Chief White Calf’s Statement on the “Big Claim”
“In the old days, when we made war on the other tribes, and conquered the land you [whites] later took away from us, our warriors carried a bow and two quivers full of arrows. In the old days my quivers held arrows, because in those times we fought with arrows. But nowadays one can no longer fight with arrows; nowadays one must fight with money, and you can clearly see that the quivers which should hold the money with which to fight for my people are empty.” The Chief pulled his pants pockets inside out to show they were empty. “If you want me to be able to fight then fill my empty quivers. Fill my empty quivers with money, and then I will be able to fight.”
Chief White Calf No. 2 made it to Washington D.C. and met with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to get the money due the Blackfeet people, but the commissioner John Collier told him to go home and the check would be sent in due time. The Chief refused and told Collier he was “going to stay until he got the claim money due his people even if he had to die like his father Chief White Calf No. 1 died in 1903 in the Presidents private chamber, fighting for tribal claims.” Chief White Calf, the son, told Collier he would “take an old blanket and sleep in the streets and eat garbage if he had to, but he would not leave without that money. Then he said the whole world will know that two Chief White Calf’s died in Washington D.C. fighting for the rights of their people. The whole world will know that the old Chief White Calf and his son, the new Chief White Calf, both died right here in Washington D.C. I will do the same [as my father]. I will die here before I will turn around like a whipped dog and go home without the check.” Commissioner Collier relented the next day and called the Chief to his office and handed him the check due the Blackfeet Indians. You can contrast the behavior of real Blackfeet Chief’s in carrying out the serious business of the Blackfeet Tribe with the odd behavior of the tribal council and tribal traitor “Chief “Old Person joining the BIA on the other side in this dispute by stonewalling the Blackfeet claims. They knew perfectly well that we could do little without the support of tribal government. We too have suffered by those in power because we refused to give up and went at the tribal council for the past 30 years impoverishing ourselves in the fight for the Blackfeet claims. I am on welfare in Missoula at this time, and that is why I cannot be at home to fight this claim in Browning, but we are spreading the history and knowledge of the land frauds committed against our people. All I ever saw Earl Old Person do as the tribal leader was to enjoy his vices at the expense of the Blackfeet Tribe. He is honored by the whites in Montana who robbed the Blackfeet people.
“In the old days, when we made war on the other tribes, and conquered the land you [whites] later took away from us, our warriors carried a bow and two quivers full of arrows. In the old days my quivers held arrows, because in those times we fought with arrows. But nowadays one can no longer fight with arrows; nowadays one must fight with money, and you can clearly see that the quivers which should hold the money with which to fight for my people are empty.” The Chief pulled his pants pockets inside out to show they were empty. “If you want me to be able to fight then fill my empty quivers. Fill my empty quivers with money, and then I will be able to fight.”
Chief White Calf No. 2 made it to Washington D.C. and met with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to get the money due the Blackfeet people, but the commissioner John Collier told him to go home and the check would be sent in due time. The Chief refused and told Collier he was “going to stay until he got the claim money due his people even if he had to die like his father Chief White Calf No. 1 died in 1903 in the Presidents private chamber, fighting for tribal claims.” Chief White Calf, the son, told Collier he would “take an old blanket and sleep in the streets and eat garbage if he had to, but he would not leave without that money. Then he said the whole world will know that two Chief White Calf’s died in Washington D.C. fighting for the rights of their people. The whole world will know that the old Chief White Calf and his son, the new Chief White Calf, both died right here in Washington D.C. I will do the same [as my father]. I will die here before I will turn around like a whipped dog and go home without the check.” Commissioner Collier relented the next day and called the Chief to his office and handed him the check due the Blackfeet Indians. You can contrast the behavior of real Blackfeet Chief’s in carrying out the serious business of the Blackfeet Tribe with the odd behavior of the tribal council and tribal traitor “Chief “Old Person joining the BIA on the other side in this dispute by stonewalling the Blackfeet claims. They knew perfectly well that we could do little without the support of tribal government. We too have suffered by those in power because we refused to give up and went at the tribal council for the past 30 years impoverishing ourselves in the fight for the Blackfeet claims. I am on welfare in Missoula at this time, and that is why I cannot be at home to fight this claim in Browning, but we are spreading the history and knowledge of the land frauds committed against our people. All I ever saw Earl Old Person do as the tribal leader was to enjoy his vices at the expense of the Blackfeet Tribe. He is honored by the whites in Montana who robbed the Blackfeet people.
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