Native News story stirs controversy in Havre

By JACOB LIVINGSTON
J-School Web Reporter

photo by Katie Hartley

Ken Blatt visits Havre and the local 4B's diner regularly. Some residents of Rocky Boy's Reservation say they don't visit town often because they feel they face prejudice in Havre.

An article by a University of Montana journalism student last spring that  recounted prejudice against American Indians in Havre has prompted residents to speak out and a federal mediator to step in.

The article, titled “Bordering on Racism,” appeared as part of a 36-page effort by students in the UM School of Journalism’s Native News Project, which produces a report each year on a different theme related to the state’s seven reservations. This year, students in the class investigated racism on the reservations. Their work appeared as an insert in the May 28 edition of several Montana newspapers.

In the article, J-School graduate student Anne E. Pettinger detailed the accounts of several Rocky Boy’s Reservation members’ treatment at Havre businesses during Pettinger’s four-day stay in the area.

Pettinger’s story included an account of Maurices store employees watching Indian shoppers more closely than non-Indian shoppers. The story also quoted a local bartender, who said it was easy to tell the difference between a “good Indian” and a “bad Indian.”

Response to the article was intense. People wrote letters to the editor, and the Havre Daily News and other newspapers in the state followed the controversy. Some residents contacted the U.S. Department of Justice.

On June 21, Grace Sage, a mediator from the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service regional office in Denver, met with Havre residents. The Community Relations Service is the federal “peacemaker” for community conflicts and tensions arising from differences of race, color and national origin. It was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The federal mediator’s results will not be published, but rather are meant to encourage public dialogue between Rocky Boy’s Reservation and Havre citizens.

Pettinger

“Racism is complicated,” Pettinger said in a recent interview. “It’s more complicated than what you learn about growing up. I think that if it’s something that the community felt they wanted to talk about, it’s a good thing.”

Professor Carol Van Valkenburg, who teaches the print component of the Native News class, believes that the reaction to Pettinger’s story has been beneficial for both the Havre and Rocky Boy’s communities.

“I do believe that the discussion has been positive,” Van Valkenburg said. “I think it’s a good idea because it seems to me that it can’t hurt to talk about these issues out in the open. Raising their awareness might make them conscious of how they are treating these other people.”

Van Valkenburg praised the students for their work on the Native News Project. Last year’s Native News Project, which examined the issue of sovereignty, won the 2004 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for best college reporting.

“I think it’s important to recognize that the students in this class do superb work,” Van Valkenburg said.

Some Havre residents said they believed the article was biased and failed to show all sides of the issue, but Pettinger defended her work.

“I talked to as many people as I could,” she said. “I wasn’t attempting to label an entire place. I really didn’t feel that we had to search for it very hard. I stand by the work that I did.”

The article — and the attitudes of store employees — got the attention of Maurices officials at the corporate headquarters in Duluth, Minn.

 “Several immediate steps have been taken including a thorough investigation,” wrote John Schroeder, Maurices vice president, in a letter to the Havre Daily News.  “Additionally we are re-confirming our diversity training throughout the organization as a result of this issue.” A telephone call to the corporate office of Maurices was not immediately returned.

Shane Sangrey, a 25-year-old Native American student at UM, visited Havre in late summer.

“There is still tension,” Sangrey said. “It was an awkward experience when I was there. The Indians talk among themselves and say it is still going on.”

However, Sangrey did say some things are different. He and some of his Native American friends returned to Maurices and said that they were treated fairly.

“They were really friendly. They didn’t even watch us while we were looking around,” Sangrey said. “They really seemed to genuinely care when they approached us.”

Havre Mayor Bob Rice hopes that the mediator’s work will help ease tensions in the community.

 “We are opening some lines of communication to continue the exchange of dialogue,” Rice said.  “We have had some on-going communication with the Rocky Boy’s Reservation and we are trying to put that all behind us.”

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