Wisconsin Indian Hostage Crisis Teeters On Violence Because Biden, Tony Evers Do Nothing

The ongoing hostage crisis in Lac Du Flambeau, Wisconsin, has entered week seven, and two people with the power to stop it — President Joe Biden and Gov. Tony Evers — refuse to act. 

Because of the barricades built by the Lac du Flambeau Band Lake Superior Chippewa, 65 non-tribal Wisconsinites are unable to enter their homes or leave. Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany claims that the barricades are illegal since the closed roads receive public funds.

Non-tribal residents cannot leave the reservation for more than a month without crossing frozen lakes that are rapidly melting. Racial tensions and violence are increasing as residents get desperate. The tribe refuses negotiation and the government ignores these crises.

Why Are There Barricades? 

Lac Du Flambeau Reservation is a patchwork of land, with some sections owned by non-tribal residents. The reservation’s non-tribal residents, now blocked, had right-of way easements for their homes to access sections of the four tribe-owned roads. But those easements expired more a decade ago. 

John Johnson, the tribal president, has ordered the closure of the roads after the easements expired and is asking for $20 million from the title companies to reopen them. This will only be done for 15 years. Residents, title company and town claim that the easements don’t have a value of $20 million.

“Our town has a budget of around $2 million a year,” Joseph Hunt, a resident of the blockade, agreed to speak. “And no title company in the world would come up with the $20 million they were asking for just … for a small amount of houses.” People familiar with the matter say that the value of the roads is not yet known. The tribe has prohibited anyone from looking at the rights-of way appraisals.

It is difficult to understand why easements were allowed expire after a decade. The tribe asserts that title companies have not been registered. “negotiate[d] in good faith,” The attorney representing the non-tribal residents was hired by one title company to represent them. He said that the tribe has been slow to respond and has been negotiating for many years. Both sides claim that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has been unresponsive and unhelpful.

Many residents pointed out to The Federalist that the tribe hadn’t maintained the roads prior to the barricades despite being granted public funding. Instead, the town and in some cases, the residents are paying for the maintenance. The Federalist tried to reach the town for confirmation, but was not able to get a response. 

Undisputed facts are that the tribe refuses to negotiate and receives federal funding through the Tribal Transportation Program. Tiffany and other landowners claim that this makes the blockades illegal.

Soon, they’ll be prisoners

Residents have been unable go to work, school, grocery shopping, or to take out their garbage since the road was closed. Once the ice has melted, “we’ll be actual prisoners,” Hunt said. Hunt said that the temperature at Lac Du Flambeau reached above freezing every day during this week. Residents told The Federalist that there is only a few days before the lakes become unsafe to cross. 

 “What’s going wrong with the United States of America where taxpayers are being illegally held from going into or out of their house, [but] everybody else in the world can walk freely across our southern border?” Marsha Panhil, a resident blockaded, was asked. “This is f-cking ridiculous.”

“People have been saying all along, ‘just rip the barricades down,’ and the residents have said ‘no, we don’t want this to be that aggressive,'” Pam Kester, a blockaded resident, said: “We don’t want this to lead to violence, but I think it’s just around the corner.”

Kester was one of those residents who chose to move out of town rather than rely on the frozen lake. Ming, her 17-year old daughter, moved from Iowa to Lac Du Flambeau last September. Ming, an autistic and reactive attachment disorder sufferer, was attracted to Lakeland Union High School in the North Woods.  

Kester claimed that Ming was there before the barricades were erected. “flourishing” They were at Lakeland but they were forced to leave the town. Things took a bad turn. Ming has “taken this really hard,” Kester explained that Ming has been suffering from depression and sleep problems due to her stressful life. She was admitted to the emergency department last week after having a panic attack and was sent home. Kester is trying keep Ming enrolled in Lakeland. But Ming has struggled to learn remotely and has had to drop all of her classes, except one. 

“At the school that I went to before [in Iowa], I was getting bullied a lot and that was really hard for me,” Ming spoke to The Federalist. “Lakeland was just much different. I liked all my teachers at the school. I was making friends there, and it’s usually hard for me to make friends.” Ming is determined to go back to school. However, she stated that she is beginning to think about other options. “lose hope.” 

Kester did not know about the expired easements, as did most residents The Federalist interviewed. “Nobody told us,” She said: “not the previous owners, the realtors, or the title company.” “Our lives are trashed right now,” She continued. “It feels like we’re collateral damage” “nobody is taking responsibility.” 

