Andrew Mullikin ("Kodiak" on our
forum) shares with us his views and observations on what's become of a
once proud race and what we need to do to correct the crimes committed to
them.Andrew Mullikin ("Kodiak" on our
forum) shares with us his views and observations on what's become of a
once proud race and what we need to do to correct the crimes committed to
them.
Andrew Mullikin - November 1st, 2006“I WILL FIGHT NO MORE,” spoke the great Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph, giving up on his notion of freedom from the oppression of the US Cavalry. He and his people fought for years against them; horseman versus horseman, yes, but the bow fell quickly to the rifle. His is a romantic story at first glance- however, the rest of this anecdote is more vague. The chronicle of Chief Joseph’s confinement on “reservation” lands, separated from his former way of life would depress those who contemplated it fully. Even more depressing would be the narrative of his people today.
Roughly two months ago, I enjoyed the opportunity to spend ten days among Chief Joseph’s northern counterparts, the Cree. While among them (on a Canadian hunting trip), I observed firsthand their modern way of life. Their lives in absolute squalor, their want for the basic necessities of human existence so overlooked and taken for granted in the United States of America was and doubtlessly still is absolutely and simply appalling. Their homes are little more than shacks. Their children crying out for nourishment while their parents are too lazy to get a job--the monthly income of the household little more than the Canadian equivalent of a welfare check.
Of course, the average American reading this could simply say “Oh… that’s just those Canadian folks… the Indians here are much better off.” Unhappy as I am to break to you, the American Indians of our country are no more superior to their Canadian counterparts. It is hard to imagine the way the once-proud ancestral people of our “great” nation are still mistreated and abused today. No, the blue-clad, rifle-wielding cavalryman does not bear sweep down across the plains, torching everything in his path. However, the reservation system that is the product of that cavalryman is still destroying the Native American mindset.
So what is the problem with the reservations? The answer to that question is simple: the lack of the necessity or the desire or even the opportunity to work. In the time shortly following his veritable captivity, the Native American had no opportunity to work for his living. He had no land to farm, and he did not have the training or the finances to run a store. He knew no trade, save for that of hunting the buffalo that the white man had already eradicated from the land. From that lack of work, the Native American of the reservation learned the art of an even higher form of laziness: absolute sloth.
That lethargy has carried over to the modern Indian. Yes, a job might be available. But why take it? Any given Indian’s father lived on the welfare check, and his father before him lived on the welfare check, and on through the generations every member of the family lived primarily from that monthly stipend. Even as the Indian’s way of life two hundred years ago was that of a nomadic hunter, the way of life today is to live on a monthly allowance.
The solution, however, is immensely more complicated. Little or
nothing can be done about the reservation system. Yes, you can call
that number on the television infomercial, but that money is only a drop in
the bucket of poverty. The fact of the matter is, there is no definite
solution to the problem of the downfall of the American Indian.
However, with the proper education concerning the matter, a solution can
eventually be reached. If nothing else, we owe it to our heritage to
assist a once-proud people.
