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Subject: [Melungeon] European views on Indians
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2001 11:02:11 EST


In regards to "European" attitudes of Indians, there seems to be two extreme
views which are harmful or eventually harmful.

1. There are some bigoted non-Indians (this applies to more than just
Europeans) who view Indians with the same biased slant that they view blacks.
In some places in the east it was and still is, common to equally refer to
Indians and blacks with the "N" word. (Read the biography of Edward R
Murrow, America's greatest journalist who was part Indian). In western areas
there are some bigoted non-Indians who view all Indians as drunks and
immoral. These are negative racist views.

2. There is another racist view which either pities Indians as the ultimate
victims or glorifies them as romantic stereotypical demi-gods who can do no
wrong. Indians have been cruelly victimized but they have also achieved many
successes and won many battles in spite of prejudice and genocide. But
Indians are also regular people who sometimes screw up like everybody else.
Some Indian nations held Africans as chattel slaves and still today many
Indians disdain African-Americans as badly as any white bigot. Some of the
problems facing Indians today are a result of their own mistakes, others are
not. This can be said of everybody.

Whether white prejudice or white guilt, both are equally harmful to blacks
and Indians and there are always unscrupulous people to exploit these
attitudes. In all races there are heroes and villains, but the majority of us
are just plain ole common folks who are sometimes heroes and sometimes
villains.

Pardon if I state the obvious.

Tim Hashaw
Houston, Texas

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