Groups take to billboard after Custer memorial talks fail

Sep. 10—TRAVERSE CITY — Activists of Good Trouble Monroe and the Anishinaabek Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party erected a billboard along I-75 south of Dixie Hwy, denouncing the various representations of Gen. George Armstrong Custer present in Monroe.

"Monroe honors a war criminal," the billboard reads, with an image of Gen. George Armstrong Custer crossed out in red markings.

The move comes after years of conversations and resolutions within the city council regarding the bronze statue in Monroe known as the George Armstrong Custer Equestrian Monument or "Sighting the Enemy."

Born in New Rumley, Ohio in 1839, Custer attended school in the southern Michigan city before becoming a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.

More notable is the "genocidal acts he committed against Native Americans," said Natt Spurr, citizen of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi.

As previously reported, Custer broke treaties between the Sioux (Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota) nations and the US Government to seize the Black Hills in South Dakota, and raided a peaceful Cheyenne village on reservation land, killing women and children.

Starting in 1866, Custer ordered and continued horrific acts against Native Americans before he was finally stopped at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.

For Anishinaabek of Michigan, his image has long been protested. The United Tribes of Michigan called for the removal of the Custer statue in May 2021, calling it a "painful public reminder of the legacy of Indigenous people's genocide and present realities of systemic racism in our country."

The National Congress of American Indians voted unanimously in favor of dismantling memorials to George Armstrong Custer across the United States. The Michigan Democratic Party also passed a similar resolution, stating "decades of research show that racist policies, symbols, and behaviors are linked with lower well-being, educational barriers, physical health problems, employment problems, such as higher job turnover for people who endure racism and ethnocentrism like many American Indians and Alaska Natives."

Good Trouble Monroe and the Anishinaabek Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party representatives said there is a "lack of leadership from Monroe officials," regarding it despite increased public pressure from local activists and Native Americans.

"Monroe must evolve with the rest of the country; instead, it continues to honor a war criminal," the caucus wrote in a statement.

Spurr serves as the vice chair for the caucus, and said the "blatant refusal by city mayor and council to discuss the matter is erasing history."

"Indian Country has spoken up, we have unanimous support from sovereign nations across the nation for the removal of Custer," said Spurr.

He pointed out that the statue sits on his ancestral homelands of the Potawatomi Nations, and the council is completely disregarding Native American input in the matter.

In a town named after a former slave owner, Monroe continues to honor Custer with over two-dozen place names that include street names, a school, social events, an airport, and the center of it all, the large bronze statue.

Local activists for the past two years have made several attempts to have the structure removed, relocated, or modified in such a way that better reflects the full story of Custer's life and legacy.

Currently next to the monument, a historical marker applauds Custer's valor at the Battle of Gettysburg, but with no reference to his post-bellum exploits in the "Indian Wars" aiding in the killing and forcible relocation of Indigenous peoples in the expanding United States.

In April, Record-Eagle reported that Monroe City Council debated the matter of the George Armstrong Custer Equestrian Monument before voting to bring in an outside consultant to facilitate discussions with residents and, ultimately, provide the city with a recommendation on what to do with the monument.

Other community members vehemently argued against moving or modifying the statue, and individuals both for and against the statue's relocation did not agree for how council chose the facilitator. The proposal would have committed the city to collaborating with leaders of Anishinaabek or Odawa (Ottawa), Ojibwe (Chippewa), and Bodéwadmik (Potawatomi) nations in Michigan, as well as other stakeholders for the facilitation and design of a plaza that would include Custer's involvement in the genocide of Native Americans for historical accuracy. The governing body opted to shelve the discussion.

Earlier this year public comment was switched to the end of the session, and only allowed in person. Cole Beehn, an organizer and founding member of Good Trouble Monroe, said the inaccessibility has been imposed on many people.

"Monroe council has put up a brick wall," Beehn said. "There is complete inaction from the council, they completely stopped even entertaining conversation with the public."

Beehn told city council earlier this May in a recorded meeting that they are "spitting in the face of Native Americans" by upholding "the whitewashing of history."

Councilman Andrew Felder voted on past resolutions in favor of discussion of the statue, and against canceling the facilitation.

"We need to move forward with discussion about the statue," said Felder. He said he "understands the history," and he is neither in favor or against the removal of the statue, but rather believes " that this should be decided by the people of Monroe."

Felder said he invites people to continue to attend, write letters, and voice their opinion at council meetings, and work sessions. His voting record "speaks for itself, but I am only one vote."

Report for America corps member and Indigenous affairs' reporter Sierra Clark's work is made possible by a partnership between the Record-Eagle and Report for America, a journalism service project founded by the nonprofit Ground Truth Project. Generous community support helps fund a local share of the Record-Eagle/RFA partnership. To support RFA reporters in Traverse City, go to www.record-eagle.com/rfa.