St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1955-12-16

get back at TINS late GATE III NJ
That won't be much, becal
Department of the Interior, II
fairs, was acting as guardian"
of the remaining Indians-those
not killed off in war or starved to
death on reservations-land, nat
ural resources and opportunity
have been grabbed up and locked
away from Indian reach for the
next fifty years. BY then it win be
hard to prove who's Indian and
who isn't.
10, The Poor Indian
Bureau of Indian Affairs Of
ficials have been announcing a
bold new plan" for the assimila-
ton of the 100000 Indians still
living on or around reservations
in 225 tribal groups. They are be-
ing encouraged to leave group
reservation life, move into cities
or onto farms and become absorb
ed into the rest of our urban and
rural population.
Superintendents of Indian areas
are to be responsible for this de-
velopment that is to bring 10, the
poor Indian, into equal citizen
ship" economically. socially and
politically.
rs Years Late
II would be a fine plan If only
1t would work. 1t would have
worked If it had been applied 70
years ago. Today, after genera
tons of Federal Government man.
agement of Indian Affairs. the
remaining Indians constitute the
most hopelessly exploited, under
prepared minority in American
life-and that includes the Negro
population of South Carolina.
That statement will immediate
ly be disputed by some Of our pro-
fessional weepers who insist that
nobody but nobody in history has
ever suffered as the American Me-
gro is suffering. But they will be
silenced by the statistics-the cold
records on births and deaths and
disease, on income and hteracy,
and on ownership and develop
ment of businesses.
The Hard Facts
The authoritive statistics say
that reservation Indians as a
whole die earlier, suffer more
from killing disease, have less ed
ucaton and income, and are far
Their behind in financial and econ
omic development than Negroes,
Puerto Ricans or any other non
alien group in these United
States. And by a not-so-curious
coincidence, they are the only
group that has had the special
guardianship" of the Govern
ment OF the United States - a
guardianship supposedly guaran-
teed in acknowledgement treaties.
Concentration Camps
The coincidence is neither cur
ious nor accidental. II was
practically double-insured from
the moment that our military de-
feated the last of the hated In
dian tribes. rammed them away
in concentration camps that were
called reservations, and stood
guard while civilian superintend-
ents of reservations were sent out
from Washington.
These superintendents were for
the most part no more interested
in Indian welfare than Simon Le-
gree was in the health and well
fare of Uncle Tom. The Indian
Bureau became a paradise for
profiteers: it remained so until
far into the 2oth century, when
fitful public protest among the
more civilized Of the American
people inspired half-hearted clean
ups in the bureau.
Even the few good commits
sioners of the bureau. however,
couldn't make training place Of
a concentration camp. Neither
could they protect completely un-
prepared people against exploita-
ton under a system that bred
such exploitation and had been
originally designed for that pur-
pose.
Can Make Start
Now, after all this time, the
Federal Government and the gov
errors of IS western states have
gotten together on this new plan.
already thousands OF Indians have
moved into cities in an effort to
become 'integrated" Thus far
they have Jared very much as
their Negro cousins who have
been escaping from the southern
plantations and moving eity-ward
in quest Of that same indignation
The Indians long-range prob
lem isn't as serious as the Ne
gro's Now that he has escaped
the fatal handicap Of government