A child’s recent gesture reminded Ashley Tuomi not much has changed about Native American stereotypes.
Tuomi, CEO of American Indian Health & Family Services of Southeastern Michigan, heard how the classmate of a staff member’s young student released a familiar, high-pitched howl, rhythmically patting his lips. The staffer’s Native American child was puzzled by the spectacle, which while maybe not mean-spirited, reinforced a lack of knowledge about true Native American beliefs and traditions.
As November is federally proclaimed Native American Heritage Month many say there’s still much to be learned about the early settlers of Detroit and what would become the United States. With Thanksgiving approaching, the popular story of Pilgrims feasting with Wampanoag Tribe members will be retold countless times, but local Native Americans want it known their past and current contributions extend beyond a symbolic meal.
“A lot of people came to Detroit, if they weren’t already here, as part of what we call the Relocation Era,” says Tuomi.
In 1950 the average Native American on a reservation earned four times less than the average white American, so the federal government launched the Urban Indian Relocation Program to encourage migration to cities where jobs were more plentiful. However, promises of housing support and vocational training for migrants were largely unkept, Tuomi says.
“Really, it was a tactic of assimilation. If you got them away from their families and their languages, it was a way to sort of strip the Native out of them,” she says.
Located in Southwest Detroit, American Indian Health & Family Services (AIHFS) incorporates traditional Native American belief systems with clinical healthcare and support service for patients of any ethnic background.
“Culture is really the big piece,” says Tuomi. “It’s always been a big fight to bring back that culture.”
Adding to the challenge of preserving customs has been the decades-long intermingling of Native Americans with other races. She says many Michigan residents, like her, are “Findian,” with Finnish and Indian heritage. Blended bloodlines and lack of much population in cities where Native Americans have no culturally identifiable churches or major monuments makes them an “invisible minority,” Tuomi says.
“That’s where places like our organization come into play, because we teach about languages,” she says. “We teach about food. They’re learning how to drum. They’re learning how to make regalia.”
In coming weeks Michigan State University (MSU) will help complete analysis of an American Indian Needs Assessment Survey that generated information from about 2,000 people.
“It’s the largest collected survey of its kind, impacting urban Detroit, that’s ever been done,” says Dr. John Norder, director of MSU’s Native American Institute and a Spirit Lake Tribe member.
From late 2015 to July 2016 AIHFS, North American Indian Association of Detroit, Southeastern Michigan Indians, Inc., and Lincoln Park-based American Indian Services collaborated to pose 118 questions online and by home visits. About 400 households responded to queries ranging from “Did you or did you not participate in the 2010 Census?” to “What three things are the most important issues in the community?” While some named necessities like food and housing as top concerns, others listed needs like instructors of Native crafts and language.
Results of the survey showed members of a culture often stereotyped as dependent and helpless are more often socially and politically astute.
“These people are savvy. They’re much smarter than some would expect,” Norder says.
Responses to questions about increasingly current topics, like gender identification and sexuality, were sometimes withheld, he says, despite Native American traditions that celebrate difference, rather than condemn it. In the past, gay Native Americans – known as “two-spirited” – and others of less common orientation were honored and celebrated by tribes for their wisdom, he says.
As with the ancient value of preserving and respecting land, which long precedes today’s green space and organic farming movements, embracing diversity is a principle to be learned from Native American values.
“These were things that were considered gifts, because they were believed to give insight,” he adds.
The 20,000 Detroit-area Native Americans, reflected in the 2010 census, represent about 60 percent of the true number because the population typically under-reports or formally identifies with another ethnic group, Norder says. Efforts are taking place in Michigan, where 12 recognized tribes are present, to more actively recognize Native Americans.
“This is also an opportunity to acknowledge and learn from the traditional values being expressed by the Standing Rock Sioux, to protect life on Earth,” former Vice President Al Gore wrote in a statement of support.
From its Lawndale Street office AIHFS promotes similar traditions among 47,000 clients who visit from seven counties. The organization offers sweat lodge ceremonies, believed to help purge illness, and its behavioral health staff uses the Ojibwe Seven Grandfathers character values in its counseling. The seven teachings are humility, bravery, honesty, wisdom, truth, respect and love.
Native American teacher recruitment to public schools is necessary, says Tuomi, and culturally sensitive service, like AIHFS provides, supports minobinmaadziwin, the indigenous word meaning “a good life.”
“They like that we’re addressing the whole person,” she says.
Homage to Heritage: Native Americans persevere in Detroit and beyond added by E.B. Allen on
View all posts by E.B. Allen →
