Treaty of Washington

Inland Settlement Letters to the Editor (Detroit News)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

Readers of The Detroit News support a treaty rights settlement between the state of Michigan and five tribes.

Alex Hess: “In my opinion it is important that we honor the Native Americans because this originally is their land..”

Isaac C. Griffin: “The land is a Native American reservation and it should remain that way.”

Garrison Warr: “Even though 171 years have passed, it does not mean that these sports fishermen and the charter boat operators have the right to break the treaty that was made with the Indians, and do what they please with property which does not belong to them.”

Mike Stankiewicz: “Instead of bossing around the Native Americans even more, I feel we should respect the fact that their ancestors lived on this ground for many years before the white man came along.”

Get the Story:
Indians deserve support in fishing dispute (The Detroit News 11/20)

Representations of Michigan Indians in the Press

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Nick Reo’s recent post on online posts written in response to the Inland settlement reminded me of a dissertation by Scott G. Sochay, “Newspaper Images of Native Americans: Michigan Newspaper Coverage of Treaties and Compacts Affecting Indians in the Territory and State of Michigan” (1998). The diss. covers the 1819Treaty of Saginaw, the 1836 Treaty of Washington, and the 1993 gaming compacts.

It’s a large document, but you can download it here:  Sochay Dissertation