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Show dvjhx an HILL TOP TIMES 14. 1973 September i Page FQ(g(Q)in 11 Neither an object of pity o nor a yDTprng savage food and for the present they are subject to fine problems which he faces are the problems which he must half-nake- d By Marcia Galli, Weber State College ethnic studies in- structor a staple - ultimately solve. But no longer is he willing to be the stereotyped image of the silent and stoic Indian. His survival as a culture depends upon his voice being heard. The events of the past year should also prompt the dominant culture to a realization that, for the present, the problems are too massive for the American Indian to solve alone. When this is accomplished, the American Indian will no longer dwell on the banks of the river that is known as the "Mainstream of America", but with a renewed pride in his culture and heritage can further contribute to the progress of his country. imprisonment i f caught fishing on the Columbia. Indian reservations have a high unemployment rate. It varies depending upon the reservation from 20 percent on the most affluent to 80 percent on the poorest. The reservation is a land base for Indians but the administration of that land base is in the hands of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It is the BIA who determines whether the land will be bought or sold, leased, farmed, or used for livestock. It has not been uncommon in the past for the use of the land to change with every change of administration within the Federal Government. Education The education of Indians, unless they are in an urban setting, is also in the hands of the BIA. The vast Federal boarding school system affects approximately 35,000 Indian children. In 1968, 9,000 of these children were under The average schooling for American Inrate in high school apdians is 5.5 years. The drop-o75 institutions of higher from and percent proaches 97 learning percent. This is by no means an exhaustive analysis of the situation as it exists for American Indians in this country today. It merely attempts to detail a. few of the underlying currents which motivated Wounded Knee and the occupation of the BIA building in Washington. and-o- r new view and a new consciousness of what the American Indian may be all about is beginning to emerge. It had its beginnings with the "Trail of Broken Treaties" march on Washington last November and the "occupation of Wounded Knee" last winter. Until recently whenever America thought about the Indian at all, it was in one of two ways: either as an object of pity with whom history had dealt harshly, or as a half naked yelping savage whose main occupations were raping women and burning wagon trains. Biased history books have done much to promote the former view and television and movies have done much to promote the latter, but neither view provides an accurate picture. From 1850's Since the advent of the reservation system in the 1850's when much land was ceded to the budding United States by various Indian tribes in exchange for other goods and services which were guaranteed in the form of treaties to Indians "as long as the grass shall grow" and "as long as the sun shall shine" and "as long as the rivers flow", to quote the language of the treaties, little has been seen of the American Indian and even less has been heard. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, (BIA) , the governmental body uniquely responsible for Indian rights had its inception in the 1830's. Together the BIA and the reservation system were to provide a reasonable answer for the dispossession of the Indian. That this answer has proved is what the itself, after a century, to be current "Red Power" movement is all about. A -- . Sinuate fflrae M d&ioiaMSrnni ut dl tor O a (SUM He must solve The American Indian has now determined that the J. 1 J. I .1. I J. 1 J. I J. I J. I J. I J. I .1. 1 J. I .1. I X ifr m I .... 1 : i . I .1. I .1. I .1. I.t. 1 J. I - I -- I- mi I .1. I .J. p .. . -- J non-functio- Bask in the dappled sophistication of new. Ten years An example of the activity over which Indians are deeply concerned can be found in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians of that area have been waging a battle with the State Fish and Game Department for the pat 10 years. The Indianswere guaranteed the right to fish forever on the Columbia River according to their treaty. The State Fish and Game Department says that if the Indians are allowed to fish, the salmon will be an extinct species in the matter of a few years. Whether this hypothesis is true or not, one can only speculate. In the meantime, the feud between the State Government and the Federal Government over which body has jurisdiction and precedence catches the Indians in the middle of the issue. 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