In the shadow of Wounded Knee: Inside the life of the Oglala Sioux

DailyMail ^ | Aug 2 | James Nye

[NativeSon]

My family got to the east coast because of the practice of taking the kids sending them to the Indian schools on the east coast. My grandmother was the only one of the children that survived in her family

I do not know much about Alaska Indians, I would like to know more.

[Eska]

During the 1920's, Wash sent people out to all the villages they could find in Alaska. Most Indians & Eskimoes & what remained of the Aleuts and coastal Indians swore allegiance, but some run the govt people off; told them they didn't care about anybody in D.C. no joke. Certain villages have more rights to this day over their chief's refusal to sign. Most the Indians had been trading with Whites for a long time anyway and the goldminers figured out pretty quick how to get along with the local Indians or they didn't last long. The Indians were hit hard by flu, TB, ect; wiped out entire populations. I personally know one village, only 2 out of 35 families survived in 1918. Reason was the 2 families had some White relatives that got them medicine & supplies, true story.

THe Indians still controlled their lands up until 1940s over much of Alaska. Any Whites that moved in had to live by their rules. The feds wanted to homestead & develop back then; but couldn't cause they couldn't convince the Indians to stay in one place (village). The Indians had a summer fish camp, fall hunting camp, winter village, ect; everything was seasonal; but that's how the Indians preserved their ownership to the land. Mostly small family bands that were related and joined forces when need be. Feds couldn't homestead the land with the Indians still traditionally moving all over, thinking it was still theirs. So in 1940's, govt people came through, telling them they all had to live in one place, a village and that they couldn't move all over. Indians laughed at them. Then govt start taking their kids, sending them off to re-educate them. Many kids died and were abused, seriously many Indians claim that's where all the sex abuse began. After 4-5 years the Indians were ready to do anything to get their kids back. Feds told them to gather up all their relatives here and there and build a village and feds would give them a White teacher and they'd all become proper Americans. Soon as they had a village, feds started taking over their lands. Complete truth and was still happening into the late 1940's & 50's. So there's all kinds of bad feelings over what really occurred. Feds got away with it all cause the Indians were uneducated back then, didn't have the legal or financial where with all to stop it. I've talked to many 80-90 year old Indians who went through it themselves. But honestly, that's how most Indians lost their land up here in Alaska. So, it's a big no no, when Indians sell land to Whites. Some do, but most won't. They realize it ends up with their demise as Whites move in take over and displace them. Also why I say the feds should cede much of the blm lands back over to the Indians to make things right. Ya know, I live 3 miles from an Indian Village, get along fine with them too. I do think the future could be better though, if there was only less govt welfare and more economic development in whatever manner can be successful.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***and believe me they hate white people.***

Yeah, but the US did stop the intertribal wars. I once did a study on tribal warfare, starting with the Comanches and found that every tribe fought the next tribe, from Mexico north through the plains to Canada, then back down through the intermoutain area. till you got to the Apaches who fought the Comanches. A complete circle of violence.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Back in the 1980s, I’d let a friend come over for a shower because she hated using that damn sink as a bath.****

Don’t they have laundry tubs? I used a laundry tub off an on my early years up to my teens. I didn’t even know what a shower was till I got in the military.

[piasa]

oh the BIA is about. Under Clinton, they were responsible for the loss of some ridiculous amounts of money - I mean, like a trillion $ - oopsie. Natural resources taken from the land; coal, uranium, metals, etc., the revenue was supposed to be placed into individual and tribal accounts

Oh, I remember that! Use keywords for the archives under BABBIT , BRUCE BABBITT, & INDIAN TRUST SCANDAL

The "Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians " -based in Albuquerque, N.M. when Bill Richardson was Gov? - was created in 1994 " to improve accountability and management of Indian funds held in trust by the government."

And....

Gale Norton was appointed Interior Secretary on Jan. 31, 2001 by the president. She created the Office of Historical Trust Accounting that was supposed to stop the theft of Indian money that has been an ongoing problem since 1887.---- 9 posted on 07/29/2006 3:07:00 PM PDT by mugs99

****

Billions Missing From The U.S. Indian Trust Fund

[piasa]

Try bleach.

[miss marmelstein]

As I remember, the sink was very large. I suppose it was used for laundry as well. In the ‘80s, of course, in NYC, if you or your building didn’t have washer and dryers, you took it to a laundry service. Same is true today.

