These are words of wisdom from a tribal member that everyone has to read...

"As a tribal member who lives off the reservation it is saddening to see the shape our tribe is in. I work for the state and our behavior is laughed at by those who are not part of our reservation. They find it humorous that we attack our own leadership and in turn, can not unite over the direction we as a tribe should go. I do believe there are those who are causing problems to benefit themselves and that is shameful. The only grace I find in this situation is that my grandmother is not alive to witness their behavior. She was always very proud of where she came from and her tribe. I am not sure she would say the same if she was alive today. Tribal council needs to be able to do their job without harrassement from those who feel like they should be entitled to more. Due to this form of abuse by certain members of our tribe we have lost very educated and talented young adults who refuse to work for the tribe due to incidents such as these. We blame the white man for not hiring our tribal members, maybe we should look at ourselves and see that maybe, just maybe, our public attacks on employees are the main reason these highly educated members refuse to work on the reservation. Who wants that type of abuse on a daily basis. I am not one who likes to join a mob mentality but in this instance I believe the time has come for certain members of our tribe to grow up. The white man is not hurting us as a people you are. I hope these latest actions have opened the eyes of others who stayed silent. I believe it is time to take a stand. I am."

Comments

[Bill]

I agree. Our young qualified people will never want to work for the tribe, the way it is now. We will never move forward as a tribe, as long as there are people like Badger and Mamie always wanting to petition our tribal leaders out if they don't like them.

[Angie Wahweotten]

A beautiful letter.

[Leslie]

Bill is right. Who wants to be fighting everyday, trying to do the right thing. Badger and Mamie have destroyed whatever chances we had for the Illinois casino, now they want to continue to rip the heart out of our tribe, taking whatever they can get for free.

[name withheld]

Oh Leslie, you are one confused woman. Just quit blaming others, and stop defending Tracy, she quit and can't or won't be on TC every again.She was the main one pushing thru the Shabbona Land purchase, and not only is PBP Nation out of $7 Million, most of us won't even see a casino in our lifetime. Our children will be the ones still in debt.

[Name withheld by request]

Give it up Angie, I was going to vote for Tony until you started to carry on. What would you do if he got voted in - run the tribe from your house.

[Angie Wahweotten]

Hey, hey

Whoever you are, I'm not sure exactly what you are talking about (as you are withholding your name *big shrug*), but I'm allowed to post "beautiful letter" if I want to.

As far as the election, I think you should vote for the person you think will do the best job in the position. I'm not twisting any arms and I sure intend to vote for who I think is the best candidate.

I was asked to step up when Zach stepped down and I said "No". No control issues here. Just living my life and CONTRIBUTING IN A GOOD WAY!!!

[name withheld]

You people are soooo dumb the Shabonna deal was approved in the general council meeting, tc meetings, everyone knew what was going on,(read the minutes) there was no secret deals, except for Badger running around up in Illinois trying to make a back door deal, undermining the negotiation now, when your tc can't do the work you blame someone else, blame yourselves

Now because the tc can't follow through and they told tracy not to do any work on it or speak about it, its lost

You people deserve what you have now a lost deal and your crying over what you caused yourself,,, dumb

[Tammy]

Hello,

I am a tribal member from shawnee, ok. I do have a comment on the per capita increase. Growing up as a child until a few years ago, I really didn't pay much attention to what was going on with my tribal nation. I am a mother of four children that are also tribal members and all on their way to being young productive adults. I feel the need to get involved with or at least keep track of what our government is leading to. Yes, per capita increase would be nice but, I don't think with all the problems we seem to be having in office, that the time isn't now. I am a person that lives outside the rez and I don't feel like I'm an outsider. I am glad that our tribal members that do live there get all the benefits they deserve. My family is proud to be Prairie Band Potawatomi's. I see that our culture and heritage is always in play and that its good. My children are always asking questions about their tribe and I think without the current success of our nation so far wasn't there, that I wouldn't be able to answer their questions. I get a lot of my learnings off the websites and newspaper. What I am trying to say is that for us,as a tribe, to survive and be positive role models for our children, we need to really focus on what's best for us as a whole rather than who is better or worse. I want my children to be successful and proud of their heritage much more than waiting on the "big money" everyone is talking about. Now, I know we could all use a boost now and then but I just have this feeling that it's not the right time regardless of whose getting money hungry. All this conflict needs to stop once and for all. Thank you so very much.

Tammy