Vizenor Concordance: On CONSTITUTION

“I was a sworn delegate and principal writer of the Constitution of the White Earth Nation that was ratified on April 4, 2009.  The Preamble includes a reference to survivance.  “The Anishinaabeg create stories of natural reason, of courage, loyalty, humor, spiritual inspiration, survivance, reciprocal altruism, and native cultural sovereignty.”” (2.1)

“The sworn delegates to the White Earth Constitutional Conventions discussed the various measures of native standing and services and rather than perpetuate the punitive arithmetic degrees of blood, ratified an article in the Constitution that “Citizens of the White Earth Nation shall be descendants of Anishinaabeg families and related by linear descent to enrolled members of the White Earth Reservation and Nation according to genealogical documents, treaties, and other agreements with the government of the United States.”” (2.4)

“I was a sworn delegate at four Constitutional Conventions over two years.  Erma Vizenor, Chief of the White Earth Nation, a distant relation by marriage, invited reservation communities to nominate eligible citizens to serve as delegates.  Forty delegates were legally sworn to represent the diverse population of native citizens on the reservation and in other areas, and later she named me the principal writer of the Constitution of the White Earth Nation.” (3.3)

“The delates were seated at five large round tables, eight at a table, and were invited to consider, discuss, and record the critical content of a constitution.  Each table named one delegate to summarize the discussions, and late that morning of the first convention the native delegates considered native sovereignty, rights and justice, banishment, community youth and elder councils, and the principle of communal reciprocity.  The ideas and specific principles were presented and later the recorded discussion notes were transcribed and discussed by the entire delegation.  The notes and principles discussed at the conferences were the basis of my duty as the principal writer, to consider the actual content of the articles of the constitution and present every proposed article for final consideration at the last convention.  The Constitution of the White Earth Nation has twenty chapters and one hundred and eighteen articles.  The United States Constitution was not an easy structure to consider as a model to declare a native ethos and principles of governance.  Luckily, my graduate studies included a critical review of the Constitution of Japan created by senior officers of the military occupation who served General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.” (3.3)

““The Constitution of Japan provided uncomplicated chapters that clearly described the modern practices of governance,” I wrote in The White Earth Nation: Ratification of a Native Democratic Constitution, published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2012.  “I adapted the chapter style with thematic divisions, such as executive, legislative, judiciary, advisory councils, elections, citizenship, native rights, and the duties of elected representatives.  My adaptation of this forthright and uncomplicated structure made it much easier for me to consider and organize specific chapters on independent governance.”” (3.3)

“The Preamble proclaims that “The Anishinaabeg of the White Earth Nation are the successors of a great tradition of continental liberty, a native constitution of families, totemic associations.  The Anishinaabeg create stories of natural reason, of courage, loyalty, humor, spiritual inspiration, survivance, reciprocal altruism, and native cultural sovereignty.”” (3.3)

“I introduced one last article in the chapter of Rights and Duties that had not been discussed by the delegates.  The article was a surprise, and after a moment of hesitation and a second reading the delegates unanimously approved the adoption of the article in the Constitution of the White Earth Nation.  “The freedom of thought and conscience, academic, artistic irony, and literary expression, shall not be denied, violated or controverted by the government.”” (3.3)

“W1: I was a sworn delegate and principal writer of the Constitution of the White Earth Nation that was ratified on April 4, 2009.  The Preamble includes a reference to survivance.  “The Anishinaabeg create stories of natural reason, of courage, loyalty, humor, spiritual inspiration, survivance, reciprocal altruism, and native cultural sovereignty.”” (3.4)