BEMIDJI BONDS: Descendants motorcycle organization breaking stereotypes

Often heard before seen and stereotypically mean, bikers across the nation have gotten a bad rap. One Bemidji-based motorcycle group is working to transcend that black-leather-clad-born-to-be-bad stigma. That group is the Descendants.
The Descendants Motorcycle Organization was formed in August 2014 with the intent to provide support for the communities of their many nations beginning with the Bemidji area. Current members descend from Ojibwe, Navajo and mixed Anishinaabe bloodlines.
“We just came together and out of nothing came something unique,” said DMO President Benay NazhikeweGahbow Fairbanks. “Our goal is to help all people in the community, not just Native people. It depends on what’s needed at the moment.”
DMO’s first fundraising effort will be to support homeless shelters.
Fairbanks set the framework for DMO with Corey Medina, John Robinson, Bill May and Kevin Campbell last year on a Wednesday afternoon at the Northwest Indian Opportunities Industrialization Center in Bemidji. Robinson and Fairbanks are from the Leech Lake area. May and Campbell are from Red Lake. Medina, who designed the DMO logo, is Navajo from New Mexico.
“The cool thing about this group is that eventually if I move down to my reservation years from now I can start a chapter,” Medina said. “These guys have different Ojibwe band patches and I have Navajo on mine. I can still represent up here.”
Fairbanks said the Descendants Motorcycle Organization uses its Facebook page as a sounding board for public relations and a recruitment tool. Recruitment efforts began this summer. Next year, DMO plans to engage in members’ various communities through fundraising and other assistance efforts.
DMO membership has grown to about 20 men and women. Monthly meetings have been taking place at the Rail River Folk School. The organization, governed by a seven-person Board of Directors, is in the process of pursuing a 501(c)3 non-profit status.
“It’s tribal specific, basically our membership will have three criteria,” Fairbanks said.
In addition to being a blood descendant of a Native tribe, members must own and ride their own motorcycle (anything 250cc and above to keep up on the highway), network with like-minded riders and actively participate in community events. The group has members from the Leech Lake, Red Lake, White Earth and Bois Forte Indian Reservations, the Iron Range and Minneapolis.
Blood quantum and enrollment in a federally recognized tribe are not necessary to become a Descendant. The organization follows the philosophy of original treaty terms identifying descendants of Native tribes as “your children and their descendants,” hence the organization’s name.
One of DMO’s first women members, Tessa Reed, is originally from Michigan. She now resides, and rides, in Bemidji where she is an assistant professor of Indigenous Studies at BSU. Reed’s DMO patch reads “Anishinaabe” since she is enrolled in the Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa and also has Odawa descendancy.
“I hope through this group we’re able to do a lot of good work and meet people in the community,” Reed said.
A first year rider, Reed said by joining the organization she can learn a lot from more experienced riders in the group. She also said it’s important to represent for all women, after all, Reed’s mother, Becky Reed from Manistique, Mich., rides as well.
“Through this group and through Facebook I’m seeing there are quite a few women riders,” Tessa Reed said. “And a lot are Native women, which is surprising.”
In addition to dispelling the myth that women don’t ride, DMO intends on dissolving the impressions across the nation, fueled by television shows and news reports, that all motorcycle clubs are territorial. DMO was established to be a non-territorial organization.
“We’re not territorial in any way or trying to use intimidation or anything like that,” Medina said. “We’re here to change the stereotype of that.”
“Basically what we’re trying to do is inspire people to go back to their homes to look for other people like us,” Fairbanks said. “The silent 99 percent of hardworking biker folk.”
Occupations of DMO members at their July meeting included a grant writer, a professor, musician, contractor and tribal project manager.
“We want to be change agents in the community,” Fairbanks said. “You never know who you can reach.”
Fairbanks said as a child he was inspired by a neighbor who rode a motorcycle. He hopes he can influence Native youth who may see DMO riding through their reservation - that he can help expand their world.