Daniel M. Brown, the executive manager of Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison, addresses the common council in Madison, Wisconsin, on November 23, 2016. Ho-Chunk Nation President Wilfrid Cleveland can be seen in the background. Photo courtesy Ho-Chunk Nation
Ho-Chunk Day in the City of Madison
By Daniel Brown
Ho-Chunk Nation
ho-chunknation.com
On Tuesday, November 23, 2016, the City of Madison Common Council adopted a resolution that would henceforth declare the fourth Friday of November “Ho-Chunk Day.” As a proud member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, I was initially flattered by this kind gesture. After attending the Common Council meeting wherein the resolution was adopted, I am overwhelmed with a sense of optimism. The 16th District Alder Denise Demarb sponsored the resolution and read it before the Common Council. I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank and acknowledge Alder DeMarb. For those of us who were privileged to be present, her reading of the resolution was very powerful. Admittedly, I had to lower my head and avoid looking at her as the contents of the resolution were by themselves very moving, but with Alder DeMarb feeling the words and unsuccessfully fending off tears, I dared not look up lest I began tearing up in such a dignified setting. I did have occasion to glance up to see a few tear-filled eyes and complete attentiveness of Council members and all those present while she read the resolution. The respect displayed by the Council and Mayor Soglin for this significant gesture was sobering and deeply humbling. As was indicated in the resolution, Ho-Chunk people have endured tremendous hardships since the westward settlement of what is now Wisconsin. It has been said on numerous occasions, but it still bears repeating that Ho-Chunk people – indeed all Native people – have suffered greatly through federal government policies that have essentially sought to rid the country of our very existence. Efforts such as genocide, removal and assimilation – moreover deculturalization – have victimized Ho-Chunk people, and the effects of those policies reveal themselves even today through cultural trauma. The pain of being treated as less than human has been unavoidably passed down through generations. And the reality is: These are not ancient policies of a long-forgotten era in U.S. history. Relatives living today speak of hearing their grandfathers telling harrowing tales of being rounded up like cattle and loaded into boxcars for rail transfer to strange lands to the west. My own mother would talk about being forced to attend boarding schools and suffering corporal punishment for speaking the only language she knew as a small child, the Ho-Chunk language. I was asked to speak briefly after the resolution was read, and I referred to a strained relationship that previously existed between the Ho-Chunk Nation and the City of Madison just a few years ago and how the genesis of that bad blood is now irrelevant. But I have theorized that with such historic trauma and pain so chronologically and emotionally close to that generation ahead of me, any hints of disrespect or of being slighted – intentionally or otherwise – during a meeting between the two parties would likely have triggered an extremely intense reaction from my elders. We are also conditioned as Native people to be acutely wary and cautious when dealing with mainstream government. Think multitudes of broken treaties. At the Common Council meeting, I also mentioned fear. There seems to be a prevailing fear with a sizable portion of the white population when it comes to people of color. For whatever reason, many people appear to fear that which they do not understand or know. Dark-skinned immigrants come immediately to mind. Perhaps that mainstream generation ahead of me simply feared Ho-Chunk people and that fear or lack of understanding manifested itself in intentional or unintentional displays of disrespect. At some point in the more recent history between the Ho-Chunk people and the City of Madison, barriers had been built. I believe ignorance begets a significant portion of social ills including racism. By becoming familiar with one another and allowing our stories to be told and for both sides to stop and listen, the seeds of understanding and tolerance are sown. The resolution contained sordid and tragic aspects of Ho-Chunk history. This was not an exercise in woe is me or woe is us, nor was it an exercise in making anyone feel guilty. It was about creating much-needed understanding and providing context to what has shaped the psyche of Ho-Chunk people today so that a level of sensitivity exists in City of Madison and Ho-Chunk relations going forward. The adoption of the resolution was a small yet profound gesture by Denise, the Common Council and Mayor Soglin. I was honored and humbled by this outreach of kindness and respect to my tribe. We are still healing from deep trauma, and this contributes greatly toward that end. Thank-you to each Common Council member; thank-you to Mayor Soglin; thank-you to all City staff members with whom we have worked. And thank-you Denise DeMarb for putting such heart and thought into this initiative. This truly spans far, far beyond flattery. Daniel Brown is an enrolled Ho-Chunk tribal member and current Executive Manager of Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison who has worked for the Ho-Chunk Nation for the past 23 years in primarily managerial positions, having also served as the Vice President of the Nation from 2007-2011.
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