The LaPointe Treaty of 2006


The LaPointe Treaty of 2006
Howard Paap

Read the full treaty text here!


Artist Statement

After over a century of exploitation we must start contemplating a different way to live with our planet. As David Erhenfeld said over a decade ago, we have gone through The Age of Control, – the time of the Industrial Revolution – and now need to learn a process of change leading to a new era when we live with the earth.

The indigenous peoples of the world still have the most environmentally sensitive world view found on our planet and these people are living in our very midst. All we have to do is pay attention to what they have been telling us from the beginning: Humans are only one of the multitude of species using this planet. We must live with our co-inhabitants in a manner that does not threaten their and our very existence.

In my art pieces I present a new treaty between the United States and the Ojibwe Peoples. It is meant to cause thought about the very underpinnings of our relationship with the natural world. The early treaties were negotiated with a stark imbalance of power between the American and Ojibwe nations, but this new treaty suggests that today as indigenous peoples, the Ojibwe hold the upper hand regarding an awareness and sensitivity to environmental concerns, and therefore, it is time for western nations like the United States to reconsider what tribal peoples have to offer.

The two paintings show samples of what might be considered relatively minor plant species from the Lake Superior region threatened by climate change. White birch, blueberry, thimbleberry and spruce, for example, could all be extirpated from our region with warming temperatures. The depiction of the four directional colors - yellow=east, red=south, black=west, white=north - and their coming together in the center suggest the balance needed for our survival.

We can all drive hybrid vehicles and recycle our material waste, but unless we seriously study the philosophical underpinnings of our culture and initiate relevant changes, we will do little to halt the disastrous effects of climate change.

Biography

Born and raised in rural Wisconsin, Howard Paap taught anthropology for thirty years at upper midwest colleges. He authored a memoir on his experiences in the Red Cliff Ojibwe community beside Lake Superior and currently is writing a history of the Ojibwe in the Chequamegon Bay area. His acrylic paintings of Ojibwe-German iconography have been hung in galleries in the Twin Cities and Northern Wisconsin, and he is a member of the Bayfield Artists' Guild and the Chequamegon Bay Arts Council, as well as being a co-host of The Gitchigami Hour over radio station WRZC at Red Cliff, Wisconsin.