A favorite refrain in the Potawatomi battle against competition is to cite the distance between the Menominee Reservation and Kenosha. They never miss a chance to trumpet claims of “reservation shopping,” a buzzword coined by pro-monopoly tribes that suggests the Menominee have no tie to the Kenosha area because their reservation is in northern Wisconsin.
That’s just plain false. And it underscores yet another one of those “I can’t believe the Potawatomi are trying to peddle that hypocritical bunk” moments.
First of all, Dr. David R. M. Beck, a professor of Native American studies at the University of Montana, points out that the Menominee Tribe has resided in Wisconsin for thousands of years on lands that include Southeast Wisconsin and Kenosha. In a study for the Menominee Tribe, Beck says:
“The southern region of Old Menominee country was vast – it extended south of the Milwaukee River into northern Illinois, along the shores of Lake Michigan and west to the Mississippi River. This was long a vital place for the Menominee Indians. Kenosha lies at the center of the eastern reaches of this southern region of old Menominee country.”
Perhaps the irony of having their own off-reservation Milwaukee casino located in the middle of a valley named for the Menominee Tribe is lost on the Potawatomi. But we doubt it.
It seems the Potawatomi need lessons in history and geography. It’s especially laughable that in their zeal to keep their monopoly, the Potawatomi are complaining – quite loudly – about the distance between the proposed Kenosha casino site and the Menominee Reservation. It’s 160 miles – we admit it.
But the distance between Potawatomi’s Milwaukee casino and its northern Wisconsin reservation spans 182 miles – even farther than the distance between Menominee and Kenosha. Here’s a map that proves it.
Oops.
Help stamp out Potawatomi’s pro-monopoly hypocritical bunk by signing the online petition.
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