Landmark Native American treaty rights decision celebrates its 25th anniversary

[TheMightyFavog]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WI_INDIAN_SPEARFISHING_WIOL-?SITE=WIFON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) -- Northern Wisconsin marks an anniversary this year, but not everyone is celebrating. It involves 19th century Indian treaties that brought walleyes, fork-like spears, rock-throwing protesters and claims of racism to the forefront.

Twenty-five years ago, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago affirmed that Chippewa Indian tribes retained off-reservation fishing and hunting rights in 1837 and 1842 treaties that ceded millions of acres of what is now the northern third of Wisconsin to the U.S. government.

It led to a revival of an ancient Chippewa practice - spearing spawning walleyes from lakes in the spring - and led to fears from hook-and-line anglers that the fisheries would be ruined by a fishing method they claimed wasn't sporting at all.

(snip)

The resumption of spearfishing prompted demonstrations by treaty-rights opponents at boat landings in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The protests sometimes escalated into incidents of racial taunts and rock-throwing. No one was seriously hurt but tensions forced dozens of law enforcement officers to guard the lakes.

This decision touched off an incident called the Wisconsin Walleye War, in which predominately white hook and line anglers clashed with Native Americans practicing traditional spearfishing. Things got pretty nasty up here and a lot of real racist assholes came out of the woodwork.

Some more info in the Wisconsin Walleye War:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Walleye_War

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,969997,00.html

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/artifacts/archives/002146.asp

[laylah]

1. I remember that!

For once, the "white man" did the right thing reaffirming the Native American rights. Spear fishing not sporting...:rofl: I'd like to see some of those racist white folks try it. Thanks for posting this.