Many Feathers and Much Paint Don't Make an Indian

The 200th Bicentennial Commission has come “under fire” from “hostile Indians” and at a press conference Americans for Indian Opportunity felt that the Commission is insensitive to the first Americans. The bicentennial, the Indians said, marks “the beginning of the mass genocide of the original people of this country. No people and no nation has given so much and received so little as the Indian people and Indian nations of this country.”  They demanded a role in the Commission, and funds to insure they can participate. LaDonna Harris said the bicentennial should be used to “educate the rest of America” to Indian realities. “We are tired of being quaint tourist attractions.”  1972 Aug 4, El Paso Herald Post  Indians angry over state monument 1972 Oct 22, Star Tribune Sioux Falls, SD - A spokesman for the American Indian Movement (AIM) said… that Indians plan to replace a monument in Mankato, Minn. with one of their own.      AIM Field Director Russell Means said the monument ha

Vancouver, BC – A large mural of Captain Vancouver presented to the University of British Columbia by Mrs. Roland Michener, wife of the governor-general, has touched off a storm of protest from B.C. Indians… who said it was an offensive picture that should be destroyed. .. Painted by Dr. Charles Comfort.. It depicts Capt. George Vancouver, an early British explorer for whom this city is named, and two of his mates standing as three West Coast Indians appear to kneel and bow down to them during their exploration of the B.C. coast in the 18th century…  1972 July 19, Statesman Journal  1972 Nov 10, The Ogden Standard Examiner  Long Hair Okay for Indians If .... 1972 Nov 17, The Ogden Standard Examiner        Vernal, Utah - After a protest from Indian patrons, the Uintah School District has modified its dress code to allow male students long hair, if it is "braided, tied or wrapped in a neat and orderly fashion."       The board decided ... that students could

Indians deserve to be treated as just people 1972 Nov 14, The Winona Daily News        Just who do these Indians think they are, anyhow? The ones who occupied Washington's Bureau of Indian Affairs were just a mob of hoodlums. They should have to pay for the damage they did and get no concessions at all.        They not only were not entitled to “righteous wrath” they were not entitled to any kind of wrath at all.       The white man occupation of this country was inevitable.  The Indians never had any property rights in the European sense and while some of them were treated badly indeed, their descendants are owed nothing whatsoever by the federal or state governments.       The Indians are just people – like the Negroes, the Chinese, the Puerto-Ricans, and for that matter the Anglo-Saxon white Protestants.       The Indian deserves no special place in our society.       It is folly to keep the reservations going, thus segregating a group of people when it is national

All-White 'Indians' Irk Native American By Kerta Thomas 1972 June 25, Detroit Free Press             “Then to the mighty oak of Tappan              Dashed the screaming yelling redmen       A phrase like “screaming yelling redmen” cuts deep for Mrs. Virginia Barner, a full-blooded American Indian, who is a University of Michigan graduate student. The poem in the university’s student newspaper caught her eye.           “To the tree of Indian legend (the Tappan Oak is a historic U-M tree)             Where the white men pale and trembling             Stood around the mighty oak tree             Warriors choice of paleface nation.”       The ritual chant, belonging to Michigamua , the senior men’s honorary society, printed in an April issue of the Michigan Daily, irritated Mrs. Barner as she continued to read:                   “… painted demons              Swooped and caught their prey like eagles             Loud the way cry stirred the stillness  

Indian Opposes Skeleton Display 1972 Oct 8, Hartford Courant              Harvey Major is a Canadian Chippewa Indian who has run a barber shop in Des Moines, Iowa, for 18 years. He is personally offended by a display of live Indian skeletons at the Iowa Historical Museum.       Jack Musgrove is the veteran curator of the museum, bound by law to preserve relics and remains important to Iowa’s past. He believes the skeletons, have immense historical value.       In the middle of the dispute is Gov. Robert D. Ray, who promised Friday to study the situation and determine what steps must be taken if the bones are to be reburied.       Major and about a dozen other Iowa Indians met with Ray and Musgrove Friday to present their arguments. After an hour and a half of sometimes heated discussion, Ray could only promise further study.       Major and his Indian companions, most of whom are members of the Des Moines chapter of the militant American Indian Movement (AIM), said the bon

