Category: Munsee

Anishinabek Nation 2SLGBTQQIA+Advisory Council member Heidi Whetung of Curve Lake First Nation joined the Nation Council panel on Day 2 of the 9th Annual Lands and Resources Forum held from February 11-13, in North Bay, Ont. – Photo by Laura Barrios

By Kelly Anne Smith

NORTH BAY- The 2025 Anishinabek Nation Lands and Resources Forum featured the Anishinabek Nation Councils Panel to start the second day of the three-day Forum from February 11-13.

Anishinabek Nation Councils Panel included Eshki-niigijig Southwest member from Munsee Delaware Nation Katelyn Peters; Kwe-Wuk-Southwest member from Chippewas of the Thames First Nation Betsy Kechego; 2SLGBTQQIA+ member Heidi Whetung of Curve Lake First Nation; Kwe-Wuk Northern Superior member from Michipocoten First Nation Evelyn Stone; Getzidjig Southwest member Leroy Dolson from Munsee Delaware Nation; and Eshki-niigijig Southeast member Terra Roy from Beausoleil and Nipissing First Nations.

Heidi Whetung urged that the language be included to talk about diversity. Whetung says she does not like the term 2SLGBTQQIA+, “Because a lot of our youth and adults don’t identify with any of those terms. It would be really nice to get back to the language. Put the language in there.”

Whetung says more education is needed in our communities.

“Acceptance, inclusive policies and practices, inclusive ceremony. So many of our youth and adults want to come to ceremony but aren’t accepted. Inclusive language. I don’t know if any of you have looked at the 2SLGBTQQIA+ action plan? It needs to be revisited…”

She says work needs to be done on stigma and discrimination in some communities and calls for culture, community, and community acceptance.

“If you look at this action plan, you don’t really see our youth, our people included in that action plan. It says, today, us 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals continue to express stigma,…

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The Spirit of the Land panel featuring (from left) Katelyn Peters, a Munsee Delaware Nation member on the Eshki-niigijig Advisory Council; Northern Superior Regional Chief Mel Hardy and Getzit Nmishomis James Mishquart, both from Biinjitiwaabik Zaagiing Anishinaabek; and Angel Ransom from First Nations Major Projects Coalition. The Spirit of the Land panel took place at the Anishinabek Nation’s 9th Annual Land and Resources Forum in North Bay from February 11-13. – Photo by Laura Barrios

By Kelly Anne Smith

NORTH BAY—Opening the Anishinabek Nation’s 2025 Lands and Resources Forum on February 11 in North Bay, Ont., Ookomis Donna Debassige from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory recited the Chi-Naaknigewin preamble, Ngo Dwe Waangizid Anishnaabe (One Anishinaabe Family).

Nipissing First Nation Gookmis Evelyn McLeod gave Anishinaabemowin words of wisdom, as did Mishoomis Richard Assinewai of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, the Anishinabek Nation’s Head Getzit.

Mishoomis Assinewai reminded Forum participants to care for our gifts the Anishinaabe way.

“It’s time to start rising. To start speaking. Start speaking for the lands, the people, language, treaties – everything. Start speaking for it. Protect it. We have a gift in that Preamble (Ngo Dwe Waangizid Anishinaabe). We do it our way, not somebody else telling us how to do something.”

During the Anishinabek Nation Leadership panel, Southeast Regional Chief Marsha Smoke commended the Lands and Resources Department for all of the data collected and worked on and the input from communities, providing the foundation for political advocacy. Northwest Regional Chief Mel Hardy said the province is coming across the land, not taking consideration for the Spirit of the Land.

Northwest Regional Chief Hardy has been working alongside Angel Ransom, a Nak’azdli Whut’en First Nation member who helps communities with environmental assessments. Ransom is the vice-president of environmental services with First Nations Major…

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By Jared Castañeda

Posted 2/12/25

Passersby driving through Route 416 in the Town of Montgomery have likely observed a sacred area across the street from Medline’s facility: the town’s African American Cemetery, the …

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Posted Wednesday, February 12, 2025

By Jared Castañeda

Passersby driving through Route 416 in the Town of Montgomery have likely observed a sacred area across the street from Medline’s facility: the town’s African American Cemetery, the resting place for dozens of African Americans, both enslaved and free, who were buried during the 18th and 19th centuries. In honor of these individuals, the Sacred Place of My Ancestors hosted its fifth annual wreath-laying ceremony in the town last Saturday, February 8, featuring several speeches and ample reflection.

Due to icy terrain surrounding the cemetery, most of the ceremony took place in the town…

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ONAWAY – After only 17 minutes of fishing, this year’s sturgeon season on Black Lake (in Cheboygan and Presque Isle counties) ended at 8:17 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 1.

The season, which included spearing and hook-and-line fishing, was scheduled to run Feb. 1-5, or until the harvest quota of six lake sturgeon had been reached.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources set the harvest limit for the season at six fish, though anglers were allocated a season quota of seven sturgeon by agreement with tribal governments. This limit was placed to accommodate the expected number of anglers and anticipate the possibility of near simultaneous harvest of more than one fish. Such a scenario occurred this year, as a seventh fish was harvested before notification of the season closure could be sent out.

