[.ca] Killing the White Man's Indian: Reinventing Native ... (ISBN 0385420366)

From Amazon.com:
Are the modern Indian nations little more than "reminders of a history that we would prefer not to remember," a guilty afterthought? Bordewich answers that yes, thanks to a century and more of federal mismanagement of Indian affairs, they are. Their people are plagued by alcohol, suicide, despair, and neglect. In writing of our nation's dishonorable dealings with its indigenous peoples, Bordewich asks that we examine history closely and that we take issue with received wisdom. After looking at past and present in this lively and provocative book, Bordewich envisions a future in which Native America determines its own destiny.

Killing the White Man's Indian:
There aren't many books about Native Americans that tell the truth the way it should be told, truth without bias or idealism. The author has done a commendable job in supporting his information with excellent references. While reading this book, I found myself shaking my head in agreement because it addresses facts and issues that need to be addressed more often in the manner in which they are presented. This book will turn the reader from a romantic to a realist.

Killing The White Man's Indian, A Considered Opinion:
As a Caucasian who lived on two South Dakota Indian Reservations (Rosebud and Cheyenne) as a child, and whose father was an Indian Agent, I approached this book with some trepidation. However, Fergus Bordewich has crafted one of the most studious, readable and important books ever written on this subject. His research is exhaustive, yet related in a way which is entertaining and informative at the same time. There is grist for thought for anyone who has ever had an opinion on how the "Indian Problem" ought to be solved. This will be painful at times to proponents on all sides, as Bordewich's carefully balanced research points outs mistakes and avarice, both willful and accidental, by many. His conclusions will not be universally accepted, as many of his proposals are sure to be viewed with suspicion by one side or the other. Particularly noteworthy are his thoughts on "sovereignty." He points out that the Native American's general view of sovereignty does not match the definition, and fails to recognize that true sovereignty means total independence from the existing US government. This book is recommended for any student who is doing serious research about any aspect of the Native American in contemporary America. This book also is just plain good reading for anyone with an interest in how Native Americans have reached their current position in the American society.

Intelligent, nuanced, and well-researched:
Bordewich's study of contemporary Indian politics stands out from the usual polemics, presenting humanity instead of stereotypes. More importantly, it focuses on the present and future of native Americans, not just the past, and does justice to the complexity and diversity of American Indian tribes. Borderwich's book was obviously a labor of love. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the most important issues and questions facing Indians and non-Indian Americans alike.

Beautifully written and highly informative:
"Killing the White Man's Indian" is perhaps the best book I've read on Native Americans. It treats the subject even-handedly while exploring critical issues of "Indian Country." The book is beautifully written, well researched, fairly presented, and highly informative. It is an excellent read for any student of Native Americans.

