'The Indians are coming! The Indians are coming!' Are the Indian Wars Not Over?
It's a flash back to Paul Revere's famous ride all over again, only this time the cry is about American Indians.
Politicians across the country (mostly Republicans) are rallying the troops against Indians. They are telling anyone that will listen that the Indians are back and they mean business! "Indians are going to take over." they cry. Well, the meaning business part is right. Indian nations are moving ahead in many business areas like mom and pop neighborhood stores to forming Internet companies. American Indians have come a long way from the days when city storefronts had signs in the window stating "No Dogs - No Indians" allowed.
This new "Indian war" is playing out in our nation's courts to include anti-Indian legislation formed to hold Indians back economically . State and federal
politicians are spending a lot of their time (and taxpayers' money) to put the Indians back in their place, in other words, "back on the reservation". Behind the scenes these same politicians are doing all they can to steal Indian land. This action is backed by big business giants and their lobbyists.
Each year Indian tribal governments have to spend millions of dollars defending their rights before U.S. courts because U.S. politicians are filing frivolous lawsuits against them. This money should be going for Indian health care, education and ending poverty. "But this is war" cry the politicians. " Indian governments are not playing fair! They're using our U.S. courts and laws to regain their land and civil rights. They even want us to apologize for the holocaust we committed against them. What's the world coming to?" they ask.
During the past year our elected representatives in their "War against Indians" have introduced more anti-Indian legislation than they have toward the war against foreign terrorists. Forget the U.S. border problem, illegal aliens problem, gangs or energy crises. They say that "The Indians are coming for their land and their legal rights under our U.S. laws." Politicians are working fast and hard re-writing laws to stop the Indians!
State officials are taking the "Indian War" one step further. They want to offer state tax dollars to local city governments to fight this new "Indian war". They're also pumping out press releases geared to build anti-Indian sentiment like newspaper reports did back in the good old days of Custer. Their main talking points are Indian gaming, tribal solvencies and reclaiming land under treaty laws.
Obviously these government officials long for the good old days of their forefathers when they could just sit down with an Indian Chief with a gun to his head, get his x on a treaty written in English, and tell him where his reservation is.
Our federal and state Politicians kept their mouths shut as long as Indians were enslaved on reservations living in poverty. Now that Indians are finally standing up for their rights again, and moving up the economic ladder, they have to deal with all the hate propaganda their ancestors were confronted with during the Custer years.
Still today, three of the five most impoverished counties in America are predominately populated by Indians located on reservations. Corporate America avoids Indian reservations like the plague. They hope Indians will abandon their land. If this happened, you would see a Wal-Mart go up overnight, along with banks and all the business that comes with them.
American Indians claim in part that the holocaust committed against them still continues today. Through the federal government's mishandling of the Indian trust fund, ten to forty billion dollars are missing. The federal government says it has no idea where the money went, all the while shredding documents and spending millions of your tax dollars each year fighting Indians in U.S. courts to make sure no one does!
The Indian trust fund was set up in 1887. The federal government (by choice) is responsible for collecting royalties from gold, oil, gas, timber, coal and other economic goods removed from Indian land held in federal trust. Over five hundred thousand American Indians have accounts associated with the Indian trust fund. On top of all this, Indians have to deal with trust fund payments that are not being paid. The Indian trust fund issue is at the forefront of the new Indian war. You will not hear about this issue on Fox or CNN News!
The federal government does not "give" Indians free money. It owes the Indians money from treaties made with them under U.S. law, and for the economic goods taken off their land. If the federal government paid up what it owes Indians, they would be the richest (cash wise) group of Americans in the nation. American Indians now call America the "rented country", and say that the federal government is a bad tenant!!
www.IndianTrust.com
Politicians waging this new "Indian War" are finding members of their ranks running for the hills (no pun intended) in fear of not getting re-elected. Another big problem these politicians are having to confront is that Americans today are not falling for the wolf cry "The Indians are coming". The vast majority of Americans know Indians got a raw deal from the beginning, and support them today in their quest to regain what is theirs.
Mike Graham is a citizen of the Oklahoma Cherokee Nation, a retired service connected disabled Army veteran. Founded United Native America in 1993 to form a national group to take action on American Indian issues. The groups main issue is to bring about a federal national holiday for Native Americans. United Native America's motto is, "Standing up for America and the American Indian community."
Graham has been a guest speaker on national and international radio talk shows to include television programs concerning Indian community issues, his reports on Indian issues have been published in newspapers all over America. He has traveled across the country discussing issues with Indian nation leaders, he has presented Indian issues at college's and high schools.
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