Edison Chiloquin Holds Photocopy of a whopping $173,000.00
U.S. Government Check. He Wouldn't Even TOUCH the Actual Ones!
Photos copyright 1999 by Televideos
Imagine you
have a quarter-million dollars in government checks. Imagine that if you were to sign just
one of the checks and take the money, you would be selling out your grandfather. You would
cancel the fact that your rich heritage entitles you to ancestral forest highlands, lakes,
rivers and marshes. You would be signing what amounts to a bill-of-sale for your
heritage.
Over Ten -Thousand Acres of Wocus
Now imagine you muster your courage and go back to the US Congress. You ask them
to rectify for you a wrong done to your people long ago. You remind Congress that it
was wrong for them to take the land in the first place.
Imagine while you are doing what you know is right, you are alone in your
struggle except for your wife and a handful of family and friends, Only the
conviction for your traditional values keeps you from giving up. You
never give up. You announce that you will not give up if you have to live to be 100!
Then suddenly your wife and foremost supporter dies, leaving you truly alone in your
struggle.
Edison & Leatha Chiloquin
Your legal counsel, other friends, and by then, the whole world hear about your lone
struggle. You make the front page of the San Francisco Examiner. You
befriend Oregon Congressman Al Ullman, Chair of the powerful House Ways and Means
Committee.
Edison Chiloquin and congressman Al Ullman, Ullman introduced
legislation which gave back land to Chiloquin. Photograph Copyright 1999 by
Televideos
A special federal Congressional act is written for you. Passed by both houses,
it's signed into law by "lame duck" President Jimmy Carter. You make
international headlines.
But Still
Nothing Happens!
Years later, after no action occurs, it appears to you some
people in a subsequent republican administration may be actually waiting for you to die!
One of
the bank checks which Chiloquin refused to cash.
Your Bank checks still remain uncashed, and quibbling continues about the exact
boundaries of the land.
Some of your closest friends, who did choose to receive the government funding, turn
away from you. But some of your staunchest opponents respect you highly. Still you
do what you feel in your heart is right, build the Sacred Fire, and carry on.
Return of the Raven, is a different kind of western. Now in the 20th century the Indians
are the winners! Edison Chiloquin is the grandson of an American Indian head man, commonly
referred to as a "chief" by the white man. A living legend, Chiloquin is the
first individual Native American to make the U.S. Government give back land. And he made
worldwide headlines refusing over a quarter-million dollars in government money.
In the 1950's Congress passed legislation which eliminated Indian lands and tribes
throughout the country.
The action devastated Chiloquin and his people. For not only did Congress
"legally" steal land from millions of Indians, including over
two-thousand Klamath, they effectively dissolved entire tribes, including the Klamath.
"RETURN OF THE RAVEN" is the true historic account of Chiloquin's ten-year
battle to reclaim the land which was once his grandfather's village. Grandfather
Chiloquinas was once the head man of the Plaikini people. The Plaikni were
one of a number of distinct tribes and family groups who were later grouped together by
the White man and called "Klamath."
The Plaikini Village contains many of the landmarks Chiloquin remembers as a young
man: There is Medicine Rock, where one goes to meditate and regain the strength of
his or her spirit. there are the sweat lodges where one who enters with a clean mind can
be cleansed mentally, physically and spiritually. Then there is the Profile of the
Indian Chief carved by The Creator into the rock high in the cliff above the village
by centuries of erosion--wind, rain and lightning.
The story was filmed in the beautiful mountains of Oregon, and enhanced
throughout with authentic traditional music. For ten years our film crew followed
Chiloquin as the U.S. government paid up to a quarter million dollars each to other
members of his tribe. True to his convictions Chiloquin refused his share of the money.
"The Earth is my mother. I cannot sell Mother Earth," he maintained. After
seemingly insurmountable odds, and at times desperately in need of money, Chiloquin never
cashed his quarter-million dollar check! Instead, he brought his cause to the attention of
Congress and asked them to rectify the situation which they had created.
The
Sacred Fire Burns!
At home in Oregon, Chiloquin began a vigil. He started the Sacred Fire which was tended
throughout the seasons. It burned for seven years and never once went out. Chiloquin
believed the smoke from this fire carried his hopes into the spirit world. In 1980 as one
of his last official acts, President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Chiloquin Act.
Historically this became the first Congressional action which returned land to an
individual Native American.
Return of the Raven is true-- an incredibly inspiring and timeless story, thought
provoking and adored by both children and adults. It is also the perfect video to explain
a century of U.S. Government and Indian relations. The story is captured in a warm,
personal approach, (unlike some programs which rely on sepia tone photos and actors.)
The program is both entertaining and educational. It was produced with
cooperation from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Oregon Committee for
the Humanities. In addition the video was the first place winner of the first annual
Oregon Production Arts Network Film Festival.
Edison Chiloquin
oil painting by Kelly La Mar, Copyright by Kelly LaMar 1984, used by permission.
(Special Thanks to Website Associate Editor Robert Elder)
Edison & Leatha Chiloquin 
