NARF comes to NMU...

Friday February 21, 2003 was the Native American Law Day Forum at NMU. I was fortunate enough to attend this all day event, and Niizh Miishikeag was present for druming as well. NARF (Native American Rights Fund) staff attorney Melody McCoy was the keynote speaker, along with Melissa Lopez Pope, J.D. and Thomas R. Myers. Ms. Pope is the Assistand Director of Admissions at Cooley Law School, and Mr. Myers is a Staff Attorney for the MILS (Michigan Indian Legal Service). The day provided many opportunities to learn about how things work within the structure of Indian law, but what really piqued my interest was when Mr. Meyers stated that MILS was representing GRB and that our petition was on the docket of the BAR. Now, you might ask the same question I did, what is and how do I get ahold of this BAR? The Bureau of Acknowledgement and Recognition? The Bureau of Acknowledgement and Research? Your guess is as good as mine. The two terms come up often enough in a google search, but they don't seem to exist. My research has taken me on to many a strange avenue, but the BAR is the strangest so far.

La La La, on goes the day...Melissa Pope made for some interesting listening, time and time again bringing up the need for a support group for our students in Law School, but that is true for any school. Her energy and knowledge of Law, life and the struggles of our people led me to believe that we can surrvive if we can just hold on a little longer. It is good to see that there is a support for our people at the higher than college level.

Lunch with Melody McCoy. I hadn't given much thought to the things that the VA has taught me over the years, but Melody made me relive teachings from my past. She started off with the background of NARF and a little bit about their casses. Followed by quite a bit of information about our legal system and how the government works. "The Marshall Trilogy" and how it applies to us today, Sovereignty what does it really mean, and finally government "trust" accounts. The latter being the bulk of her talk, Melody discussed land, money, and how our people are dealing with it. The legal rights of Indians, and the responsibility of the Government to act in their behalf with regards to the Indian "Trusts".

Finally the day was finished off with three presentations from Marty Reinhardts students. The question, Who is responsible for educating Indians in Michigan was posed to three groups each representing a governmet, Tribe, State, or Federal. Ms. McCoy was the Judge of the material presented. All in all each group presented their findings, answered some pretty tough questions, and in the end tied. The general overview of the questions was that all three governments are responsible. The federal Government has a moral responsibility which is steeped in treaty rights, the State of Michigan is responsible due in full to the Comstock Agreement, and Tribes have the responsibility to their own people. The day ended with eight men sitting with Niizh Miishikeag singing loud and proud. Mino Gizhigad...Aho!