Montana history dooms the Indians because it says the Indians could not progress, so the public school curriculum goes, that the education of students need not examine the process of dispossession of the Indian’s land. The public school history does not examine the white people’s attempts at Indian genocide, or “extermination” as they so pointedly put it. Today the Indians are so far behind the whites are concerned their “secret” will finally be pointed to as the critical factor in the retarded development of the Indians.
The 1896 Agreement/Article Five is a special treaty right recognizing the success of the Blackfeet cattle ranchers and the self-supporting Blackfeet cattle industry. Government Inspectors document the success of the Blackfeet cattle ranchers as early as 1893. Remember, this is only ten years later from the starvation years when the buffalo were finally destroyed by the white invaders into Blackfoot Confederacy lands.
The Blackfeet Indians had recovered from the massacre, small pox, starvation, whiskey trade, and the corruption of the Indian Service in ten years! The history professors say this recovery is unprecedented in human history for a hunter/gatherer society to convert to a completely different private-sector economy. Not only to overcome all of the atrocities but to also manage to negotiate an agreement that guarantees recognition of successful cattle ranchers and the self-sufficient tribal cattle industry.
The real history would tell of the strength and intelligence of the Blackfeet Indians, and the attempted genocide of the border-whites, and the Territory and State of Montana’s role in destroying the Blackfeet cattle industry and invasion of the reservation upon the stolen Blackfeet allotments. If the state has any jurisdiction on the reservation it is based on the stolen Blackfeet allotments. If the whites are successful cattle ranchers on the reservation it is upon the stolen Blackfeet allotments they base their success.
Not a pretty picture is it? This history might lead to inquiries into the legality of white land ownership on the reservation on stolen Blackfeet lands. It might lead to a claim by the Blackfeet Indians to recover their reserved treaty lands and oil wells and question the illegal occupation of the reservation by whites. It might reveal the economic success of the border-whites is based on stealing Blackfeet land and resources.
The brainwashing of the Indians begins with the public school textbook. The gross description of public schools is to keep the facts from Indians to keep the Indians ignorant and stupid. The critical factor in tribal history is oral history so that all tribal members know the critical events in tribal history. The public school curriculum is designed to prevent discussion of injustices toward Indians by border-whites to prevent development of any sense of social justice for the [Indian] victims to preserve the status quo.
I have sat in university classes when the truth about Indian history in Montana was told to young white students for the first time in their lives, and who became ashamed of the unfairness and savagery of their white ancestors, and cannot defend it. But, they have been taught the opposite in public schools K-12, and it proves white students can be brainwashed to think their privileged position is historically justified, and that is the root of their bias toward Indians. They feel superior to Indians in their minds and actions.
In contrast, the Indians are taught that deprivation is their own fault, and that idea keeps them in their places that white society assigns to them. The border-white’s control of the public schools curriculum has led them to shape public perception on issues dealing with Indians. The purposeful omission of critical facts in curriculum of Indian-white history limits the public school student’s view of Indian history. It manufactures racists.
You don’t have to be white to be racist against Indians. There are many racist, brainwashed, educated Indians in public schools, and that goes for Indian school boards too. We had that experience in Browning Public Schools when we brought our book on Blackfeet history to the school board and superintendent. The whites, Crees, and Blackfeet administrators and school board members threw our book in the trash can. I think most of them are cowards afraid to face down the white racists that write racist Indian history books for public schools. Heart Butte Schools welcomed our Blackfeet history book. Why do you think that happened?
The knowledge of ones own history is empowering, and conversely the lack of knowledge of ones own history can be crippling. Fifth graders can recognize lies the teacher tells them although to challenge the teacher will get you a beating in public schools. One of our little friends was listening to us discuss the Blackfeet claims and the return of our lands, so he goes to school the next day and tells his teacher: “teacher, all of the white people are going to have to leave the reservation soon because the Indians are taking their land back.” See how the truth turns the tables on the whites? That little guy knew his history and it gave him a sense of ownership of the reservation instead of the white man’s minority.
Our whole effort has been to convince the tribal council that we can win based on our special treaty rights. There is nobody else on Earth that has rights to live on the reservation and own all of the land except the Blackfeet Indians. The Blackfeet people have many historical heroes that helped to save our Blackfeet Nation, and there are many instances of Blackfeet courage and intelligence in dealing with genocidal border-whites. We get support from Indians all over the country for our truths about Indian history.
