Lacrosse is a traditional Native American game, also referred to as the “Creator’s Game.”
“The creator and his spirits enjoy watching the game. In turn for this, he grants blessings and good health to the community,” said Sapatis Menomin. He’s the former Community Power Project Coordinator in the Forest County Potawatomi Community.
It had been almost 70 years since elders in the tribe had seen a game played in the community until Menomin helped bring it back.
“I got to talk to some of the elders up there, and I kind of realized how important it was to them, that this would be brought back to the community,” he said.
Bringing it back was not an easy task.
Menomin is a Forest County Potawatomi Tribal Member, but he didn’t grow up there. It took some time to meet people and make the connections.
“It took a while for me to kind of build that kind of trust in the community,” said Menomin.
Once he did, Menomin then had to learn about lacrosse, everything from how to play the game to how to make the sticks.
He ended watching YouTube videos to see the process and what tools and materials he needed.
Then he started passing the knowledge on by hosting workshops in the woodshop at the Forest County Potawatomi Community Center.
Once they had enough sticks, Menomin was able to teach people to play lacrosse, including going into some of the local school districts.
“The kids really, really get into it. They get pretty competitive,” said Menomin.
The teachings go beyond the game play, exploring the respect for nature and for one another on the field.
“You go out there to play, have fun, to kind of uplift the community, because you're playing for them,” said Menomin. “Those who are watching are watching because they might have, you know, a sickness, or are feeling bad, and that when they watch that uplifts their spirits.”
Menomin said it was a rewarding process because it was something he didn’t have in his life either growing up.
“For me, it was, kind of an honor to help establish that back in your community,” he said.
Tribal Health Initiative
Wisconsin Humanities hopes to see tribally-led community efforts like this one repeated throughout the state through its new Community Powered Tribal Health Initiative.
Director of Community Powered Chrissy Widmayer said the new initiative will function a little differently than what Menomin did, but with the same goal of empowering people to strengthen their communities.
“These humanities tools can support community growth and development, especially in these areas of mental health and wellness,” said Widmayer. “I think that we're in a moment in time where we sometimes forget how the aspects of culture and history can be really exciting and supportive, how the stories that we share with one another have meaning and help us relate to each other.”
Wisconsin Humanities is just starting a three-year initiative funded by a Community Impact Grant from the UW School of Medicine and Public Health’s Wisconsin Partnership Program.
The program aims to give 32 tribal members the tools and resources to kickstart community projects that address mental health challenges.
Widmayer said it will be based off their existing Community Powered program, through which Menomin’s lacrosse program was created. But she doesn’t know exactly how the Tribal Health Initiative will go.
“We're going to work so closely with our community partners and our tribal partners to decide what makes the most sense for tribal communities,” said Widmayer. “We might take or leave aspects of the program depending on how they can best serve tribal communities.”
Wisconsin Humanities will be hiring a director to oversee the project and begin working with tribal communities. You can learn more about the initiative and how to stay updated through the Wisconsin Humanities website.
Both Widmayer and Brian Jackson emphasize this is a tribally led initiative.
Dr. Jackson is an assistant professor for the Institute of Health and Humanities Medical College of Wisconsin. He’s also on the Wisconsin Humanities Board and a Lac du Flambeau Tribal Member.
“I think there's some intentionality behind this. There's some authenticity. And it's real, you know, Native driven,” said Jackson.
In addition to Jackson and Menomin, Dr. JP Leary and others from UW-Green Bay’s Center for First Nation Education and Sonny Smart from the Lac du Flambeau Family Circles AODA Parenting Program will be working with Wisconsin Humanities staff on the project. Dr. Arijit Sen, professor of public history and urban studies at UW-Milwaukee, has helped to design and run Community Powered trainings and will continue to advise the new initiative.
Culture as prevention
Jackson says, for so much of history, there has been efforts to strip indigenous people of their culture and language and remove them from their communities.
There’s been numerous studies that connect that historical trauma and lack of cultural identity to poor health outcomes, like increased risk of depression and substance abuse.
“When it trickles down to tribal communities, it's been a struggle and a challenge over the years to connect that to our communities for, you know, bringing back good health, because we don't have our culture and language,” said Jackson.
Jackson hopes this Community Powered Tribal Health Initiative will help connect more Native Americans with their roots and their community.
In doing so, Jackson says culture can be a preventative approach to wellness.
“I would say that I don't separate the things I do as an Indian Ojibwe man, when I wake up in the morning, and how I conduct my business and work, how I conduct my business in the family,” said Jackson. “In a community that's all connected at the center, and that's really the core where we're after, getting folks to understand that concept doesn't have to be separate, doesn't have to be linear. If we get focused, to begin to think more intentionally consistently, their mental state would be in a better place.”
Menomin hopes to see more communities benefit from this Tribal Health Initiative like he saw with his lacrosse project.
His best advice for those wanting to take this on-- listen.
“Listen to what people have to say no matter what their background is. You get a lot of info from people,” said Menomin. “Even just taking a walk, looking around, seeing what state the community is in and you kind of figure out what it needs.”
The Community Powered program recently won the national Federation of State Humanities Council’s Schwartz Prize for Outstanding Work in the Public Humanities for work done in its pilot year.
This story is part of WXPR’s focus on solutions in the Northwoods. You can learn more about our Solutions Journalism effort and share ideas here.
