Carmen Cameron
Bay Mills Indian Community
Since moving from her small-town reservation, Carmen has honored her traditional culture as a student at Michigan State University.
Carmen Cameron never realized she grew up living a different cultural lifestyle compared to others: it’s just the way she was raised.
Carmen, 19, is a member of the Bay Mills Indian community near Brimley, Michigan in the state's Upper Peninsula. Gnoozshekaaning is the traditional Ojibwe name given to Bay Mills, meaning, “the place of the pike.”
“I didn’t understand that the teaching I was being raised with was traditional,” she says. “But the older I got, the more I realized how traditional my parents did raise me, because when you’re young you think you’re just listening to your parents.”
Carmen, 19, is a member of the Bay Mills Indian Community in Bay Mills, Michigan
She recalls her father being the traditionalist in the family, running the local powwow for most of Carmen’s childhood and giving back to the children in his community through his work as a teacher.
“Most of the things he’s been taught, he tries his best to pass down, because if it isn’t passed down, no one will know it,” she says.
To Carmen, this ability to pass down traditional teachings is immensely important, because she feels like Native people are now just being able to reclaim their culture after a long history of genocide that has plagued them since colonization.
Since the late 1800’s practicing traditional ceremonies and dance were outlawed in the United States, and it wasn’t until 1978--when the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed that Native Americans could practice their traditional way of life without fear of prosecution.
“My dad grew up going to powwows hidden in the woods because they weren’t allowed to practice,” says Carmen. “I know my great-grandma had to hide her medicine in the back of her house, because if the priest came to visit, and anything was found, she would be seriously charged.”
Even after the act was passed, there was still a stigma that surrounded Carmen’s family for being Native American.
“My mom, she went to high school in the ‘80s and she was told our culture was nothing to be proud of,” says Carmen. “So, I think there’s still a lot of generational shame that is carrying on.”
That generational trauma and loss has instilled a fervent need in Carmen to learn, practice and continue her traditional teachings.
“I personally find it really important to pass down as much as possible,” she says.
Carmen recalls being taught, and living by, a particular set of traditional teachings called The Seven Grandfather Teachings. These teachings, considered a set of principles of character that are integral to living a good life, are as follows:
“Gaazhwenimowin (Love): to show compassion, unconditional love, and hold in your heart all of creation.
Minaadendimowin (Respect): to hold in high regard all of creation and treat all beings and things with kindness, honor, and dignity.
Aakide'ewin (Courage): to have a strong heart and confront obstacles with bravery.
Gwe'ekwaadiziwin (Honesty): to live with truth, honor, and integrity.
Dibaadendiziwin (Humility): to know you are an equal part of the creation and to walk in balance with it.
Debwewin (Truth): to embody honesty, love, respect, courage, humility, and wisdom.
Nibwaakaawin (Wisdom): to reach a state of enlightenment.”
https://www.bmcc.edu/about-bmcc/community-services/seven-sacred-teachings
“I was raised with the Seven Grandfather teachings, you know, honor, respect, and you take care of your family no matter what,” says Carmen.
Carmen wears a ribbon skirt and leather belt, traditional garments while overlooking Mission Hill in Bay Mills, Michigan
Her responsibility to care for her family in the future has guided Carmen throughout her life. In Fall 2021, she began studying biochemistry and molecular biology at Michigan State University so she can one day pursue a career in medicine or veterinary medicine.
She says that moving from her small, northern community to a bustling college campus was an experience that opened her eyes to just how immersed she was in her Native community.
“I got to Michigan State and most people didn’t know what a reservation was. It was very surreal for me not walking down that street and not saying ‘oh there’s my aunt, there’s my cousin”.
Carmen recalls feeling like she lost herself when she moved away, feeling like she had to have all these new college experiences that weren’t necessarily aligned with her true self.
“I started realizing I wasn’t doing very well being away; I was having a difficult time with being homesick,” she says. “I realized it was because I wasn’t sticking to who I was.”
After a few months of being away, Carmen decided to join her school’s chapter of the North American Indigenous Student Organization.
NAISO is an organization that, “encourages the enlightenment of Native Culture” by promoting political and social awareness on campus, as well as hosts traditional events such as powwows alongside the university.
Joining NAISO “felt like being home” for Carmen.
“It was very refreshing and relieving to know there are people here that have the same culture as me,” Carmen says about joining the group.
“It was like an oasis from all of the craziness being here.”
This coming year, Carmen will serve as NAISO’s secretary and treasurer, a role she is grateful for.
“When they asked me, I was just completely honored,” she says. “I just want to help spread our culture onto the campus so that people understand who we are, and that we still exist.”
Joining NAISO has allowed Carmen to give back her Native community on campus, but pursuing an education is a way of honoring her traditional teachings.
“I’m going to school because I want to take care of my next generation's family,” she says. “My goal is just to make sure that I can take care of my elders.”
Carmen tells me about the principle of the Seventh Generation that she was taught growing up, the concept that every decision is made to ensure there’s a sustainable world seven generations in the future.
“I think about it a lot. I have ancestors that fought for me in that way, that’s why I have the tuition waiver in Michigan that allows me to go to college,” she says. “I have these rights that my previous ancestors, that I’m grateful for, because they fought for me.”
In 1976, the Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver was enacted in the state. It offers free college tuition to public universities within the state for Native American residents who are at least one-quarter blood quantum and a member of a federally-recognized tribe.
“So, I think, ‘How can I help my future generations the same way that my great grandparents thought about me? Even though they didn’t even know me.”
Because of this, she thinks younger generations of Native people have a responsibility to honor the work their ancestors have done for them, and continue to help spread the culture so it doesn’t disappear.
“I think in the last 10-15 years there’s been a resurrection where people are starting to move forward, move past all of that shame and guilt that was pushed onto them.”
Still, Carmen feels there’s work that needs to be done to help others feel pride in their culture and that correcting history is one way to do so.
“They need to retract a lot of things they’ve said in our history books that make us seem savage or barbaric,” she says. “There’s no history in these schools talking about boarding schools that even my grandparents, my great grandma had gone to…Everything is kind of pushed under the rug in this country.”
Carmen wonders that if the truth of Native history is actually taught then there would be more acceptance of it.
“I feel as though it makes those who are unsure about their culture lean farther away from it, because nobody wants to be part of a culture that is barbaric.”
She admits that, because of this, it can be intimidating for those looking to reconnect with their Native roots, but encourages them to reach out to their tribe.
“There’s going to be someone that’s going to be so happy to welcome you.”
Without her connection to her culture, Carmen says she wouldn’t be the person she is today. It’s changed the way she is able to look at life, even during her most difficult times.
When Carmen lost her grandparents last year, she recalls her family leaning into their culture and following the cultural teachings that her grandparents had passed down to their younger generations, as a way to make it through their grief.
“Without my culture, I definitely don’t think I could handle a lot of the difficulties of life. It enables me to look at the bigger picture a lot better. I think about how the Creator is doing things for a purpose,” she says. “I go to the water, and I take my asemma (tobacco) and put it down and make a prayer.”
With that perspective, she is ever grateful.
“Because, like I tell most people, I do think this is such a beautiful culture. It doesn't matter what ethnicity you are, what race you are, if you are interested in learning the culture, I'm more than happy to express and explain whatever you're interested in, because it is so beautiful. It changes the way you look at everything in the world.”
