1949: Reservations are like concentration camps -- "We are prisoners in the land of our birth."

Indian Says Reservation Like
Concentration Camps
1949, Jan 13 The Canyon News 
Denver - A former Indian reservation superintendent has charged that there is only a "slight" difference between US reservations and Russian concentration camps.
     Robert Yellowtail, a Montana Crow Indian, told the National Congress of American Indians that residents of both are imprisoned and strictly controlled.
     "We (Indians) are forgotten in a land of plenty," he said. "We are prisoners in the land of our birth."
     Yellowtail said that the Government's Indian Bureau supposedly was created to "free the Red Man," but has spent more than $1 billion since 1903 to keep Indians on reservations.
1949, Jan 13 The Canyon News 
Charges Indian
Genocide on Way
Collier Says Congress Encouraging Slow Extermination of Race
                                                                 1949, Sep 29  The Ada Weekly News 
New York, Sept 24 - A former US Commissioner of Indian Affairs today accused congress of encouraging "slow genocide" against the American Indian.
     John Collier, president of the Institute of Ethnic Affairs, made the charge in his first public statement on Indian affairs since he resigned as commissioner in 1945.
     Referring to the "so-called Navajo-Hopi" rehabilitation  bill," due to come before congress next week. Collier said two riders to the bill would "strike a mortal blow against two of our most important Indian population groups."
     One rider, he said, "puts the Navajos and Hopis under the state laws and under limited jurisdiction of the state and local courts."
     He said, it is "meant to disorganize the tribes, demoralize them and make them helpless against assaults by predatory white interests. It will accomplish its purpose." 
1949, Sep 29  The Ada Weekly News 

Popular posts from this blog

1927 - "We [first Americans].. ask you while you are teaching school children about America first, teach them the truth about the first Americans.

Image
In 1927, the mayor of Chicago, William H Thompson, launched a campaign to "straighten out the affairs of the schools" in Chicago by urging all textbooks to be 100% accurate and pro-American (as opposed to pro-British, he said.) The tagline for project was themed "America First." Scott H. Peters , Chippewa and president of the Grand Council Fire of American Indians  penned a letter to the mayor, asking that indigenous people be included. On December 1, 1927, the delegation presented Mayor Thompson with the following memorial: To the Mayor of Chicago: You tell all the white men "America First." We believe that. We are the first Americans. We are the only ones truly that are 100 per cent. We, therefore, ask you while you are teaching school children about America first, teach them the truth about the first Americans.              We do not know if the school histories are pro-British, but we do know that they are unjust to the life of our people,
Read more

1969 Tumbleweeds comic strip: Not everyone finds stereotyped humor funny

Image
Hates Tumbleweeds 1969 Aug 18 Progress Bulletin  Letter to the Editor: Please can you get rid of that tasteless, humorless Tumbleweeds? At least cut out the degrading stereotype of the Indian. I, for one, think it is bad for children to have "Sadistics Class" presented as though sadism were funny. I don't think drunkeness is funny either, nor suitable entertainment for kids. -- Ruth D. Keran, Pimona.  1969 Aug 18 Progress Bulletin  1967 Feb 25 The Indianapolis News  1968 April 5 The San Bernardino County  Tumbleweeds was an American comic strip that offered a skewed perspective on life in the Old West. Writer-artist Tom K. Ryan wrote "satire" that wasn't always well-accepted by indigenous people.  Ryan retired and brought Tumbleweeds to a conclusion on December 30, 2007. 1969 Jan 2 The Minneapolis Star  1969 Jan 4 The Indianapolis News  1971 April 27 The Daily Intelligencer  1971 Oct 9 The News Journal  1972, May 26  Th
Read more

1982 So how can things be changed? "Money. Power. Control of studios. These things are very difficult to come by. You need more sensitive, knowledgeable people writing, producing, directing, distributing."

Image
Indian Image Debunked  UNM Festival Attacks Celluloid Stereotype of Native American  By Tom Jacobs 1982 Feb 15, Albuquerque Journal        Phil Lucas was standing in the Seattle airport waiting for his luggage when a little blond boy, perhaps 8 years old, walked up to him.       "Are you an Indian?" the boy asked.       "Yes," Lucas replied.       "Do you have an arrow?"       "No," he said.       "Do you kill people?"       " No," Lucas said. The boy then turned around and walked away.       Lucas paused and shook his head after recounting the story.       "It's still happening today," he said.       Lucas expressed no animosity toward the youngster. After all, virtually everything the child knows about Indians he probably learned from the movies. And everyone knows that, in the movies, Indians kill people.       That stereotype was examined, debated, debunked and deplored last week d
Read more