INDIANS OF TODAY

Press, 5 December 1978, Page 14

INDIANS OF TODAY

By

RAPHAEL J. MacLOUGHIN

Over the past months, we have looked closely- at the First Americans and learned something of their life style, way of thinking, and religious beliefs. They have emerged, not as unthinking savages, but as a people endowed with emotions common to all our kind.

However, the Redmen had, and still have, better self-control, which has been the key psychological factor in their ability to endure and survive centuries of injustice. For that is the heritage of today’s Indians who stand as isolated figures of misunderstanding and mythology, members of a minority group which ranks lowest in America’s social system. They are "the most deprived of that great nation and they are recognised as such. In attempts to amend the situation, the Federal Government has oscillated in its approach between two equally unacceptable extremes — the paternalistic and the harsh. On the one hand, the Redman has been denied the .right to think and govern ’himself, while at the same time he has faced a termination of the trustee relationship that has existed between’ the Federal Government and the Indian people.

This act would mean the loss of special standing under Federal Law, the tax exemption on their lands, and Federal responsibility for their general well-being. The result would be tribal disintegration. Property held would be divided among individual members who would then

be absorbed by the mainstream of American society. If this policy was carried to fruition, the rest of America would bear the shame for the perpetration of the final injustice against its true Americans. The Indians are not the recipients of Federal Government charity that can be withdrawn at whim. They have a unique status that entitles them to expect solemn obligations entered into by the United States Government t.o be fulfilled to the letter. Down through the years, the Government has made specific commitments to the Indian people. For their part, Indians have surrendered claims to immense tracts of land to live on Government reservations. In exchange, they were to receive community services such as health, education. and public safety, to put them on a par with the living standards of other Americans. The most humane and realistic step towards helping the Redman was proposed to Congress in July, 1970. by the then President, Richard M. Nixon. It called for selfgovernment by Indians on their reservation lands and also, for the first time, recommended the return of certain lands t.o them. Mr Nixon is no longer President. And the Indians? Once again, they wait, as in the past, for promises to be honoured. Their population is approximately 850,000 — of this number, more than half live on reservations. In 1492, when Columbus

first discovered America, they numbered 840,000. However, in the latter part of the nineteenth century, the estimated Indian population was approximately 243,000.

It will be seen that their number has increased beyond the original estimated figure. Indian birthrates were about double those of the United States as a whole. Some reservations have enough resources to support their Indian residents but most are unable to support the rapidly growing population dependent upon them. In an effort to exist, the Redman works in as many different ways as his White brother, and especially is this true of

those living away from the reservations. One finds them in trades and in some professions, but acceptance and recognition comes hard for an Indian. He meets prejudice from American society. Arts and crafts are of vital importance to the Indian. The income derived from them supports whole villages in some instances and scattered individuals in other areas. More than 5500 craftsmen are involved. Also there are another 500 individuals who are self-employed — professional painters, sculptors, print rhakers. These people are making important contributions .to contemporary American