1971 Dec 19, The Courier Journal 

1971 Sep 13, Wilmington News Journal 

1972 Jan 30, The Robesonian 

1973 - Rep. Benjamin Hanley, D-Window Rock (Arizona House) was upset about what he terms derogatory references to Indians in history books. He told the House members "Some of the texts have referred to Indians as savages and heathens and this has caused concern in schools at Window Rock." In a move to stop it, he tried to amend a minor measure on the floor to forbid school boards from buying texts which are "discriminatory" in nature... But the amendment was defeated. Some opponents said they didn't like the idea of rewriting history books..  1973 March 28, Arizona Republic  History gives distorted view of Indians, educator asserts 1973 July 27, Fort Collins Coloradoan       Those reading United States history could assume either that there were no Indians here when European settlers began arriving or that the Indians were not important.       This was one of the statements of Robert Delaney this week in one of the series of programs on the American We

Letter to the Editor by Thedus Chavis (Norris) Lumbee Nation  American Indians misrepresented 1972 Dec 16, The Oneonta Star Editor, The Star:       Through my stay at the State University at Oneonta, I have not ceased being shocked from the ignorance that students and professors have about the American Indian. In the beginning of my “growing experience” (as it is called), many of the encounters I underwent were blamed on my own lack of knowledge or acquaintance with the “dominant culture.”       During my student teaching experience, I casually dismissed ignorant remarks from the seventh grade students such as – “What do you mean Indians of today… there aren’t any Indians left,” or “I wouldn’t want to be Indian because Indians kill”… “but teacher, only male Indians kill; you’re a girl Indian.” Even the inconsideration of the English department which required the reading of Savage Sam by the seventh grade, at the same time I tried to present a more realistic view of the Ind

New Multi-Ethnic Textbooks Reflecting National Effort 1971 Aug 27, Nashua Telegraph        … “Textbooks at last are beginning to more accurately reflect the kind of society we live in today and the kind of society we want,” said Alma-Triner, MacMillan Co.        … The movement has begun to penetrate even the deep South. A history book used in Alabama schools was rewritten last year to include mention of Joe Louis, the former heavyweight boxing champion, as a famous Alabamian, and three paragraphs on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and the civil rights movement. But the book still treats slavery as a method of employment and the Ku Klux Klan as a group of public-spirited citizens.     1971 Aug 27, Nashua Telegraph  1971 March 7. The Montana Standard        Denver – “The history of the American Indian is terribly inaccurate,” a historian said in Denver..  The fact that most Indians live isolated lives on reservations and have almost no political power has kept them fr

1972 Jan 19, The Orlando Sentinel  Readers respond to Russell Means: The first letter poked fun at the issue by saying that state and city names should be changed, since Means wanted to end the use of sporting teams exploiting Native Americans. “Hey, here’s a better solution, why don’t we invite Russell Means to Florida and get him a RESERVATION in CHATTAHOOCHEE where he belongs.” – Don Murray Another mocked Native people in general. “Chief Wau Chula: Wah Hoo! Yo make um heap big boo boo. No can read um smoke signals. Chief Means no say other tribe run elbows with his. He say other tribe smoke peace pipe with pale face and no fight. He say they injun Uncle Toms. Me know. Me hang around Fort, too.” – His Sign (For Chief Tall Vast)  -- The editor responded with “Indian militant seems to put his own scalp in more danger than those of the white-eyes. Response here has been that the Morning After’s vast Indian reading segment favors the good times of today with the pale faces in

