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Ronald R. Reagan AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT REAGAN Dear Mr. Reagan: In our American Indian tradition, we are taught to respect other nations of people who may be different from us, to respect those who may think differently, or pray differently, or act differently. We are told that all humans and all life is related, and so, if we disrespect others we disrespect ourselves. We are also taught to respect the leaders of other nations of people, and to trust them until we are shown that they are untrustworthy. With this in mind, imagine our dismay at your remarks, made to the entire world yesterday, which showed such disrespect and ignorance about us and our people. Your comments about American Indians indicate that your knowledge about us, and about the historical relationship between Indian governments and the United States, is lacking to the point of being shameful. You stated that the United States "set up these reservations." The United States did not set up anything. As the term implies, reservations were parcels of land that were reserved by Indian nations through treaties with your government. As your own Supreme Court stated in United States v. Winans, 198 U.S. 371 (1905), a "treaty was not a grant of rights to the Indians (by the U.S.), but a grant of rights from them." In simpler terms, the Court recognized that the Indian nations with whom the U.S. signed treaties were the original sovereigns of this land, and whatever rights and lands they did not voluntarily relinquish were still reserved to them. By this logic, you did not give us reservations, we gave you the United States. You're welcome. You then proceeded to explain how the United States established the "Bureau of Indian Affairs to help take care of them (Indians)." Let us educate you that the Bureau of Indian Affairs was created in 1824 under what was then the War Department, not, as you suggest, "to take care of" Indians, but because the chief mode of U.S. dealings with Indians was through war. Since that time, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has been directly responsible for policies which led to the theft of our original land base by over 150 million acres. It has been responsible for the destruction of our traditional governments, the near destruction of our languages, our traditional ceremonies, and the kidnapping of our children by missionaries and other "social service" organizations. The litany of abuses at the hands of the BIA is too overwhelming to recount here, but a recent series of articles published in the Arizona Republic, indicate that Indian abuse at the hands of this U.S. government agency has not ended. In the series, it was revealed that 90% of the of the $1 billion budget for the BIA is spent on administration. Only 10% of the allocated money actually reaches the Indians it is mandated to assist. Similarly, the BIA is responsible for the construction of tens of thousands of sub-standard housing units on Indian reservations, and for the operation of a school system which allows American Indian children to be the least well educated students in the country. Then, Mr. Reagan, your comments became particularly insulting. You stated: "Maybe we should not have humored them in that wanting to stay in that kind of primitive lifestyle." Perhaps you could explain which "primitive" lifestyle you were disparaging. Was it the Wampanoag lifestyle which saved the Pilgrims from starvation in the harsh winter of 1620? Or perhaps you were referring to the primitive lifestyle of the Iroquois Confederacy, which serves as the foundation for the current U.S. Constitution. No? Then, of course, you must be referring to the "primitive" lifestyles which Cultivated the foods which now constitute sixty percent of the world' s daily diet - foods such as potatoes, corn, squash, beans, and chocolate. Or, perhaps it was the "primitive" lifestyle" which has contributed the 170 drugs which are still listed in the Pharmocopeia of the United States. Mr. Reagan, you have much to be grateful for from our "primitive" lifestyle. Finally, you make an ignorant remark about the Indians who have become wealthy because their reservations may possess some oil reserves. Again, I refer you to the Arizona Republic series which revealed that, under your administration, oil companies, sometimes with the assistance of federal officials, drained $5.7 billion in oil royalties from Indian and other federal lands. BIA officials have repeatedly sided with oil companies against Indian nations and individuals who are due royalties, but are left in poverty. Which brings us to your final statement: "And so I don't know what their complaint might be." Here is our complaint:
Mr. Reagan, the list could go on; let it suffice to say that the complaints are plenty. This is without mentioning continuing treaty violations, land theft, and the denial of the freedom to practice our traditional religions (and this, after you so sanctimoniously condemned the Soviets for their persecution of religions in that country). In conclusion, Mr. Reagan, we are proud of who we are, of our traditions, of our indigenous national heritage, and of all of the gifts which our people have generously shared with the world. When we consider which are the "primitive" or "savage" societies in this world, we can rest easy knowing that it has not been Indian societies which have taken the planet to the brink of nuclear destruction, destroyed the ozone layer, warehoused our elders, created overflowing prisons, or numbed the human spirit with deadening electronic technologies. Before you accuse other societies and peoples of primitivism and being humored, Mr. Reagan, you would be well served to take a good look in the mirror, and educate yourself. Mitakuye Oyasin (All Our Relations), The American Indian Movement of Colorado |
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