Noodin put out a statement. She also emailed me. I included that, plus my response. I bolded some parts that there have been questions about.
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https://uwm.edu/eqi/people/noodin-margaret/Race-shifting, fraud, and Indigenous identity are important topics being examined closely today. As a scholar of Indigenous languages and cultures I would like to clarify my own positionality.
My full name is Margaret Ann O’Donnell Noodin. I was born in Greeley, Colorado and
grew up in Chaska, Minnesota then attended college at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis where I earned a BS in Education, BA in English, MFA in Creative Writing and PhD in Linguistics and Literature. I attended one year of college at St. Cloud State before transferring to U of M. As an Indigenous language poet I am currently Vice-President of InNaPo where I work to support poets who are citizens of native nations. I am also the Co-Director of Celtic Studies, Director of the Electa Quinney Institute, Professor and Associate Dean of the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
I have been blessed with many mentors and teachers including the vibrant eco-system my relatives have taught me to appreciate in my half century of life so far. As a child raised by parents and grandparents who were teachers, storytellers, singers, and dancers, I realized that my own gift was learning languages and the history of my elders.
I am not, and have not claimed to be, an enrolled citizen of a tribal nation. Like many Americans, my understanding of my own race and ethnicity has evolved over time and there are many ancestors I look forward to meeting when I leave this world.
I am clearly connected to O’Donnell immigrants but do not know all the stories of their arrival in America and have only recently been able to learn Irish. In high school I studied French to honor the relatives we knew came from Montreal, but we do not have complete records of their lives, although I tried to research this more while living for a time in Nevers, France and visiting Montreal. When I wrote for The Circle native newspaper in Minneapolis in the 1980s and attended AIM events, I met friends who encouraged me to research my grandmother Margaret Hill at Grand Portage and Mille Lacs and although some of my cousins have also done research, we do not have any records that would lead to enrollment status.
My Minneapolis friends, Clyde and Vernon Bellecourt, along with John Trudell, were particularly emphatic that everyone with a connection to Indigenous languages and cultures should join the fight to de-colonize and reclaim Indigenous identity while also correctly supporting sovereign nations. Many years later,
I spoke to them about translating the AIM Song into Ojibwe and did so with their support.
My own family stories of boarding school and the encouragement of people in the Minnesota Chippewa tribal community including Jim Northrup, Norman Deschampe, Collins Oakgrove and Marlene Stately, led me to continue learning Ojibwemowin in Minnesota. In Michigan and Ontario I was able to work with Helen Fhust-Roy, George Roy, Hap McCue, Reta Sands, Beverly Naokwegijig, Martina Osawamick, Isadore Toulouse, Shirley Williams, Liz Osawamick, Kenny Pheasant and Howard Kimewon.
For many years I have been welcome in these communities and continue working with them on many language efforts without seeking to represent any nation as a citizen. My gift is speaking and writing in Ojibwemowin and I share it freely with others and engage primarily on that level with tribal nations. My closest partners in this work have been Alphonse Pitawanakwat, who shared many hours in the classroom with me at the University of Michigan and Stacie Sheldon who has been an ongoing friend and partner as we continue to curate the content for Ojibwe.net. With Cecelia LaPointe I publish bi-lingual books and support her work as founder of the Anishinaabe Racial Justice Coalition. There are many other relatives, friends and students who can speak for the way I have learned and then shared my knowledge of Ojibwemowin.
While working with Anishinaabe languages I have been a part of sugar bush, traditional gardening, wiigwaas harvest, berry processing and wild ricing. I am a former bow-hunter and have caught and cleaned many fish and muskrats. I have made and taught others to make hand drums and songs because several elder women shared this art with me and I have passed it on to younger people in native communities as they asked me to do. I have dedicated my time on earth to learning and teaching the languages of my ancestors. I can speak both western and eastern Anishinaabemowin, which some would call Ojibwe and Odawa, and have been speaking these languages since my early twenties when I had the opportunity to sit with fluent elders in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Manitoba and Ontario. I currently have basic knowledge of Potawatomi, Menominee, Oneida, Ho-Chunk so that I can assist students at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee as they study their own language and review material we gather together with the help of the generous language teachers in various tribal language programs and at the Indian Community School in Milwaukee. I do not claim to be a fluent speaker of these languages, only a proficient beginner and a model student and scholar of their revitalization.
