1975 YMCA Guide Program: The sham and mockery of our sacred religion does not promote “brotherly love” and “peace on earth and good will to mankind.”

Stop Mocking Native Americans 'Rites

by Enick Robinson

1975 Dec 27, Lincoln Evening Journal 

      Untold numbers of Native Americans of the Christian faith celebrated the birth of Christ this Christmas in America, unaware of the first Christians coming to our country in pursuit of happiness and freedom of religion from a distant country across the Atlantic.

      Chief Red Jacket was the first to recognize and respect the Christian faith and requested the same in return in his conversation with a missionary:

      “Brother… we are told that your religion was given to your forefathers, and has been 

handed down from father to son. We also have a religion, which was given to our forefathers… 

we worship in that way. It teachers us to be thankful for all that we have received; to love 

each other and to be united. We never quarrel about religion. Brother, we do not wish to 

destroy your religion… we only want to enjoy our own… as we are going to part, 

we will come and take you by the hand, and hope the great spirit will protect you…”

      As the Indians began to approach the missionary, the missionary rose hastily from his set and replied that he could not be taken by the hand; that there was no fellowship between the religion of God and the works of the devil. This being interpreted to the Indians, now Native Americans, they smiled and retired in a peaceable manner.

      Later when Christians became politically powerful and established, they built the first prison in America. After the war  between the federal government and the Native Americans, the Native Americans were imprisoned on the now called Indian reservations.

      Native Americans were starved into submission to depart from their traditional ways of life and religion. They were classified as “wards” of the federal government under supervision of the Department of the Interior, now the infamous Bureau of Indian Affairs, “Indian agents” were appointed to supervise the Native Americans on the “Indian reservations.”

      Indian agents were from the Christian movement to destroy the Native American religion and convert them into Christianity. Christian mission schools were built on “Indian reservations” to share the fruits of triumph, with the federal government which conspired in concert to commit genocide on the Native American religion, traditional cultures and their native language. Today, on “Indian reservations,” the Christian’s “temples of triumph” (their church steeples) stand over the Native Americans, as guards over the defeated. 

      After reading the Public Mind letter (Lincoln Journal, Dec 20), “Indian People” by Pat Blair, with whom I share her views, the thought occurred to me that the Christians are still crusading to commit their atrocious genocide on our sacred traditional religion by using their children to make a mockery and sham of our sacred traditional religion and ceremonies. Since the dominant society stereotypes us Native Americans to speak like Tonto, Lone Ranger’s “trick and ding bat,” he would say YMCA means “you make Christian atrocities.”

      Lincoln has a silent reputation of being “anti-Native American.” The Indian Guide and Indian Princess is sufficient to be of such. Had Native Americans in Lincoln and in Nebraska been more aware of their history with the federal government and the Christians and united they would have converged and picketed the YMCA in Lincoln. But this is far from reality because they are victims of the ancient psychological warfare, “to divide and conquer” by the Christian and the federal government.

      The sham and mockery of our sacred religion does not promote “brotherly love” and “peace on earth and good will to mankind.”

      As a Native American traditionalist of my true religion, I bid Christians Merry Christmas out of respect to their religion, and Christ, who would not condone the mockery and sham of our sacred religion. The greatest gift of Christians to Native Americans and to their own children would be to cease the mockery and sham of our traditional ceremonies and religion that are sacred to us. 

1975 Dec 27, Lincoln Evening Journal 

1950s YMCA camp 

1948 Warpath 

1960s Indian Guides