The Glacier reporter. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1953-current, 1955-09-16
Mstealf Reports
On Indian Hearings

tee, of which l am a member,
has been holding hearings
throughout the West
Under Chairman James A.
Haley D-Fla) the committee has
heard testimony from Indian
leaders and their non-Indian
neighbors on Indian land owner
ship, tribal government, educa-
ton, welfare, law and order, and
related problems.
The hearings have re-empha.
sized the Importance of educa.
ton and training of the Indians
to take their place in the present
world in which they live At the
same time many witnesses
stressed the Importance of the
perpetuation of the tribal Indian
culture as necessary to preserve
unique and percious part of
American life.
For the first time in the hist
DRY of the United States all the
Indian children have an oppor-
tunity to attend school. In Mon
tana under the administration
of Mr.. Knute Bergan, director of
Indian education, equal oppor-
tunitieS for Indian children have
been in existence for a number
of years. But on the Navajo
reservation, for instance, prior
to this year there were not the
buildings to house the children
or the teachers TO teach them.
But merely giving Indian chill
dren an equality of opportunity
is insufficient. Many Indians
are unable to speak English and
are unframed in any of the
SkillS necessary to enable them to
secure permanent employment
Hence they work during the
early spring and summer and
autumn at transient Jobs. Whole
families move onto these Jobs
and the children accompany
their parents. In the Southwest
at this season most of the Indian
families are away from the res
ervation picking cotton; here in
Montana they are helping with
the harvest. AS a result the
children don't get enrolled in
school for three or four weeks
after school starts.
In every state our committee
visited it was impressed upon US
that Indian boys and girls we're
not going to high school and COL
lege SO that the tribes we're not
developing the necessary lead
erShip to enable them to COM
pete in the world of today.
In addition to the need for
more and more education there
are other needs. Everywhere
the Indians are in Substandard
housing. Chairman Haley said
that although the South had
been criticized for living con-
ditionS of the NegroleS, the Ne
groeS in the South were better
housed than the Indians on Hill
81 in Great Falls. The Papago
Indian villages in Arizona were
just as bad. Nor is Hill 81 an
isolated instance in Montana,
The conditions of the Indians
on the city dump at Havre and
Helena are deplorable.
The plight of the landIess In
dams who have never been
granted land and tribal recogni-
ton IS the worst. These Indians
are lIIlterate, cannot speak Eng
liSh, and cannot read or write
in either tongue. Such Indians
in recognized tribes on reserva-
tons do receive aid from the
tribal government and from the
federal grants but many of these
landless Indians who are in
greater need have no place to
turn to for assistance.
One heartening thing that de-
VeIoped from the hearings both
in the Southwest and in Montana
was the lack of discrimination
against the Indian as such.
Prejudice and discrimination is
at the lowest point in history.
In Montana in most schools In
dams are accepted and treated
IN the same manner as non-In-
dams. Segregation in Montana
schools IS almost nonresident.
Discrimination in employment
opportunities has not been com
pletely wiped out, but here again
prejudice is being overcome by
tolerance and acceptance.
Indignation and absorption of
the American Indians is not an
easy task. Nor is it a com.
pletely desirable one. The pre-
servatiOn Of Indian culture and
maintenance of tribal integrity
combined with fitting the In
dams to compete in an Anglo
world presents many and varied
problems that are not easy to
solve, but our hearings in the