I think we\u2019re just kind of trying to figure out how we can survive all this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Flathead Indian Reservation occupies a checkerboard territory of tribal and non-tribal people interspersed predominantly in Lake County. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tribes fought to protect their people, but the area was not immune to the lethal virus. As of April 14, 2021, there have been 2,125 reported COVID-19 cases in Lake County, 42% of which were tribally affiliated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alan \u201cChauncey\u201d Beaverhead, 59, who passed away in late 2020, was among a shrinking demographic of fluent speakers on the Flathead reservation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Mary Jane Charlo and Myrna Dumontier, prominent tribal elders, the significance of losing Beaverhead during the pandemic is difficult to overstate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe equivalent is a library burning down,\u201d Dumontier said. \u201cChauncey was a very quiet man. But if you really wanted the heart of an answer to a cultural question, he knew it. He was one of two people that we had left like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To protect their most at-risk demographic, the tribes provided meat, medicine and other essentials for the elderly as they remained isolated at home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a rough, rough year,\u201d said Charlo, who spent a large portion of her time during the pandemic doing beadwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elders were identified and given signs to place on their front door as a means to notify others not to enter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, according to Dumontier, fear plagued many tribal members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt first it felt like paralysis. We were all scared to do anything,\u201d she said. \u201cOur kids were saying you can\u2019t come, and my grandkids are saying we can\u2019t come over. That hit me. That was hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With more than $44 million in CARES Act assistance, the tribes directed nearly $1 million to a multimedia communications campaign, \u201cWho\u2019s at Risk,\u201d to raise awareness about protecting the tribes\u2019 vulnerable elderly population. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The campaign used billboards, videos and radio messages stressing the importance of COVID-19 safety precautions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shadow Deveraux, a hip-hop artist, was commissioned to make a song and music video to highlight the importance of protecting elders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI named the song \u2018Protect Your People.\u2019 It was just about protecting our elders and making sure the youth take it seriously,\u201d Deveraux said. \u201cIt was super important to me after I started writing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many tribal elders, one of the most difficult aspects has been the ongoing disruption of community events \u2014 the Bitterroot Feast, powwows, the river honoring, language camps, family get-togethers. Ceremonial gatherings, in general, have been scarce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hungry for those times, Dumontier said. \u201cWe\u2019re hungry to gather and be together.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Small Salmon, 81, and his wife, Juanita, have felt similarly isolated and disconnected over the past year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long, hard year for me. Part of it was a little bit of fear and being so isolated,\u201d Juanita Small Salmon said. \u201cTribal people are so used to getting together and celebrating. The dancing and the drums and the singing, it keeps them going. I have never felt quite right since we didn\u2019t have the Arlee Powwow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After helping found the Nkwusm Salish Immersion School in Arlee nearly two decades ago, Stephen Small Salmon, a fluent Salish speaker, has fought to keep the language and traditions alive. Waiting out the pandemic, Small Salmon is often reminded of the elders that preceded him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey used to say something is going to come through because we\u2019re not taking care of this world,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most evenings, with this in mind, Small Salmon finds himself sitting on his porch, taking in the beauty of his natural surroundings and reflecting on the state of the pandemic. When completely clear of the coronavirus\u2019 shadow, there is one thing in particular he looks forward to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLife,\u201d he said. \u201cFor the elders, you know, we have to enjoy the rest of our lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Previous<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Saved by the Bell<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Next<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Investing in Connection<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Jordan Unger, Photos by Sierra Cistone A wooden teepee stands tall, drawing attention in the otherwise vacant Pikuni Walking Park in Browning, Montana. More than a dozen narrow poles coalesce to form the framework of the skeletal structure. For stability, a strand of rope wraps around the upper meeting point of the stakes and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1044,"parent":1721,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1043","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1043"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1986,"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1043\/revisions\/1986"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}