Robert DesJarlait

Robert DesJarlait is a member of the Red Lake Ojibwe-Anishinaabe Nation located in northern Minnesota. He is a co-founder of Protect Our Manoomin—a Minnesota Anishinaabe grassroots organization that educates tribal members on nonferrous mining and its effects on manoomin and the environment.

Took My Land, Now My Food

 

Protect our Manoomin sign
Photo by Montana Picard.

“This Straw which I hold in my hands, Wild Rice is what we call this. These I do not sell. That you may not destroy the Rice in working the Timber, Also the Rapids and Falls in the Streams I will lend you to saw your timber.... I do not make you a present of this, I merely lend it to you.” (1837 Treaty)