Madison Miller is a Jr. majoring is Business Administration and Community, Environment, and Development. Madison will represent the Indigenous Knowledge Course.
"I often forget the extent to which the past can form the present. Prior to the trip, we learned about the history of American Indian people, but it was extremely powerful to see the effects of governmental actions years after the event or policy took place. In particular the difference between Red Lake Reservation and the Leech Lake Reservation shows the effects of The General Allotment Act. The Red Lake Reservation has never been owned by the U.S. government, and the Ojibwe people own the entire reservation. However the Ojibwe people own only four percent of the Leech Lake Reservation, due to the deception of allotment. Additionally, the Indian Boarding Schools across the U.S. caused great suffering to the American Indian people, as students were beat for speaking their Native language, the only language they knew. The ramifications of this governmental initiative are evidenced in the fact that today there is only 10% fluency of Ojibwemowin, the language of the Ojibwe people. However, while cycles of pain persist, cycles of love and culture continue to outshine obstacles. While the Ojibwe people I met live a life of generosity, spirituality, connectedness, love, tradition, culture, and family, the Ojibwe people are also tied to a traumatic history and currently face obstacles of poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, suicide, and violence. There is pain and beauty – and you feel it; you feel it all and all at once. I am so grateful for this eye-opening experience that has pushed me to see the world from a different perspective."