Prejudice against Indians shifts to immigrants

The fatal shooting of a Hmong immigrant has highlighted long-running prejudices against Indians in northern Wisconsin.

When members of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians began to assert their treaty rights in the 1970s, tensions and violence flared. With those battles mostly out of the way, some say local non-Indians have been shifting their biases against the Hmong community.

But anti-Indian prejudice still remains. Bob Kovar, a retired cranberry grower who has tried to bring tribal and non-tribal students together, has been told by white parents they won't attend one of his meetings because it takes place on the Lac du Flambeau Reservation.

Last month, Indian and non-Indian students fought at Lakeland Union High School in Minocqua, a town near the reservation. During a lockdown, a deputy sheriff's gun accidentally fired but no one was hurt.