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Archiver > Melungeon > 2001-02 > 0981044434


From: "Elizabeth G. Brett" <>
Subject: RE: [Melungeon] European views on Indians
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2001 11:20:34 -0500


Yup..

Out west I've heard the term Prairie "N*s"...

On Pine Ridge in South Dakota there have been a number of lynchings...The
Justice Dept went there but nothing has been done.

In Sasketchewan Canada town cops have been dragging Native men who they
find walking and buzzed out to the wilds , stripping them of shoes and
jackets and leaving them to freeze to death in the middle of winter. They
only found out that it was the cops after one man survived.

Some people are a real trip...

Elizabeth




-----Original Message-----
From: [SMTP:]
Sent:Thursday, February 01, 2001 11:02 AM
To:
Subject:[Melungeon] European views on Indians

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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