I believe we should all know our own narrative and respect all our relatives. While I would not demand this level of detail from others, I offer the following simply to set the record straight.
My ancestors' names include: O'Donnell, Orr, Hill, Bernard, Bean, Lagunade, Lavallee and Monplaisir. My parents are Terry and Alice O’Donnell and my sister is Shannon. I have been legally married to James Benda, Jill Smith and Asmat Noori. I lived for many years with Red Elk Banks and my current partner in all things is Michael Zimmerman Jr. Asmat and I share two beautiful daughters whose heritage is even richer and more complex than my own.
As recent attention has rightly been paid to people who claim citizenship falsely, or invent sudden backgrounds not verified by relatives, friends, and native nations, I have been the target of numerous inquiries and online attacks. I tried for a time to let this go. Many colleagues reached out when then saw my name on “the lists” and I answered all the questions posed of me. Meanwhile,
the online bloggers supposed that I was adopted, married too often, cutting off my family, having peers fired at work and many other accusations that are hurtful and unfounded. I urge anyone with questions about my life history, language proficiency, cultural knowledge, or research to contact me directly.Ningikenadaan nindenewemaganag nisidawininawiwaad miinwaa ishkwaa akiing waa-maajaayaan mii dash nindanikobijiganag wii-bizindawiwaad nagamoyaan Gaagige-minawaanigoziwining.
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Dear Alton,
I apologize for reaching out this way but I am not sure how else to approach this. I have been on the NAFPS list for a while and many friends and family have advised me not to engage with it. However, this week a colleague and his grad students had to write an addendum to a grant explaining that I do actually speak Ojibwe. I have tried to remain calm as people on that list say terrible, false things about me.
I have arranged to step down from my current position on campus and have tried to keep my spirits up and keep going but the list is now hurting more than just me. I have a clear and consistent narrative,
I am not claiming to be enrolled, and I have a network of native relatives and friends who can vouch for my representation of myself as a speaker of Ojibwe who learned the language because it is part of my family background. I have posted a positionality statement here:
https://uwm.edu/eqi/people/noodin-margaret/ which contains more personal information than I would usually include in a bio but my hope is that the people on NAFPS will find it.
I am truly not doing the things they claim and it is so painful to see the things they say about me on that forum. If my statement answers the questions, could the posts about me be removed? I am not adopted yet a thread explores that idea.
I did not get my colleagues fired, yet several people seem to think I may have done that. People could confirm with Cary Miller, Bernard Perley and Chris Cornelius that they left the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to take promotions and I was devastated and have worked to replace them on our campus. We will finally have one new faculty person starting soon.
I would be happy to answer any questions people have if they would simply send them to me or meet with me. Again, I am very sorry to bother you with this, but it is so very very painful to spend a life learning one of the languages of my ancestors and then be accused of doing wrong with that knowledge. Thank you for your time. I am sure this site is helpful to many people and I agree that those who make up an identity or claim to speak a language or take money for ceremonies should be confronted, but
I do not represent myself as anything more than a descendant who has spent a lifetime learning and trying to support Indigenous languages. I appreciate you reading this and any reply you may have time to send.
Margaret Noodin
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Hello,
The discussion on you has stayed under Research Needed for good reason. Six pages of posts for almost a year and much is still inconclusive. It's different from our usual targets, frauds who pose as medicine people for profit or to build a cult.
I can post the link to your online statement and the statement itself in full. I can also post your email if you wish.
What we always do when a case turns out not to be fraudulent is move to Archives and mark it No Longer a Matter of Concern.