There were 797 registered anglers this year. The harvested sturgeon ranged in size from 43.5 inches to 64 inches long and weighed 18.2 pounds to 78.3 pounds.

• The first fish was a 45.7-inch sturgeon that weighed 18.8 pounds.

• Fish number two was a 43.5-inch sturgeon that weighed 18.2 pounds.

• Fish three was a 46.1-inch sturgeon that weighed 19 pounds.

• Fish four was a 64-inch female that weighed 78.3 pounds.

• The fifth fish was a 56.7-inch fish that weighed 41.9 pounds.

• The sixth fish was a 51-inch fish that weighed 25.5 pounds.

• The seventh fish was a 60.5-inch fish that weighed 47.8 pounds.

Only two of the harvested fish had been captured before by Michigan State University and the DNR during spring spawning runs in the Black River or during past surveys of Black Lake. The harvested 45.7-inch fish was captured and tagged during the 2023 netting survey of Black Lake, while the 64-inch fish was originally captured in the river in 2010. Besides the…

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MUNCIE, Ind. – With the cold weather keeping Muncie locals inside for the winter, it’s been very hard for citizens to find activities that are fit for the whole family. However, there is a hidden gem in the town of Muncie by the name of Munsee Lanes. The owner, Stan Willis, shares what it means to him to see people come to his bowling alley.

“It means they’re happy,” said Willis. “So that’s the main thing as long as they are happy and they had a good time, then they’ll come back.”

Opening up back in the 1960s, Munsee Lanes has not only been serving strikes for over 60 years, but they have also been giving back to the community. 

“Some people do fundraisers like if people have a hardship like a fire,” said Marlee Delk, manager of Munsee Lanes. “So it’s just stuff that helps other people in the community.”

Not only does giving the community a chance to fundraise at Munsee Lanes mean a lot to Delk, but being a part of the bowling alley as a whole means a lot more.

“It means a lot,” said Delk. “ We’ve grown up in the bowling alleys. My husband used to work at bowling alleys, and my kids are getting into bowling.”

The giving does not stop there; Munsee Lanes not only provides arcade games and bowling, but also hands out food that will be right up anyone’s alley.

“The snack bar is open when we have a lane sitter here,” said Delk. “It’s kind of like…

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KEY POINTS

• Trump said the Lumbee people were ‘with me all the way,’ referring to his 2024 victory in Robeson County, where the tribal headquarters is located
• The Lumbee Tribe said they are descendants of surviving tribal nations from the Iroquoian, Siouan and Algonquian language families
• The tribe was recognized by the federal government in 1956 but without the benefits that come with being a recognized Indian tribe

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a presidential memorandum to move forward with federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, a people with a storied history who have been advocating tirelessly to be recognized by the federal government.

“Oh, I love the Lumbee Tribe,” Trump said Thursday as he signed the memo, confirming that the document is a “first big step” toward getting them the full federal recognition they have long been fighting for.

President Donald J. Trump orders his Department of the Interior to promote federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.

PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT. pic.twitter.com/t3BvcpaiYt

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) January 23, 2025

“They were with me all the way. They were great. North Carolina, Lumbee Tribe,” the president said. Trump won the state of North Carolina during the 2024 presidential elections, garnering 50.9% of the votes compared to Kamala Harris’s 47.6%. He also won the state by a much tighter margin in 2020.

Notably, Trump won Robeson County in 2024 with 59% of the county’s vote. Robeson County is home to the Lumbee Tribe’s headquarters. The county was historically a Democratic stronghold.

Who are the Lumbee People?

The tribe’s official website states that the Lumbee people were brought to southeastern North Carolina by their ancestors hundreds of years ago. The tribe’s ancestors were “survivors” of tribal nations from the Iroquoian, Siouan and Algonquian language families.

Throughout wars,…

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MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

SUBJECT:       Federal Recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North

Carolina

Section 1.  Purpose and Policy.  The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, known as the People of the Dark Water, have a long and storied history.  The tribe’s members were descendants of several tribal nations from the Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Siouan language families, including the Hatteras, the Tuscarora, and the Cheraw.  The waters of the Lumbee River and lands that surround it have protected and provided for the Lumbee people for centuries despite war, disease, and many other perils.

In 1885, the State of North Carolina recognized the Lumbee people as an Indian tribe.  1885 N.C. Sess. Laws 92.  In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Lumbee Act (Public Law 84-570, 70 Stat. 254), which recognized the Lumbee as the Lumbee Indians of North Carolina but denied Lumbee Indians Federal benefits associated with such recognition.  Today, according to the State of North Carolina, the Lumbee Tribe consists of more than 55,000 members, making it the largest tribe east of the Mississippi River and the ninth-largest tribe in the Nation.

In 2024, the United States House of Representatives passed, by a vote of 311-96, the Lumbee Fairness Act (H.R. 1101), which would grant the Lumbee Tribe full Federal recognition, but this legislation was not considered by the United States Senate before the end of the 118th Congress.  Similar legislation has passed the House of Representatives several times.

Considering the Lumbee Tribe’s historical and modern significance, it is the policy of the United States to support the full Federal recognition, including the authority to receive full Federal benefits, of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.

Sec. 2.  Directive for Recognition Plan.  (a)  Within 90 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary…

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