1972 “What do you mean Indians of today… there aren’t any Indians left,” or “I wouldn’t want to be Indian because Indians kill”…

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 Indians, can be consciously accommodated.

      Well, people, the experiences of the past two weeks have been intolerable. Returned student teachers in my present education course are as primitive as those seventh graders. Such statements as – “I cannot believe that the statements from those magazine articles are true about Indians. It might hold true for the Indians in the Southwest because they still have their native identity, but the Indians of New York State have probably lost their identity through assimilation.” Native Americans of New York State you have my deepest sympathy. 

      I am tired, and believe me, I have done my best in every course. I have taken to educate people about us. The results are depressing. Although I have succeed to some extent, the majority of students feel as though the Indians haven’t any problems. They seem to indicate that “the Indians aren’t any different than the other immigrants”, and that the Indians have to be assimilated in order to prosper in this society.”

      In all fairness, it must be stated that there are some professors such as Madonna Holden of the Sociology Department and Barry Berman of the Education Department, who, within their courses, try to present a positive but more realistic view of the Native Americans.

      If you wish to question the validity of these statements, that is fine, you have this right. But on the other hand, if you wish that I share other unfavorable experiences with people who have traveled this same road, please print this letter. 

                            Thedus Chavis (Norris) Lumbee Nation

1972 Dec 16, The Oneonta Star