Although everybody knew it already, suddenly these Fourth graders were confronted with the uncomfortable contradiction between the prejudice they displayed every day toward my brother and me, and the enjoyment they took in pretending to be Indians themselves. This is an old contradiction. For a very long time, American society has at once loved and hated Indians. Driven by the conflict this creates, many continue the effort to abolish the Indian Treaties and destroy us utterly. But what they are really attacking is the American way.
Pundits like to say America is a nation of laws.
Treaties were authorized by Federal law, and by law, therefore, those treaties must be honored else we become a nation of broken laws. This is important because character, as conservative critics of the Clintons are wont to say, begins at the top and trickles down. Okay, fine, we honor the treaties. Absolutely correct, we are Americans, just like everybody else, and should have the same rights and responsibilities, and the same protections under the law. The same protections.