...as if the Indians were destined to vanish...:
The more I learn, the more my skin crawls when I hear references to the "vanishing Indian." If anything, it is even more evidence that our mainstream media is telling us what they want us to believe. Oh, it was a valiant effort made in the creation of "the land of the free and the home of the Brave," but it was not successful. Attempted genocides are rarely, if ever, completely successful. For that, we can be grateful...but just barely. From the book: "We, the Indigenous Peoples of this red quarter of Mother Earth, \ohave survived\c 500 years of genocide, ethnocide, ecocide, racism, oppression, colonization and christianization. These excesses of western civilization resulted from contempt for Mother Earth and all our relations; contempt for women, elders, children and Native Peoples; and contempt for a future beyond the present human generation." (Taos, New Mexico, 1992) Native Americans kept this country and the living forms within it pristine for thousands of years before it was "discovered" and "civilized." In 200 years it has been desecrated, vandalized, poisoned almost beyond repair, in the guise of "Manifest Destiny." It's incredible to even consider "Patriotism" without considering the roots of its "success." One Nation, "Under God": "In New England, zealots such as Cotton Mather encouraged the Puritans to regard the Indian as a principal actor in the cosmic drama that governed even the smallest details of life, a 'spetial instrument of God' to punish errant souls in the eternal struggle between good and evil. In such a climate, killing Indians became not merely warfare but the cleansing of sin itself.' ... The degree of violence that was woven into the texture of early frontier life fairly boggles the mind of our, in some ways, far more delicate age. In the 1650s, Dutch colonists brought back eighty decapitated Indian heads from a massacre and used them as kickballs in the streets of New Amsterdam." "It was widely assumed by Americans that Indians were destined to vanish before the onrush of civilization, a view of things that conveniently allowed cynicism to blend with sentimentality...It was as if the Indians' disappearance were the result of some force completely beyond the human power to stay, like a tidal wave or a change of seasons." The stories are horrendous, and should be required reading for anyone who claims to be a Patriot. This is not to say that Patriotism, in itself, is wrong. Not at all. Just that it should be an informed Patriotism, one that accepts responsibility for its history with an investment in a better and healthier future. "Between 1850 and 1859, the federal government reimbursed the State of California $924,259 for what was basically freelance murder. ...In April of 1852, miners at Orleans Bar, 'after meeting to discuss the Indian problem, voted to kill on site all Indians having guns,' a local newspaper reported without comment. The next month, near Weaverville, 153 Wintuns were slaughtered in reprisal for killing five cows that belonged to a white man. In 1853, at Yontoket, several hundred Tolowas were murdered in the midst of their harvest dance. A survivor described it, 'The whitemen built a huge fire and threw in our sacred ceremonial dresses, the regalia, and our feathers, and the flames grew higher. Then they threw in the babies, many of them were still alive.' ...Until the 1880s, California courts barred any kind of testimony from 'Indians, or persons having one-fourth or more Indian blood in an action in which a white person was a party.'" "Professional slave hunters raided Indian villages with impunity, seizing women and children for sale to miners and to brothels in the gold rush towns. In the mid-1850s, a pubescent girl sold for about $300 and smaller children for as little as $50." Yes, the roots of child sexual slavery go deep into our history. But the book is more than horror stories and balanced history. There is a future here, and a challenge to the belief that the "savage Indian" has been wiped from the face of the earth. Historical guilt has its limitations, and that is not the purpose of the book. The history of Indian law under federal policy and Indian education opened my eyes to an expansion of Indian culture that I found heartening and exciting. "More consistently than any other in the nation's history, Indian policy has embodied the nation's unending struggle to apply moral standards to the conduct of public policy." America is not the only nation to attempt to wipe out indigenous tribes, and that is another course of study. The difference, in America, as the book points out, is that America continues to struggle with that history -- and that is something to get Patriotic about. It is a record that, though flawed, is unequaled by any other nation in its dealings with aboriginal peoples. The book raised a question about tribal sovereignty that was new to me, and that I continue to struggle with long after having read the book. Does it move them forward, or hold them back? Would mainstreaming the American Indian be empowering? Or would it take from them what remaining culture they have left? That is the ultimate question of "celebrating diversity" vs. the "melting pot" theory of America. It is not limited to Indians. And it is a concept we must struggle with, perhaps to the point of redefining what it means to be "mainstream" in America. Another concept that made me think was the lack of "civil rights" legislation under reservation law: free press, free speech, and separation of powers. If Federal Law is "hands off" reservation land, where to Indians find justice if their governments are corrupt? For that matter, where do we? Perhaps the question is not, who should have the power, but how do we as a nation challenge corruption? "What are the limits of federal powers? How can tribalism be squared with the legal and moral dictates of equal protection under the law? What is the role of the states in Indian Country and of the tribes in constitutional democracy? What is the civil juristiction of tribal courts? How can the United States support tribal regimes that reject fundamental aspects of American democracy? What is the basis for asserting that reservation Indians shall have representation in state government but without taxation? On the other hand, what is the basis for asserting that non-Indian residents of Indian Country shall not be represented in tribal government yet be subject to tribal law, courts, and taxation? How can we, as Americans, tolerate double standards?" Good questions, all of them. And Bordwich doesn't answer them. But he certainly gives us plenty with which to mull them over and discuss them. The important thing is that we not ignore them. The Indians aren't. And we are all in this together.