Larry taught me that a man has two legs, to stand in two worlds, to bridge the seeming differences between white and red, between traditional and contemporary.  He gave me courage and confidence to be who I am, to be authentically me, "Indian" and white man, in balance between heart and mind, capable of standing firmly rooted in Mother Earth and soaring with the White Eagle.  He was "wabishkie-wun" which means "white feather." I am wabishkie-ginu*, White Eagle Soaring.

By Chuck Haga
Star Tribune Staff Writer

Larry Cloud-Morgan didn’t die alone. How could he? He was a peace activist, a playwright, a counselor in shelters and hospitals, on city streets and on the White Earth Chippewa Reservation. He was a storyteller, a spiritual leader, a historian and a linguist who helped preserve the Ojibwe language on tape at Harvard University.
He was a convicted felon who served time in a federal penitentiary for taking a jackhammer to a nuclear silo. He confronted—gently—white protesters who would deny his people their traditional fishing rights. And he was a reformer who helped reshape tribal government on his White Earth Reservation in northwestern Minnesota.

“Larry was the anchor for our reform movement,” said Erma Vizenor, now Secretary-Treasurer of the White Earth Tribal Council. “He gave a lot of himself during that time.”

Cloud-Morgan, 61, died Tuesday at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park from complications caused by diabetes.

“He was gentle with people on the street and spoke truth to the powerful,” said Michael McNally who teaches religion at Eastern Michigan University and studied with Cloud-Morgan at Harvard. 

“He was my spiritual mentor,” McNally said. “He was present in the moment with people, whether they were rich or poor, and he brought people together across boundaries of race, class and religion”

“The vigil at the hospital was an illustration of that. The people were from all walks of life.”

Sen. Paul Wellstone said that he met Cloud-Morgan when they were both involved in community organizing. “I think his impact was even more personal than political,” Wellstone said. “Even when he disagreed, it was his way to still be a friend. He was a really good, gentle man, very spiritual and with a tremendous sense of justice. I really believed in him.”

Camp Justice

Cloud-Morgan was born Feb. 1, 1938, in Cass Lake, Minn. An enrolled member of the White Earth Band, he was raised on the Leech Lake Reservation. “He considered himself a resident of both,” McNally said, and of the Twin Cities American Indian community. He lived for a time in Chicago, where he worked for Marshall Field’s and traveled the world as a luggage buyer, acquiring an interest in and knowledge of fine clothing that often surprised and amused people who knew him as a man of the streets. He returned to Minnesota in the early 1980’s.

In the early 1990’s, he was spiritual leader of a grass-roots reform movement known as Camp Justice at White Earth, which ultimately led to the corruption indictment and ouster of former Chairman Darrell (Chip) Wadena and other tribal officers. “Even in a fight, Cloud-Morgan was a healer,” Vizenour said. “One always felt better after being with him, no matter what the situation was.”

Minneapolis attorney Miles Lord worked with Cloud-Morgan and other reformers during the struggle at White Earth. “He had a dedication to freedom and free speech,” Lord said. He opposed tyranny.”

But Lord was a federal judge—and Cloud-Morgan a federal prisoner—when their paths first crossed.

“I first met him in an airplane when he was on his way to jail,” Lord said. “It was for tapping away at that missile silo. I told him I was sorry the judge took it so seriously, when it was just a symbolic act."

Cloud-Morgan and three others were found guilty in February 1985 of conspiracy, destruction of government property and other charges after they admitted to damaging a Minuteman II missile site near Higginsville, Mo., about 45 miles east of Kansas City. They cut the padlock on a perimeter fence and damaged radar devices, electrical cables, locks controlling access to the missile for maintenance and the concrete launch lid over the missile. Cloud-Morgan was sentenced to eight years in prison followed by three years’ probation. The sentence was reduced, and he was released in July 1987 on probation. But in 1989, he was ordered back to prison for a year for violating his probation. He had traveled to Georgia and Florida—for nuclear protests without seeking permission from his probation supervisor. He knew he wouldn’t get permission, he told the judge. And he knew he had to go to the protests.

Hard to see anger

In 1990, at the height of the controversy over tribal fishing rights in Wisconsin, Cloud-Morgan went to one of the fishing sites to burn sage, recite prayers and beat a ceremonial drum.

“Throw him in the drink!” one white protester shouted. Another yelled, “You beat that too hard and you won’t be able to hold your welfare check, buddy.”

With another protester, less strident, Cloud-Morgan talked. “I’m a person like you,” he said. “It’s hard to see good people get angry.”

He worked with Catholic Charities, and he was a board member and volunteer worker at St. Joseph’s home for battered women in Minneapolis. In 1997, he received a human service award from the McKnight Foundation.

Despite his own failing health, he had participated in many funerals in recent years. “He was not a priest or medicine man, but a spiritual leader who a lot of people called on.” McNally said. “It took a toll on him, but he wanted to make sure that people passed with dignity.” He planned the liturgy for his own service, McNally said.

Cloud-Morgan is survived by sisters Sophie Jenkins, Minneapolis, and Leona Cloud, of Onigum Minn., and brothers Elmer (Bud) Morgan, of Cass Lake, and James Morgan of Newport Beach, Calif.

A wake will be held after 5 p.m. today at the Office of Indian Ministry, 3045 Park Av. S., in Minneapolis. An additional wake is planned Friday at the Veterans Memorial Center in Cass Lake. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Veterans Memorial Center, with burial at the Morgan Cemetery in rural Cass Lake.
 
For more information on the Ojibwe language and the history of the White Earth Reservation, go to www.startribune.com/spirit 

See also:

Mendota Sacred Sites - Affidavit of Larry Cloud-Morgan

Cloud-Morgan, Catholic activist, buried with his peace pipe

Larry got his picture in the paper and a sentence of eight years in Federal Penitentiary for this act of protest against the defilement of Mother Earth and the misuse of funds dedicated to his people under treaty obligation.  His friends are Father Paul Kabat, Helen Woodson, Father Carl Kabat.  Behind them is the air hammer they used for twenty minutes before it broke down.

M'gwech wah bish kee wun, gih gah waa bah min.  Thank you for teaching me how to soar with the White Eagle.

-- allen aslan heart

Larry told Deanie, "Dolphins are the Guardians of the Sea, Eagles are the Guardians of the Air and the 'Indians" are the Guardians of the Land."