It’s Native American Heritage Day. One Lac du Flambeau tribal member says it’s an opportunity to reflect on the tribe’s history and future.
WXPR's Natalie Jablonski spoke with Richard Jack, a member of Lac du Flambeau Constitution Committee, involved in tribal governance and planning.
Jack says Native people’s contribution to broader society has not been returned equally.
“We always have to fight for everything that we get. But to be grateful for the challenge. We are still here. We are an enduring people.”
Jack says he sees his work on the Constitution committee as nation re-building.
“I can’t say enough about a people who have been disenfranchised from their culture , their language, their heritage. And so that’s kind of what the nation rebuilding process is all about. Recognizing a traumatic recent past and how we are recovering from that.”
Jack says the tribe is hard at work setting up economic development initiatives to help combat poverty and unemployment.