Jul
24
2021
by Maya Shimizu Harris
July 20, 2021
MARINETTE—The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, the Indigenous Caucus of the Western Mining Action Network and the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River came together on Stephenson Island Friday to protest the proposed Back Forty Mine and celebrate the waters of the Menominee River.
After keynote speeches by representatives of each group, five generations of Menominee women garbed in long, vibrant skirts lined up from eldest to youngest in front of small, copper-colored vessels to partake in a ceremony blessing the waters of the Menominee River. Shortly thereafter, the crowd took up their signs and walked across the bridge to downtown Menominee in protest of the mine.
t’s no accident that the river that divides the places known today as Wisconsin and Michigan bears the same name as the Menominee Tribe. The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin lived along the Menominee River for thousands of years, and evidence of their ancestral past — including sacred sites, such as dance rings and burial mounds — still line its banks. 
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