Evers and Biden Abandon the People

A former deputy assistant secretary for Indian affairs, who The Federalist allowed to speak anonymously, believes there is some precedent in how to deal with the ongoing hostage situation. Two South Dakota Indian tribes were established in 2020 Covid Checkpoints Federally-funded roads that lead into the reservation. Similar to the Lac Du Flambeau barriers, certain non-tribal residents were prevented from using the roads by the Covid checkpoints. 

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem “got involved,” She appealed for help from the Trump administration. The Trump administration threatened to end funding for health-care and coronavirus relief to the tribe. The roads were opened after that. “Theoretically, you could have the governor of Wisconsin call for the roads to immediately open,” The deputy BIA president said. 

Biden and Evers did not take any steps to allow the tribe to remove illegal barricades from their territory or negotiate with them. The tribe has however, Received In the past 10 year, more than $218 millions in federal funding has been received. The mystery of why Evers & Biden permit the tribe engage in illegal and dangerous activity while receiving a large amount federal funding is still unsolved. 

Evers has not only refused to advocate for the residents but he’s also allegedly confirmed the tribe’s right to illegally erect barricades. Hunt stated to The Federalist that Evers was not present when Evers arrived. Visited Lac Du Flambeau, February 1, “he met with the tribal council” The tribe stated that it is “absolutely in the right to do this because [they’re] a sovereign nation. He didn’t talk to the town. He didn’t talk to the homeowners; he just left town.”

Evers, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D. Wis., and so far, they have succeeded. sent a letter To the BIA asking for it to be in “immediate engagement” “aid in negotiations.” Tiffany and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) sent Send a letter To the Department of the Interior, of which the BIA a subsidiary, as well as the Department of Transportation (DOT). Tiffany’s office claims that the DOT and BIA have been silent and that the DOI did not receive the letter sent a week earlier. 

Problem is, none of these over-burdened government agencies has the ability or organization to do anything. “The BIA is very powerless,” The Federalist was informed by the former deputy BIA official that the agency is now in its final year. “going to defer to the tribal government in d–mn near every situation.” Biden, Evers and Evers are again the only people who have the power to forcibly change the tribal’s mind.

The Government Refuses To Clean Up Its Mess

Hunt stated that Hunt is certain of this. “the tribe wants their land back.” As a tribal member Melissa Christensen, it is true. Telled According to the Federalist, last week, she believes that non-tribal residents are important. “shouldn’t have been able to buy [reservation] property to begin with.”

However, the land was legaly acquired by the non-tribal inhabitants. Because of the 1847 Dawes Act (which broke up communally-run reservations and divided plots of farmland among American Indian families), non-tribal residents can live on the reservation, the 1847 Dawes Act also allows them to. Parts of the reservation were eventually sold to non-tribal landowners. 

Hunt stated to The Federalist that he does have it. “the bill of sale from the original sale of [my] property in 1923. I have a deeded access that says I can go out to the town road, and it’s all been ignored.”

Hunt stated that Hunt believed the tribe should have offered his property to the non-tribal residents if it truly wanted it. “a fair price” They were sold to him. Instead, his home is “worth nothing now” Due to government inaction and barricades, the tribe is “literally steal[ing] our homes.”

The tribe is not allowed to seize the homes of residents or to erect barricades. Blockaded roads are funded by the public. The tribe is not financially self-sufficient nor sovereign. All tribe members born on the reservation become citizens of the United States. On United States soil and the supposedly “independent” Tribes heavily rely on large amounts of federal funding. 

The U.S. federal government created the disastrous American reservation system, but the government does not do anything to fix it. People like Ming and her mom are still suffering.

If the tribe continues to blockade its citizens and refuses negotiations, there is no reason Evers or Biden shouldn’t threaten to withdraw funding. The Federalist was informed by Kester, however. “Nobody wants to be accused of saying anything negative about the tribe.” This is particularly true for Democrats such as Evers and Biden who have built political power on identity politics.

Evita Duffy – Alfonso is a staff author to The Federalist. She also co-founded the Chicago Thinker. She enjoys the Midwest, lumberjack sport, writing, and her extended family. Follow her on Twitter at @evitaduffy_1 or contact her at [email protected].