Indians file suit against KC Chiefs  1972 Feb 11, York Daily Record  The American Indian Movement planned to file suit against the Kansas City Chiefs.. enjoining it from using Indian reference in its symbol. .. Vernon Bellecourt, movement director, said the suit would be brought by a local AIM chapter.  1972 Feb 11, York Daily Record  1972 Feb 3 Tucson Daily Citizen        Poor little Wahoo is getting his lumps again and all because of the perpetual happy smile he wears in greeting Cleveland Indian baseball fans.       In this latest upheaval, climaxed by a $9 million lawsuit being filed against the Cleveland Indians' owners, people seem to forget that we went through this exact situation a year ago. The same group that is stirring up the fuss now started preparing for a demonstration on Indians' Opening Day last season and their plans were revealed..        Tribe president, Gabe Paul, who was in Tucson at the time for spring training, contacted the commissioner

1972 Nov 10, Tallahassee Democrat  Mail Pow-wow supports Indians 1972 Feb 11, The Morning News         Cleveland – Most of the mail received regarding a $9 million damage suit against the Cleveland Indians baseball team has opposed the suit, according to the head of the Indian group which filed it.       “Sixty per cent are hate letters and 40 per cent support it,” said Russell Means, director of the Cleveland American Indian Center.       But Means adds, “Every Indian person that has written to us… he supported us. We have not received a negative letter from any native.”       Means said he realized when the suit was filed and plans were announced for future suits against other teams, such as the Atlanta Braves, that Indians were attacking the “sacred American institution” of sports and would probably be criticized.       Regarding the proposed Atlanta suit, Means denied a quote attributed to him in a recent interview with the Atlanta Journal and distributed by the Associate

Headlines:  1972 Jan 19, The Neward Advocate  Editors Note: Just wanted to highlight the racist newspaper headline verbiage and cliche's over the Indians being "on the warpath," something that continues the stereotyping of Native people as fighters, not activists who are working towards attaining respect and human rights.  Means on Warpath Over Indian Names by William M. Carley 1972 Jan 28 The Oneonta Star       The Cleveland Indians had better watch out. So had the Washington Redskins, the Atlanta Braves and countless other professional and college teams using Indian names, caricatures or mascots. Because the real Indians are on the warpath .       One of the opening shots was fired a few days ago when the American Indian Center of Cleveland sued the local baseball team for $9 million in damages.       The target was the Cleveland Indians’ symbol, a grinning toothy Indian emblazoned on the club’s shirts and on its stadium in a huge neon sign.       “

1972 March 21, The Indianapolis Star 

1972 May 6, The Daily Journal  1972 Jan 20, The Daily Times News  Indian Movement  Studies Attack Against Braves  1972 Jan 19, The Des Moines Register        Atlanta, Ga – The national coordinator of the new American Indian Movement says the group may file suit against the Atlanta Braves to keep the baseball team from using an Indian as a mascot and symbol.       “I believe within the next four months some action will be taken against Atlanta,” said Russell Means, Sioux.       The symbol of the Braves is a grinning Indian who has a lone feather stuck in his headband.       Means’ group has already filed a $9 million suit against the Cleveland Indains and their mascot symbol, Chief Wahoo.       Means said he doesn’t like the idea of the Braves using an Indian named Noc-A-Homa as a mascot. The chief actually is Levi Walker, Jr, half Chippewa and half Ottawa.       “I understand that every time a home run is hit he comes out of his tepee and does a dance,” said Means, whos

… And what about the poor sports page headline writers all over the West? No longer will they be able to dash off such sterling examples of the journalistic art as: “Injuns Tomahawk Bears,” and “Trojans Scalp Tribe,” and “Indians on Warpath Against Huskies.” ..  1972, March 23 Progress Bulletin  A petition signed by 55 Stanford students denouncing the school's "Indian" nickname was presented to the University.. In their petition, the native American noted that "Stanford has placed the name of a race on its entertainment - a race is not entertainment..." 1972 March 2, Redlands Daily Facts  A resolution has been passed at Dickinson State College whereby this will be the last year an annual social activities week on campus will be known as "Savage Massacre Week." The school's student center board of governors passed the resolution after receiving complaints that the term was derogatory to American Indians. 1972 May 4, Star Tribune