[WinyanWitko1]

You have obviously not been on the Tulalip res. or the Puyallup res in Wa. state. Wal-Mart, strip- mall, restaurants and high end boutiques. Yes they have fancy casinos and lovely hotels. The enrolled members receive a monthly check from the earnings. They have new modern health clinics. The Lummi res has a college. BUT, they have non-natives who come onto the res and sell drugs, yes people buy. Maybe it's like in the old days when the dominant race told them the “fire-water’ would make them feel good and they would be strong and be “The People” again, travel on the lands they were used to,, fish and hunt. I know things have changed, but when you are told for hundreds of years that you are no good, stupid, savages, because your skin is a different color and you don't speak in a smooth way, in English, well I guess you just start to accept it and give up.

[WinyanWitko1]

All true, but Pine Ridge is a “dry” res. People go to Nebraska, a couple of miles away and are never turned down from buying booze.

[WinyanWitko1]

So funny, what villages in Alaska are you talking about? I lived in my husbands village for years, on the Prince of Wales Island. Just a village, stores, schools, restaurants fairly clean, houses ok. I’m from Pine Ridge, poorest res. of any, no jobs, so no money. Doesn’t stop the govt. from coming on the land and destroying what they can to keep the people down even more. I also lived in Seattle, and have seen some pretty dirty caucasian homes.

[S.O.S121.500]

“Look, call me crazy, but I don’t want fecal germs where I eat.”

Then don’t eat the lettuce, spinach, straw berries, etc. from our friends to the south or east. Oh yes, get your own UV process for the water from your city or well.

Look it up-

[Eska]

Our experiences have been in the interior where it gets minus 60 every January, rural Alaska, road only open a few months; small communities. We have a school, 16 kids, a store that is 16X20 with gas pumps, restaurants, no way. Community was flooded out at ice out a few years back, Indians all got new log cabins, good thing. I ain't putting the Indians down in any way; I think they deserve more; just wish it was in the form of jobs rather than more monthly booze checks; hate digging graves and seeing all the pain & sorrow. I guess you didn't see any of the suicides, FAS, people freezing in snow banks, burning up in houses, life flighted out from alcohol poisoning, all the social problems that are mostly a result of what they have been through since they met us Whites. I just wish them better actually.

Half the local Whites are working the welfare & ssn disability system also, along with all the freebies they have heard about and got onto. An economy & jobs is the answer, but not in the cards and people don't want to move to the city either; so they make do best way they can; mostly live off moose, caribou, salmon, and what they can grow in garden. We've been in Ak almost 20 years, here along the Yukon 12 years. I'm happy for everybody that loves living in the city or suburbs; just not for us and our family has been blessed & fortunate out this way.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***You have obviously not been on the Tulalip res. or the Puyallup res in Wa. state. Wal-Mart, strip- mall, restaurants and high end boutiques.***

Same for the Choctaw area around Durant, Oklahoma. Used to be just a wide spot in the road, now a major casino-shopping area.

[Tupelo]

Obviously I have not been to every reservation in the country. However the statements I made concerning the ones I have been on are true.

Obviously you have not been to Pine Ridge, Rosebud, TO, Gila River, Southern Ute, Mountain Ute, San Carlos, White Mountain or some of the other poor reservations.
Obviously, instead of a concern about the conditions there, you are more interested in make the point the YOUR knowledge is superior to mine.
As I stated, I do not have an answer, but obviously you do.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Southern Ute, Mountain Ute,***

My fondest memories of my youth and some adulthood are when I lived sandwiched between four reservations. Navajo, Southern Ute, Mountain Ute, and Jicarilla Apache .

That was before the Casino era.

Wish I was there Now! and if they can squeeze anything out of the whites OR ANYONE ELSE with legal gambling, GO FOR IT!

I am now within a few miles of the Cherokee areas.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[piasa]

You’re welcome! (Hope you’re having a great summer.)

[Alamo-Girl]

I am and I hope you’re having a great one also!

[China Clipper]

Interesting comments. I agree with most, with some "reservations" (hehe sorry)

-You say you don't believe in collective guilt-so do I;but there it is. What is welfare if not a manifestation of our "collective guilt"? I don't like welfare, at least to the point it has ballooned to today, but again, there it is. I pay for it, and so do you every time you pay your taxes. Don't like it? Try not paying Uncle Sugar and see how that works for you....

-You say they should "just get up and walk away..." Well, once again, I agree with you. But I'm not a Indian, and I would be able to find a place to go. They have no place to go. And they are so dependent on Uncle Sam why leave anyway? 'Tis the nature of man I suppose. Always seek the easier path.....

Perhaps it is the ones who don't "fit the mold" that are able to break free and make it on their own.

Maybe what would work is trying to encourage those who "don't fit" to break out and blaze the path.