Archive Report
Archive Report
Activism Among American Indians
Ever since they signed their first treaty with the new United States in 1778, American Indians have listened in bemused silence to white promises to protect their cultures, preserve their lands, and respect their humanity. In two centuries, virtually none of the promises has been kept. Indians have seen their ranks decimated, their lands overrun, and their cultures shattered by the inexorable advance of white civilization.
Indian silence has been based not on stoicism, but on total impotence in the face of white depredations. When the Indian wars ended in the late 19th century, the Indians found themselves broken as a people, without a voice in the management of their own affairs, and their unity as tribes and nations lost, perhaps forever. ...