1968: The typical Western show continued the “nation’s history of skins” perpetrated by whites against Indians.
TV Westerns Distort
History of Indians
History of Indians
1968 June 24 Dixon Evening Telegraph
All decent Americans ought to switch off television sets when Westerns are shown because these distort and dishonor image of the Indians.
This is the exhortation of a leading TV critic who oftentimes has high praise for the broadcast industry.
The typical Western show continued the “nation’s history of skins” perpetrated by whites against Indians.
This is not simply a matter of an untrue depiction of a people in the realm of entertainment, but a factor which contributes measurably to the economic distress and a profound inner collapse of Indians as individuals.
Official reports bring out the massive school dropout rate, social dislocation, high suicide rate, illiteracy and personality disintegration among Indians in the United States.
The average Indian child slips continuously as he advances through grade school classes – and in the main, the longer he stays in school the farther behind he will fall.
One authority finds this is brought about primarily by the intense clash the indian feels between the white, middle-class values of the classroom and the Indian values of his family.
Indians today are suffering tangibly from the psychological impact of the teachings over the years “how goofy it is to be an Indian.”
Where, primarily, does everyone learn about this supposed Indian goofiness?
Nowhere so compelling as on the television tubes in our homes!
Perhaps the typical Western could be defended if it were an accurate portrayal of what was a race of truly goofy people.
Most such programs totally distort and misrepresent the nature of a people who preceded the European’s to this continent by centuries.
What matters right now is that the soul of the Indian still is being shattered.
What do such distortions and untruths do to the personalities and prejudices of the rest of the child population?
A person’s inner image is a rich and precious possession.
In a day of white racism it is time for Christians to forever all entertainment that distorts or dishonors our images of any people and demand honesty in TV productions – beginning with the Westerns particularly “Bonanza,” “Gunsmoke.” “The Virginian” and “Daniel Boone.”
Getting entertainment kicks by watching such shows is sin because those productions undoubtedly contribute to the personality destruction of Indian children.
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| 1968 June 24 Dixon Evening Telegraph |
Indians Complain of Movie Image
1968 Sept 25 The Minneapolis Star
Omaha - A group of Indian leaders said... at the National Congress of American Indians convention that movies and television have given the public a false impression of the Indian."Indians are always presented as a threat to civilization," John Belindo, executive director, said.
Bruce Wilkie, executive director of Washington's Mahah tribe, said movies and TV have created "a burlesque of the Indian which confuses young Indians trying to understand both their culture and modern civilization."
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| 1968 Sept 25 The Minneapolis Star |
"The enhancement and perpetuation of stereotype motifs of the Indian," the statement said, "as drunken, savage, treacherous, unreliable or child-like producers impeding effects on the employability of the Indian and his opportunity for education."
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| 1968 May 5 The San Bernardino County Sun |
Mrs. A.A. Mitchell, recording secretary of the National Congress of American Indian,
addressing a meeting at the Federation of Women’s Club, April 1968.
She was born on, and stilled lived on, the Chehalis reservation.
“I’ve been unhappy with the Indian situation for years – but didn’t know that there was much I could do about it and then when President Kennedy was in office he sent out a five-man delegation to talk to the Indian people. In talking to them I learned about the Congress of American Indians and decided that this could be a way to solve some problems.”…”The Indian is by nature very trusting – and that is one of the problems – because they are so trusting it is easy for them to be swindled out of their very own.
“ Our cultures are so different. When I first began to go to Congress of American Indian meetings I thought it was just a matter of educating our people to a new way of life – but now I’m not so sure. Should we take a people who want no more from life than to live peacefully and give to others and teach them that the most important thing in life is to amass a material fortune?
Mrs. Mitchell also feels that the Indian image, as depicted on television and in the movies, is not truly representative and does harm.
“This image catches up with our young people about the time they’re in high school,” she says. “Suddenly they realize that those Indians that they’ve scoffed at on TV are what people see when they look at them – so they begin to withdraw… and they drop out of school. And the ones who do fiish school leave the reservations – because there is no future for them there.”
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| 1968 April 25 The Daily Chronicle |