The 1896 Agreement/Article Five is a special treaty right recognizing the success of the Blackfeet cattle ranchers and the self-supporting Blackfeet cattle industry. Government Inspectors document the success of the Blackfeet cattle ranchers as early as 1893. Remember, this is only ten years later from the starvation years when the buffalo were finally destroyed by the white invaders into Blackfoot Confederacy lands.
The Blackfeet Indians had recovered from the massacre, small pox, starvation, whiskey trade, and the corruption of the Indian Service in ten years! The history professors say this recovery is unprecedented in human history for a hunter/gatherer society to convert to a completely different private-sector economy. Not only to overcome all of the atrocities but to also manage to negotiate an agreement that guarantees recognition of successful cattle ranchers and the self-sufficient tribal cattle industry.
The real history would tell of the strength and intelligence of the Blackfeet Indians, and the attempted genocide of the border-whites, and the Territory and State of Montana’s role in destroying the Blackfeet cattle industry and invasion of the reservation upon the stolen Blackfeet allotments. If the state has any jurisdiction on the reservation it is based on the stolen Blackfeet allotments. If the whites are successful cattle ranchers on the reservation it is upon the stolen Blackfeet allotments they base their success.
Not a pretty picture is it? This history might lead to inquiries into the legality of white land ownership on the reservation on stolen Blackfeet lands. It might lead to a claim by the Blackfeet Indians to recover their reserved treaty lands and oil wells and question the illegal occupation of the reservation by whites. It might reveal the economic success of the border-whites is based on stealing Blackfeet land and resources.
The brainwashing of the Indians begins with the public school textbook. The gross description of public schools is to keep the facts from Indians to keep the Indians ignorant and stupid. The critical factor in tribal history is oral history so that all tribal members know the critical events in tribal history. The public school curriculum is designed to prevent discussion of injustices toward Indians by border-whites to prevent development of any sense of social justice for the [Indian] victims to preserve the status quo.
I have sat in university classes when the truth about Indian history in Montana was told to young white students for the first time in their lives, and who became ashamed of the unfairness and savagery of their white ancestors, and cannot defend it. But, they have been taught the opposite in public schools K-12, and it proves white students can be brainwashed to think their privileged position is historically justified, and that is the root of their bias toward Indians. They feel superior to Indians in their minds and actions.
In contrast, the Indians are taught that deprivation is their own fault, and that idea keeps them in their places that white society assigns to them. The border-white’s control of the public schools curriculum has led them to shape public perception on issues dealing with Indians. The purposeful omission of critical facts in curriculum of Indian-white history limits the public school student’s view of Indian history. It manufactures racists.
You don’t have to be white to be racist against Indians. There are many racist, brainwashed, educated Indians in public schools, and that goes for Indian school boards too. We had that experience in Browning Public Schools when we brought our book on Blackfeet history to the school board and superintendent. The whites, Crees, and Blackfeet administrators and school board members threw our book in the trash can. I think most of them are cowards afraid to face down the white racists that write racist Indian history books for public schools. Heart Butte Schools welcomed our Blackfeet history book. Why do you think that happened?
The knowledge of ones own history is empowering, and conversely the lack of knowledge of ones own history can be crippling. Fifth graders can recognize lies the teacher tells them although to challenge the teacher will get you a beating in public schools. One of our little friends was listening to us discuss the Blackfeet claims and the return of our lands, so he goes to school the next day and tells his teacher: “teacher, all of the white people are going to have to leave the reservation soon because the Indians are taking their land back.” See how the truth turns the tables on the whites? That little guy knew his history and it gave him a sense of ownership of the reservation instead of the white man’s minority.
Our whole effort has been to convince the tribal council that we can win based on our special treaty rights. There is nobody else on Earth that has rights to live on the reservation and own all of the land except the Blackfeet Indians. The Blackfeet people have many historical heroes that helped to save our Blackfeet Nation, and there are many instances of Blackfeet courage and intelligence in dealing with genocidal border-whites. We get support from Indians all over the country for our truths about Indian history.
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